This Aussie Rules betting guide is for anyone in the UK who is interested in betting on football down under. It explains how Aussie Rules football differs from similar sports, where you can bet on it, and what kind of markets you’re most likely to find. Let’s kick things off with a table of our best Aussie Rules betting sites.
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We’ve picked out ten top UK betting sites for Aussie Rules betting. If you want to bet on Australian Rules football, then any of these sites will do the job for you.
Let’s now look in detail at our top five picks for betting on Australian Rules football. We’ve picked out a few valid reasons for what makes them your top choices when you are looking to bet on Aussie Rules.
It’s as surprising as finding a koala in a eucalyptus tree for us to declare bet365 our number one pick for betting on football down under. In the UK, they are top of that very same eucalyptus tree for most things when it comes to betting, and we have to confess that we think that their Aussie Rules football betting options are top dingo for UK bettors. The coverage is exceptional, and they have more markets than any other site.
To bet on Australian Rules Football here, just pop to the site on a desktop, laptop or via their excellent app and head to the ‘Full List’ section of all sports and pick out ‘Australian Rules’. If you want to see the fantastic extent of betting options available to you, just click on ‘Props’ and then feel your jaw drop. Yep – the options are more than plentiful, and there are practically zero aspects of an Aussie rules game that you can’t place an AFL bet on at bet365. It was an easy pick for our number one choice!
What We Like:
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BetUK sits in second place on our list of the best betting sites for Aussie Rules. When you first hunt down the ‘Australian Rules’ section at BetUK you might be a little disappointed as it seems it’s only the basic ‘back the winner’ bet that’s available. Here’s a handy tip for you – when you find yourself on the main Aussie Rules section at this site, head down to the bottom and click ‘All AFL’ and the truth will be revealed.
The truth is that the number of Australian Rules football markets that are available here is enormous. When we checked the site, we found a minimum of 50 markets available for most games and more than 200 for the big match-ups. Markets include handicaps, total points, winning margins, quarter-by-quarter leaders and much more. There are also plenty of individual player props, such as player goals and disposals (a legal passing of the ball). There’s so much to bet on that you might even be tempted to rename this site ‘BetOZ’!
What We Like:
Room for Improvement:
If you know your way around the UK betting realm, then you will know that Betfair is a betting exchange opposed to a fixed odds betting site, although it does have a fixed odds betting side too. The question is, is exchange betting available for Aussie Rules? That question has a simple answer – yes! However, as with exchange betting, don’t expect a monsoon of options, as you can only really exchange ‘back’ (to win) and ‘lay’ (to lose) bets on the AFL.
All AFL matches are covered and of course, you get exceptional betting odds (see Betting Odds Explained), much better than most fixed odds sites. However, if you want more markets then you are going to need to switch to Betfair’s fixed odds sites, where you will be betting against the bookie as opposed to your fellow AFL bettors. Here, you can bet on other aspects of any contest, such as the winning margin and the total goals scored. There are well over 100 markets and there’s one nice little bonus at Betfair – Aussie Rules is eligible for the Betfair bet builder!
What We Like:
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Aussie Rules football is basically the AFL. We’ll explore a little later on how it originated in the state of Victoria as the VFL, then expanded to take on teams from outside of Victoria, then changed its name to the AFL. At most betting sites you can only really bet on the AFL … but not at Fitzdares as there is certainly more to bet on. The coverage of the AFL at Fitzdares is not as extensive as it is at other sites, but it’s a rare site with coverage beyond the AFL.
There are three other leagues covered, although all in Australia. There’s the SANFL, which is the South Australia National Football League that predates the AFL. Then there’s the AVFL, which is the Australian Victoria Football League and has the second teams of AFL sides plus others. Finally, there is the West Australian Football League, which covers Aussie Rules in West Australia. Note that there is no promotion/relegation between state leagues and the AFL.
What We Like:
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The Aussie Rules options at 10bet are about on par with the Aussie Rules options you’re likely to find at most betting sites in the UK, in that they’re good, but they could be better. The coverage here is only for the AFL, so the other top Aussie Rules competitions are unavailable. There are only a few markets per game available, up to a maximum of ten. These include to win, totals and quarters/halves.
We are now going to examine those markets. The most obvious is match winner, plus you get handicap betting. The handicaps are chosen to balance out the match, so the win odds for either side should largely be equal. The other markets are over/under total points, over/under total points by team and combinations of match results and over/under. Sadly 10bet does not offer any individual player props at all.
What We Like:
Room for Improvement:
We’ve summed up a few important aspects of Australian Rules football betting, and you can see them displayed in the table below. You can also see which of our selected picks for Aussie Rules have them, and which do not.
Site | Outrights | Av. Markets* | Player Props | Beyond AFL |
Bet365 | ✅ | 250+ | ✅ | None |
BetUK | ✅ | 200+ | ✅ | SANFL, VFL, WAFL |
Betfair | ✅ | 100+ | ✅ | None |
Fitzdares | ✅ | 5+ | ❌ | SANFL, VFL, WAFL |
10bet | ✅ | 10+ | ❌ | None |
BetMGM | ✅ | 10+ | ❌ | SANFL, VFL, WAFL |
BetGoodwin | ✅ | 4+ | ❌ | SANFL, VFL, WAFL |
Fafabet | ✅ | 4+ | ❌ | SANFL, VFL, WAFL |
Luckster | ✅ | 15+ | ❌ | SANFL, VFL, WAFL |
Sporting Index | ✅ | 60+ | ❌ | None |
Our choices for the best Aussie Rules betting sites have been made, but how have we made them? Our general approach is outlined on our How We Rate Bookmakers page. But what do we look for when we are selecting a leading Australian Rules football betting site for your Aussie Rules predictions? Before you go and punch a kangaroo in frustration, below you will find our reasoning for our picks. We hope it makes sense!
Australian rules football really is in a class of its own as a sport. It’s a type of rugby football which takes place on an oval field, with 18 players on each side. The sport came about in Australia as a means of allowing cricket players to stay fit during the winter (which is why the game is played on an oval, as opposed to the standard rectangular pitch of most other team sports).
The aim of the game is to kick the rugby-style football between the two central posts, hence scoring six points. There are two smaller posts outside of each central post, forming three goals in total. If the ball goes through either of the two outside posts, then a single point is scored. A six-point score is known as a goal, and a one-point score is known as a behind.
Players can move the ball forward by running with it (in which case they must periodically bounce the ball as they do so), kicking it or handing off to teammates. Throwing the ball is not allowed.
A game of Australian Rules football lasts for 80 minutes, split into four quarters of 20 minutes each. Goals and behinds are the only methods of scoring. Scores are usually written in the format ’16.4 (100) – 14.7 (91)’ where ’16.4’ means 16 goals and 4 behinds for a total of 100 points.
One curiosity of Aussie Rules football – the sleeveless top the players wear is known as a ‘guernsey’ in parallel with the sleeved top players of most other field sports wear which is of course, a ‘jersey’.
The leading Aussie Rules football competition in Australia is the Australian Football League. The league consists of 18 teams (it will become 19 in 2028 when a team from Tasmania joins) and a 23-game season played between March and September. The team with the best record is awarded the ‘Minor Premiership’ title, and the top eight teams qualify for the finals series.
The finals are played as a knock-out over four weeks at venues such as the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the Gabba in Brisbane and the Adelaide Oval. The final itself is always played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. One curiosity of the finals series – of the first-round losers, the two sides with the best seasonal records get a second chance and play the two first-round winners with the worst seasonal record. Once only four teams remain, the finals become a straight knockout.
The final is the biggest event on the Australian sporting calendar, with an attendance of over 100,000 and a TV audience of more than 4.75 million.
Here we are going to take a look at the key outrights you can bet on when it comes to Aussie Rules football, and the AFL in particular. These are all Aussie Rules predictions you can place at any stage of the annual AFL season.
As we have previously explained, the AFL season is effectively split in two – the regular season and the finals. The team with the best record after 23 games is deemed the regular season winner and is awarded the title of ‘Minor Premiership’ champions.
Once the grand finals have been completed, only one team will remain undefeated. This team is the AFL Grand Final winner and the overall AFL champion. The first ‘AFL’ final was played in 1898, although then the league as known as the Victorian Football League as only teams from the state of Victoria took part. It expanded into the AFL in 1990, even though teams from states outside of Victoria had been competing in the tournament for some time.
This is a player award equivalent to the ‘Young Player of the Year’ in football. The award was introduced in 1993, with Duncan Kellaway as the first winner. To qualify for the award, players must be under 21 years of age on January 1st of the current year and must have played ten AFL games or less before the start of the season.
This is another player award, given to the player who is ‘fairest and best’ during the AFL season. It is named after Charles Brownlow, a former player, secretary and VFL president, and is voted by field umpires. Players are picked from each match umpired to be awarded points on a 3-2-1 basis. At the end of the season, the points are totted up and the player with the most points is awarded the trophy.
These markets are based on teams’ or players’ season-long exploits. For example, they could be on a specific player to kick at least 100 goals during a season. This has only been achieved 60 times in VFL/AFL history, with the last player to do so being Lance Franklin in 2008. Other ‘exotics’ are usually available, but this is usually the most common due to the nature of the feat.
Yet another individual award, the Coleman medal is handed at the end of each season to the player who scored the most goals during the regular season. It is named after John Coleman, who scored 537 goals in just 98 games between 1949 and 1954. The first award, in 1981, was handed to 86-goal Michael Roach, although in 2001, the AFL decided to retrospectively award the medal to each leading goalscorer from 1897 onwards.
Team futures are, as you might imagine, bets on the ‘future’ performances of the member clubs of the AFL. They could be to win the Grand Final, to win the Minor Premiership, to qualify for the finals or not, or to finish bottom of the standings! You can review potential team futures for any side at our list of the best betting sites for Aussie Rules.
That’s the list of outright markets for Aussie Rules football done and dusted, so now let’s look at the markets available for each match. Whether it’s Collingwood taking on Brisbane, or Melbourne hosting the Western Bulldogs, what markets exist for each individual Aussie Rules bout … er … game?
Well this one stands out like a shag on a rock – pick which team you think is going to win the game. You’ll get odds for the draw too, but draws are uncommon in Aussie Rules football – in the 2023 season only two of the 207 games ended tied.
Just as with the US, handicap betting is very popular in Australia and most UK betting sites offer handicap betting alongside ‘to win’ betting. One side in a match will be given a points handicap and the other a points boost designed to artificially make the game as close as possible. It’s then up to the bettor to decide which team will win once the handicap is applied.
Frequently, with AFL matches, one team is an overwhelming favourite as the dominant teams (Collingwood, Brisbane, Port Adelaide, Melbourne) tend to lord it over the weaker ones (North Melbourne, West Coast). This can make betting on the games pointless unless you can bet on the winning margin. If you can correctly select the difference between the final points tallies (given in ranges), then your bet is a winner.
As we informed you early doors, each Aussie Rules match lasts for eighty minutes (not including time added on for stoppages), split into four quarters. Any betting aspect of the match can also be solely applied to any single quarter, such as points scored, handicaps and so on. By combining the first two quarters and the final two quarters, the same can be applied to the game split into two halves.
Player props in Aussie rules football largely revolve around player scoring. You can bet on AFL games, on a player scoring the first goal of the game, the final goal of the game, or scoring at any time of the game. You can do the same on a team basis too, plus a player to score two or more goals, or three or more and so on. Other player props may be offered, but these are not quite as common.
Other main proposition bets include which team will be the first to score, and whether that score will be a goal or a behind, or the method of either team of their first point. Other score and team props may be available, but it depends on the sports betting site you are using, and the ‘attractiveness’ of the match that you are looking to bet on.
Australian Rules football has only a few devotees in the UK, and probably most of those have moved over to the UK from the land down under. However, if you are looking to get into betting on Aussie Rules football, then you’re probably puzzled on how to get started. Here are three AFL betting tips that should at least give you something to think about.
If a site accepts bets on Aussie Rules football, then it will allow you to place an AFL bet on a mobile device as easily as betting on a desktop PC or laptop. You can use any site on a phone or tablet – all you need to do is pop open your normal mobile browser and head to the site. Virtually all sites offer mobile apps now too, which you can download and install on your devices. If you’re unsure as to whether a betting site has an app, just hunt for the site on Google Play or the Apple App Store. If there is an app, then you will find it there.
While Australian Rules football does not have the same appeal in the UK as, say, American football, we are betting that there is a dedicated core of fans of this somewhat unique sport. If you are looking to bet on Aussie Rules football, then we hope that this page has decreased the mystery of this antipodean pastime and has given you some ideas of how you can go about it to put money on your AFL betting tips. The best of luck, betting mates!
AFL football (or Aussie or Australian Rules football) is a team sport in which the team that scores the most points wins. You can bet on the winners of the AFL (regular season or finals), winners of matches and player props. There’s also various forms of handicap betting.
Two teams, 18 players each, on an oval field with a set of goals at each end. The ball can be kicked, carried (it must be bounced at least every 15 metres) or handed off. Players can be stopped via tackling. As for Aussie Rules scoring, It’s six points per goal, or one point for scoring via either side goal. A game is 80 minutes, split into four quarters.
There are similarities, but they are not the same. A theory was developed in the 1920s that it was derived from Gaelic football, but this since has been dismissed. It seems most likely the game derived from Rugby football, as the game was invented by Tom Wills, an Australian-born former pupil of Rugby School.
No – there are too many differences between either code of rugby for the two games to be thought of as the same. Aussie rules is without several important rugby concepts, such as scrums, rucks, drop goals and conversions.
Peter is one of the most well-known and well-respected names working in the field of online sports betting today. Having a Bachelor of Arts degree, Peter has worked for many high-profile publications in the industry, both online and in the real world. He joined the SafestBettingSites team in 2021 and has provided millions of words ever since. When not writing, Peter enjoys performing and writing music, gaming, reading and he is a massive movie buff, with a particular love of Japanese cinema and anime.
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