Playup vs. Palmerbet - Which is the Better Australian Betting Site?

PlayUp and Palmerbet are two Aussie-owned bookmakers with plenty of customers, but which of them is better? We’ve pitted them head-to-head across a wide range of important metrics, including odds, range of markets, customer service and more, so check out the review to help you decide which to use.

Don’t have time to read about each metric in detail? Check out our summary of results below!

The sign-up process is the very first encounter you will have with any betting agency, and while it’s not exactly the most important, it doesn’t take much to turn a potential customer away. We’ve gone ahead and gone through the process at both these agencies to see how they fare.

PlayUp: No problems here – signing up with PlayUp is simple and concise, like the rest of their website. Simply click the ‘Join’ button up the top of the page, enter your details, and away you go. As with all bookies you will also need to verify your account prior to withdrawing, but this is also relatively straightforward.

Palmerbet: Like PlayUp, the Palmerbet sign-up process isn’t too time-consuming and doesn’t demand anything unusual from customers. Simply click the button up the top and enter your details, before once again making sure that you remember to verify your account to enable withdrawals.

Verdict

There is realistically very little separating these two bookies with regards to their sign-up process. The PlayUp website, however, tends to function marginally quicker than that of Palmerbet, so based on that we’ll give them the nod on this metric.

Round 1 Winner: Playup

Extra features can make or break a bookmaker. In general, most offer the same basic things, and bookmakers which have solid odds, enough markets to keep you happy and a decent website can be hard to separate. As a result, the occasional added touch can make all the difference.

PlayUp: PlayUp offers what is known as a personal PlayUp client manager, who can help you by directly answering questions you may have and letting you know about any upcoming deals. Some may argue this is simply a little added marketing for the company and in some senses they are probably right, but it can help to keep you in the loop.

Palmerbet: Palmerbet offers a blog which provides punters with tips and previews for upcoming events. The cynics among you would no doubt argue that this is only done to benefit them, particularly if the tips aren’t any good, but the previews are actually generally fairly reasonable and can provide good additional information to your own thoughts.

Verdict

Both these additional features mentioned can come in handy, but Palmerbet’s blog is a little bit more useful. PlayUp are certainly trying to sell the personal client manager as a useful feature, but while it can help a little bit, for the most part it’s purely a marketing technique. Palmerbet’s blog, in contract, can provide actual tangible useful information.

 Round 2 Winner:  Palmerbet

It goes without saying that the markets you are able to access play a major role in deciding which bookmaker to use. It’s hard to justify using bookies with minimal options, so we’ve taken a look at how both PlayUp and Palmerbet compare to both other competitors, and each other.

PlayUp: PlayUp is still a relative newcomer to the Australian sports betting market and typically newer betting sites have fewer markets. However, they generally perform reasonably well, and offer markets on a solid range of sports and leagues. Something they could improve on is in how many markets they offer for individual matches, an area in which they sometimes fall behind.

Palmerbet: Palmerbet is in some ways the opposite to PlayUp – they don’t quite have the range of sports and leagues on offer that PlayUp does, but within the competitions they do offer they have quite a comprehensive array of markets. In an individual match of AFL, for example, there is a good selection, but you may struggle to find more obscure leagues here.

Verdict

Ultimately it depends what you prefer – if you bet on unusual sports then PlayUp may suit you better, but those betting on more mainstream events will probably be better served by Palmerbet. We think that most punters fall into the latter category, so Palmerbet gets the chocolates here.

 Round 3 Winner:  Palmerbet

If the range of markets isn’t the most important feature of a bookmaker, then the odds they offer probably is. Getting the best odds is a great way to minimise the advantage bookmakers have as a result of the margins they build into odds, so let’s take a look at how PlayUp and Palmerbet perform in this area.

PlayUp: In general, PlayUp does a reasonable job of providing solid odds for punters. They certainly aren’t industry leaders and there are a number of more established providers with significantly better odds, particularly on smaller markets, but they are from the worst either.

Palmerbet: With Palmerbet, it depends a little on what you’re betting on. For sports their odds are decent but not outstanding, but the fixed odds they provide for racing compare very well to competitors. So while their sports odds are nothing out of the ordinary, they do separate themselves from the pack overall courtesy of their racing odds.

Verdict

This one goes to Palmerbet. In terms of sports the two are generally relatively comparable, so if this is what you’re betting on then it probably doesn’t matter which of these two you choose in terms of odds. For racing, though, Palmerbet typically offers better odds, enough to give them the tick of approval for this metric.

 Round 4 Winner:  Palmerbet

Live betting is an increasingly popular way to place a bet, with many punters enjoying the ability to watch the beginning of a game unfold before they decide what to put their hard-earned on. Given how quickly the odds can fluctuate as the state of the event changes, it’s imperative that bookies have a fast and efficient platform for placing these bets – so do PlayUp and Palmerbet tick the box?

PlayUp: PlayUp does offer live betting – a good start – but it’s not exactly the most functional platform that they offer. As with all Australian bookmakers, bets need to be placed over the phone, but live odds aren’t displayed on the website, which is a major point against them and makes it difficult to make a choice on what to bet on.

Palmerbet: Palmerbet also has a live betting feature, but unfortunately they fall victim to the same issue which plagued PlayUp. The odds aren’t displayed on the website, which again puts the punter at a significant disadvantage and makes it difficult to decide whether to place a bet, and if so who to place it on.

Verdict

This one is a case of choosing the lesser evil, because while the two of them at least have live betting – more than some competitors – the fact that they don’t display the odds significantly reduces the platform’s usefulness. PlayUp gets the nod courtesy of a slightly wider range of live odds markets, but there’s not a huge amount of difference

Round 5 Winner: Playup

A few years ago, the prospect of a bookmaker offering customers the ability to watch live sports on the website was heard of, but nowadays it’s fairly commonplace. Being able to easily tune into an event after you’ve placed a bet on it is an attractive prospect for punters, but do either of our two bookies offer it?

PlayUp: At this relatively early stage in the life of PlayUp, they unfortunately do not offer live streaming. They have a high speed and functional website so when they invariably do add it to their list of features it will no doubt be simple to use, but for the time being they score a zero in this category.

Palmerbet: Palmerbet is no different, offering no live streaming of either sports or racing at this point in time. They’ve been around for a little longer than PlayUp so it’s a little surprising they haven’t jumped on board the streaming bandwagon like many competitors, but alas they have not.

Verdict

There’s not much to do with this one but call it a tie. Neither bookmaker offers live streaming nor have they made any announcements about whether they will purchase any broadcast rights in the near future, so there’s no way to separate them at this point in time.

Round 6 Winner: Tie Playup/PalmerBet

Like live streaming, mobile apps are a reasonably new addition to the Australian sports betting landscape, but they have rapidly made a big indent. Many major bookies offer quality apps which allow customers to do virtually everything they can do on the website, and often it’s even more straightforward to just punt on your phone than open up the computer.

PlayUp: Anyone who has used the PlayUp website will know that it’s fast, intuitive and very simple to navigate, and it will come as no surprise to those people that the app is every bit as good. It’s available for iOS and Android, and provides virtually all the same features available on the website.

Palmerbet: Palmerbet also has a fairly good app, and it too is available for iOS and Android. There’s not a whole lot to criticise here – the app generally loads quickly, it’s easy to find what you need to find and it rarely crashes, as many opposing apps can have a tendency to do.

Verdict

This is a pretty tight one once again. Both PlayUp and Palmerbet offer good apps which are at times even more simple to use than their respective websites. PlayUp’s app, however, is just slightly quicker to load the various pages you can find on it, and for that reason they win this round.

Round 7 Winner: Playup

There aren’t a whole lot of bookmakers who win over customers with their range of payment methods. It can, however, be a rapid way for you to choose not to use a bookmaker if you find out that they don’t have your preferred option, which is why it’s increasingly important for them to have a wide range of choices.

PlayUp: PlayUp keeps things pretty simple with their list of payment methods. They offer all of the basics, such as credit/debit card and bank deposit, and also have a few more modern-day methods like POLi, paysafecard and more. You can check out their full list of methods below.

Palmerbet: Palmerbet is not too different from PlayUp in this regard. As you can see in the table below, they too offer the most common methods of depositing and withdrawal in credit/debit card, as well as bank transfer. They also offer POLi, PayPal and a couple of other methods too. 

Verdict

This is a tight one. Both PlayUp and Palmerbet offer the most common methods, while each of them fails to offer two common e-wallets in Neteller and Skrill. Thereafter they offer three additional methods each, but Palmerbet gets the win by the slimmest of margin because of their inclusion of PayPal, a reasonably common choice for punters.

 Round 8 Winner:  Palmerbet

Customer support is an invaluable part of any business, not just bookmakers. Bookies generally do it fairly well though – there are invariably plenty of punters who need questions answered, and for the most part, numerous options are available. PlayUp and Palmerbet are no different.

PlayUp: PlayUp makes it extremely easy to get into contact with them, and in our experience they are also generally helpful when you have a question that needs answering. A live chat bubble in the bottom right corner of the website allows you to connect instantly with a support agent, while the support phone number is displayed on the bottom left of the home screen. Both are available 24/7. You can also send an email to support@playup.com.au, an address which is shown on the ‘contact us’ page.

Palmerbet: It’s not difficult to get into contact with Palmerbet, but they have neglected a live chat feature which puts them well behind most of their competitors in this regard. If you head to the ‘contact us’ page they offer the list of options, which includes a phone number, email address and postal box, but a lack of information about the phone hours is another issue with the platform.

Verdict

This one was easy – PlayUp wins by far. Their customer support options are plentiful, available 24/7 and the agents are helpful. This is in contrast to Palmerbet, whose lack of a live chat option is a rarity among bookmakers in 2021. This is an easy victory for PlayUp.

Round 9 Winner: Playup

This category is a little less tangible than the others, but essentially it refers to what the experience is like from the time you open the website or app to the time you close it. The functionality of the website is a huge part of this, so let’s have a look at how our two bookies fare in the final category.

PlayUp: As we mentioned earlier, the PlayUp website is one of the company’s best features. It’s extremely straightforward to use, the pages all load very quickly and everything is where you expect it to be. Placing a bet is also very simple and efficient, meaning they rank highly in this metric.

Palmerbet: Palmerbet also offers a pretty good experience for the user, with their website following a similar layout to most. Everything goes where it should and placing a bet is easy – perhaps the only drawback is that on occasions, drop down menus take a little while to load, but as long as you’re not in a desperate rush it shouldn’t impact you too much.

Verdict

There’s not a whole lot separating these two bookies in this category, with both of them offering a pretty decent user experience. PlayUp, however, just has a slightly better website and one which virtually never lags, in contrast to Palmerbet, and for this reason they win the final category in this comparison.

Round 10 Winner: Playup

Neither PlayUp nor Palmerbet stands out as the best bookmaker in Australia, but they each have plenty of loyal customers for a reason. In general they perform the basics well, and are able to provide a well-rounded experience for punters who choose to use them. In the end, it’s PlayUp who got over the line as the better of the two, with their functional website and quality customer service options a major point of difference. They could still benefit from adding a live streaming service, as could Palmerbet, who would also be well-served by adding a live chat feature to their customer service options.

If you found this comparison article beneficial or enjoyed reading it, why not take a look at the reviews we’ve done on a range of different Aussie bookmakers? For example, you can take a look at our review of betting giant Bet365, or the one we completed on Sportsbetting to get an idea of which bookie is best for you.