Unibet Australia Review November 2024

Having been founded in 1997 by Anders Ström, Unibet has, for many years, been a significant player in the international gambling industry. It wasn’t until 2012 that they acquired the Australian-based ‘BetChoice’, adding the Australian market to a portfolio which already included numerous countries abroad. They have since established themselves as a popular bookie among Aussie punters, with their excellent odds being a major drawcard.

In this review, I will talk about the various strengths that Unibet has, as well as their weaknesses, to help you to make an informed decision about whether or not it’s the right bookie for you!

Like all bookmakers, Unibet has plenty of areas in which they perform very well, and various others in which they could improve. In this section, we will take a look at the most notable strengths and weaknesses that the Unibet offering features:

✔️Unibet Strengths

• Wide range of markets: If you’re after a bookmaker that offers more than just the typical head-to-head, line and over/under markets, then Unibet is a good place to start. They offer a massive range of markets on a huge number of different sports, catering to punters who like to look for value in interesting places.
• Great odds: Unibet are renowned for offering great fixed odds across a number of different sports, as well as racing. Their margins – which basically refers to the profit percentage they take from each bet – are among the lowest in the industry, meaning that you get much better value for your money than you would at many other bookmakers.
• Live streaming on numerous sports: More and more bookies are venturing into the live streaming space, but what exactly each of them offer differs greatly. Unibet has the rights to a range of different sports, and though they don’t typically show the biggest events – as is typically the case due to the enormous rights deal’s broadcasters pay to show these – there is a lot more on offer than with most other bookies.

❌Unibet Weaknesses

• Clunky website: Unibet have upgraded their website in recent years and the product now is a lot more user-friendly than it once was, but it’s still surprisingly difficult to use for such a well-renowned bookmaker. The layout can be a little complicated but is far from a disaster, and as well as this, the site can be very slow to load and has a fairly regular tendency to lag.
• Subpar mobile experience: The problems which exist on the website are, unfortunately, also a feature of the mobile app. It can be very slow to load, has a tendency to shut down and also has a host of other issues which make it very difficult to use.
• Racing odds inferior to sports odds: This isn’t as significant a problem as the two aforementioned weaknesses, because the racing odds aren’t exactly poor; they sit around the industry average. Given the company is renowned, however, for their excellent odds, the fact that this doesn’t extend to racing from sports will likely be something of a disappointment to some.

👨‍⚖️Unibet Final Verdict

For most, I believe the strengths here will probably outweigh the weaknesses, with great odds and markets having a more tangible impact on your punting than the quality of the website and app. However, there’s no doubting that it can certainly be cause for frustration, and for many the issues outlined above could be a major turnoff.

Betting Variety ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
One of Unibet’s most notable features is their range of markets, so they deserve five stars for betting variety.

Banking Options ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Debit card will be the most popular choice; outside of that there is a decent selection, though some competitors do offer more.

Mobile experience ⭐⭐⭐
The mobile app is available for iOS and Android devices, but like the website, it is very slow and also prone to glitches.

Payout Speed ⭐⭐⭐⭐
There are no major issues with payout speeds. Money from winning bets generally appears reasonably quickly in your account.

Security ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Likewise, no issues here. As a major international company, Unibet has all the tools to ensure their site is as secure as possible.

Betting Experience ⭐⭐⭐
This is perhaps the one area where Unibet needs the most improvement. While they are a quality bookie, their website is inferior to most of the other top sites, which can negatively impact your betting experience.

Customer Support ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Customer support with Unibet is fairly reasonable – live chat, phone and email are all available, and it’s open from 7:30am-4am AEST.

Unibet is a major international company, and when they acquired BetChoice in 2012, entering the Australian market for the first time, they were far from a newbie unlike some other, less-established bookies out there. As a result, Unibet were already with the experience and knowhow to make an immediate impact, and that’s exactly what they have done!

They remain a popular choice for many punters around Australia, and their terrific fixed odds for sports is a mitigating factor as to why! The margin, essentially being the amount of profit they take for every $1 bet, is towards the lower end of the spectrum, which enables them to offer more generous odds on many major markets and attract plenty of customers as a result.

They also have a really broad range of markets to bet on, both in terms of the sports that they cover as well as the odds featured within individual games. I have found that the most common sports and leagues from Australia and abroad have a multitude of markets, extending beyond what many competitors offer. And as well as this, they also offer odds – albeit with a more limited selection of markets – on the more niche sports, thereby ensuring that they cater to a wide audience.

Unfortunately, they also fall down and likely lose customers due to what is a relatively poor website and mobile app, at least in relation to many of the other major bookies they are competing against. The website has long been an issue, with loading times longer than optimum and a tendency for lagging. This makes it difficult to navigate through the site quickly, and unfortunately the mobile site is much the same. Many users complain that it is difficult to use, and a handful of problems outside of slow loading times only serve to exacerbate the issue.

Overall, this makes for a relatively polarising betting agency. A functional website and mobile app are part and parcel of a good betting agency, but despite the fact that Unibet’s could use plenty of improvement, they make up for it in other areas in my opinion. While the website and app aren’t ideal, they aren’t a complete disaster – they’re still usable, and the slight frustration they can sometimes cause are, for many punters, more than offset by the great odds, wide range of markets and other features that the company offers.

I do think that Unibet can position themselves among the best of the best bookmakers in Australia if they are to improve the overall quality of their website and mobile app. However, for the time being, this flaw sends them a little way down the list in my view, but if you’re after great odds on sport, well then they should be one of your top choices regardless!

There are numerous questions that are asked on repeat about Unibet, and these are my answers to some of the most common among them:

It’s virtually obligatory for bookmakers to have a betting app or, at the very least, a functional mobile version of their website these days, and with so many punters opting to bet in this way, at least on occasions, bookies who don’t offer either will quickly fall behind. Unibet has both a mobile site and a mobile app, but how do they compare to that of their major competitors?

I have mentioned earlier in this review that the website is not exactly a strength of Unibet, and unfortunately these same issues are noticeable in their app. From an aesthetic perspective it’s decent enough, and on the surface, it looks relatively easy to navigate through. Unfortunately, however, the reality is a little different. The app is prone to regular glitches, often taking a long time to open new pages and at times even shutting down all together. This can be particularly frustrating and I think it is definitely something for Unibet to improve upon.

Another issue which has been flagged with the unibet betting app is that some users are immediately logged out once they exit the Unibet app, meaning they are required to log in every time they open it. It’s not uncommon for betting apps to log you out after a certain period of time, but if you are simply toggling between different apps, for example, and you need to log in every time you return to Unibet, well then I can certainly understand how this can be a frustrating experience for punters out there.

You do, of course, get to enjoy the benefits which make Unibet such a successful company overall, with the same fixed odds and wide range of markets available on the app as what you’ll find on the website. The fact that there are so many issues associated with it, however, and that it can regularly take far longer than it should to do what you need to do, is a major deterrent, and I feel that this is a clear area in which Unibet has significant scope for improvement.

I believe racing fans are well catered for at Unibet! There is a range of markets on virtually all meetings around the world, and they are easily accessible via the ‘Racing’ tab at the top of the homepage. As with most bookies, the upcoming Aussie thoroughbreds are at the top of the page, before international racing and then greyhounds and harness are positioned lower down on the page. The time of each race is clearly indicated, so you know exactly how long it is until the jump.

Once you click through to a certain race, you’ll find odds which are generally fairly competitive with the rest of the Australian racing industry. In fact, I have found Unibet to be right around the median in this regard; their racing odds aren’t as attractive as what you’ll find in Unibet’s sports offerings, but they generally compare fairly well with most other major bookies.

The pages for each individual race also have a good amount of detail regarding the runners, in particular for Aussie races. A race overview is placed at the top of the page, and it is accompanied by a handful of tips. And while I would say it’s never a great idea to rely solely on the tips published by a bookmaker, I feel as though the tips on Unibet can certainly be used in conjunction with tips and insight from various other sources.

The usual win and place markets will greet you upon clicking into an individual race, with both fixed price and tote odds available. Unibet offers the best tote price for win bets, while for place you’ll get mid tote. At the top of the page, you can then click through to exotics like exacta, quinella, trifecta and first four, while a head-to-head (H2H) section allows you to bet on specific horses to beat specific rivals in the race.

On the whole, I think that the racing component of Unibet’s site is fairly strong. They have markets on all races you’d expect, the racing section of the platform is easy to navigate through, and while the odds aren’t industry-leading, they are nonetheless still very competitive. Unibet excels predominantly in the world of sport, but nevertheless, they more than hold their own in that of racing!

So, now that we’ve spoken about racing, let’s move onto sports! As I have mentioned earlier, the range of sports that is offered by Unibet is extremely broad. Aside from the most popular codes and leagues, there is also a host of the more niche options, with almost 30 different sports on offer at the time of writing, and many more leagues than that are also available. Below, I gone into a bit of detail about some of those that they offer, particularly the sports that most people will be looking to punt on:

🏉Unibet Australian Rules Football

Footy, as it’s affectionately known throughout most of the country, is the preferred sport of a huge proportion of Australia, and it’s no surprise that it’s a major source of income for bookmakers as a result. Of course, the AFL is a clear focus, with a huge range of markets available for each and every game, but you’ll also find odds available for a handful of lower leagues as well, including the VFL, SANFL and WAFL.

🏉Unibet Rugby League

Those living north of Victoria on the east coast would no doubt bristle at the above statement about Aussie rules being Australia’s preferred sport, and this is due to their unwavering support for Rugby League! In the same way that Unibet’s Aussie Rules offering is centred around the AFL, you’ll find the most comprehensive rugby league odds on the  NRL. Every game in the world’s biggest league has a wide range of markets, while you’ll also find some more basic offerings on other leagues both in Australia and abroad.

🏏Unibet Cricket

As the weather warms up, a lot of the Aussie sporting world turn their attention towards cricket, and there is an appropriately wide selection of markets available with Unibet. The focus is on Australian international games as well as major domestic competitions like the Big Bash and IPL, but you’ll also find markets on international Tests, ODIs and T20s not involving Australia; as well as various other domestic leagues from around the world.

🏀Unibet Basketball

There are hundreds of different markets available on basketball on Unibet. For many of the smaller leagues around the world on which you can bet with Unibet, you’ll only find a handful of the more basic markets, but leagues like the NBL and, most significantly, the NBA, have a far more comprehensive selection. Personally, I think that if you’re looking for basketball markets to punt on, well then, you could do a lot worse than trying your hand with Unibet!

⚽Unibet Soccer

It might not dominate the Aussie sporting landscape in the same way that it does in many other countries around the world, but nonetheless, the interest and support for soccer in Australia is by no means insignificant! Given the number of different leagues around the world, many Aussie bookmakers offer a massive number of markets on soccer, and I have found that Unibet falls into this same category! At the time of writing there are close to 10,000 total soccer-related markets to punt on with Unibet, and these stem from close to 60 different countries around the world.

🏆Unibet Sponsorship Deals

Unibet doesn’t currently feature any sponsorships with sporting clubs in Australia, but the international branch of the company sponsors many major teams, including Paris Saint-German, Aston Villa, the Philadelphia Eagles and the New Jersey Devils.

There are plenty of reasons why Unibet has enjoyed so much success both around the world and within Australia, and many of these come from the quality delivery of the fundamentals of a bookmaker; things like great odds and a wide range of markets. However, the company also has a number of different features which are either unique, or something that not all bookies can lay claim to, and I believe that these help to further separate Unibet from many of their competitors. Below are some of the best features that Unibet has to offer:

Unibet Live Streaming

It’s not uncommon these days for a bookmaker to offer live streaming, but what exactly it is that they have rights to differs among each and every site. I have found that some only offer limited coverage of very niche events for which the broadcast rights are very low, whereas others show live racing but nothing else. I believe that Unibet is one of the best in the industry in this regard! They don’t have any racing streams, but they do broadcast over 400 events every week across eight different sports – including soccer, tennis and basketball.

Unibet Same Game Multis

Like live streaming, this has been a huge growth area in the Aussie bookmaking industry in recent years. Same game multis allow you to combine multiple outcomes from the same game into one bet, and its availability is generally a good way to distinguish the biggest bookmakers from the less established ones. Unibet, for the time being, only offers it on a limited number of sports, but they have stated that they intend to roll it out over more and more codes in the coming months.

Unibet In-Play Betting

In-Play betting is another feature which is fairly common among the biggest bookmakers, but is notably absent in some of the lesser known agencies. The live betting section of the Unibet site is easily accessible via a tab at the top of the home sports page, and a large number of events are on offer with what I find to be very competitive odds. I will also mention, as is the case with all Aussie bookmakers, to place an in-play bet you will need to call up, as opposed to placing it online.

So, now that I have gone through the sports you can punt on with Unibet, let’s find out what the bet types available for each of those sports are! As mentioned earlier in the review, one of the best features of Unibet is the wide range of different markets that they have on offer, so let’s take a look at some examples below:

Unibet Betting Markets:

• Moneyline
• Line
• Points Totals
• Margin Bets
• Player Props
• Quarter/half Markets
• Doubles Markets

Unibet Types of Bets Available:

• Single Bets
• Multi Bets
• System Bets (Doubles, trebles etc.)

So, you’ve signed up and know a little about Unibet – but to begin the betting process, you need to know about the payment methods on offer! I have found the choice available with Unibet to be reasonably basic, though the presence of the most common option should be enough to ensure that very few punters are turned off by the lack of choice.

That common option is debit card, which I find to be the simplest way to deposit and withdraw, and one which a large number of punters opt for. You can deposit virtually as soon as you sign up by simply entering your card details and imputing your desired deposit amount. After this your deposit will immediately land in your betting account.

You’ve also got a couple of other deposit methods if you don’t wish to use your debit card. PayPal is one, while you can also use POLi and Apple Pay. The first couple of these in particular are among the most popular payment methods outside of debit card, so their availability should keep plenty of punters happy!

As is the case with all betting sites, however, withdrawing isn’t quite so straightforward. Before you withdraw, you’ll first need to verify your card, a necessary security method but one which betting sites always show a lot more haste to implement prior to withdrawals from their site versus deposits into their site. It is, however, reasonably easy to verify your card, and you can then withdraw using this method, though expect it to take at least a couple of days to arrive back in your bank account.

And in terms of withdrawal options, on top of the aforementioned debit card option, users can also use PayPal, which will see money sent to your PayPal account rather than your bank account. That aside, you can also do a bank transfer, which, like with the use of debit card, will see the money arrive in your account in generally between 2 and 5 business days.

All in all, without being industry leaders in this space, I feel as though Unibet are with a sound variety of deposit and withdrawal options, certainly enough to keep the majority of punters satisfied!

Yep! Unibet is licensed and regulated by Australia’s Northern Territory Government, as are many fellow bookmakers around the country. This effectively means that they are subject to much the same regulations as all the other legitimate bookies in Australia, and as well as this, it ensures a level of security and trust between the bookie and its clientele. Unibet Australia is operated by Unibet/BetChoice Corporation Pty Ltd, and has a registered Australian Business Number which you can locate at the bottom of the home page of their website.

Every bookmaker has some form of customer support, but just how extensive and useful it is can vary greatly across different agencies. Some are with a range of different methods to get in touch, some of which can be available 24/7, meanwhile others make it a little more difficult. I believe Unibet falls somewhere in the middle of the pack.

There are a range of different ways to get in touch with them, so that’s not too much of an issue. A live chat feature which is accessible in the bottom right-hand corner of every page on the Unibet site is the easiest way to do so, while they also have a phone number if you’d prefer to ring up, as well as an email address for more complicated enquiries. And on top of this, the customer service agents are generally reasonably helpful in my experience, albeit sometimes without a smile on their faces!

While by no means a dealbreaker of any stretch, I have found one slight drawback to be that Unibet’s customer service branch is not 24/7. They are operational from 7.30am-4am, and while not all hours of the day and night, this is nonetheless still a pretty generous time slot for a customer support team. It means very few punters will be left stranded without help if they have an issue unless they are punting at some very obscure hours of the morning.

Overall, I think the whole process is decent enough. Customer support is available for a large portion of the day, the most popular ways to get in touch are available, and customer service agents are, for the most part, able to help you out, even if at sometimes it seems to be done with a little less of a smile than with some competitors.

In this section, I will provide a few quick and easy rundowns on how to perform various key actions when using Unibet.

🔎How to open an account on Unibet

Registering with most bookmakers is a fairly simple process, and it’s no different with Unibet. These are the steps you need to undertake to do it:

• Head to Unibet.com.au
• Click on the big yellow ‘Register’ button in the top right-hand corner of your page.
• Fill out your personal details on the first page of the process, including your name, date of birth and mobile number, then click ‘Continue’.
• On the next page, you’ll be asked to fill in your home address. Complete this and again, click ‘Continue’.
• You’ll then be asked to create a few security questions, which can be later used to validate your identity, before acknowledging that you are over the age of 18 and accept the terms and conditions. Once you’ve done this, click the ‘Join’ button and you’re all signed up!

🔎How to place a bet with Unibet?

Once you’ve opened an account, you’re obviously going to want to know how exactly to go about placing a punt. The process is very simple, and all you need to do is follow these steps:

• Locate the market on which you wish to bet and click on the corresponding odds.
• A bet slip will pop up in the bottom right-hand corner of your screen with the selection, the odds, and a blank box.
• Type the amount you wish to bet into the aforementioned box, and a potential payout will then appear below telling you how much you’ll make if the bet is a winner.
• If you’re satisfied with both the bet and the outlay with which you’re placing, click on ‘Place Bet’ and then approve in the confirmation page which follows.
• Once you’ve completed these steps, you’re away, and you can find your bet under the ‘My Bets’ tab atop the page.

🔎How to get in contact with Unibet customer support team?

Have a question or query? Unibet has a solid customer support team ready and willing to help you, and this is how you can get into contact with them:

• Click on either the ‘help’ link at the top of your Unibet page, or scroll to the bottom and click on ‘Help Centre’.
• On the right-hand side of the page that you are then directed to, you’ll see two buttons enabling you to access ‘Live Chat’ and ‘Email’, while a couple of telephone numbers are also listed.
• To use live chat, you’ll need to use this method and click on the ‘Live Chat’ button. You can also do this to send an email, or you can simply head to your own email and send it to customerservice@unibet.com.au, while for a phone call simply use the number on the site on your personal device.
• On occasions you may have to wait for a member of the customer support team to respond if it’s a particularly busy time, but generally you’ll be looked after within a few minutes.

Features: Great odds, wide range of markets, live streaming, in-play betting
Sports covered: Australian rules football, rugby league, cricket, basketball, soccer
Apps:  Yes, available on all iOS and Android devices.
Payment options: Debit card, PayPal, POLi, bank transfer, Apple Pay
Contact information; Live chat, phone, email