Bookmaker.com.au
Year established: 2012
Mobile compatible: Yes
Jurisdiction: Australia
Overall rating: C-
Recommended: For recreational players
Bookmaker.com.au Sportsbook Review
Bookmaker is a newly formed bookie that is owned and managed by the huge betting corporation Ladbrokes Digital Australia, which is great news for its competitive and profitability in the future of online bookmaking. Bookmaker is an Australian focused betting company, being fully licensed and regulated by the Northern Territory Government, so you can definitely be certain that your funds are safe, and fair gaming practises are followed. The bookmaker also ticks a box on the ethical gambling front, being a part of variety organisations trying to cut out problem gambling. The site has a big focus on favourite Australian sports and past times, tapping into this large and continually growing betting market.
Betting Markets
Bookmaker has a decent selection of Australian focused sports right on the homepage for you to explore, just scroll down past a bit of the advertising and banners and click through to go to the sports section. The site offers Horse Racing as its main focus, but also has all the biggest sports you can think of – Soccer, Basketball, Rugby and Cricket to name but a few. For each sport you can explore the different leagues, and click through to open up a variety of betting markets on a specific event. There’s a decent level of depth here, enough to keep 99% of sports bettors happy, although its important to note there’s significantly less on some of the more random minor leagues. You can place singles, doubles, even 10+ selection Accumulators too to take the excitement factor to the next level.
Live Betting
Live Betting is a thing on the Bookmaker website too, where you can dive in and see all the events that are taking place at this very moment across the world. The odds for these sports are set at pre match, and if you’re interested in betting in play, you’ll need to contact Bookmaker via the dedicated In Play Betting number, and get one of their lovely operators to sort you out.
Casino
Unfortunately and through no fault of its own, Bookmaker isn’t currently able to offer any form of online casino on its platform. This is down to Australian legislation, and so wont affect the outcome of this review.
Usability of the Site
Bookmaker is set up a little differently to other bookies in the online space, with advertising about upcoming offers, games and promotions. The banner based layout for the Sportsbook is a refreshing changing from utilising the standard toolbar to search for your favourite sports to bet on, the site also definitely looks the part too. Modern graphics and a distinctive colour scheme, although a little similar to Betfair, definitely works in the sites favour. A definite negative however, the name bookmaker isn’t really as memorable, and particularly through google search, is likely to be lost to a range of other websites on similar topics. For deposits and withdrawals, you’ll need to use Visa and MasterCard, no E Wallets at the current time. Each customer gets their own dedicated account section, and also a solid customer support base through the standard online and telephone methods.
Conclusion
To conclude, Bookmaker is quite well put together, and its appealing to see the extra use of icons, buttons and banners over the usual drop down menus and mass of odds, giving a nice visual element to the site. The only negative that can be mentioned here is the generic use of the name Bookmaker, which could have an impact on the number of customers visiting the site, and therefore hit the bottom line.
Advantages:
– Parent company is trusted world-wide company Ladbrokes;
– Over 35 different kinds of Sports including, NRL, AFL, Soccer, Athletics, Volleyball, Golf;
– Vast variety of sports betting types;
– Extremely slick design and betting interface;
– Easy access to funds with Bookmaker ATM card;
– Excellent web design, easy sign up and verification process;
– Good customer support;
– Quick withdrawals.
Disadvantages:
– Not as many sports markets as some rivals;
– No live online betting (due to Australian law);
– Not many specific racing event promotions;
– Higher than average bookmaker margins;
– E-wallet services like Skrill and Neteller aren’t offered.
Payments:
Visa/Mastercard, PayPal, POLi, Bank Transfer
*Keep in mind to double check information. Be prepared for changes to restricted countries, bonuses, currencies, deposit and payment options, languages, contact info.
It has closed…
Gamble Responsibly. Call Gambler’s Help; National Gambling Helpline: 1800 858 858 or visit www.gamblinghelponline.org.au, 18+.