Sportsbet Best Sports Betting Site?

sportsbetI’m sure there are a lot of punters out there who would love to know which is the best sports betting site. I’m also sure that a lot of punters out there who have seen the Sportsbet ads who are wondering if Sportsbet is the best sports betting site. Seeing as that is what I do I decided to check Sportsbet out.

I have to admit that I did like the site. I checked it out using my MacBook air and my iPhone. It loaded quickly on both devices. It’s also very easy to navigate and I believe that to be a very important factor.

I decided to join and that was also a painless process. Because I live in South Australia I wasn’t able to take part in any joining bonuses that they had on offer. I spoke about that in my post about Australia being a Sports Betting Nanny State. That was a bit disappointing but that wasn’t their fault.

Luckily for me though I received the following email the next day.

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Hi Peter, 

September is here! It was only two weeks ago that rivals Geelong and Hawthorn played at the ‘G and they’re back again this Friday night to kick off Week 1 of the AFL Finals. Premiership favourites Sydney host Fremantle Saturday afternoon at ANZ Stadium with the Dockers expected to give Buddy and the boys a run for their money.

Contending for appearances in the Semi Finals next weekend are the winners of North Melbourne V Essendon (Saturday 7:15PM AEST) and Port Adelaide V Richmond (Sunday 3:20PM AEST).

Whether you’re a fan of the game or a fan of the finals teams, we’re gearing up for four fantastic weeks of footy, so we’re kicking you a bonus bet offer worth up to $50!

How do I use my bonus bet offer? 

  • Login with your Username:  
  • Deposit $50 into your account and we’ll match it with a $50 bonus bet!
  • Hurry! Your bonus bet offer expires at Midnight (AEST), Sunday 7th September 2014
  • Terms & Conditions apply. View Here

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How cool is that? It looks like the Government can control what you get before you join a sports betting site but not what you can get after joining one. Good onya Sportsbet

Sportsbet Good Points

Seeing as how I’ve just joined Sportsbet I reckon I should probably do a followup post later. A Sportsbet review, so to speak. Having said that who best to ask about Sportsbet best points than Sportsbet themselves! Here is what they say are their best reasons for punters to join them.

  • They offer Money Back Specials on all sports.
  • Best Prices on horse racing with Top Tote
  • Provide the best Odds, Value and markets
  • Offer Live Streaming on 1000’s of events
  • And, they make betting fun!

If you’re a regular reader of this blog you know how important that last one is for me. I’m all for enjoying my sports and I place a small wager on certain games so as to increase the enjoyment factor. I also know I’m not the only one that gets a kick out of placing a bet on my favourite games.

Here is a couple of promotions you may be interested in.

I reckon only time will tell exactly how good these guys are. You may want to subscribe so you don’t miss out on any future updates. 😉

The Complete Handicapper

best handicapper book for handicappingIf handicapping is the art of picking the winning horse in any given race then I reckon you could say that a handicapper is the person who predicts the winner in a horserace. If that’s true I think it’s safe to say we all want to become a good handicapper. So how do you become a good handicapper? You could just go to a whole heap of races and pick it up a bit at a time. This could be pretty costly though. And if you’re a complete novice like I am it could take forever and still be not better at being a proficient handicapper.

Why Becoming A Good Handicapper Is So Difficult

The reason why becoming a good handicapper is so difficult is because of all the variables involved. You need to know the horse. Has it run the distance before and if so how did it do? How does the horse perform on the surface of the racetrack? So you need to know how the horse performs on the different surfaces. Some horses will perform better on turf than dirt for example.

A good handicapper also needs to consider the jokey. Has the jockey won on this horse before? This could be an important factor. A good handicapper also considers the trainer. What is the win rate of the horse trainer. A horse trainer with a good win rate is more likely to win that one with a poor win rate so you should check the horses trainer as well.

If you’re lucky you may bump into trainers at the track who would love to share some of their knowledge with you. You may even pick up some handicapping tidbits by eavesdropping on conversations. 😉

Personally I think your best bet of becoming a good handicapper is to read up on as many handicapping books that you can get your hands on. I’ve done a bit of research on the subject and I’ve found the customer feedback on James Quinn’s The Complete Handicapper: You Can Beat the Races! to be exceptional. I’ve imported the relevant information on this great book into this post for your convenience.

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Are there any books that you can recommend for our readers?

 

Sports Betting Nanny State

You guys know that I am all for responsible gambling. I’ve written about it often enough. I’ve even dedicated a post to responsible gambling. I’ve even written a post about problem gamblers. Therefore I am all for it when governments introduce laws and regulations to help the problem gambler. Sometimes I have to wonder if they go over the top a little and turning the sporting industry into a virtual nanny state.

Ben Groundwater actually calls Australia a nanny state in his article Australia: The Great Nanny State! I was wondering about the online sports betting industry being treated as a nanny state by our government when they force online betting sites like bet365, Sportsbet and Sportingbet $500 Free Bet Link to either remove any free offers or to have a disclaimer on the page offering them to prospective online sports punters. Like that link to Sportingbet. There used to be a time when all new punters could partake in the free bet offer. Not anymore. Check out the disclaimer at the end of the page.

Sport Betting Nanny State Rules

“This offer is not available to residents of Victoria, South Australia, NSW (effective 28 May 2014) & Western Australia.”

sports betting nanny state

Luckily for me, living in South Australia, I signed up to bet365 before this dumb rule came into being. Personally I think it’s unfair to all those responsible gamblers out there. I also don’t think it’s going to do any damn good anyway. I didn’t become an online sports betting punter because of the $200 free bet offer. I was going to join that day anyway. I personally don’t believe that those free bet offers suck prospective gamblers in. People join because they want to be able to place a bet on line with ease and without the hassle of going to a bricks and mortar betting site, like TAB, or to have to place it by phone. Am I wrong? If I am let me know in the comments section below.

So why do these sites have these offers? I think it’s obvious. Online sports betting is a competitive market and these offers are merely to attract punters to join their respective online sports betting sites.