MyBettingSites Interviews: David Dwyer, Bookmaker

There’s around 85 online bookmakers currently operating in Australia, why should Aussies choose DaveBet and what kind of punter is DaveBet best for?

"We welcome all genuine punters on our platform. I’ve built DaveBet to a point where we’re happy to take on punters of all size and skill. We have a few pro-punters that bet with us frequently and feedback from them is all positive because they get let on what they want to back.

We’re always looking at ways to satisfy recreational punters and have been testing out a range of new promotions on our client list to see what punters are responding to.

Obviously, we only offer gallop, harness, and greyhound racing at the moment, but because of this we are able to keep our market prices well-above average and allow our customers to bet on racing products that corporates don’t offer, such as BOBs (best of the best), TF (top fluc), BT (best tote) etc."

What does Australia’s Biggest Betting Bookie mean and how did you get that slogan?

"It’s a name that someone who works for me coined and it just caught on. I’m definitely one of the biggest holders on-course, but I think that label is more in reference to the quality of bets I take. I don’t tend to shy away from the big market movers and most of the time use that information to make my book."

Why did you choose to operate through MyTrackPrice?

"When building my site/brand I was looking for what system I would want to punt through. Exclusively racing and extremely simple appealed to me the most.

The software has since introduced a lot of new features and will soon have NRL markets available which I’m looking forward to, but the simplicity of the system is still my favourite thing about it.

It’s easy to use and there’s nothing worse when you’re trying to place a bet in the dying seconds and have to navigate through multiple pages."

You recently rebranded from David Dwyer Bookmaking to DaveBet, why and has it been successful?

"The re-branding has gone amazingly and is very popular with our younger punters. I’m very happy with the move and excited to see what can be made of it. The choice to re-brand came from the shift on-course that every bookmaker will have noticed.

It’s sad to think that the old days of bookmaking are gone, however, I think we’re entering a new era of betting which will hold its own challenges and opportunities. That’s how DaveBet was formed – it was about moving into the new era of wagering."

What are your ambitions with DaveBet?

"I don’t have any long-term set goals or timelines at the moment. Having worked in this industry for as long as I have, I know it can be fairly unpredictable. Focusing on 2023, we’re hoping to continue building and establishing the new brand while we figure out what punters want from their wagering provider this year.

The last two years have proven challenging due to the increase in bot-betting and “bowler” accounts which forced us to pull back a lot of promotions that we wanted to offer our customers. We now have systems in place to identify these accounts, which will allow us to re-launch this initiative and get back on track."

Is there anything else we should know about DaveBet?

"I have a small team of people who work for me that I trust implicitly – something that is necessary in this line of work. From the people who work with me at the track on ground level to those working behind the scenes with the online business, it’s a solid dynamic that I don’t take for granted.

Obviously, we’re looking at launching NRL markets soon which I’m excited about given my history with league. This will be a great opportunity to see how in-demand sporting markets are with my clientele.

We have a few plans in-mind for products we are going to offer during carnival season, so stay tuned!"

Any last comments on the state of bookmaking in Australia?

"I think we’re going to see a lot of changes this year in all aspects of punting. Now that bowler accounts and bot-systems are more easily identifiable, a lot of operators are going to be inclined to bring promotions back to compete in the industry.

The last year has been very hard on smaller local bookies who can’t afford to lose to bot systems or proxy accounts and, as a result, they couldn’t risk offering anything which made it very hard to compete with the likes of Betr and other corporates."