Unibet vs. Betfair - What's the Best Small Betting Site in Australia?

Small betting sites are popular in Australia because they often have competitive odds, new features and they are less likely to restrict winning accounts.

Two of the most popular, and best, small betting sites in Australia are Unibet and Betfair. But which of these small online bookmakers is better?

Unibet is one of our favourite Australian betting sites, small or big. They have a huge range of sports betting and racing markets, competitive odds, great live streaming options and tons of payment options.

Betfair is a bookmaker that many people have heard of but not too many punters actually use it. That's because Betfair is a little different. They have a betting exchange which means that other punters, rather than Betfair, offer prices for betting markets. This means you'll often get the best odds for big sporting events on Betfair. Betfair also has a good app and heaps of stats and insights.

But which of these two small Australian betting sites is the best?

Here's a hint: The best small bookie has the word 'bet' in its name

Getting good odds is the most important thing for many Aussies choosing a betting site.

Small betting sites tend to have good odds because they have to work hard to compete with bigger bookies but does Unibet or Betfair have better odds?

The answer depends on the sport or race that you want to bet on.

Unibet has high odds for all sports and racing events, whether that's their in-play or pre-match odds.

Betfair is much more inconsistent. Because of their betting exchange, Betfair only has odds offered by other Aussie punters. There is no bookmaker margin so in a perfect world these odds represent the true market price for an outcome.

This means that Betfair often has the best odds for the biggest events - think AFL matches, EPL matches, tennis majors, Australian horse races and the FIFA World Cup. However, it also means that for smaller races or sports, their odds are often very poor.

So, if you want to bet on a big event, then we reccommend Betfair, otherwise, stick to Unibet which has great odds across the board.

Note that on the Betfair Exchange the blue bets are 'back' bets. When you 'back' a bet you think that that outcome will happen, just like when you place a bet on a regular betting site (see the images below).

Betting Markets are the individual outcomes that you can bet on for a sports event or race.

But does Unibet or Betfair have more betting markets?

Unibet has a few more sports available to bet on than Betfair - like WWE, Surfing and Water Polo. They also generally have more different betting markets (like goalscorers, corners, fouls, first team to score etc.) per event than Betfair - although this is not exactly true as we'll explain below.

For every bet offered by Betfair, they have two types of bets that you can make which essentially doubles the number of markets available. This is because the Betfair Exchange has the option to place 'back' bets and 'lay' bets.

When you 'back' a bet you think that the outcome will happen - this is how you bet on a traditional betting site like Unibet eg. 'backing' a horse to win a race.

When you 'lay' a bet you think that the outcome will not happen - you essentially act as the bookmaker eg. laying a horse to NOT win a race.

This means that you have more overall markets to bet on for events offered by Betfair.

However, because another punter has to lay a bet for you to be able to back it, some of these markets have bad odds, or cannot be bet on at all.

Therefore, Betfair does have the most betting markets, but if you want to bet on more niched betting markets then you'll probably find the best odds and options on Unibet.

Betting apps are becoming more and more important for Australian punters and both of these small betting sites - Unibet & Betfair - have great betting apps.

You can download Apple betting apps from the Australian App Store and Android betting apps from the betting website of your chosen small bookmaker.

Unibet's betting app is one of our favourites. That's because it is easy to use, fast to load and has heaps of great features. This include stats and insights, a great cash-out feature and live streaming.

Betfair has recently released a new betting app that is particularly good because of its simple navigation and range of tips and insights which can help you to make informed bets.

However, we reckon that the small betting site with the best betting app is Unibet.

That's because there is more you can do with the Unibet app. They also have a great blog, multi betting function and live betting interface.

Before choosing one of these two small online betting sites it's definitely worth checking if your preferred deposit and withdrawal methods are accepted.

Both Unibet and Betfair accept popular betting payment methods like Credit/Debit Card, Bank Transfer, Apple Pay, BPAY, Skrill, Neteller and POLi.

However, each small bookmaker also accepts payment methods that the other does not.

Unibet accepts Ecopayz, Flexepin and Cash In while Betfair does not.

Betfair accepts Osko while Unibet does not.

Therefore, Unibet offers more payment options than Betfair and so is the best small betting site for payments.

Not only does Unibet offer more payment options than Betfair but the fact that they accept PayPal is also a huge drawcard.

Not all small betting sites in Australia actually offer live streaming so we are pleased to report that one of these bookies does.

Unibet has live streaming, Betfair does not

In fact, Unibet is one of the best Australian betting sites, small or big, when it comes to live streaming.

They have thousands of events available every month from the NBA, to Championship soccer, Australian and international racing and smaller esports and tennis betting markets - to name just a few.

All-in-all, Unibet has 30,000+ different live streams every year.

To watch Unibet's live streaming you just have to head to the in-play section, select live streaming and make sure that you are logged in, have money in your account or have placed a bet in the last 24 hours.

Live betting is popular because it gives you the opportunity to place informed bets based on how a match is progressing. When you bet live you also have the opportunity to predict how a match will end and take advantage of over-priced odds.

Unibet is great for live betting because they have plenty of in-play markets, they have an interactive live betting interface with changing stats and graphics and because they offer plenty of live streaming options for a range of events.

Betfair has a pretty ordinary looking live betting platform but their odds are often the best.

Due to Australian betting law, live betting must be done over the phone. You'll still see live betting odds online.

If you are looking for the best live betting odds, then Betfair is the site for you but if you want pretty solid odds, more markets and stats, a live betting interface and live streaming then Unibet is the best small bookmaker for live betting.

It wouldn't be right to give Betfair this round just based on their odds - that's why they won round one. Therefore, Unibet wins this round because their live betting experience is awesome.

After an intense battle between two of Australia's best small betting sites the final round is customer support.

There are good and bad aspects to both Unibet and Betfair's customer support options.

Unibet has live chat, a phone line and an email address that you can use to contact their team between 9 am and 2 am AEST.

Betfair's customer support team is available 24/7 but only by phone or email. They do, however, have an extensive FAQ section, as well as the option to get a personalized demo of the Betfair Exchange by ringing their phone line.

While the type of support that Betfair offers is definitely unique, the fact that Unibet has a live chat option for their website and app is a bigger drawcard. Plus, not being able to contact them between 2 am and 9 am AEST is not a huge deal for us.

Therefore, Unibet takes out this final round and is the undisputed, best, small Australian betting site.

After two early wins, Betfair looked like it was going to be a strong contender but 5 unanswered rounds gave Unibet a convincing lead and eventually the title of Australia's best small betting site.

Round 1: Betting Odds - Betfair

Round 2: Betting Markets - Betfair

Round 3: Betting Apps - Unibet

Round 4: Payment Methods - Unibet

Round 5: Live Streaming - Unibet

Round 6: Live Betting - Unibet

Round 7: Customer Support - Unibet

Of course, you may just want to bet on popular events and you may only care about the odds you're getting, in which case Betfair is the small bookie for you. However, we recommend creating accounts with both betting sites - that way when you don't get anyone to lay or back your bets on the exchange then you can still bet at Unibet.

You may also want to check out some of our other favourite small betting sites in Australia like PlayUp and Draftstars which we also think are better than Betfair.