How to find the best rugby betting site
Rugby is one of the world’s toughest contact sports, but it’s not all about brute strength and ruthless aggression. The free-flowing, high-scoring nature of rugby makes it great for betting, and with so many markets to choose from, punters are spoiled for choice. So, if you don’t know your ruck from your maul, or your scrum from your line-out, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered! Let us introduce you to the basics of rugby betting and the best bookies to use for your rugby bets.
Global Coverage
Rugby is a popular game in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. This provides bettors with action all year round from domestic leagues such as England’s Gallagher Premiership and the National Rugby Championship in Australia. On top of that, there are numerous club tournaments like the Heineken Champions Cup and Challenge Cup, plus internationals including the Six Nations and Super Rugby from down under. When selecting your personal top rugby betting site, you want to assess the depth of global coverage to ensure that it caters to your wishes. As you will discover, some sites go that extra mile, whereas others prefer to keep things more local and in-tune with their present customer base. Here’s a quick list of the main club and international leagues and tournaments you’ll find at most top betting sites:
- Six Nations
- Gallagher Premiership
- Guinness PRO 14
- Heineken Champions Cup
- European Rugby Challenge Cup
- Mitre 10
- Super Rugby
- Currie Cup
- Rugby Championship
- Tyrrells Premier 15s
Market Depth
Punters are served up a glut of markets to feast on at the top rugby betting sites. When armed with a good knowledge of the game, this is where the smart bettors can sniff out the best value bets on offer. Let’s take a closer look at some of the main markets open for betting.
Match Winner
It’s the classic bet and by far the most popular betting market due to its straightforward nature. Do you think Team A or Team B will win? Or will the match be a draw? With the high scoring nature of the sport and the multiple methods to tally up points, draws aren’t common, so you can expect to find a good price if you fancy the match to end as a tie.
Winning Margin
This market will offer a series of betting options, each with different odds for you to mull over. You’ll usually be able to back either team to win by 1 – 7 points, 8 – 13 points or by over 14 points. You’re essentially betting on two outcomes here; the match result and the margin of victory, so of course, landing a winner is much harder, but you’ll find some great value for your betslip.
Half Time/Full Time
If the odds on the match result aren’t great, you can bank on this market to boost your odds. To land a winner, you’ll have to correctly predict the half time result, as well as the full time result, which is easier said than done. Naturally, there are several combinations you can choose from. It’s a good betting market if you’re aware of a team that has a habit of coming out firing but fading later in the game, for example.
Handicap
If one side is the clear favourite, bookies use handicap markets to level the playing field for punters, making the match a more attractive option for betting. The stronger team will have a negative handicap, and the opposite side a positive handicap. For instance, if the line for Team A is -4.5, it means that they must win by 5 points or more for you to win the bet. However, if the underdog line is +4.5, you’ll win as long as they don’t lose by five or more points.
Over/Under Total Points
If you’ve ever bet on sports online, you’ve probably heard of some sort of over/under market. You place a bet on whether you think the total number of the points in a game will be more or less than the number set by the bookmaker.
Outright Betting
Whilst most betting action takes place in the present, the top rugby betting sites also provide a stellar array of futures markets, commonly known as ‘outrights’. These will be on the winner of a certain domestic league or cup, the next Six Nations or even the 2019 World Cup. Outright betting is a double-edged sword. On the positive side, you can get better odds on most teams the early you bet on something. However, the flip side is that it’s harder to make a prediction on a market that is settled months in the future. Variables such as Injuries to key players and changes to coaching staff are impossible to foresee and almost always have a huge impact on the outcome of a season.
Live Betting
With such a high tempo, high scoring style, rugby is a perfect game for in-play betting. When looking for the perfect bookmaker, this is something you really should consider. The vast majority of online bookies are proud to tell you that they offer live betting, but remember that you’re looking for comprehensive coverage for a top notch in-play betting experience. You’ll want to check out the market depth on a few in-play games to see if the coverage is acceptable. Bet365 is considered by many to be the benchmark for live online betting as it offering the most comprehensive coverage, both in terms of the number of live in-play events it covers and the range of markets that accompany each fixture. In addition to simply betting, it pays to assess what other features the bookmaker brings to the table. You can find some rugby betting sites offering live streaming on selected matches. This provides you with the opportunity to watch the game and therefore make better informed betting decisions. Live statistics is another noteworthy feature as these can also help guide your betting decisions. Once you’ve placed your bets, you’ll want the option to bank any potential winnings or cut your losses before the final whistle too, so keep an eye out for bookies offering cash out on in-play markets
Specials & Promotions
It’s not easy for an online betting site, especially a new one, to get noticed in such a crowded space. The markets on offer are generally quite similar, and with bookies pricing competitively, you’ll rarely find significant differences in the prices on offer at. Therefore, one of the ways, the bookmaker will aim to keep your attention is by rolling out a series of promotions and specials. You can find bookies, such as Betfred, that pay out double the odds if you place a pre-match bet on the first try scorer market and the same player goes on to score a second try. Another punter-friendly rugby offer is bet365’s ‘Extra Time Extra Chance’. With this special if you place a match winner bet and the scores are tied at the end of normal time, the bookie will pay out if your pick wins it in extra time.
Bonuses
In general terms, promotions are driven towards existing customers, and the bonuses are aimed at attracting new punters to the site. Both are important when looking for a top rugby betting site. Many sign up bonuses can be used across a range of sports, so you’ll be able to use them to bet on your favourite rugby markets. Although bookmakers bonuses come in a variety of shapes and sizes, we’ve highlighted the main two types you’ll find.
Matched deposits
This is a very simple bonus. The bookmaker will match your deposit up to a certain value. For instance, 100% up to £50. There will be a minimum amount you have to deposit to activate this offer, usually it is £10 (but it could be £20 with some sites). Therefore, if you deposit £10, it’s matched so you have £20 to bet with. You can deposit more, but the bonus amount is capped, so a £100 deposit still only gets you a maximum £50 bonus. Although the face of the bonus may appear the same between two betting sites, as a punter you need to review the terms and conditions to measure the true worth of the offer. How many times do you have to wager the bonus cash? What odds can you bet at? How long do you have to clear the wagering? Those are the three main questions you want answered. When you have that information, you’ll see which offer is the best value.
Free Bets
The second bonus type is free bets. These are often floated around both for new and existing players, so that’s something to take notice of. When related to a deposit offer, the bookmaker will state, for example, deposit £20 and get £20 in free bets. As above, there will be strings attached, so it’s your duty to check the small print of the bonus to see what they are. Things to look out for are minimum/maximum betting odds allowed, excluded bet types, and expiry dates. A quick tip, you cannot use cash out with free bets. If you do, the bet will be invalid and you’ll lose any potential winnings.
Mobile
Will you be a mobile bettor? If so, you want the best rugby mobile betting platform. Many of the top sites provide native apps for iPhones, iPads and Android devices. Other sites keep things totally web-based. As a punter, the choice is yours as to which method you’d prefer to bet on. What we can assure you is that the modern day mobile sportsbooks are action-packed. No corners have been cut. You get the same range of pre-match and live betting markets, streaming if available, bonuses, promotional offers and other betting tools such as cash out and stats centres.
Rugby Betting Tips
Compare.bet is an online gambling comparison website, so we don’t offer tips on this team will beat that team. However, there is one essential rugby betting tip that we will share. It is ‘research’. Most of the top rugby betting sites on our list are connected to Betradar or Sportradar. These are two of the leading sports data analytics companies in the world. Everything you want to know about upcoming rugby matches will be provided for you. You can find a team’s current form, H2H record, fixtures, player stats, average points per games (for and against), when they score the most points and much more. The more informed you are before betting the better your chances of success. We cannot guarantee you’ll win every time, but we do know professional sports bettors don’t merely rely on luck, so knowledge is the secret ingredient.
Compare & Bet
That’s Compare.bet’s basic guide to rugby betting. We hope to have driven you over the opposition’s 22-yard line with this information, so all that’s left is for you to get over the try line. In order to do that, have a browse through the list of top rugby betting sites above. Based on what matters to you, your style of betting and bankroll, choose the site you like the best. Then sign up, claim a bonus and enjoy the thrill of punting online.