PlayUp Review

A high-quality betting site with little to be critical of.

My rating: 4.5/5

A note from Australian Betting Sites: Our expert writers perform in-depth research on each sportsbook to provide you with their professional, impartial opinion. However, when you click on certain links in the review and make a deposit, we may receive a commission (don't worry - this costs you nothing).

PlayUp has long been one of the best new betting sites in Australia, but having launched back in 2019, it’s probably time to ditch the ‘new’ tag. The rest of the statement, however, remains pretty spot on. PlayUp is one of the better bookies in the country and one of the largest among the home-grown cohort, doing most things well and excelling in a couple of key areas. 

There is little to be overly critical about with PlayUp; they have a really solid selection of markets across both the PlayUp sports and racing platforms, are renowned for their friendly and accessible customer support team, and have a great app and desktop site punctuated by their recognisable green and black colour scheme. 

PlayUp preceded the current wave of new betting sites taking the industry by storm by a few years, but from the get-go it was clear that there was plenty to like about them. A few years down the track, they have continued to grow, and there is no reason to think that this high-quality bookmaker will not remain a major part of the industry for many years to come.

Let’s kick off this PlayUp review with a look at the racing component of their site. There is a well-rounded PlayUp racing platform that enables punters to partake in horse racing, harness racing and greyhound betting on both the desktop site and mobile app. They offer all of the markets that you would expect to find, covering both domestic and international races with win/place bets as well as exotics like quinella and trifecta.

A valuable addition to PlayUp’s racing platform which isn’t universally present is that of Same Race Multi. A newer concept than the popular Same Game Multi for sports betting, an SRM allows you to select up to four runners to either win, finish top 2, top 3 or top 4. This lets you bet on multiple runners without necessarily needing them to finish ahead of all other runners.

PlayUp also has a couple of other nifty features in their racing section. Aside from the basic horse racing tips, which are pretty common on Aussie betting sites, you will also find an ‘Easy Form’ tab which allows you to quickly and easily access key information about runners, including their rating and suitability for this particular race. On top of that, you can watch the ‘Mounting Yard’ live on the PlayUp site to get a look at the runners before the jump.

Of course, while these are valuable additions, it’s the odds that can really set betting sites apart (either in a good way or a bad way) when it comes to racing. A quick look at PlayUp relative to their competitors has them right around the middle mark.

In an upcoming domestic horse race, for example, the favourite is coming in at anywhere from $2.20 to $2.40 with major betting sites – at PlayUp that runner is bang in the middle at $2.30. Some of the longer odds runners are a little shorter than average, though there is some variability from race to race and in general, PlayUp tends to fall in around the average. If you’re looking for the absolute best odds – be it for Melbourne Cup betting or punting on the Tuesday country races – you can do better, but you could certainly do far worse, too.

The PlayUp app is available for download on iOS and Android device, and provides an easy and flexible way to access everything that this bookmaker has to offer. For starters, the app looks great, decorated with PlayUp’s recognisable grey and black colour scheme. Of course, we need more than good looks to give an app a positive review, but fortunately there is a lot more than just appearance to like about the PlayUp betting app.

It's got a really intuitive layout that provides a nice point of difference from the plethora of new betting sites which use the BetCloud platform, and you’ll have no issues navigating to wherever you need to go quickly and easily. The app loads really fast and generally feels very ‘light’ – whether that’s the technical term, I’m not too sure! What I mean by that is that in contrast to some other, ‘heavy’ betting apps, which can tend to lag and seem to make your phone slow down, the PlayUp app doesn’t have an such problems.

Reviews of the app are by and large positive, with punters referring specifically to the aforementioned characteristics. Ease of use and functionality are the standout features of this app, so if you’re after an easy way to punt on the go then you could do a whole lot worse than the PlayUp betting app.

Like the app, the PlayUp desktop site is super easy to use. Apps are increasingly becoming the preferred choice for punters, but if you’ve got your computer up and running then the PlayUp betting site is one you’ll likely be more than happy to use in place of your phone.

It follows a relatively typical layout, with both PlayUp sports and racing markets over to the left hand side of your home screen. Each sport for which the PlayUp bookmaker has markets can be found via the dropdown menu titled ‘Sports’, while there are also quick links to a lot of major events like NBA and AFL games, to help you get where you want to go quicker.

Up the top of your screen, you can also click through to racing and sport, while there is also a link through to PlayUp’s live betting – more on that in the section below – as well as their range of promotions. 

In all the layout of the website is relatively standard, but that’s not a bad thing. You’ll find everything where you expect to find it, and most importantly the website loads really quickly. We said earlier that PlayUp doesn’t do much wrong, and their quality website is another example of that.

PlayUp has a couple of notable features that help them to stand out from the crowd. These, in my opinion, are the best:

Live betting

Live betting is certainly not as common as pre-event betting in Australia, thanks in no small part to the regulations which dictate that you have to call up to place such bets, but it is still a popular way to punt. Despite that, many bookmakers do not offer it, likely due to the extra staff required to take the bets. PlayUp, however, offers a solid live betting platform which covers most major events and many smaller ones. Live betting markets are never as in-depth as pre-event markets nor are the odds generally as good and that’s the case here too, but nonetheless this bookie still offers a really good selection for live betting.  

Multi express

It’s no secret that multi betting is a pretty popular way to bet these days, and PlayUp ‘Multi Express’ makes it easier than ever to put one together. The ‘Multi Express’ tab at the top of the desktop site and bottom of the app takes you to a page which enables you to choose a three, four, five or more leg multi on the favourites in the sport of your choice. For example, if you click on the AFL and look at ‘Fav 3 leg’, you’ll be automatically given the odds for a bet which multis the next three favourites – same goes for the next four, five and so on. 

Of course, given that minimal research is going into this it should be used as more of a ‘fun bet’ – don’t go putting your whole kitty on it. But for those times when you just want to have a cheeky flutter on the day’s action, this is a quick and easy way to go about it.

As someone who likes to seek out value in player props – as you’ll notice in the NRL tips and AFL tips available on the site – the range of markets available at a particular betting site is one of the primary things that I will consider when analysing a betting site. While some smaller bookies tend only to offer really basic markets, even on major sports, the best betting sites will have hundreds of options for big games and a decent selection even on smaller sports. The PlayUp betting markets fall somewhere in the middle.

Let’s take an upcoming game of NBA, as an example; with the playoffs in full swing, bookies are putting plenty of energy into these matchups. PlayUp is offering a little over 250 markets at the time of writing for the next game in the NBA Finals – less than some of the biggest sites which offer closer to 500, but certainly more than plenty of competitors and more than enough for most punters to sink their teeth into.

For major sports leagues, you’ll find all the markets that you would expect and plenty of player props, with odds for most players to reach particular milestones in major statistical categories. A slightly quirky feature of PlayUp in this regard is that their numbers can be quite specific – in the NBA, for example, you can bet on players to score 12, 15 or 18 points, or to have 5, 8 or 10 rebounds, but not the numbers in between. 

In terms of racing, the markets are pretty standard on the PlayUp betting site, as they are with most betting sites. The main point of difference is the availability of Same Race Multis, which isn’t available with every bookie, but racing markets are what they are and will never change too dramatically across different betting sites.

Now to the odds – an area which many punters won’t even notice all that much, but which you should certainly be keeping an eye on. As far as odds go, PlayUp is generally relatively competitive – certainly not industry-leading, but at least average if not better for most markets.

As mentioned earlier, their racing odds are generally right around the mid-tier, though for major sports markets they’re a little above that. Take line bets, for example – where the bookie sets a handicap for the favourite and then offers similar odds for both teams relative to that handicap. Bookies will generally offer anywhere from around $1.87 to about $1.91 on these markets, and for major leagues PlayUp typically offers $1.90 – far closer to the top-end than the bottom.

Importantly (certainly for me!), their player prop odds are really competitive too. This is an area in which there can actually be a huge amount of variance and if you don’t do your research you can find yourself on the wrong end of some pretty poor odds. If you’re punting on props with PlayUp, however (pardon the tongue-twister), then you can be sure that you’re getting some pretty solid odds.

It would be remiss of any PlayUp betting review to ignore promos and bonuses, so let’s take a look at what you can expect. The selection of promotions available at PlayUp does not exactly stand out from the crowd, but they do offer enough of the standard betting bonuses to keep most punters happy. Don’t expect to find anything completely out of the box here, but if you’re after things like a PlayUp bonus bet, then their promos for multis that miss by a leg are a good place to start, while you’ll also find other common betting bonuses here.

Of course, given that the promos available at PlayUp are constantly changing – as they are with every betting site – we can’t tell you exactly what’s available. In fact, even if they weren’t changing we couldn’t, because it’s illegal! But as a general rule, if you’re looking for promos with PlayUp, you’ll find plenty of common bonus types.

Signing up with PlayUp is as easy as you can imagine, as it is with virtually every betting site these days. Simply follow these simple steps to create an account.

1. Head to the PlayUp website.
2. Select the ‘Join’ button in the top right-hand corner.
3. Enter a few basic details, such as your name, date of birth, address and phone number, as well as your desired username and
4. password.
5. Choose whether to set a deposit limit, click ‘Create Account’ and voila, your account will be created.

Okay I’ll admit, deposit and withdrawal options is not exactly the most thrilling topic in the world. But it does form one strand of the web that is every betting site, and is worth at least mentioning in this PlayUp review as a result. While some bookies offer every payment method under the sun, an increasing number are just sticking to the basics like debit/credit card and bank transfer. Once again, PlayUp is somewhere in the middle.

Payment options with the PlayUp betting site include debit/credit card, electronic funds transfer, POLi, BPay and CashUp, Note that debit/credit card, POLi and CashUp deposits will appear immediately in your account, but the others will take up to a day. When withdrawing, the most common option is a bank transfer, and this will also take up to a day or so to arrive back in your bank account.

PlayUp is often lauded for their quality customer service, and that doesn’t come from nowhere. They hit the trifecta of contact options, providing each of a phone number, email address and live chat to help you out if you’re in trouble.

Live chat would almost always be my first port of call – it’s an easy way to get a resolution there and then, and you can keep doing whatever it is you’re doing while just checking back every now and then to the chat box. Importantly, the customer support agents using this platform are usually really responsive and quite helpful, certainly more so than with many other betting sites, and it’s this ability to quickly and efficiently respond to and resolve requests that makes PlayUp’s customer support platform so well regarded.  

As we near the end of this detailed PlayUp review, let’s wrap things up by answering some of the most frequently asked questions that people have about this Aussie-owned betting site.