Rugby is one of the most popular sports for South Africans to bet one. Rugby betting hit a new high during the Springboks 2019 Rugby World Cup win and bookmakers now offer more rugby betting markets and odds than ever before.
Rugby Betting in South Africa
South Africa has a strong rugby culture with several local competitions and leagues taking place, which rugby punters follow with interest. It’s this incredible popularity that has driven South African sports betting sites to improve their rugby betting odds and promotions.
In this article we’ll be looking at some of the best rugby betting sites in South Africa as well why rugby punters should consider using them. Whether you like betting on the 6 Nations, Super Rugby or Rugby League we are confident you’ll find the right bookmaker to suit your needs.
Rugby Betting Sites
In South Africa punters are blessed with a wide variety of bookmakers, each offering a unique and exciting experience. The bookmakers listed below are some of the most popular ones for not only Rugby Betting, but for other sports like Soccer, Tennis and more. We’ve also posted comprehensive reviews of all the bookmakers, which you can view should you want to know more about the bookmakers features and promotions.
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Sportingbet
Sportingbet are South Africa’s Premium online sports betting site. They offer extensive betting markets and odds on Super Rugby, Sevens Rugby, 6 Nations, Rugby Championship and more. Sportingbet also offers rugby punters great features like cash out, auto cash out and edit my bet. All which will come in handy when betting rugby live.
Sportingbet is offering new customers a 100% deposit match bonus up to R2000 on their first deposit. Read our Sportingbet review for more details.
Betway
Betway have seen incredible growth in the rugby department, having added dozens of new markets for rugby punters, both in play and pre match. Their odds are competitive and the betting platform is easy to use on your phone, so placing bets on the go is no problem. Betway also offer several unique functions like cash out and bet boost, as well as weekly promotions on a variety of sports. Betway cover all major rugby competitions so finding a bet is easy!
New customers also get a R25 Free Bet on registration and you can read more about the bookmaker in our Betway Review.
Hollywoodbets
Hollywoodbets are on of the oldest rugby betting sites on SA, as well as being one of the most loved. Hollywoodbets don’t have the features that you’d find at the likes of Betway or Sportingbet, but they make up for that with competitive rugby odds and interesting markets. The mobile site is perfect for punters on the go and they have numerous promotions for customers to take advantage of.
Customers who open an account with Hollywoodbets can claim a free R25 bonus, to be used within 24 hours of registration. If you’d like to know more about Hollywoodbets then have a read through our comprehensive review.
Rugby Betting Explained
Rugby betting can be overwhelming at first, but with our guide it doesn’t have to be. There is a wide range of betting markets for you to choose from when betting on any particular rugby game or outright winner. You’ll need to know what the main markets are and what they mean in order to have a successful rugby bet. We’ll be briefly explaining the main markets below;
- Match Result; Betting on who will win the match, ie Team A win, Draw or Team B win.
- Double Chance; Betting on a team to win or draw or either side to win in a single bet.
- Halftime/Fulltime; Betting on who will be leading at the end of the first half and the second half.
- Odd or Even Total; Will the combined total points be odd or even?
- Half Time Result; Betting on what the result will be at half time, home win, away win or draw.
- Highest Scoring Half; Betting on which half will have the most points scored.
Rugby Betting Handicaps Explained
Betting on handicaps is hands down one of the best markets for rugby punters to take advantage of. Handicap betting isn’t complicated, a rugby handicap is a point “handicap” enforced on a team and is either + or -. Both of which we’ll be explaining below.
For a handicap bet to win you’ll need to beat the handicap in the following ways;
– Handicaps in Rugby
When betting on a – handicap the team you back will have those points subtracted from the final score when settling a winner. To beat a – handicap your team needs to win by more than the handicap. For example you bet on Stormers -10.5 v Japan, you’ll need to subtract the 10.5 off the Stormer’s final score to see if your bet won. An example would be if the Stormers win 21-7, the result for your handicap will be South Africa’s 21 points, minus the handicap, giving a handicap score of 10.5 – 7, resulting in a win on the -10.5 handicap bet.
+ Handicaps in Rugby
These are the opposite of betting on a – Handicap, for a + handicap to win you’ll need your selection to win the game or lose it by less than the handicap amount. For example you backed the Bulls +16.5 against the Stormers and the final score is Stormers 25 – 15 Bulls, a +16.5 bet on the Bulls would mean the final score for betting purposes is Stormers 15 – 31.5 Bulls, resulting in a win on the Bulls bet. If a team you backed on the + handicap wins outright your bet will also be resulted as a win.
Start Betting on Rugby
We hope you found our Rugby Betting Guide helpful and you now know where to get the best markets and odds but also how handicap betting and other markets work. Should you have any questions on which bookmaker to join or how to open an account please let us know in the comments below and we’ll do our best to assist you. Remember to check the Best Sports Betting homepage for more betting guides and promotions. Best of luck with your rugby bets!
