How to Bet on Aussie Rules
To bet on the AFL from South Africa, you back a market on a licensed bookmaker like Scorebet, in rand — and the smartest place to start is the line, a points handicap on the favourite, rather than the straight match result. The AFL is a high-scoring code where one side often outclasses the other, so the line is what turns a lopsided game into a fair, roughly even-money call. Here’s how the whole thing works, market by market.
What you’re actually betting on
The Australian Football League is the top competition, an 18-team season that ends with the Grand Final. Games are fast and high-scoring, and that scoreboard range shapes every market. The four you’ll use most are the line, total points, the match result and the margin — each answering a different question about the same game.
The first habit to build: don’t reach for the match result by default. In a mismatch the favourite is priced so short it’s barely worth the risk. The line and the total are where a real read pays.
The line — the AFL’s main market
The line is a points handicap. The bookmaker gives the favourite a points start to overcome — for example minus 18.5 — so backing them means they must win by 19 or more. Back the underdog at plus 18.5 instead, and they can lose by up to 18 points and your bet still pays.
That handicap is the bookmaker’s estimate of the gap between the sides, set to make the call about 50-50. A half-point line (the “.5”) means there’s no tie: your bet wins or loses cleanly. It’s the single most important market to understand, because it’s where most of the AFL money and the sharpest pricing sit.
The other markets worth knowing
| Market | The question it answers | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| The line | does the favourite cover the handicap? | the default — a fair call in any mismatch |
| Total points | over or under the combined score line? | when you’ve read the conditions and tempo |
| Match result | which side simply wins? | only when an underdog is genuinely live |
| The margin | which team, by how many points? | a precise read on a likely blowout, bigger odds |
The full set, with the outright premiership and Brownlow markets, lives in the aussie rules bet types guide.
A worked rand example
Say a favourite is set at minus 18.5 on the line at odds of 1.90. You stake R100 on them to cover.
- The favourite wins by 25 points: minus 18.5 covers, so your bet wins. Your return is R100 × 1.90 = R190 (R90 profit, your R100 stake back on top).
- The favourite wins by only 12: they won the game but didn’t cover the handicap, so the line bet loses and you’re down your R100.
That’s the lesson in one bet — backing the favourite to win and backing them to cover the line are two different calls. You place this at Scorebet, where the line, totals and match markets run live across the season.
How AFL bets settle and pay
AFL markets are fixed odds — your price locks when you place the bet, whatever it does afterward. The bet settles once the result is official, generally just after the final siren. Your return is stake multiplied by the decimal odds, the stake already included. A whole-number line that lands dead-on the margin is usually a push with your stake returned, which is exactly why most lines carry a half-point to avoid the tie.
That’s the foundation. Next, work through the aussie rules bet types for the full board, or step up to the sports betting overview to see where the AFL sits alongside the rest, and take the live markets at Scorebet.
Frequently asked
Do I need to know the AFL teams to bet on it?
It helps, but the line market does a lot of the work for you by handicapping the favourite, so you're betting on a margin rather than picking from scratch. Start with one or two markets, follow the form for a few rounds, and you'll read the games far faster than you expect.
How does a half-point line work in the AFL?
A half-point handicap like minus 18.5 can't land exactly on the margin, so the bet always wins or loses cleanly with no push. If the favourite wins by 19 or more, minus 18.5 covers; by 18 or fewer and the underdog's plus 18.5 pays. The half-point exists precisely to remove the tie.
When does an AFL bet get paid?
A fixed-odds AFL bet settles once the result is official, usually shortly after the final siren. Your return is your stake multiplied by the decimal odds, with your stake included in that figure. Winnings are paid to your account balance ready to withdraw once you're FICA-verified.
How does AFL scoring work, and why does it matter for betting?
A goal is worth six points and a behind is worth one, so a scoreline reads like 14.9.93 — fourteen goals, nine behinds, ninety-three points. It matters because totals and the line settle on the points figure, and a side that's kicking inaccurately can dominate play yet rack up behinds instead of goals, quietly wrecking an over bet that looked safe on the run of the game.
Why are AFL lines so much wider than in lower-scoring codes?
Because the game scores in the dozens of points rather than ones and twos, the gap between sides is expressed in much bigger numbers — a handicap of 30-odd points is routine where a soccer line would never stretch that far. The practical effect is that AFL margins swing hard late, so a line that looks comfortably covered at three-quarter time can still flip in a fast final quarter.