PlayUp Review 2022

PlayUp is a newcomer to the Australian sports betting landscape, having only joined the fun as recently as 2019. However, in this short time we have seen them make great headway, managing to position themselves as the best in the industry with regards a variety of important areas.

In my experience, the most notable among these are the website and mobile app that PlayUp offer, both of which appear as clean, and easy to navigate through. As well as this, I believe their customer service is of a very high standard, namely due to availability and accessibility as they are operational 24 hours, 7 days a week. As with all companies, they are with their flaws too, but overall I view this as a high-quality bookmaker that should continue to improve and grow with experienced gained in the coming years.

PlayUp is a high-quality bookmaker with a variety of important strengths, but as is the case with every ‘bookie’, they aren’t perfect. Below, we’ve taken a look at some of their most significant strengths and weaknesses:

✔️PlayUp Strengths

• High-quality website: The PlayUp website is one of the best in the industry, offering an efficient and streamlined experience which lays out all the important components of a betting website in a logical, clean fashion, while also providing users with a fast-functioning interface to place their punts.
• Elite mobile app: Like the website, the PlayUp mobile app is among the best in the industry. The layout of the app is slightly different to the online site, and this is so that content is positioned comfortably onto a smaller mobile screen, however, the app functions every bit as efficiently, making it easy to use PlayUp on the go.
• Great customer service: The customer service offered by PlayUp is about as good as you could hope for! They are contactable through live chat, phone and email – the three most efficient ways to get in touch with any bookie – and importantly, these customer service features are available 24 hours a day, every day of the week.

❌PlayUp Weaknesses

• Scope for more sports: PlayUp offers markets on all of the most common sports and has numerous novelty markets such as ‘entertainment’ and ‘politics’. However, they do have room to improve in terms of featuring more niche sports and categories on their platform.
• Lack of markets on popular events: It’s often the case with newer bookies that there aren’t as many markets even for the biggest events, and while PlayUp does fairly well for a group with as little experience as they have, there are plenty of competitors who offer a wider range of markets.
• More payment methods could be added: This might not be an issue for everyone, particularly if you keep it simple with credit/debit card as your deposit and withdrawal method, but there is certainly room for PlayUp to add a few more payment methods to their arsenal.

👨‍⚖️Playup Final Verdict

For most people, the strengths mentioned above will likely be more relevant than the weaknesses, though those who like to dig deep for value in less common places might be put off by the fairly limited number of sports and markets. However, I can confidently say that PlayUp are with a great website, app and customer service platform, all of which makes for a high-quality overall betting experience, and if this is what is most important to you then PlayUp may be worth checking out.

Betting Variety ⭐⭐⭐⭐
There is a good, but not outstanding, variety of different sports and markets available with PlayUp.

Banking Options ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The banking options available should be sufficient for most, but there are less payment methods offered versus that of some of their competitors.

Mobile experience ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Excellent. The mobile app is available for both iOS and Android users, and it is easy to use in terms of its functionality and user interface.

Payout Speed ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
PlayUp is generally quite punctual in terms of their payouts.

Security ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
No problems with the security; PlayUp is licensed and regulated by the NT Racing Commission.

Betting Experience ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Courtesy of a fantastic website, the betting experience with PlayUp is very good.

Customer Support ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Among the best in the industry. They offer live chat, phone and email, and importantly, they are available 24/7 for customer support.

Like many of the areas we will cover in this review, the racing component of PlayUp is comprehensive, yet easy to navigate through. I have found that you can access the markets in a couple of different methods. So, what are these methods? Well, the upcoming events in the three different forms of racing can all be accessed via PlayUp’s home page, and as well as this, a list of the most significant future races is available to users immediately below this section.

Going into more detail, if you wish to take a look at every available race, simply click the racing tab on the left-hand side and select the type of racing that you want to explore. If, for example, you select ‘thoroughbred racing’, you’ll be taken to a page which lists every Australian race from that day at the top, with international races from the same day underneath. You can also click through to view results from previous days, or view scheduled races that are set to jump in the next two days, as well as futures on offer.

So, once you have found the race you are looking for, what’s next? Well, you’ll be greeted with a fairly simple and clean page, which shows all runners and their win/place odds in that race. If you wish to access exotics such as ‘quinellas’ you can click through to these at the top of the page.

I have found that another area in which PlayUp could improve is through the addition of some race information on each individual race page; where, in this context, we see many other bookies offer something of a preview and tips for the race, or at least information about each individual runner. PlayUp’s offering is fairly limited in this area.

In terms of the odds offered, I believe that PlayUp sits somewhere in the middle of the pack relative to other Australian bookmakers. When the gates open for an Australian race, their margin is generally around 120% – what this means is that the cumulative probability of each horse winning is 120%. If, for example, a horse jumps at $2, it should theoretically be a 50% chance of winning. If we did this maths for every horse, the total should be 100% if bookmakers made no profit, but they do and so a horse with a 50% chance of winning would be paying closer to $1.80. A 120% margin at the jump is around the middle of the pack; some get closer to 116-117%, while others are in the high 120s, so PlayUp neither excels nor falters in this area.

Overall, I feel that the racing component of the website is a relatively good one. It’s easy to navigate through, the odds are solid, and the only significant area in which they could improve is through the addition of more race information on each race page.

So, we know about PlayUp’s racing coverage and the features that they offer, but what about their sports coverage? Do they offer only the basics, or do they branch out into some of the more obscure, niche sports played around the globe?

At the time of writing, there were 22 different sports available on PlayUp. This isn’t a huge number and it falls behind many other bookies, though they do cover the major sports and there are a handful of less common events thrown in there that aren’t available with all competitors. In fact, PlayUp offers a host of markets for both ‘Entertainment’ as well as ‘Elections’, so TV fans and the politically-passionate can put their money where their mouth is. There are also a number of markets for the increasingly popular E-Sports genre.

Outside of this, it’s the most popular sports which take centre stage on the PlayUp platform, and this is where users can find the vast majority of PlayUp markets. Sports like Australian rules football, rugby league, cricket and soccer are all available. And with this, odds for virtually every event of any interest – and plenty of those which won’t generate much interest at all – can be found on PlayUp.

PlayUp could, however, improve by having a few more markets available on some of the biggest matches in the biggest sports. For example, while every AFL game is available and each of them does have a decent array of differing markets, they fall a little behind some of the biggest bookies with regards to how many different markets and props you can bet on in these individual matches.

Overall, the sports coverage offered by PlayUp is reasonable, but I would not call it outstanding. The number of different sporting codes offered by PlayUp is a little less than some of their major competitors, but they do cover the major sports and have a handful of novelties which also generates niche interest. I think PlayUp can benefit from offering a few more markets and props on some of the more popular games, though there are still enough to satisfy the majority of punters.

Now that we’ve discussed PlayUp sports coverage, and briefly touched on how many markets are available across different sports, we can now take a look at what the specific markets are that PlayUp offer!

PlayUp’s Different Betting Markets

• Moneyline
• Line
• Total points
• Player props
• Quarter/half time markets
• Big win/little win

PlayUp’s  Different Types of Bets Available

• Single/fixed win
• Multis
• System bets (doubles, trebles etc.)

An important step in the punting process is, of course, depositing and withdrawing. Whether a bookmaker has the methods that you would prefer to use, or not, can make or break whether you want to sign up. Typically, the most straightforward way to go about it is by using your debit/credit card, and virtually every betting site will offer this, so if that’s your preferred method then it won’t bother you too much what else is available. If, however, you have another way that you prefer to deposit and withdraw, then the availability of the more niche payment options is far more important.

PlayUp falls into the extensive aforementioned category of bookies with whom you can use your debit/credit card, but they have a multitude of other options too. The majority of those are related to deposits, with many more options to get money into your PlayUp account than to take money out of it.

Probably the most common way to deposit aside from credit/debit card is using POLi, but you can also use paysafecard, or deposit money into PlayUp’s bank account and then let them know using BPay Notification or EFT Notification. Credit/debit card, POLi and paysafecard will typically see funds arrive in your account almost immediately, while the latter two might take a little longer.

For withdrawals, your only option aside from credit/debit card is bank transfer. As is often the case with bookmakers, you’ll need to verify your card and/or bank account before you can make withdrawals, and you will also need to wait a few days before the money arrives back in your bank account. Typically, with PlayUp, you can expect it to reach your bank account within 2-5 days of your withdrawal, though it does depend on your bank. 

Overall, PlayUp doesn’t have the most exhaustive range of deposit and withdrawal options available, but there is likely enough here to give most punters at least one method which they can use without too much hassle.

If you use a bookmaker for long enough it’s almost inevitable that you will, at some point, need to get into contact with them, and it’s for this reason that customer service is such an integral component of any bookie’s offering. The worst customer support platforms offer minimal ways to get into touch, limited hours and unhelpful agents, while the best make it easy to get in touch in a variety of different ways and company representatives are willing and able to help once you do. PlayUp falls into the latter category.

In my experience, the easiest way to get in touch with PlayUp is via live chat, which is readily available via a small bubble in the bottom left-hand corner of whatever page you’re on while scrolling through the PlayUp website. Simply click on the button, type in your question and you’ll be able to converse almost immediately – aside from when there is significant traffic – with a customer service agent. Alternatively, you can give PlayUp’s customer service team a call on 1800 752 987.

Already these options – in particular the live chat – make for a good and effective customer support platform, but what makes PlayUp’s support stand out from the rest is the fact that both of these two methods of contact are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This is in stark contrast to most other bookies, whose customer support platforms are available for only a limited time during the day. A 24/7 platform ensures that you can be confident you’ll be able to get in touch anywhere, anytime with PlayUp.

As well as what has been mentioned above, a final method of contact users can use if they need assistance from PlayUp is email. Simply send the team an email at  support@playup.com.au and you can expect a resolution within a couple of days. This is definitely the slowest way in which to have your query resolved, however, if you have a particularly complex issue or something which isn’t urgent per se, then this can be relevant to you.

Rounding out what is an excellent part of this PlayUp offering is the fact that the customer service agents are typically quite friendly and helpful. Overall, this makes for a great customer support platform, one which operates at all hours of the day and has a range of contact methods which make it easy to get in touch with them. And I believe it is these features that help to position PlayUp among the top bookmakers in terms of customer service.