Important Notice
The following statement was released by Luxbet on December 15, 2017:
In August, Tabcorp Holdings Limited (Tabcorp) announced it was undertaking a strategic review of its Luxbet business.
The review has determined that Luxbet is no longer aligned with the long-term strategic interests of Tabcorp and as a result, Luxbet will be closed.
From 8am on Friday 22 December 2017, you will no longer be able to deposit or place any bets via your Luxbet account, but you will still be able to withdraw, plus view your details and previous account transactions.
If you have available funds in your Luxbet account, you have until 19 January 2018 to withdraw these.
If you have unresulted bets as at 8am on Friday 22 December 2017, you will be refunded the greater of your stake or the cash out value (subject to availability).
Introduction
The following is an in-depth review of the betting agency Luxbet. This review covers the history, features, interface, sports & racing markets, upsides and downsides of the service.
This review is part of our comprehensive Bookmaker Reviews section. The Betting Agencies page provides information and reviews for other sports betting agencies that are suitable for Australians. The following details are updated periodically to keep them up to date.
History, Location and Licence
Luxbet was launched in September 2008 by Tabcorp Holdings, an ASX 100 listed company. Tabcorp also owns and operates TAB Sportsbet. TAB Sportsbet is licensed in NSW and Victoria, while Luxbet is licensed in the Northern Territory.1
Luxbet is one of the later entrants to online sports betting. For this reason it offers generous sign up offers in an attempt to gain market share. Because it is not as established as its sibling bookmaker, Luxbet offers better value odds than TAB Sportsbet.
Luxbet is an approved sports betting operator for the AFL, NRL, Cricket Australia, Tennis Australia and the PGA of Australia.
Services and Features
| Deposit options | Credit card (VISA and Mastercard), Skrill (Moneybookers), POLi, BPAY, bank transfer |
|---|---|
| Withdrawal options | Bank transfer |
| Transaction fees | None |
| Currencies | AUD, EUR, GBP, USD |
| Languages | English |
| Odds formats | Decimal |
| Minimum deposit | No minimum deposit except if using bank transfer, which has a minimum deposit of $300. |
| Minimum bet | $1.00 |
| Maximum payout | The maximum amount that may be paid out on any wager win via the telephone or Internet (both singles and multiples) is AUD$150,000, subject to specific bet type limits. In addition, all sports multiple wagers are subject to a maximum win of 1,500 times the client’s wager and all racing multiple wagers are subject to a maximum win of 10,000 times the client’s wager. |
| Deposit turnover requirements | 1x |
| Bonus credit turnover requirements | 1x. Wagers must be at odds of 1.50 or more to count towards the turnover requirement. |
| Bookmaker margin | 5.5%, which is above the median bookmaker margin of 5.5% in the latest bookmaker margin survey. From a punter’s perspective, the lower the margin, the better. |
| Quantity of markets | Averaged 41 markets per fixture in the latest bookmaker markets survey. This is below the median score of 61. |
| Credit facilities | Available upon application. The minimum credit facility is $250. |
| Forbidden Jurisdictions | United States of America, Netherlands, Hong Kong, Germany, Turkey, Denmark, France, Hungary, US Virgin Islands, Dutch Antilles |
| Mobile betting? | A mobile version of the website is available along with iOS and Android apps. |
| Identity checks | Luxbet will attempt an electronic identification check if you do not provide copies of identification within 90 days. Australian residents can verify their identity online. |
| Dormant account fees | None |
Betting Interface and Website Layout
Luxbet uses a horizontal navigation menu to select sports. Two rows of sports are shown by default and you click on the More+ icon to display the full list. This approach is becoming more common because it frees up space for odds to be displayed, however it can take longer than normal to find the right sport if you’re new to the website. The upside of the navigation menu is it is customisable. You can manually select the sports you wish to have appear in the top rows, which saves time if you regularly bet on a less popular sport.
When you select a sport a list of leagues is displayed within the navigation menu. If you are searching for a specific football league the process can be slow because scroll bars are needed to search through the list of countries, but for most leagues you are only a few clicks away from what you’re looking for. When you click on a league, instead of odds being displayed, a list of markets is displayed within the navigation menu. You must instead click on the ‘All’ icon for a sport if you wish to view all upcoming fixtures.
The odds display area is the best we’ve seen. The odds are displayed in a really concise manner, which reduces unnecessary scrolling up and down the page. For football fixtures the head-to-head, draw no bet, handicap and over/under odds are displayed together for every fixture, while for rugby league the he head-to-head, line, margin and draw odds are displayed. Links to view additional betting options are displayed to the right of each fixture, with a number denoting the number of markets. When you move your cursor over one of these links, a list of additional markets is displayed for that event, with links that enable you to jump straight to that market.
The betting slip is displayed on the right hand side of the page. Unlike some bookmakers, you confirm your wager on the following page, rather than from the page you were initially on. Once you click ‘Place Bet Now’ a full betting slip page is displayed, which features all single and multi bet options. As you type in stake amounts the total stake and potential winning amounts are automatically displayed. You can opt to enable ‘Quick Bet’, which allows you to place single bets without having to add them to your bet slip.
One neat website feature is a ‘Quick Multis’ link at the top of the navigation panel. This enables you to quickly create multi bets using the available head to head or line odds for popular sports, such as the AFL. Once the page loads the multi bet selections automatically default to the shortest odds selections.
Sports Markets
Luxbet offers betting on a broad range of sports with an excellent depth of markets for each fixture. AFL and NRL are heavily catered for, with over 150 betting options on most matches. Rugby union is also well covered, with around 20 markets per game. The major American sports are catered for and a huge range of football leagues are covered. The selection is more than adequate for most punters’ needs and is enough to make Luxbet suitable as a stand-alone membership.
Horse Racing
Luxbet offers horse, harness and greyhound racing across Australia and selected overseas events. Win/Place, Quinella, Exacta and Trifecta options are available. A number of Tote options are offered for most races, and fixed odds are also available on the more popular events.
Race horse owners and trainers who join the ClubXtra program receive a 12% win bonus every time they place a bet on a horse they own or train. Also, Luxbet claims to offer the most advanced horse racing blackbook in the marketplace, offering email and SMS alerts.
Live Sports Betting
Due to Australia’s Interactive Gambling Act 3, live online betting is not available for Australians. Australian customers must phone in to bet live. If live online sports betting is what you’re after, be sure to check out our survey of betting agencies that offer live online betting.
Upsides
- No minimum deposit for most deposit methods
- Feature-rich betting interface with concise odds display
- Flexi betting offered on exotic multis
- Frequent bonus bet and odds promotions
- Luxbet is backed by the entertainment giant Tabcorp
Downsides
- Live online betting is not available to Australian residents (due to Australian law)
- Navigation menu takes some getting used to
- Customer service is average. We’ve been underwhelmed when using both the live chat and phone betting service.
- Known to suspend or limit the accounts of successful punters
- Often slower to display odds for upcoming fixtures than leading competitors
- Higher than average bookmaker margins
- Fewer markets offered per fixture than the leading Australian licensed bookmakers
Bottom Line
As far as selecting a bookmaker goes, Luxbet is a solid bet. They provide the reassurance of being backed by Tabcorp while the interface is feature rich with a concise odds display. The new navigation menu takes some getting used to but it does have the upside of being customisable. The betting selection isn’t quite as deep as some of the biggest overseas-owned bookmakers, but it is more than adequate for most punters’ needs.
Notes and Sources
- 1 http://www.tabcorp.com.au/about-us.aspx
- 2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interactive_Gambling_Act
- 3 POLi facilitates online bank transfers that are acknowledged by the bookmaker instantly. This enables you to log into your banking provider, transfer money to the bookmaker, and place bets immediately.