Online Bookmakers / Andy Morris / 14 March 2009 / Leave a comment Bet Now

With a recently re-designed website and a slew of added features, Colin Tidy's Betchoice is fast becoming one of the biggest movers on the corporate bookmaking scene. Betchoice grew out of respected on-track Sydney bookmaker Colin Tidy racecourse business, and have relocated to the lucrative Northern Territory after originally basing themselves in Sydney.

Betchoice offer fixed odds betting on all Metropolitan, Provincial and Country racing through Australia. On metropolitan meetings you can bet Fixed, Top Fluc (30 minutes prior to the race) Best of 3 Totes and Tote Plus 5%, giving punters plenty of options when placing bets. They have also recently added the ability to place Quinellas, Exacta and Trifecta bets on their site. They also offer 'middle tote' for win and place bets on all Harness and Greyhound Racing, as well as international thoroughbred racing covered by Sky Channel.

Among Betchoice's unique features is the showcasing of the market percentage that they are betting on each option (Fixed Win, Bets of 3 Totes etc) which in general has been exclusive to Betfair, with most other bookmakers not wanting to provide this feature to client. There odds (and in particular the direct on-course fluctuations) update automatically on the site, preventing the need to constantly click the refresh button to get the most current odds.

Betchoice also has one of the most attractive sign-up bonuses, offer 20% bonus on deposit, up to a maximum bonus of $1,000, which is most generous, and certainly attractive the slightly larger player who is interested in making a more substantial initial deposit.

One of the key features Betchoice is known for is their pre-post markets, in particular the Golden Slipper. Whilst most bookmakers are reluctant to take on this market early on in the piece with so many unraced 2YO runners, they are unknown to most anyone bare the inner sanctum. They pride themselves on their ability to garner as much information on these little known runners as possible, and place a lot of emphasise on barrier trial and back their ability to price the market correctly, however it certainly provides the opportunity to the owners to back their own unraced 2YO when they may know more about it than anyone else.

Their phone service is quick and efficient, with most operators providing on-course fluctuations to clients on the horse they want to back.

There sports service has increased markedly in depth of late, with almost everyone sport imaginable available. They are particularly competitive on NRL, AFL and Super 14 where they offer $1.93 lines. And have shown a desire to be market leaders in some aspects (Top NRL tryscorer for example) as well as providing exotic markets on golf that few Australian bookmakers offer.

Betchoice have odds of 34.0 about North Melbourne winning the AFL flag this year; they quote Phil Mickelson as an 8.0 chance to win the US Masters, but do not have odds on the State of Origin yet.