Betting on the National Rugby League (NRL) involves wagering on various markets across the 27-round regular season, the highly anticipated State of Origin series, and the high-stakes NRL Finals. The most popular ways to bet on rugby league include Head-to-Head (picking the outright match winner), Line Betting (wagering with a virtual points handicap), and Same Game Multis (combining multiple player and team props from a single match). To place an NRL bet on Sportsbet, simply navigate to the Rugby League section, select your match, tap your chosen market, enter your stake, and lock it in.
Key Questions Answered in This How To Bet on the NRL Guide:
What is NRL Match Betting (Head-to-Head)?
Also known as the H2H market, this is as straightforward as footy punting gets. You are simply backing which team you think will win the game outright when the final siren sounds after 80 minutes.
How does NRL Line Betting work?
Line betting applies a point spread to even out a lopsided matchup. If you back a heavy favourite at a line of -9.5, they must win the game by 10 points or more. If you back the underdog at +9.5, your bet wins if they win the match outright OR lose the game by 9 points or less.
What are NRL Futures markets?
Instead of betting on a single weekend's game, Futures markets let you use your crystal ball to predict season-long outcomes. Popular NRL Futures include backing the eventual Premiership Winner, the Minor Premiers, teams to Make the Top 8, or individual accolades like the Top Try Scorer and Top Points Scorer.
How do you bet on State of Origin?
Widely considered the pinnacle of rugby league, the New South Wales vs Queensland Origin series is a punting massive event. All standard NRL markets carry over to Origin, with unique additions like Player of the Series (Wally Lewis Medal) and First Tryscorer for the series.
What is an NRL Multi Bet?
A multi bet allows you to combine multiple single wagers (legs) into one massive ticket. For example, you could combine the Broncos, Storm, and Roosters all to win their respective weekend games. The odds compound for a bigger potential payout, but remember the golden rule: every single leg must salute for your ticket to win.
How To Bet On The NRL Throughout The Year
A typical NRL season can be split into three distinct periods. Before you can start betting on the NRL, it is important to understand these specific periods of the season.
NRL Regular Season Betting
Consisting of 27 eight game rounds, the NRL regular season is used to determine two things: who plays in the finals series and who wins the minor premiership.
The team who finishes the regular season with the most points is awarded the minor premiership, while the top eight teams who collect the most points over the 27 rounds get to play finals footy.
There are 17 teams in total as of 2023 with at least one side receiving a bye, or a week off, every round.
State of Origin Betting
Widely considered to be the pinnacle of the game, State of Origin is a form of representative rugby league that pits players from Queensland and New South Wales against each other in a mid-season three game series.
Whichever side, or state, wins this best of three series is crowned champions and awarded the Origin shield.
All the markets that are available for regular NRL games transfer over to State of Origin, but with a few notable additions, such as the player of the series market.
NRL Finals Series Betting
After the regular season and State of Origin have been run and won, the real fun begins.
Beginning in September, the top eight teams who have collected the most points throughout the regular season earn the right to participate in the NRL finals series and compete for the ultimate prize – the NRL premiership.
Of the eight teams that qualify for the finals, two make the grand final, with the winner taking home the Provan-Summons trophy.
What Can You Bet On In The NRL?
NRL Match Betting
Also known as the Head-to-Head (H2H) market. This is where punters can bet on who they think will win the match. Depending on which week of the NRL season there may be up to 8 games being from Thursday to Sunday. In each match you can choose the H2H market, selecting your winning team or you can choose to combine as many games or markets as you like and create a multi, combining multi markets into one wager.
NRL Line Betting
Line betting for NRL is one of the most popular betting types for Sportsbet punters who follow rugby league. This is where we handicap the market to create an equal betting outcome for both sides. Giving you the option of selecting either teams, line betting for the NRL allows you to select between agreeing with the Sportsbet experts or going your own way and wagering the losing team to lose by less or the winning team to win by more than the line. For more information, read our line betting guide.
NRL Futures Markets
There are a whole host of future NRL markets available to Sportsbet customers. There are the usual suspects such as: grand final winner, minor premiership winner, to make the grand final and to make the top 8. As the name suggests these are all future markets for betting on the NRL aimed at crystal balling the future and selecting each award or event before they happen.
There are also more diverse options that include: to miss the top 4, least wins, most improved and teams to make the grand final.
NRL Top Try Scorer
A market for anyone who fancies predicting who will end the season with the most four-pointers. This hotly contested market has the history books written all over it with each and every try contributing towards the coveted Ken Irvine award, presented t othe highest top try scorer across the entire NRL season.
NRL Top Points Scorer
Similar to Top Try Scorer, this market covers all points scored by a player in a single season. Remember there are other ways to rack up points such as conversions and field goals. There is a reason this market is dominated by goal-kickers, with every top points scorer between 2020 and 2024 converting for their team on a weekly basis.
NRL Multi Tips
Multi bets, also known as Parlay or Accumaltory wagers are multiple bets combined within one wager. Despite the length some multis can reach they all follow a very simple rule. All legs must be successful for a wager to win and you can choose your legs from across the multitude of Sportsbets markets on offer.
As each leg is successful the winnings are then reinvested into the next leg, creating a compounding effect. If you’re looking for the perfect NRL footy multi to begin with then our team of experts put together a range of weekly options for you to get in on with our NRL expert round multi tips.
You can find out more on what a multi is and how to create one using our What is a Multi Bet guide here.
NRL Same Game Multis
Same Game Multi’s or SGM for short follow the same rules as standard Multi’s, however all legs involved must involve, you guessed it, the same game. If you’re looking for the perfect NRL footy same game multi to begin with then our team of experts put together a range of weekly options, with some including a SGM. you can view them and get around it with our NRL expert round multi tips. Find out more on what a samegame multi is here.
How To Bet On The NRL
Step 1: Choose between the regular season, State of Origin or the finals depending on the time of year.
Step 2: Select your match and browse the markets available for it.
Step 3: Select the market(s) you wish to wage on.
Step 4: Choose your stake and confirm your bet.