Rugby League Betting

Professional rugby league football, more commonly known as Rugby League, emerged in 1895 from a split within England’s Rugby Football Union regarding compensation. The rift resulted in the formation of a “Northern Union,” later renamed which advocated payments to working-class players who lost wages due to injury or time lost from their regular jobs.

By 1907, the renegade group had also introduced new rules to the game. They reduced the number of players on the field for each side from 15 to 13, changed the scoring rules, and eliminated scrums and line outs. Offensive series were limited to six tackles before turning the ball over by heeling it backwards whilst the defending team retreats 10 metres. Match time remained the same, however, at 80 minutes with a 10-minute halftime break.

By 1908, the rules of Rugby League had been fully embraced not only in Great Britain but also in New Zealand and Australia, where the National Rugby League (NRL) was born and soon rose to world prominence. Wagering has been an aspect of the game from the outset, and as competition has heated, with the introduction of national and international tournaments and championships, the volume of betting has grown in correspondence.

Today, Rugby League is played in more than 50 nations under the governance of the Rugby League International Federation based in Sydney since 1998. Betting is heaviest on the Super League, the top-level professional club competition of Europe, which kicks off its season in January and offers fixtures through October, when the Grand Final is staged at Old Trafford. The Super League’s 14 clubs come from England, Wales, and France, and quite recently one of the matches was played in Barcelona, Spain, where Catalonians have become enthralled with the sport.

Another schedule that receives a lot of attention from sportsbooks is Britain’s Rugby Football League (RFL) Carnegie Challenge Cup. It is a knock-out tournament, and the only one of its kind to include representatives from all levels, including grassroots clubs. Teams strive in an eight-month competition that climaxes in a final match at Wembley Stadium each August.

The 16 teams of the NRL’s Telstra Premiership have a season that extends from autumn through spring, thus making Rugby League a true year-round sport. That means there are markets available for Rugby Leagues betting virtually every week of the year.

Sky Sports offer excellent coverage of Super League contests, with up to three live games televised each week. The BBC airs the run-up to the Challenge Cup, and video streaming online ensures that viewers have access to matches played as far away as Queensland, Fiji, and Papua New Guinea.

The most popular wagers on Rugby League are ante post bets on outright winner. Leeds and St Helens have been known to dominate the Super League, but upstarts such as Hull KR, who stole the 2009 trophy, make taking a stake in a long shot attractive. Outright betting on the Challenge Cup is available, too, sometimes even before the draw.

Match betting has long been the favoured form of action once the season commences, but it is being challenged by handicap betting more and more. Scoring can be quite high and margins of victories quite large, so bookmakers are willing to give points in order to induce betting. Shopping around for good odds is a must, in this case, as books will attempt to balance action by adding or subtracting points as the kickoff time nears.

Other wares possible when betting on Rugby League include first side to score, last side to score, backing a specific player to score a try, number of trys over/under, total combined score over/under, leader at the half, and a variety of live, in-running markets. Many sports betting web sites offer free bets to help newcomers get started. Again, shopping around for the best promotion can be worth cash, so it pays to do some research.