TAB Review

TAB is still one of the most popular betting sites in Australia, and one that breaks the usual pattern when it comes to user and editorial reviews. Most corporate books get the following coverage: glowing affiliate write-ups, lukewarm (or crap) user reviews. TAB is almost the opposite. The App Store rating sits at 4.6 from 182,000 ratings, the biggest sample of any betting app we’ve tested. The Google Play rating is 4.4 from 18,700 reviews. It’s clear that punters actually like the product. Meanwhile, most of the affiliate ranking sites give it a soft score, ignore them, or simply trash it.

This is the only TAB review you’ll find that lines up every score side by side and highlights why the gap exists, which mostly comes down to the affiliate program paying less than most, incentivising editorial sites to push the book lower on the page.

When Users and Comparison Sites Disagree

The pattern is hard to miss. 182k actual users rate TAB 4.6/5. The affiliate aggregators rate it anywhere from 2.5 to 5. That’s not a product gap, that’s a commercial-incentive gap. The book does run an affiliate program but it typically pays less than Sportsbet, Ladbrokes, bet365 and Dabble, and it doesn’t accept small editorial sites at all. So sites that rank by what pays best push it lower on the page.

The Trustpilot 1.5 is real and worth reading on its own terms, but at 76 reviews it’s a tiny sample compared to the ~200k combined app store reviews. The complaint pattern is the same as every other AU corporate (limiting, slow withdrawal disputes, retail issues), nothing unique to TAB.

Why Most Editorial & Comparison Sites Are Lukewarm on TAB

Worth getting into this properly because it’s the whole story of how most bookmaker reviews work. Many of the “top Australian bookmaker” lists you’ll find online are run by affiliate sites paid per referral, either by a fixed or variable cost, depending on how many players are referred and/or how much those players lose. The bookies competing hardest for new customers (typically the smaller online corporates or local bookies) offer the highest commissions. Tabcorp, with its retail network monopoly across most of Australia and a captive customer base, doesn’t need to pay top commission rates to attract new punters, so it doesn’t.

The result of the affiliate strategy is pretty obvious when you start looking at these sites and why they push you to click where they want. For example GoBet’s 2.5/5 editor score and Bets.com.au’s 2.5/5 punter score sit miles below where actual punters rate the product. The opinions on most of these sites change with the wind, far faster than a bookmakers’ product could actually change. This isn’t unique to GoBet or Bets, nor is it unique to the Aussie market. If you’re following these editorial guides blindly, you probably won’t find the best sports betting site for you.

Where We Rate TAB

If you wonder how they’ve held a 4.6 iOS rating across 182,000 ratings while affiliates trash it, the product is the answer.

The betting app is genuinely well built. The bet slip is fast, push notifications for race-off and result are reliable. For long-term punters who grew up with the retail product, the app feels like a faithful digital extension.

Sky Racing live vision is built in across thoroughbred, harness and greyhound meets. Sky Racing is owned by Tabcorp, TAB’s parent company, which means the vision is high quality with deeper international coverage than most competitors.

Same Race Multi and Same Game Multi are well implemented, with a clean builder UX. The SGM AFL product specifically has been a recent area of focus and it shows.

Retail-app integration is unique at this scale. You can place a bet in any TAB outlet and pull it up in the app, or vice versa. Cash-out and ticket scanning are available too.

Tote and fixed odds together. The book still runs the country’s biggest tote pools, which matters for high rolling racing punters who want pool depth that fixed odds books can’t match. Few corporates can offer tote at all.

There’s Always Some Shortcomings

Odds are not as sharp as the online corporates. The retail network advantage means it doesn’t have to price as aggressively as Sportsbet or bet365. If you’re an odds shopper, you’ll often find better prices elsewhere.

Promotions for new customers are thinner than the competition. Same logic as the odds prices, the book already has the user base, no need to overextend with world-class promos.

Account limiting affects winning punters, same as every AU corporate. If you start winning consistently, expect the same treatment you’d get at any of the corporate books.

Sports markets are thinner than the major online books. The legacy here is racing. AFL and NRL coverage is solid but the deep player props are nowhere near Sportsbet or Dabble.

Customer service has had a rough patch during Tabcorp‘s restructuring. App Store reviews from 2024-2025 include consistent complaints about phone support wait times and slow dispute resolution.

TAB vs Neds/Ladbrokes vs bet365 vs Dabble

For racing punters who value tote pools, Sky vision and retail integration, TAB beats most of the online corporates. For sports-first punters or odds shoppers, there are better options. Check our bet365 review for comparison, or if you’re deciding between the two biggest names in Australian sports betting, our Sportsbet review covers the other side of that coin: sharper odds and deeper sports markets, but a much longer rap sheet of complaints and regulatory issues.

Users & Editors Don’t Agree, is TAB a Bad Betting Site?

We’ve gone over why the gap between user and internet reviews exists. Short version: editorial sites prioritise the bookmakers that pay them most, which TAB is not. Real users enjoy the product, though it doesn’t win on everything.

For long-term TAB punters happy with the product they’ve used for years: keep using it. Most review sites that score it lower are doing so for commercial reasons, not product reasons.

For racing-first punters who want tote pools, Sky vision, and retail integration: TAB is genuinely competitive. It’s one of very few bookies that can offer all three at scale.

For new punters chasing the sharpest fixed odds: probably not here. The online corporates (bet365, Sportsbet, Ladbrokes) usually price better on top markets because they’re spending more to acquire and retain you.

TAB is the most heavily reviewed online bookmaker in Australia by a wide margin. Its users like it, and most of the affiliate reviewers giving it average scores are doing so for commercial reasons rather than product reasons. If you want to see how every licensed Australian betting site stacks up in one place, our full list of Australian bookmakers has you covered.