Tipping Competitions Guide
What Are Tipping Competitions?
Tipping competitions are a popular Australian tradition where participants pick the winners of upcoming sporting matches and earn points for correct predictions. Unlike betting, most tipping competitions do not involve wagering money, participants compete for prizes or bragging rights based on the accuracy of their picks across a season or tournament.
Tipping comps are hugely popular during the AFL and NRL seasons, with workplaces, pubs, social groups, and online platforms all running competitions. Millions of Australians participate each year, making tipping one of the country's most widespread sporting pastimes.
How Tipping Competitions Work
In a standard tipping competition:
- Before each round begins, participants submit their tips for every match (or a selection of matches)
- Correct tips earn points (typically 1 point per correct tip)
- Some competitions use margin tipping for tiebreakers, you predict the margin of a selected match, and the person closest to the actual margin wins the tiebreak
- At the end of the season, the participant with the most points wins
Many competitions also include weekly prizes (best score that round), monthly prizes, and consolation prizes for the final round.
Popular Tipping Platforms
AFL.com.au Tipping: The official AFL tipping competition. Free to enter, with prizes throughout the season. Supports private leagues for workplaces and social groups. One of the largest tipping comps in Australia with hundreds of thousands of participants.
NRL Tipping: The NRL's official tipping competition on nrl.com. Similar format to the AFL comp with weekly and season prizes. Includes a margin predictor for tiebreaking.
Footytips.com.au: A dedicated tipping platform supporting AFL, NRL, BBL, A-League, Super Rugby, and more. Offers both public and private competitions with detailed statistics and leaderboards.
Superbru: An international tipping platform popular in Australia for rugby, cricket, and soccer. Includes prediction pools and fantasy elements alongside standard tipping.
Workplace and social comps: Many Australians participate in informal tipping competitions run within their workplace, sporting club, or friend group. These are often managed via spreadsheets, whiteboards, or simple apps.
Tipping Strategy
Favourites win more often than not: In AFL, the home team or pre-match favourite wins approximately 55-60% of matches. A strategy of simply tipping every favourite will keep you competitive, though it is unlikely to win a large competition outright because many participants will do the same.
Differentiate in close matches: In matches where the odds are close to even money, go against the public consensus. If 70% of tipsters are backing Team A in a 50/50 match, backing Team B gives you a points advantage if they win because fewer competitors will have that correct tip.
Be conservative with upsets: Tipping an upset feels rewarding when it hits, but the mathematics of tipping favours picking more winners over fewer. Consistently tipping 6-7 correct per round beats occasionally tipping 8 correct by risking more upsets.
Track the season arc: Early-season form is unreliable. By mid-season (rounds 10-15), team quality is clearer. Late-season matches involve teams with nothing to play for, which increases unpredictability.
Tipping vs Betting
Tipping competitions are a fun, low-risk way to engage with sport. Unlike betting, there is no financial downside to getting tips wrong (beyond entry fees in some competitions). If you enjoy the analytical aspects of tipping, you may enjoy the educational aspects of understanding odds and markets, but remember that tipping success does not necessarily translate to betting success because tipping does not involve odds, stakes, or margins.
Responsible Gambling
While standard tipping competitions do not involve gambling, some platforms offer paid-entry tipping pools with cash prizes. Treat any money spent on paid tipping entries the same way you would treat a betting stake, only spend what you can afford to lose. For support, call 1800 858 858.
Recommended Betting Sites
Based on our testing, these bookmakers offer the best experience for this type of betting:
Remember to gamble responsibly. Set limits before you start and never bet more than you can afford to lose. Call 1800 858 858 for support.