Sports betting in Australia has become more concentrated online, with an Australian National University survey in January 2025 finding that 58.8% of adults had gambled in the past year and that sports betting, while used by only 7.0% of adults, had by far the highest online participation rate at 88.5% among those who bet on sport. That same research showed more than half of people who gambled did at least half of it online, which helps explain why so many AFL and NRL fans now build their bets on a phone, or after a betway app download, while they watch.
A separate national study of 955 adults who bet online on sports or races at least fortnightly found that 86.7% had spent money on sports in the previous year, and that AFL and NRL were the stand-out choices, at 58.5% and 49.0% of these regular sports bettors respectively. In that group, almost seven in ten met criteria for being at risk of gambling harm on the Problem Gambling Severity Index, and more than half reported at least one gambling-related harm in the past 12 months. Those results do not mean same-game multis are inherently bad, but they do show why it is worth understanding how they work before you tap “confirm.”
What follows is a practical guide to same-game multis in AFL and NRL that blends what researchers, regulators and bookmakers themselves have revealed with grounded ideas you can actually use. You will see how these bets are built, how to use your phone and national protections to keep things on your terms, and how to look past the advertising noise so your bet slip reflects your choices instead of someone else’s script.
More Legs and More Edge
A same-game multi is a single wager that combines several different outcomes from one match, such as a team result, player disposals and total points, and it only pays out if every leg gets up. From a mathematical point of view, each extra selection multiplies not just the potential win but also the bookmaker’s advantage, because the built-in margin is applied across several linked outcomes instead of one.
When analysts looked at official figures from the Illinois sports betting market, they found that multi-leg parlays generated an average operator profit of about 18% of turnover compared with roughly 5% on simple single-outcome bets, highlighting how much more lucrative combinations are for betting companies. Flutter Entertainment, which owns Sportsbet in Australia, has openly described its “Same Game” style products as a strategic growth driver, noting that these bets attract more legs per ticket and carry a higher expected margin than standard wagers.
For you, that does not have to be a reason to avoid same-game multis, but it is a strong reason to design them with care. One way to do that is to treat every extra leg as a conscious upgrade in risk rather than a little bonus, and to decide in advance how many pieces you want in the puzzle for a normal game. Many casual punters find that building a small, themed multi around how they already enjoy AFL or NRL, such as focusing on one team’s performance or a favourite player’s involvement, keeps the bet interesting without drifting into wishful thinking. A simple personal rule like “two or three legs is enough for regular play” can quietly protect your balance while still giving you that sense of riding the game.
Muting the Multis
For years, AFL and NRL broadcasts and stadiums were filled with bookmaker branding, on-screen odds and integrated promotions, which researchers at the Australian Institute of Family Studies and psychologists in Australia have argued contributes to the normalisation of betting as part of following sport. A recent international review of sports-related gambling advertising found that greater exposure is linked to higher intentions to bet, more frequent betting and, in some studies, a tilt towards more complex products such as multi-leg bets. In Australia, coverage has highlighted how younger people, in particular, respond to this saturation, with one national broadcaster reporting that social media and live-odds segments are associated with increasing losses among young gamblers.
There are signs of change. This year, ABC News reported that long-running betting segments linked to Sportsbet had disappeared from free-to-air AFL broadcasts, after several seasons in which those live odds spots often pushed combination bets as part of the coverage. That shift has landed alongside growing concern in policy circles about how much betting promotion young viewers see during games and how often those messages highlight complex products instead of straightforward win-or-lose markets.
If anything, that creates a better environment for you to make up your own mind. Instead of copying multi templates from adverts or half-time segments, you can build a bet that reflects how you already understand the contest, whether that is through simple ideas like team form, head-to-head records or how a key player tends to perform in certain conditions. Once you are not reacting to every promotion, it becomes easier to ask yourself a sharper question: if the ads stopped mentioning multis altogether, which few legs would genuinely earn a place in your next slip?
Backing Yourself, Not Just Your Team
Same-game multis can be a fun way to ride every twist in an AFL or NRL match, especially now that most sports betting happens online and on phones, but the evidence is clear that they sit inside a part of the market where people are more likely to run into problems if they are not deliberate. You have seen that multi-leg products carry higher built-in margins for operators, that regular online bettors often wager from home on mobile devices, and that a large share of that group meets criteria for being at risk of gambling harm.
You have also seen that you are not powerless in this environment. National tools like BetStop, required in-app features such as deposit limits and activity summaries, and emerging changes in how betting is presented during AFL broadcasts give you more room than before to decide how betting fits into your matchday. When you combine that with a conscious approach to how many legs you include, how often you bet and how much advertising you allow to influence you, same-game multis can stay in their place as an added dash of interest, not a source of ongoing stress.
So the next time you open your betting app before the first bounce or kick-off, will your multi reflect your own limits and understanding of the game, or someone else’s idea of excitement?
