Following retirement, Betts worked as a part-time development coach at the Geelong Football Club before departing in November 2022 to focus on his foundation supporting young Indigenous Australians in sport.

[5] He is of Wirangu, Kokatha (both of the far west coast of SA) and Guburn people (of the Western Australian Goldfields region), and describes himself as having been a shy child.

As a result, his mother arranged for the 15-year-old Betts to move to Melbourne and begin a TAFE program run by Indigenous former footballer Phil Krakouer.

[15] At the end of the season, Betts entered the market as a restricted free agent, and in October he notified Carlton he had accepted a four-year contract understood to be worth about $2 million (AUS) to join the Adelaide Crows.

[16] Carlton had 72 hours to match the Crows offer but declined to do so, allowing the confirmation of Betts' switch to occur on 4 October, the first day of the free agency period.

[20] Following on from this controversy, Betts improved on his stellar 2014 season by kicking 63 goals in 2015, finishing third in the Coleman Medal, and finally achieving All-Australian honours.

[25] Betts had another good performance in 2017's Sir Douglas Nicholls Indigenous Round, kicking three goals in the Crows' 100-point win over Fremantle.

In front of a roaring crowd and with 6 minutes left in what turned out to be an easy win, he scored a classic left-footed banana that won him an unparalleled 4th AFL Goal of the Year award.

[30] After his retirement, Betts began his job as a developmental coach at Geelong in October 2021,[31] also bringing in former Adelaide teammate and delisted player Tyson Stengle and turned him into a member of the 2022 All-Australian roster.

[34] When Betts entered the AFL at 17 years of age, he had the reading and writing ability of a six- to seven-year-old, and knows the challenges and disadvantage this can cause young people, leading him to create a series of educational books for children.

[citation needed] His Lil' Homies book series aim to help kids read with confidence and enjoyment and give them the chance to express their own personality into the story.

[42][43] Betts features in the 2021 fly-on-the-wall documentary TV series Making Their Mark, which showed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on several AFL clubs, players, and staff.

[44][45] In September 2021 Australian musician Paul Kelly released a song inspired by Betts and his battle with racism, titled Every Step of the Way.

In 2016, a spectator threw a banana at him as he was playing for the Crows against Port Adelaide, as a form of racial abuse,[53][a] and the incident still haunts him, and taints his enjoyment of the fruit.

After watching the 2019 film The Australian Dream about the abuse suffered by fellow AFL footballer Adam Goodes when he played for the Sydney Swans, he and many other Indigenous became aware of the extent of the problem for the first time.

[4] In 2022 he and his children were asked by a lifeguard to leave a public swimming pool, because "an elderly white couple had said I was making their little grandchild uncomfortable".

[4] On the evening of 28 March 2024, a group of people drove past the Betts family home and racially abused his children, who were playing basketball in the front yard.

Betts posted video of the incident from his security camera on Instagram, writing "Aboriginal kids deserve to be able to play safely, free from racism and abuse over the fence.

Victoria Police were called to investigate the incident, and Tanya Hosch and Andrew Dillon put out a statement on behalf of the AFL offering support to the Betts family.