Cash Out Betting Explained - Read More at BettingOnline


Cash Out Betting Explained

Cash Out has revolutionised the way we bet, both online and in-store, and it has now become commonplace for punters, so much so it’s a surprise when the option isn’t offered by bookmakers. But what is it exactly, how can it work for you and is it just another trick by the trader designed to separate you from your cash?

For the answers to these questions, let’s take a closer look at what cash out betting is and how it has shook-up the sports betting world for evermore…

Picture the scene, you have a 10-team football accumulator placed and things are going well as you sit at home, nervously following the scores on TV, hoping for good news of a goal that’ll sway things in your favour, dreading every update as the one that could wreck your bet. In days gone by you’d be stuck in limbo until the final whistle in each of your 10 matches of interest, needing to have all 10 correct at the end to land that prize that will change your weekend for the better.

That’s the traditional style of betting and there was a beauty that pitted you against the bookie in a straight shoot-out of knowledge, who knows more and who has the luck on their luck. If all 10 teams came good, you’d be the champion of the day and a sizeable chunk of change would be heading in your direction. If, however, you were off the mark – even by just one team losing or drawing – it would be the trader who had their arm raised and declared winner, taking both your stake and the bragging rights, leaving you to slump back to the drawing board, lick your wounds and set-out your next plan of attack.

Things Have Changed

It was a battle that raged across the country on match day, but things have changed. The introduction and growth in popularity of online sports betting meant we no longer had to get ourselves along to the local smoke-filled betting office before the 2.55pm deadline to have our football accumulator accepted. You could now bet at home or when on the move, all at the click of a button. Convenience is now king and although bookmakers’ profit margins have soared as a result, so too have the number of winning bets collected.

The ability to bet on your desktop or mobile device through a betting app opened a world of new possibilities, including live betting, or betting in play. This saw many of the pre-match markets updated throughout the course of play, allowing you to have a punt at any time during the course of the match, race, fight and it was all done in real-time.

Match odds were updated to keep pace with the play and this real-time betting meant customers were now checking their mobile devices and betting apps more regularly for the latest updates. It used to be a punter would access a betting site, place their bets and then only return at the end if they had bagged a winner or wanted to place a wager on the next fixture. Now we check our apps many times during the course of a football game and bookies seized on this new trend as the perfect way to launch cash-out.

Finish Early

Put simply, Ladbrokes cash out, for example, is a feature which allows you to finish your bet at any point during play, taking a profit or minimising your losses. The values offered won’t be as much as the total due if you wait for the final result and land a winner but will be a decent offer designed to entice you.

From the customers point of view, it means you can get out early for a cash value which will depend on how well your teams are doing and how long is left in the contest. You are able to press cash out, bring the bet to a conclusion and take less money but with no further risk. If you cash out and your original bet goes on to win it won’t change what you’re due, but if the bet loses, you’ll still have the money you cashed out for. Jump off at any point, it’s a gamble in itself but one we, as punters, find enthralling.

From the bookie’s point of view – Ladbrokes cash out, for example – it gives them the chance to limit their potential losses. So, if your bet is due to pay £1000 but they offer a cash-out amount of £750 at 60 minutes that’s accepted, they have saved themselves £250 in potential losses. That’s if the bet goes on to win; if it loses, they’ve just paid £750 when they could’ve got away with paying nothing, but that’s gambling and it’s a risky business on both sides of the counter. Over the course of a year, the bookmaker will dampen their losses enough to make offering cash out worthwhile.

Remain Competitive

The other reason major bookies simply have to offer cash out now is just about every other firm is, so they can’t afford to be left out. If customers aren’t getting cash out with their bookmaker of choice but know cash out Coral applies to every major match, they’d be foolish to stay where they are and will, eventually jump ship. Sports betting is a competitive market, punters are only as loyal as their last bet and it’s up to the bookie to earn your stake money. It’s cut-throat out there, which is great news for players.

All the major bookmakers offer cash out, although some firms are more generous than others when it comes to values offered and this applies to cash out Ladbrokes. Others have a bad reputation for suspending markets too long, meaning there will be long periods of a match where cash out and in-play betting is not available as, usually, one team are on the attack and threatening a goal. Cash-out is rarely offered in betting shops with the bulk of business done online.

This is because you need the traders to weigh up the risk. Some shops do offer cash out but it’s a little different as it can only be done between games. For example, if you have a five-team acca with four having won and the last a 5.30pm kick-off, you can usually pop in store and ask to cash out before kick-off in the final match.

All Sports

You’ll find cash out betting is extremely popular with football punters and the beautiful game, by far, attracts the most cashed out bets, but it’s by no means the only sport that allows you to cash out a bet. The likes of horse racing accumulators, rugby, tennis, cricket, basketball, boxing, NFL, snooker, darts, ice hockey and just about every other sport Imaginable carry the option to cash out. Put simply, if you can bet on it, chances are you can cash out your bet.

For a prime example of how cash out works, however, we’re going to use football and a Saturday 3.00pm card as this is when it’s used most.

Let’s say we’ve played a six-team football accumulator on the Premier League as follows…

Tottenham to beat Burnley

Wolves to beat Bournemouth

Newcastle to beat Huddersfield

Leicester to beat Crystal Palace

Arsenal to beat Southampton

Liverpool to beat Man Utd

Our bet is evenly matched at half-time with three winning and three fixtures stuck at a draw. Your cash out won’t amount to much – probably equal to your initial stake – as anything can happen between now and the final whistle. If a goal goes against you it’s unlikely all six teams will do as required and win.

If a couple of goals go in your favour, however, we then have five winners and one draw. The odds have just swung in your favour and although there are only 10 minutes to go with time running out, you just need one goal. This is when things get interesting. One goal for you and you’ll be sitting on six out of six with the clock running down, one against and it’ll likely be a losing bet.

Risk v Reward

Bookmakers have to look at your hand and weigh up risk v reward. They’ll then make you a cash out offer and its up to you to weigh up risk v reward. It’s a tense stand-off and a case of who blinks first.

Five winning and one drawing with 10 minutes remaining, a lot can happen in 10 minutes. The bet will return £400 if all goes to plan, but it might not. You’re confident you have a great chance, but what would you say if the bookie offered £260 to finish up there and then? Take out the risk of the last match staying a draw, a team equalising elsewhere, or even the draw ending as a defeat? It’s an attractive proposition and, most of the time, before a ball was kicked you would’ve probably accepted it as a good pay-out. It would’ve certainly been good enough at half-time.

The benefits to both parties involved are you bag a nice profit on your bet while the bookie avoids the risk of having to pay out the full amount. In most cases, everyone is happy. The critics of cash out are far outnumbered by supporters of the feature, but there are a few. They believe it takes a lot of the fun out of gambling and if you placed the bet because you believed it was going to win, why wouldn’t you see it through? Many still believe in the all-or-nothing approach to gambling and they have a point, but any profit is a good thing and must be the ultimate goal of a punter.

It’s a Luxury

There are many cases of punters becoming frustrated if cash out isn’t offered, thinking it a right, but let’s remember it’s more of a luxury. If the trader believes your bet is going to lose in the end, why would they offer you a sum of money to cash out? They wouldn’t, it would make much more sense to leave you with your bet and for it to lose, paying out nothing at the full-time whistle.

Bookies get a bad press but let’s remember, without them, there would be no betting and sport would be much duller for some. Their game is to make a profit by taking bets and they will protect that at all costs. Our cash out tip would be not to expect cash out on your bets, but give the amount offered careful consideration before deciding, don’t just snap at a number or stick stubbornly to your first bet.

To answer some of these criticisms, some bookmakers – such as Bet365 – have launched different versions of cash out, including partial cash out. This does exactly what the name suggests, allowing you to cash out part of your bet and let the rest ride to the end, giving you the best of both worlds. You can take, for example, £100 profit and leave the rest, or even cash out the value of your original stake. This allows you a free bet at the remainder of the pot. That’s a shrewd call and although it’s not as well used as the original cash out, it has caught the attention of many and continues to grow.

Hands-Free Cash Out

Cashing out, usually, requires you to be at your desktop or mobile app monitoring both the score and the value being offered. But what if you somewhere to be? That would mean your bet would be forced to ride to the end and you could miss the chance to cash out for a profit. William Hill cash out allows you to set an agreed limit before you leave, and this can be any figure up to the total value of the bet.

Let’s say you set £100 and head off out. If the cash out reaches £100 at any time during play, the bet will automatically be cashed out in your absence. You’ll then log back on when returning to find £100 added to your betting balance.