How Does Cash Out Work at a Betting Site?
In its most basic form, the cash out feature offered by online betting sites is a tool that allows you to settle your bet before the game finishes. The overarching reason for doing this is to cash in your profits before the game turns against you.
In doing so, although you’ll get lower odds than you initially took pre-match, you avoid the risk of losing your bet to a last-minute equalizer!
In order to set the scene, let’s look at a quick example of the betting sites cash out feature.
- You place a £100 pre-match bet on Chelsea beating Everton away from home at odds of 6/4.
- This means that a winning bet will return £250 (£100 stake and £150 profit).
- Chelsea score a goal in the second half, meaning that your bet is currently in the money.
- However, Everton is now controlling the game and bombing the Chelsea defence with attack after attack.
- As such, you check what the cash out feature is willing to offer you, based on the current state-of-play in the game.
- With just 5 minutes to go, the cash out feature will allow you to settle your bet at odds of Even Money.
As you can see from the above example, this means your bet returns £200 in total, which is £50 lower than you would have got had you seen the game out.
However, Everton went on to score a last-minute equalizer in the game, meaning that you would have lost your pre-match bet. This doesn’t matter though, as you successfully cashed out your bet before the goal was scored!
What Markets is Cash Out Betting Available?
The number of markets that you can use the cash out feature will ultimately depend on the operator you sign up with. For example, heavy-weight betting sites with cashout like William Hill and Betfair will offer the cash out option on virtually every sporting event that they host.
This is because they utilize cutting-edge technologies that basis the cash out offer on the current odds of the game. As such, your cash out offer will be in direct correlation to the in-play odds offered by the cash out betting site.
At the other end of the spectrum, smaller cash out bookies will only offer the cash out feature on major sporting events. This might include the likes of Premier League Football, NBA Basketball, or WTA Tennis.
Note: If using a betting exchange like Betfair, you can now cash out horse racing bets in the form of an in-play ‘lay’ bet!
Free Bets at Cash Out Betting Sites in UK
Most cash out betting sites will offer free bets if you are yet to open an account. This usually revolves around a traditional matched deposit bonus. This means that your initial bet will be matched by a certain amount once you’ve made your first deposit.
For example, if the cash out betting site offers a 100% matched bet up to £200, a £200 deposit would get you aa £200 free bet. In terms of cashing out your free bet, this depends on the policy of your chosen betting site.
It is important to note that you won’t be able to cash out your qualifying bet. Cash out betting sites do this to prevent bonus abuse. For example, let’s say that you put your £200 qualifying bet on Aston Villa to beat Newcastle at 3/1. If you were then able to cash the bet out as soon as the game started, this would make it too easy for you as the player.
Top Tip: You can still avoid the risks of losing your qualifying bet without needing to cash it out. Instead, you can ‘lay’ the bet off on a third-party betting exchange like Betfair. You can read our full guide on risk-free matched betting here.
Nevertheless, once your qualifying bet has settled, it is all-but-certain that you can use the cash out facility on your free bet. Why? Well, don’t forget, you won’t get the stake back if your free bet is a winner. As such, there would be virtually no point cashing it out early!
How is a Betting Cash Out Offer Calculated?
There is no hard-and-fast-rule as to how cash out betting sites calculated your offer. What we at WinnerSports do know is that your offer will always be lower than the potential payout amount. For example, if your potential betting slip win pays out a total of £400, then your cash out offer will never be more than this.