Betting Guide

Cash out on bets

Betting can be a stressful process at the best of times, but when you factor in the cash-out function, it’s a whole different ballgame. The idea to cash out on bets first seemed to hit the mainstream within the last five years or so and as a result, many more football fans have won substantial amounts of money. Still, the initial fear of engaging in this practice can be countered once you actually learn a little bit more about it.

‘Cash Out on Bets’ Basics

For those of you who haven’t even heard of the idea, the cash-out option allows you to take a trip inside the ‘tactical’ side of betting. While some people purely want to place a bet and see how it works out for them across the course of 90 minutes or longer, cashing out throws a spanner into the mix. It gives you the chance to lock in your profit margin and take a chunk of your expected winnings before the game, or games, are even over and done with.

For example, if you’ve put £10 down on a team to win a game at 6/1 and they’re 1-0 up with 15 minutes remaining, your cash out will likely be around the £40-£50 region. You have to ask yourself at this stage whether or not you want to take that money and run, or wait it out and see whether or not the leading time can hold onto the result. If you cash out then your chances of winning the full £60 are gone, but at the same time, you’ll keep your £40-£50 regardless of whether or not the other team scores a dramatic late equaliser. If you let the result play out, then you could lose everything.

It’s a game of regrets and it leaves you questioning every single decision that you make. Once you’ve committed yourself to cashing out then you can’t allow yourself to want to go back on it, because then you’ll find yourself going down a rabbit hole that you simply can’t get out of. The timing is key, too, because even if a team that you’ve bet on takes the lead early in the game, the amount presented to you in the cash-out tool won’t be nearly as much as if you were to wait for another 20 or 30 minutes. Things like red cards and major injuries can alter the tempo of the game and, therefore, the cash-out amount too.

The Background

The actual history of cashing out on bets stems from Betfair, with a plain and simple definition being that you can lock in your profit OR loss prior to the conclusion of the event, which brings us to another interesting tidbit. If you were to bet £10 on a team to win and they went 1-0 down, then throughout the game your cash-out amount would gradually get lower and lower. So then, if you wound up with around £3 or £4, you could always take it upon yourself to cash-out and ensure that you at least have some money to bet with on other things as you move forward. That way, at least it’s not a total loss.

The majority of bookmakers, and specifically Betfair, do the mathematics for you with the market prices being live and in living colour for you to track. Because of the nature of sports, these figures can go up and down within a matter of seconds, so you need to act fast when deciding on your amount – as you may end up with something that’s more or less than you were initially anticipating.

Betfair also offers cash-out on horse racing, as several sports around the globe continue to try and implement it into their day to day proceedings. Of course, the most natural fit is always going to be football, even though it can cause your stress levels to go through the roof. With there being a specified icon to notice the cash-out tool it’s hard to miss out on it, and even if you’re only partially successful with your cash-out due to the constant changes in the game, Betfair gives you the chance to have an entirely new cash-out to choose from.

It may seem like a daunting prospect at first, but the cash-out function is a revolutionary tool that will keep the world of gambling running at a high rate for years and years to come. It can be the equivalent of a second chance or the equivalent of a half day at the office, and that’s what we love about it.