Cash out can be a great option when you want to guarantee a return from your bet before the event is over. Sometimes it pays off and allows you to cash in some profit when your bet would have lost if you let it run and other times you’ll be kicking yourself that you settled early when you could have received bigger returns if you hadn’t cashed out. However, it’s a popular feature with many punters and in this guide, we’ll be answering some common questions around cash out such as:
Cash Out is a feature which is available at many, but not all, bookmakers. It allows customers to settle their bets early to guarantee a return before the event they have bet on has finished.
Cash Out is usually used by punters for when events are in-play. However, some bookmakers do allow customers to cash out their bets pre-match.
The process of cashing out a bet will vary between bookmakers. The majority of bookmakers allow customers to cash out their bets via the ‘Open Bets’ section of their accounts. Usually, a cash out amount will be displayed alongside each open bet and the user then has the option of cashing out their bet if they wish to.
If you choose to cash out your bet, your bet will be settled early and you will receive the cash out amount which you accepted immediately. From this point, it doesn’t matter what the outcome of the event you bet on is as your bet has been settled.
The cash out amount which you are offered for a bet will depend on the likelihood of your bet winning at that point in time. If you are cashing out in-play, current events may affect the likelihood of your bet winning and so the cash out amount may fluctuate frequently.
Cash out is calculated based on the potential winnings should your bet win and the current odds you would receive if you placed your bet at that particular point.
For example, let’s say that you placed £100 on Southampton to beat Chelsea at odds of 3/1 (4.0).
Southampton take the lead and so the odds on them winning drop to 1/1 (2.0).
Therefore, a fair cash out value would be an amount which if you placed on Southampton to win now, would be equal to the potential winnings if you let your bet run.
We can use the following formula to determine a fair cash out value.
Cash Out Value = Potential Returns ÷ Current Odds
Based on the example above, a fair cash out value would be:
Now, if we actually placed this bet, would we receive a cash out amount of £200?
In reality, it’s likely that a bookmaker will offer you slightly less than £200. This is because bookmakers apply a margin from which they make a profit and so offer less than the ‘true’ odds of an outcome.
There is never a right or wrong time to cash out as the cash out amount and the current odds reflect the probability of your bet winning.
Technically, if you are looking for maximum value, you should never cash out your bets. As mentioned above, bookmakers apply a margin to the cash out amount and which is why it’s unlikely that you’ll be offered a ‘fair’ cash out amount. You can calculate a fair cash out amount yourself using the formula above and see for yourself the next time you have the option to cash out. However, many punters do cash out as they see any kind of a return as being better than losing their bet.
The majority of punters cash out their bets towards the end of the game. For example, if you had a bet on the Outright Winner of the World Cup and your team made it through to the final, you may be tempted to cash out your bet to avoid a last stage defeat that would kill your bet. It’s likely that you would be offered a good profit at this point.
There are various other bets which people tend to use cash out on also. One is Half Time / Full Time betting. With this bet, you bet on which team will be winning at half time and which will be winning at full time. One strategy is to bet on the underdog to be winning at HT and the favourite to be winning at FT. If the underdog is winning by just 1 goal at half time, the other team will likely still have a good chance of winning the game. Bookmakers generally tend to offer big odds for some HT/FT combinations and so a good cash out amount can be offered in the right circumstances.
After the cash out feature was released, some bookmakers started to offer partial cash out. With partial cash out, you’re able to cash out a specified amount of your original bet and leave the remainder running.
For example, let’s say that you had a £20 bet on Real Madrid to beat Barcelona at odds of 3.0. Real Madrid are winning 1-0 in the 70th minute and the cash out amount is £40. You may wish to ensure that you don’t lose money on your bet but still want to be in with the chance of some profit. In this case, you could cash out some of your bet such as half for £20 which would give you your stake back and leave half of your bet running which would leave you with a profit should Real Madrid win.
As mentioned earlier, you lose value when cashing out your bet due to the cut the bookies take. However, if you do want to cash out your bet, there is another option from which you could receive a higher amount.
At a bookmaker, you can only place back bets. Back bets are when you are betting on something to happen such as Liverpool beating Man Utd or Arsenal winning 1-0. However, at betting exchanges, you can place both back and lay bets. Lay bets allow you to bet on something NOT to happen. For example, Liverpool NOT to beat Man Utd or Arsenal NOT to win 1-0.
An alternative to cashing out your bet is to instead place a lay bet.
Let’s say that you bet on Chelsea to beat Tottenham with a bookmaker. If Chelsea are winning, you could then place a lay bet on Chelsea. This means that if Chelsea win, your bookmaker bet wins and if Chelsea don’t win (Draw or Tottenham Win) then your lay bet with the betting exchange will win. Betting exchanges don’t apply a margin to the odds but they do charge a commission of around 2%-5%. However, due to the better odds you can generally get on betting exchanges compared to with a bookie, it often means that you can lock in a greater profit by laying your bet than you can if you cash out.
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You will find that some bookies offer better cash out than others. However, the difference is negligible and shouldn’t be a deciding factor as to which to bet with. The cash out amount often depends on the current odds and so in order to be offered the best cash out, you should stick with the bookies which offer the best odds.
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