Cash out bets are a relatively new phenomenon in online betting sites. They give consumers the opportunity to either guarantee a safe profit (with a good bet development) or to reduce their losses. In the past, when we were betting, we had no choice but to wait for the end of the match / game / tournament, when there were only two options for our bet - it was either 100% winning or 100% losing. The cash out feature gives users another option that is somewhere in the middle.
In this article we will describe how Cash Out works, along with two examples of how to use it. Then we will look at the reasons why so many bookmakers choose to offer this feature, we will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this type of bets and the places where we can find them.
How Does Cash Out Works?
The cash out option comes up when you have already placed a bet. Once the bet has already been placed, the cash out service will tell you how much money you can take if you close your bet at the moment.
Here are two examples of Cash Out in action:
Example 1:
You have placed a £ 10 stake on the 1X2 Premier League match market. Your bet is - the home team will win at 2.10 odds - which means that if your team wins the match, you will make a net profit of £ 11. You watch the match on TV (or via the Bet365 live streaming service) and you are happy to see that your team takes off shortly before the end of the first half by 1-0. You look at the cash-out feature and you see that if you close your bet now, you can take £ 15.50. That is, you can immediately win a net profit of £ 5.50 and the second half of the match will no longer matter for your bet . Of course, you don't have to close now - it's your choice.
Example 2:
You bet £ 50 in treble (a straight column with three selections) in three games on Saturday night. The first two games will be played at 2.00 and 2.50 odds, with 10 minutes remaining until the last match. At this point, the cash-out feature offers you to close the bet and pick up £ 200 at the moment, while if you stay through and your third game is over, you will add £ 500 to your account. And this time, it is up to you - will you risk it or bet on it safely?
Why Bookmakers Offer Cash Out?
There are two main reasons why bookmakers and betting exchanges offer the Cash Out option.
The first reason is simply that users like it! An option like this gives them more flexibility and makes betting more interesting. Players who are interested will continue to return to the site and make a turnover.
The second reason is because cash out actually makes the bookmaker more profitable. Let's go back to the first example and see how. In this example, the team leads with 1: 0 halftime. At this point, the bookmaker has already calculated what the real chances of the team to win - in this case, based on the odds offered at the moment, have calculated that the probability of the host winning is about 77%. This means that in 77% of the time they expect to pay a full profit of £ 21 and in 23% of cases they will not pay anything. The quick calculation shows that 77% of £ 21 is £ 16.17. So in this example, they expect to pay an average of £ 16.17 per bet, but offer £ 15.50 as a cash out option - that is, they pay on - less than they would have paid after the end of the match.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Cash Out Bets
The biggest advantage of Cash Out lies in the fact that you can guarantee a profit without waiting until the end. You probably feel slightly (or not so lightly) nervous in the later stages of your betting events, where the difference is very small and the outcome is not clear until the very end. You may have seen your team perform less well than your opponent, even though it leads. Also, of course, you can cash out to reduce your losses. Imagine waiting for a football game that goes awry and the team you bet on loses 2-0 at halftime - here you can save at least a small part of your money by using Cash Out.
The main disadvantage of using this option is that you will not win as much as if you waited until the end and the bet won. It is certainly not a pleasant feeling when you close your bet and lose a much bigger win, and in fact your bet remains profitable until the end of the event!
Where to find this feature?
As we said, most betting sites already offer Cash Out. Betfair was the first to introduce this feature. This happened back in 2011 on their Betfair betting exchange, and two years later they also released it in their fixed odds section.
Bet 365, in addition to offering a bet365 bonus upon registration, and many other attractive online bonuses bet365 have not been delayed with the Cash Out introduction, and for this feature we have a separate article - Bet365 Cash Out
All other bookmakers recommended by our site - 10Bet and Bwin - also support it.
Cash Out is part of the future of sports betting and we will undoubtedly see it as an opportunity on betting sites for many years to come. We may also see different innovations along with it, so we look forward to seeing what else operators have to offer.
