Cash out betting is an option available at most betting sites these days as a way of offering a customer the chance to reassess their position on a live (still running) wager.
Sports bettors who used betting exchanges as far back as 20 years ago will be extremely familiar with the concept of doing this, thanks to the exchange’s unique characteristic of customers being able to both back and lay.
You’d hear people talking about a ‘free bet’ or a ‘Green Book’, both situations where the customer could no longer lose on their bet but could certainly win on it.
Initially, the best-known of the betting exchanges offered the Cash Out option on the actual exchange back in 2018. Sportsbooks were quick to see the potential of it and these days most online bookies are Cash Out betting sites. The way it works on Sportsbooks follows the same model as it did on the Exchange five years ago. The Sportsbook is essentially making the customer an ‘offer’ on their live bet. At its most basic level, the offer can mean one of two things for the customer.
If the initial bet has shortened in odds in relation to when it was placed, the Cash Out will result in the customer being able to recover the value of their stake and walk away with a profit.
The amount of profit depends on the difference in odds between when the bet was placed and the bet’s current odds. The bigger the difference between those two sets of odds, the bigger the profit for the customer.
What will never happen is the offer being the same, much less greater, than what the customer was set to win if they saw the bet out till the end.
That would defy the purpose of Cash Out offers in the first place. After all, why would the betting site pay out the full amount when there’s still the possibility the bet could be a winner for the bookie and a loser for the customer?
The second option is for the customer to reduce what they might lose. If they place a 20GBP bet at 2.0 and it drifts to 3.0, they can accept a Cash Out offer where they at least get some of that money back if they think it’s not going to win. The trade-off is that as soon as the Cash Out is accepted, the bet becomes dead and whether it goes on to win or lose, becomes irrelevant.
Let’s look at some of the best Cash Out betting sites.
888sport are one of the veterans of the iGaming industry, having been around since 1997, when the concept of online gambling first started. It’s perhaps best known for the Poker arm of its business (888Poker) but its Sportsbook has become increasingly popular and is particularly well-known for its ‘specials’ markets.
One of the interesting aspects of the Cash Out feature at 888 is that you can use it to Cash Out pre-match accumulator bets on selected football matches. So, if you placed a three-way accumulator pre-match, you could use the Cash Out function, whether it’s to lock in a profit or reduce a liability.
Arguably the most famous betting company in the whole world, they’re one of those who are just everywhere. From TV adverts to football shirt sponsorships, to pop-up adverts on websites. It’s hard to pinpoint the exact secret of their success other than to say they do just about everything extremely well.
Whereas most sites allow Cash Out on football, Bet365 goes the extra mile by also offering the feature on the likes of tennis, horseracing, cricket and basketball. This gives fans of other sports beyond football the chance to use this feature, as well.
If Ireland’s largest independent bookmaker were a cricketer, they’d be an old pro of an all-rounder. By that we mean they do everything very well but perhaps aren’t top-of-the-class when it comes to one specific thing. But you’ll rarely be disappointed with them.
Like Bet365, the sports they have Cash Out for go way beyond football. There’s also tennis, snooker, darts, rugby, cricket, basketball, baseball, basketball. And being an Irish company, also GAA. The latter is almost unheard of as a sport you can use Cash Out out on across the industry.
They’re best known as a spread betting firm, offering it on financials and sports. But in 2006 they added fixed-odds sports betting to their product and have set plenty of records in the mid-noughties for being one of the most profitable organisations in the whole of the UK. They consistently pick up some of the most coveted awards in the gambling industry, especially when it comes to Customer Service.
Are one of the cash out bookmakers in the UK who offer the auto cash out option. We explain below in greater detail what that means but essentially it allows you to determine a level of profit you want to take and let the site automatically cash out when it reaches that number, without you physically having to do it yourself.
They’ve been around forever and the reason they continue to be among the biggest and the best is quite simply, their consistency. Have gained a reputation as a bookmaker you can trust, are never associated with bad press, and they keep looking after their customers; 100-odd years after first starting out in the gambling business.
The Cash out feature is available across 10 different sports, on both single and multiple bets and both pre-match and in-play. All of which gives customers plenty of control over their Cash Out betting.
Its founder, Fred Done, became known as the ‘Bonus King’ for the betting site’s love of offering more, more valuable, and more varied promotions than just about any other. They also often paid out on bets early (a form of Cash Out some 25 years ago!) and have a big presence in brick-and-mortar shops as well as online.
A real family business with Wiliam Chandler leaving the company to son Victor Sr, who was then succeeded by Victor Jr. Formerly known as Victor Chandler, before becoming BetVictor in 2021. You’ll probably have seen them sponsor major events in sports like snooker and darts, in addition to Premier League side Fulham FC in the past.
BetVictor offers Cash Out betting on horseracing. Horseracing is one of the more unpredictable sports, especially when it comes to jumps because your horse can (literally) fall at the last hurdle. So being able to Cash Out on racing is a valuable feature to ensure last-hurdle heartbreak.
This type of Cash Out betting pretty much does what it says on the tin. In other words, part of your bet is cashed out and the other part is left to run.
You establish this by selecting the percentage of the bet that you want to cash out, normally between 10% and 90%, depending on the bookie in question. You also have the option to further partially cash out; this feature isn’t limited to you doing it just once.
You place a bet on Arsenal to beat Manchester City. With Arsenal 1-0 up after 60 minutes, the (regular) Cash Out offer is 100 GBP. But you decide to partially cash out. You can choose to cash out 50% meaning that 50GBP is instantly banked and the other 50GBP is left to ride.
If Arsenal goes on to win, you’ll also win the remaining 50GBP for a total of 100GBP but if they don’t, you at least partially cashed out that first 50GBP.
Auto cash out removes the need to be actively following the progress of your bet.
It’s just like someone playing the stock market and putting in a request on their trading platform so they automatically take a profit when the shares of the company they invested in reach a certain profit.
The customer will simply have to decide in advance the level of profit they want to take- anywhere between the value of the Cash Out at the time and the maximum amount they can win- and execute the process on the site. And then just hope that the bet at some stage reaches that level of profit.
A customer places a bet that there will be five or more yellow cards in Manchester United v Chelsea.
The customer knows that they’ll be at a wedding during the match, so not in a position to monitor the progress of their bet and manually Cash Out. They also know that they’re placing a big bet so want to avoid losing their stake in the pursuit of a really big win.
The cash out amount at the time they place the bet is 200 GBP. They figure that three yellow cards by half-time or four before the 70th minute should allow them to cash out at 150GBP. So, they use the auto cash out function.
As long as there are a few cards early on in the game, they should be able to lock in that pre-determined profit despite being nowhere near a computer or phone.
Most cash out opportunities come when a bet is in play. In-play means that the game/race is in progress. So, for example, a bet on over 2.5 goals in a football match is in-play from the opening whistle to the last. Unless of course the third goal of the match is scored, at which point the bet becomes a winner.
But not all bets need to be cashed out in play. It’s possible that you place a bet on Arsenal to beat Liverpool on Monday at 3.2. By Saturday morning Arsenal might be 2.7 as a result of some injuries in the Liverpool camp, meaning you can cash out for a profit before the game even begins.
But let’s focus on the in-play side of things.
That’s both the million-dollar question and the impossible-to-answer question.
Perhaps the best answer is that you should judge each bet on its merits. A more conservative punter may decide that in all cases where they can recover their stake and make a profit of 50% on their bet, they should Cash Out for that.
The problem with that approach is that they’re not judging each bet on its merits. There will be situations where they’ll be missing out on the full payout by being loyal to that approach. Others where it makes sense to do so. And others, where the smart call is to cash out for a loss on a bet you really don’t think, will win.
The Cash out option isn’t available 100% of the time so be aware of this. Here are a few instances when it won’t be, although this varies a bit among different cash out betting sites.
Not all betting sites offer Cash out betting, but most do. And those that do, will always have football.
Among those who do, the (other) sports they may offer Cash Out on varies. But here are some examples of the more common ones in the UK: cricket, tennis, horseracing, rugby, darts, basketball, boxing, snooker, and GAA.
The section above on when Cash Out isn’t available is a good starting point for when you won’t be able to Cash Out. An obvious addition to that is when Cash Out is never available on a particular sport.
Here are a few Ts and Cs that often pop. But as ever, each bookmaker will have their own:
The Cash Out betting option is one of the most important features to have been introduced to Sportsbooks in recent years. It gives customers a lot more options when it comes to managing their bets. Conservative customers can regularly avoid losing their stakes thanks to it and let the rest ride, while an often-overlooked benefit of it is to use Cash Out to recover a part of your stake rather than losing the lot.
For others, it’s a case of peace of mind in that you can lock in a profit without stressing about your bet till the bitter end.
The additional types of Cash Out like Auto Cash Out and Partial Cash out give you even more options as to the level of risk you want to undertake or allow you to lock in profits without needing to follow the action.
And one of the beauties of it is you don’t need to be a maths whizz. The site works it all out for you and clearly displays your options.
The flipside to all this is that customers can be tempted to overuse it. Before its introduction, a smart and winning customer would have no choice but to let their bet ride till its conclusion.
Overusing Cash Out means you’re missing out on full pay-outs and letting the bookies off the hook on bets you would have won. This is particularly true because the bookie always adds a margin to the Cash Out, meaning the amount you’re getting is always slightly less than what it should be.
So, by all means, use it and there will be times when you’ll seriously benefit from Cash Out. But think about each actual bet individually rather than applying a one-size-fits-all approach.
No. Every time you Cash Out for profit, you’re automatically denying yourself the chance to receive the full amount you could win. If you Cash Out every time you can secure a profit you’ll be throwing away money in the long run. Consider on each bet whether it’s a good idea to do so.
No, but most do, and in the future probably all will. You can find a list of some of the best cash out betting sites in this article.
Yes. The Cash Out function allows you to accept a loss and recover some of your stake back, in addition to locking in profits. It works both ways.