How does cash out work?

Cash out is just one of the more recent innovations that have revolutionised the way we bet online today. To put it simply, cash out basically gives you the option to close your bet before the match has finished, whether that’s to minimise your losses if the game isn’t going your way, or hopefully to maximise your winnings before you feel it taking a turn for the worse.

Choosing whether or not to cash out isn’t as simple as it sounds

The sum you can receive from cash out will vary depending on whether you’re on the way to a winning bet or a losing bet, and will differ between betting sites. It’s good to always keep in mind that the rate at which you may be able to cash out can be higher than your original bet, but can also be lower depending on how the match is going in relation to that bet.

If your bet is on the way to a win then it’s happy days. But if you hold your bet to the point that it turns into a loss as the match is being played, you’ll most likely be offered a lower sum.

Choosing whether or not to use the cash out feature isn’t as simple as it sounds and depends on many factors. Do you have patience and trust in your first instinct that made you place the original bet, or do you decide to be satisfied with the sum the betting site will offer you to cash out?

An example of when to cash out

Let’s say you’re betting on Barcelona vs. Real Madrid and you bet on Barcelona to win at odds of 13/10. With cash out you’ll have two choices to make.

Option A
Barcelona score to make it 1-0 in the 60th minute which increases your chance of winning. That means that you can either decide to cash out for the sum that the betting site offers you or wait until the match is finished. The betting site will in all likelihood offer you a higher sum than your original deposit as your bet is likely to win.

Option B
Real Madrid score to make it 1-0 in the 60th minute which decreases your chance of winning. You can either choose to cash out for the sum the betting site offers you or wait until the match is over. It’s most likely that the betting site will offer you a lower sum than your original deposit because your bet looks likely to lose.

Each betting site will offer you a different variety of betting markets for cash out, as well as a different rate at which their cash out feature is calculated at. At the same time different betting sites offer their customers the ability to use cash out on either single bets or multiple bets (accas). It’s becoming increasingly more commonplace that betting sites will offer their customers the chance to cash out on multiple bets.

If you’ve placed an acca where cash out is an option it means that you have the ability to cash out on a game before a match has even started. You can even cash out before one of the matches has started and still get back a higher amount than your original bet!

The trend is leaning toward more and more betting sites offering cash out. Now the large majority of sites offer cash out. You’ll find that all the biggest and more well-established sites offer cash out as an option. Usually the bigger the site, the more options and more markets they have where cash out is an option. We’ve compiled a list of the best betting sites that offer cash out so you know what’s out there on the market and what’s best for your betting.

Deciding when to cash out or in what situation you should choose to cash out isn’t always easy. The value in cashing out can change quickly and can often take a turn depending on how likely it is that your bet will lead to a win or a loss.

Deciding when to cash out basically comes down to two options

On top of that the overall value of cash out is regulated according to the ongoing status of the match, just like the odds do when it comes to live betting.

Deciding when to cash out basically comes down to two options. Should you let your bet stay in or should you cash out to either win or minimise your losses. A simple example is when you have a winning bet but you can see the tide beginning to turn. This can be if the team you’re backing has a red card or concedes a goal.

Another example is when you begin to see that your prediction of how the game will progress clearly isn’t playing out. It can be a good idea to minimise the risk to cash out at the earliest possible advantage.

At BetBlazers we recommend that in the majority of cases you should trust your initial analysis that made you place the bet in the first place, instead of opting to use cash out.

How you should calculate the value of cash out

Calculating the value of cash out is pretty simple. It all comes down to two factors: the likelihood of winning a bet, and the new odds that the betting site sets in relation to cash out. That basically means that the value offered with cash out can be either larger or smaller than the initial bet you placed.

For example let’s say you put down £10 on a team at odds of 3/1, so you’re likely to win £30 and get your £10 back on the bet, making it £40. The team you’re backing are 2-0 up going into the break which leads the betting site to change the live odds to 1/1. In all likelihood you’ll go on to win the bet, but now you have the chance to cash out and make a winning bet on the spot. Simply calculate it like this:

• £40 divided by odds of 1/1 (2.0) = £20
• Therefore the proper amount for cash out should = £20

How the betting companies calculate the value of cash out

Let’s take the example above. We can see how by doing a simple calculation that the amount we would receive from cashing out at the new odds is correct. Betting sites use the same method when it comes to calculating cash out, but in the majority of cases they tend to lower the actual value by around 3-5%. This means that if you use cash out in all likelihood you’re not going to get the proper value for your bet.