How cash out works: full, partial and auto cash out

Full cash out

You accept the offer and the bet is over. Whatever happens afterwards, the amount you took is yours and nothing more is paid.

Partial cash out

You settle a share of the bet, half for example, at the current offer and leave the rest of the stake on at the original odds.

Auto cash out

You set a target amount in advance. When the offer reaches it, the bookmaker cashes the bet out without waiting for you, which helps when you cannot watch the game. A suspended market pauses it like any other cash out.

Bookmakers give the feature their own names. 22Bet calls it bet slip sale: you sell the slip back in full or in part from My Bets. Its Auto sell setting sells the slip when the price reaches your amount.

The offer is priced from the live odds. A bet’s value at any moment is its potential return divided by the current odds of the same selection. The bookmaker then takes its margin off that figure.

The same sum works against you when the selection is losing. The live odds lengthen and the fair value drops under the stake. The offer then lets you take back part of what you staked.

Cash out is suspended whenever the market behind it is closed. Bookmakers close markets at the moments that change a bet: a goal, a penalty, a red card, a VAR check, the last minutes of a tight game. While the market is closed the button is greyed out or gone, and when it returns the offer reflects what has just happened.

A bookmaker can also withdraw cash out for a bet altogether. 22Bet’s rules say it does not guarantee that any bet can be sold, and that you find out only after the bet is accepted. Bonus terms decide the rest: a cashed-out qualifying bet can cost you the bonus it was meant to earn, and cashed-out bets are a common exclusion from wagering requirements.

Cash out is rarely fair value because you pay for it twice. You paid a margin when you placed the bet. Cashing out is, in effect, placing a second bet against the first, and it carries a second margin. A punter who cashes out as a habit pays twice on every bet and gives up the full return on the ones that would have won.

Cash out still has its moments. One is when the stake means more to you than the prize. Another is when the reason you placed the bet has gone. A third is when most of an accumulator has landed and you no longer trust the last leg.

Data and network decide whether the offer you tap is the offer you get, because a figure is only good for the second it is shown. On a slow connection the price has moved by the time your request arrives, and the bookmaker shows a new figure or rejects the request. 22Bet’s rules warn that the longer the sale window stays open, the likelier the price is to change. A stream on your phone runs behind the match, so the offer moves before you see why. Keep the bet slip open on a good connection, and decide beforehand at what point you would take the offer.

Cash out is a feature each sportsbook chooses to offer, and it covers some markets and leaves others out. Check which sportsbooks have cash out before you open an account for it, and look for the cash out mark on a market before you bet. The offer moves fastest in live betting, where every goal and card reprices it.

The football betting list compares the sportsbooks side by side, and the table of betting sites in Nigeria gives each one’s overall score. The rule for using cash out is short: decide before kick-off, not in the 85th minute. You must be 18 or over to bet, and a tool that limits a loss is no reason to stake more.