Today we’d like to discuss what differences exist in bookmakers’ rules and what can happen if these differences are not taken into account.
As of today, almost every bookie has certain points of rules that differ from others.
In case this difference concerns some general issues, the gambler may simply not pay attention to it. But if we are talking about differences in bets calculation, here things are slightly different.
It should be noted that such differences are fairly common, and even on the most popular sports (soccer, hockey, basketball, tennis). So as to back up this reaffirmation with supporting evidence, we offer to your attention a small selection of key differences in the rules that we have divided by sports:
Football
There are many differences in bookmakers’ rules to settle bets on statistics (corners, cards, etc.). For instance, some bookies take into account only those cautions that were given to players during the regular time. Others consider extra time as well, and even penalty shootouts.
Moreover, one bookmaker may consider two yellow cards as two cautions (Bet365), while the other bookie as one red card (WilliamHill).
In addition, there are often differences in the calculation of bets on matches with extra time/penalties. For example, some bookies accept bets only on regular time (90+ minutes) whereas others take into account extra time and penalty shootouts.
As you know, there are a lot football markets to bet on, but it’s important to have the best odds for these markets. Of course, you can analyze the betting lines of hundreds bookie on your own, but it’s a very time-consuming process.
However, there is one effective solution. Investing once in a creation of odds comparison software based on xml odds feed from OddsMarket you get for a lifetime all the necessary data about odds from 300+ bookmakers.
Tennis
Tennis is one of the popular sports where differences in bookmakers’ rules are most common.
Most often the difference appears when the match is interrupted for some reason (player’s injury, weather conditions, etc.). In this case, many bookies make bet cancellation on the interrupted match, but some consider whether the match was held with the result you were betting.
Let’s say you bet on the victory of one of the tennis players in the first set and the match was interrupted in the second. Accordingly, the selected outcome occurred and some bookmakers calculate your stake as a win.
By the way, in the rules of many bookmakers (e.g., Pinnacle) contained a caveat that bet on the winner can be calculated only if at least one set was played.
Hockey
This sport contains differences in bookmakers’ rules quite often as well. For instance, some bookmakers accept bets on the regular time (3 times × 20 min) while some include overtime as well as penalty shootouts.
Moreover, some bookmakers set different rules on matches for the regular season and preseason games. Let’s say the same bookie may count regular hockey matches with OT and shootouts, but in preseason period only with the regular time.
Baseball
Baseball matches usually consist of nine innings (odd number), which often causes inconsistencies in the rules about how a particular bookie understands half of the match. It can be either 4 or 5 innings. It seemed that such a difference in the rules couldn’t somehow harm the gambler, but it is not so.
Let’s suppose you bet on TO 6.5 of one of the teams in the first half. According to the rules of the first bookie, the team will have to score those 7 points in 4 innings, and by the rules of the second bookie in 5 innings. So the difference is quite tangible.
Besides different understanding the half of match, the bookmakers are differently related to the pitcher replacement. For instance, if the bookie has given the pitcher for a particular match, then in the case of his replacement, some sportsbooks will cancel all bets at once while others will keep them unchanged.
Postponed matches
Differences regarding the postponed matches are found in bookmakers not for any specific sports, but for all events. Some bookmakers indicate that bets for the match are saved in case it postponed up to 24 hours. Others don’t cancel bets even for three days from the previously scheduled start of the match.
Why should the difference in rules be taken into account?
Differences in bookmakers’ rules should be taken into account for the reason that due to them gambler can get some trouble like the one we talked about in the Baseball section. By way of illustration, let us give another example:
Let’s say you placed a bet in WilliamHill on a particular soccer match of England Championship. But it was postponed for one day. In this case, WilliamHill will cancel your stake as it doesn’t save bets on postponed matches from most of the tournaments.
But if you bet in Bwin, your stake would remain unchanged because this bookie keeps bets on pending soccer matches up to 72 hours.
Generally, professional gamblers (arbers) the most affected from the difference in bookmakers’ rules. The fact is that the strategy they use for work involves bets on the opposite outcomes of one event in several bookmakers at once. As you can imagine, if these bookies have different rules for bets calculation, the arber can easily lose part of the funds.
That’s why some experienced punters create odds monitoring bots to analyze odds from the bookies they are greatly familiar with. Here the odds api from OddsMarket comes for help: using this API data you can get the odds from 300+ bookies in 40+ sports and 250+ markets in a matter of seconds.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are a lot of differences in bookmakers’ rules. Therefore, before you start working with a particular bookie, it’s important to read its rules for the sports you are betting. This will allow you to avoid all sorts of unpleasant situations, which we have already mentioned above.
This is especially important in cases where you are just starting to bet on a sport that is unfamiliar to you and you are not sure whether your bets will be calculated correctly.
