Peter has been writing for the gambling industry since 2013, and ed the SportsCasting team in July 2024. Outside of work Peter is a runner, gig rower, guitarist and musician (releasing two albums under the name 'ShiroToKuro'). Peter is also a lover of manga, anime and Japanese cinema and can even read and speak Japanese at the conversational level.
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Ian Bruce became interested in betting in 1987, when he landed a winning Yankee on his first attempt. That stroke of luck (and he its that's exactly what it was) sparked an interest in understanding the strategies behind successful wagers. Over the years, he has become one of the UK's most prolific writers on betting and gaming, and is best known for his systematic approach to winning. Ian's career in the industry now spans over three decades. His favorite betting method is Dutching because, in his words, "It's the one I win with more often than not."
All posts by Ian BruceSo, what does cash out mean in betting? It means to settle your bet before the market you have bet on has closed, such as a football match reaching the final whistle. You can cash out to lock in profits or minimise losses. This page will explain how to cash out, how is cash out calculated, and discuss what is partial cash out, too.
The Cash Out Feature Explained
Normally, when you place a bet, that bet is settled when the event you have bet on has reached its conclusion. This could be the end of a frame of snooker, the completion of a set in tennis or the end-of-game buzzer for basketball.
Nearly all of the best UK betting sites will allow you to cash out your bets before the event has ended or the market has closed. You can do this at any stage, even before the event you’ve wagered upon has started! The best online betting sites with cash out will offer partial cash out, too.
If you use cash out betting sites, you might be wondering why cash out at all? There are two reasons why it might be profitable to indulge in cash out betting.
To Lock-In Profits
Say you backed Liverpool to beat Newcastle at Evens for £5, and Arne Slot’s men are a goal up with 10 minutes to go. Normally, if Liverpool held their lead, you’d get £10 back, and if they didn’t, you’d get back nothing. The cash out betting site offers you £3 winnings if you cash out, locking in £8 in returns. The choice is then yours – take the £8, or hope for the £10 with the risk of Liverpool drawing or losing by the time the final whistle sounds.
To Reduce Losses
Let’s take the same bet above but let’s say Liverpool are tied at 0-0 with 10 minutes to go. It looks like your bet is going to return nothing, but with cash out betting the site offers you £1 to cash out. This would give you a return of £6 so the wager is now to take the £1 or hope for the full £10 in returns should Liverpool go on to win the game.
If you see ‘cash out suspended’ or ‘cash out unavailable’ when you attempt to cash out, it means cashing out is no longer available for the event. This usually happens when an event is close to finishing, or one side or competitor has taken such an overwhelming lead that it is not in the best interests of betting sites with cash out to offer it.
If a site offers cash out, it will also offer betting apps with cash out. This makes it easier to cash out, as you can do so via your phone or tablet.
A Real World Example
Here are the odds at bet365 for the UCL match with Arsenal paying a visit to Internazionale in Milan. Milan are 13/8, the draw is 21/10 and Arsenal 15/8. A bet on the draw seems a reasonable wager, so £5 at 21/10 has potential returns of £15.50.
Let’s say during the match, Milan take a 2-0 lead, only for Kai Havertz to pull a goal back with around ten minutes to go. You’d need another Arsenal goal for your bet to win, but you are not confident that such a thing is going to happen.
Bet365 offers a cash-out return of £4 to cash out your bet. So, the choice is yours – do you take the cash out offered and get back £4 to your , or keep on and pray for another Arsenal goal to happen to up your returns to £15.50? Of course, if you don’t take the cash out and Arsenal don’t score, then you get back absolutely zilch.
What is Partial Cash Out?
Partial cash out is where you cash out part of your bet and let the remainder of your bet run until the market closes, or the event ends. Let’s go back to our Liverpool example – You could partially cash out (for example) £3 of your bet, and allow the remaining £2 to run until full time.
In that case, the partial cash out site might offer £0.50 to cash out £3 of your bet, generating £3.50 in returns. The remaining £2 would go the distance, so if Liverpool were to win, you’d get another £4 (£2 winnings plus your £2 remaining stake) plus that £3.50 for a total return of £7.50. If Liverpool didn’t win, you would only get your £3.50 cash out.
Partial Cash Out Example
For another example of partial cash out, let’s go back to our real-world Inter v Arsenal UCL match. Let’s say instead of doing the full cash out, you decide to cash out £4 of your bet and allow the other £1 to go the full term. Bet365 cash out offers £3 returns to cash out £4 of your bet. This means you immediately get back £3. The fate of the remaining £1 depends on the final result. If the game does end up all square, then you get back your £1 stake plus £2.10 in winnings for a total return of (£3 cashed out + £1 stake not cashed out + £2.10 winnings) £6.10. If the game does not end in a draw, then you get back just the £3 you cashed out.
How is Cash Out Calculated?
Bookies have their own algorithms to determine how much cash out they offer. Usually, it’s a percentage of your potential winnings (if you are cashing out a winning bet) or stake (if you are cashing out a losing bet). If the event has not started yet, then these will be set at 0% and 100%.
Although the maths is not exact and may be determined by other factors (such as in football, the current score, or in a close game, one side going down to ten men), the percentage of the event remaining roughly determines the cashback figure offered. If, for example, a game of football is around 90% complete, then you will be offered around 90% of potential returns to cash out a winning bet, and only 10% of your stake to cash out a losing bet.
This should only be taken as a general rule though, as cash out betting sites will have their own rules for determining the amount of cash out and partial cash out offered.
[light_list_how_to title=’Could You Benefit From Cash Out Betting?’ description=’So, what are the benefits of cash out betting? Should you always allow your bets to run the full course or cash them out as soon as you’re in profit? Let’s take a closer look at why, sometimes, cashing out in the correct tactic.’][light_list_how_to_item title=’Lock In Profits’ image=”] Betting is all about making profits, so locking in profit makes sense most of the time. However, you could be robbing yourself of even greater profits, so always think before you cash out.[/light_list_how_to_item] [light_list_how_to_item title=’Limit Potential Losses’ image=”]A losing bet always generates zero returns, so getting something back from a losing bet via cash out is a sound tactic most of the time. Be careful, though, as losing bets can sometimes turn into winning ones, so there’s always the risk of robbing profits from yourself.[/light_list_how_to_item] [light_list_how_to_item title=’Change Your Mind’ image=”]Let’s say you’ve bet on Manchester City to go to Brighton and win, but you hear illness has struck the City camp and they are going to be robbed of several of their brightest stars. You can cash out your bet even before kick-off, most of the time, for your full stake.[/light_list_how_to_item] [light_list_how_to_item title=’Sporting Flexibility’ image=”]Although cash out is most closely associated with football betting, most football betting sites with cash out will allow you to cash out on most sports. The only sports where cash out may not be available are ‘first past the post events’ such as horse racing, greyhounds and some motor sports.[/light_list_how_to_item] [/light_list_how_to]Disadvantages of Cash Out Bets
Cash out is (largely) fab, but it comes with a few disadvantages, as we will explain below.
- You won’t get your bonus – If you placed a bet as a qualifying bet for a bonus and you cash it out, then it won’t count as qualifying bet, and you won’t get your bonus.
- You might win less – In fact you will win less if you cash out a winning bet that ends up a winning bet once the market has closed. It’s a question of balancing reduced returns with the potential for zero returns.
- You might get sloppy – Don’t regard cash out as a safety net and therefore an excuse for bad bets. If a bet is not worth placing then it’s not worth placing, whether cash out is available or not.
Conclusion
Cash out is an excellent option at the best online betting sites with cash out in the UK, as once you learn what does cash out mean in betting you can use it to potentially lock in profits and/or minimise losses. It pays to be vigilant, though, and only use cash out when it’s appropriate to do so else you could end up continually robbing yourself of a percentage of the profits your betting would generate if cash out did not exist.
FAQs
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