Void or cancelled bets are unfortunately part and parcel on the online betting industry. Whilst they are statistically uncommon they still happen frequently so it’s still important to know how they work and also what can happen to your bet if the situation should ever happen to you.
One thing that you should note is that they sound worse than they are and more often than not, the player is covered from anything like losing their stake or along those lines. These occurrences happen more in some sports over others, so we will try and highlight which sports or even markets they are more commonly found in.
What Is a Void Bet?
A void bet is where you place a bet on a market and for whatever reason either the game or the market that you’ve just bet on is cancelled. The good thing about a void bet is that you are protected as a punter. So, if the bet is void, then you will get your stake refunded.
For example, if you place a bet on a football match for a team to win and the game gets cancelled at half time for whatever reason (weather, electrical fault, etc.) then the bookmaker will refund your stake given that your market has not been settled yet. There’s a little more to it than just this, which we explain throughout this article.
Why Do Bets Become Void?
The first thing to note is that there’s a long line and it’s more common in some sports over others. If you’re unsure as to why a bet might have been void then the best advice that we can give is to head over to social media (Twitter is our favourite for this) and then search the team, player, horse or whatever it is that you’ve bet on to find out any news on it.
More often than not, social media is the fastest place to find out up to date information on pretty much everything these days, and this should answer your question as to why exactly it’s been voided. Obviously, you can contact the bookmaker directly, but this is often more time consuming and if you are frustrated as to the reason why it might be voided, can simply add to that frustration.
Here is a list of factors that can cause a void bet:
- Postponement – The most obvious and also most common is the postponement of a match or race. In the UK, this usually has something to do with the weather, but it can also be other things, such as terrorist attacks or crowd trouble.
- Palpable Error – This is where the bookmaker has made an error, often in regards to the odds on offer. So, if you find that you were able to take odds of 100/1 on a horse that all other bookmakers were offering 2/1 prior to the start of the race, the bookmaker has in their powers to void this bet and not pay out any winnings. However, it is worth noting that you can appeal palpable errors if you think that the voiding of the market was unfair.
- Abandonment – If an event is abandoned at any point, then markets that haven’t already been settled will be deemed void.
- Failure to Settle Market – This is where the market has not been settled at any point and as a result, will not pay out. For example, if you bet on the first goalscorer in a football match and that player does not take part in any of the game.
- Human Input – You can actually request for bets to be voided prior to the start of the bet if you wish. So, if you place the wrong stake or choose the wrong bet, you can often contact the bookmaker and ask for them to void the bet for you and return your funds.
How Do Void Bets Affect Accumulator Bets?
For a single bet, we know that if a bet is voided the stake is just returned. But, when we work with an accumulator bet, which is a bet that has two or more selections involved, then the rules change a little. They change in the fact that the bet doesn’t totally just end and instead, it gets adjusted. So, what happens is that if a single bet of your accumulator bet become void, that selection will be removed and the odds for your accumulator bet will be adjusted based on that bet no longer being part. This means that the rest of your bet will carry over.
Let’s run through a quick example of how this might work. We put a 4-fold accumulator bet on that includes:
- West Ham = 2.00
- Chelsea = 1.90
- Arsenal = 1.60
- Man City = 2.10
To work out the odds of the accumulator, we simply multiply all the single odds altogether. So, this would be 2.0*1.9*1.6*2.1 = 10.37. Let’s say that the West Ham game gets called off prior to the game starting and that bet is deemed void. Our accumulator bet still stands, but we remove the West Ham odds to get the following: 1.9*1.6*2.1 = 6.38. We don’t need to do anything for this, it will just occur automatically, and the bet will carry over with just three selections.
The same thing works for full cover bets, such as Lucky 15, Lucky 31 and Lucky 63 bets. These are basically just extensions of accumulator bets to include a host of different ones. For example, a Lucky 63 bet includes 6 single picks, if one gets removed then it would move to 5 picks, which is a Lucky 31 and so on.
Does Each Bookmaker Have the Same Criteria for Their Void Bets?
The short answer to this is no. But, it’s not quite as straight forward as that. You see, some bookies will only temporarily void a bet.
Football
For example, if a football match has been postponed due to bad weather at half time, then the bookmaker might state that it will void bets if the games haven’t been played within a certain timeframe, usually about 48 hours after the initial fixture. If this doesn’t occur, it’s a full void bet and the full stake is returned.
Bookmakers often set slightly different timeframes as to when they will part and full void. Please note there is no such thing as a “part-void” bet, but we’re coining the term to help you understand a little better of how this might play out.
Tennis
Another sport that differs greatly is that of tennis. With tennis, players often get injured, which means that can retire from a match, mid-match at any point, usually through injury. When this happens, unsettled markets become void. But the issue arises in when the bookmaker states that a bet will be voided and when they stand.
For example, a bookmaker has in their terms that there needs to be at least 1 full set played before a result can be called (the result will be the player that advances to the next round). But, after just 2 games, a player gets injured and retires. Given the bookmakers terms, the match has not been settled as 1 set has not been played, so therefore the bet will be voided, and stakes returned.
The timeframe that they void is what is different with so many bookies. You can get 1 set, 2 sets, 3 sets or a full conclusion of match needed for the cut off point for voided bets and the bets being settled.
My Bet Has Already Been Settled in a Match That Has Been Abandoned. What Happens Now?
You’ve bet on a match that has been abandoned, but your bet has already been settled. When this occurs your settled bet stands, whether you have won or lost. A typical example might be in a football match where you bet on the first goalscorer of the game. The player you picked scores and the bet wins. But later the game gets called off. Your bet will still stand and will be deemed a winner (note that it would also stand as a looser if the bet had lost).
What Happens with Free Bets or Offers with Void Markets?
It may be that you’re using a free bet from signing up with a bookmaker or they’ve offered you a free bet to use as part of being a loyal customer. You place the bet, but the market becomes void before it has been settled.
You (Usually) Lose Your Free Bet
If this happens then more often than not you will lose your free bet. It’s often written into terms and conditions that any free bets that are used on void markets are deemed as losers. So, you won’t get a refund in the form of a free bet.
However, there are some bookies that will refund your free bet for you. It’s pretty rare, but they do exist, meaning that the free bet or bonus balance on your account will be topped up. Whilst they are often pretty strict with terms, if you get in touch and be super endearing with them, we have known them to reactive void bets as free bets on rare occasions, but this takes a certain amount of charm, so be warned.
A Note on Acca Insurance
It’s also worth noting that if you have used any sort of acca insurance, then promotions like this will not work with void bets either. For example, with acca insurance the bookmaker refunds your stake if you choose a minimum number of selections (usually 5 and up) and one of those selections loses to let you down (remaining picks all have to win). If one selection is void and this takes you under the minimum number for acca insurance, even though it’s no fault of your own, acca insurance won’t be eligible for these bets. Whilst you might be able to sweet talk a refund with small free bets, you definitely won’t be able to with this!
What Are Some Examples of Big Bets That Have Previously Been Made Void?
Whilst rare, it does occasionally happen that bigger bets are made void. Here we have a look at a couple of noteworthy situations that caused a bit of an uproar at the time.
May 2019: Sportsbet Voided Bets on an AFL Game
One of the most recent came about in May of 2019 when Sportsbet, Australia’s biggest bookmaker, voided bets on an AFL game. The bet was that there would be no player to read 40-disposal points for the game priced at $1.75. There were 39 in the game, but Sportsbet later voided the market citing that they had made a mistake with the odds, similar to the palpable errors we spoke about earlier in the article.
Sportsbet later stated that they would honour the bet after huge backlash, but at the prices of $1.30, plenty short of the original price. Whilst technically the bookmaker were within their terms and guidelines, the bookmaker has been heavily criticised by punters and people within the industry for how they went about their business and voiding the market.
December 2009: Ladbrokes Christmas Day Snow Bet
One of the biggest voided bets of all time came in 2010, when a punter placed two £5 accumulator bets on locations that would see snow on Christmas day within the UK. The bets were placed in a Ladbrokes store and the winner looked set to scoop £7.1 million from the two bets that were made.
But Ladbrokes later broke the news to the unlucky punter that they were not able to accept accumulator bets on these markets, even though the bet had already been accepted. Instead, the bet had to be voided and changed into single bets. As a result, the winnings were just £31.78.