paidAffiliate disclosure. The partner link in the masthead and in the band beside the copy on this page is a sponsored link to a partner operator, and this site may be paid if you open an account through it, at no extra cost to you. It carries rel="sponsored noopener" and opens in a new tab. A desk about the market on one person should not leave its own funding unsaid: one link funds the site, no operator and no player, team or market is named, rated or recommended anywhere on it, and the site carries no affiliate ranking of any kind.
The Player Line / The void
What a returned bet is worth, and who decides
When a single-player bet is void, and what the return is worth
A void bet is not a loss and not a win. It is a stake handed back because the conditions the price assumed did not happen, and the samples put the number of bets returned in a month at 620 of 8,000. What that return is worth depends on whether it comes back as money, as a credit, or as a free bet with a condition attached.
Desk spec
- void in a month
- 620
- share
- 7.75%
- stake returned
- 5,828.00
- strictest rule
- 1,840
the projectionWhat a player is expected to do: an expected-minutes figure multiplied by a per-90 rate. The sample player is expected to play 78.0 minutes at 1.40 shots on target per 90, so the model expects 1.21 of them rather than the 1.40 a full match would imply.
the participation definitionWhat the operator's rules mean by "to play". Across 400 sampled single-player markets the same bets stand 308 times under "named in the starting XI" and 369 times under "takes the field", so the definition decides whether the bet is settled at all.
the confirmationThe source that counts the stat after the match and the audit behind it. 14 of 1,200 sampled markets were corrected after first publication, 5 of them more than an hour later, and 3 after the payout had already been made.
Direct answerA single-player bet is void when the participation definition fails - the player is not named in the starting XI, does not take the field, or is withdrawn early, depending on the wording. In the sample month 620 of 8,000 bets were returned, 5,828.00 of stakes, and the same book voids 1,840 times under the strictest definition instead of 620 under the loosest.
A returned stake is not always cash
The distinction that matters is what the return arrives as. A stake returned as money restores the reader's position exactly. A stake returned as a credit or a free bet does not: the credit may carry a wagering condition, an expiry or a restriction on the markets it may be used on, so a bet that "voided" has in fact been converted into a smaller, condition-laden thing. Sample F found only 12 of 36 rule pages stating the void rule and only 6 stating the lower limit, so the form of the return is often unstated.
The second distinction is timing. A void that resolves at the team sheet, an hour before the match, returns the stake in time to be used; a void that resolves at the final whistle, when the player was taken off at thirty seconds, returns it hours later. The samples record the void at the team sheet in 71.0% of cases and during the match in 29.0%, which is the difference between money the reader can still use and money that arrives after the event.
What the samples show
Sample B - the sample month's 8,000 bets under two definitions
| Case | Settled | Void | Stake returned |
|---|
| Under "takes the field at all" | 7,380 | 620 | 5,828.00 |
| Under "named in the starting XI" | 6,160 | 1,840 | 17,296.00 |
| Under "completes the match" | 5,940 | 2,060 | 19,364.00 |
| The spread between the loosest and strictest wording | 5,940 to 7,380 | 620 to 2,060 | 13,536.00 |
sample B - what a void costs, in money
the month's book = 8,000 bets at a mean stake of 9.40
one void bet = 9.40
620 voids under "takes the field" = 620 x 9.40 = 5,828.00 returned
1,840 voids under "in the starting XI" = 1,840 x 9.40 = 17,296.00 returned
2,060 voids under "completes" = 2,060 x 9.40 = 19,364.00 returned
the wording, and nothing else, moves 1,220 bets and
11,468.00 of stake between one sentence and another.
if the return is a credit with a 3x wagering condition instead of cash,
the reader's 9.40 is worth less than 9.40 the moment it arrives.
sample B - when the void resolves
voids that resolve at the team sheet = 71.0% of 620 = 440
voids that resolve during the match = 29.0% of 620 = 180
stake returned at the team sheet = 440 x 9.40 = 4,136.00
stake returned during the match = 180 x 9.40 = 1,692.00
a team-sheet void returns the stake an hour or more before the match,
in time to be used; a during-match void returns it after the whistle,
when the event the reader wanted has already gone.
so 29.0% of voids arrive too late to be anything but a refund,
and the reader has held the risk of the position through the match
for no return at all.
Five things a void bet should tell you
- Whether the failed condition is the participation definition or something else.
- Whether the return is money or a credit, and if a credit, what conditions it carries.
- When the return is credited, at the team sheet or after the match.
- The exact definition in the rules that produced the void, not a summary in the notification.
- Whether the same market would have voided under a different definition on the same page.
Read next