Requesting Bets and Odds for Value Bets

Request a Bet is already popular amongst betting customers, putting more control in the hands of the punter. The feature allows customers to build their own unique betting selections, and to request odds from the bookmaker on their custom bet – over and above the standard markets and odds quoted. Often, this can lead to better odds than those available as standard, with some good value betting opportunities available through this method. Plus, there’s the advantage of control here – you get to bet on exactly what you want and ‘build your bet’ accordingly, rather than conforming to the standard selections offered by the bookie.

Request a Bet is available across a number of different sports and markets, including football and horse racing, which are amongst the most commonly requested. It even extends to in-play bets in some instances, provided you’re quick enough off the mark to get your requested selection priced up. This is commonly used in conjunction with accumulator bets, but there’s enough flexibility to cover a range of different markets and betting lines.

The process for requesting bets varies slightly from one bookmaker to the next. Some bookmakers offer specific request a bet options through their mobile apps – Betfred, for example, where their PickYourPunt tool lets you build bets in real time to get unique odds on your selection.

Others are primarily social media focused, like Coral’s #YourCall – you simply tweet your selection using #YourCall, and they’ll tweet you back with custom odds and a link to place your bet. In the case of Coral, #YourCall is available on Premier League, Championship, Champions League, La Liga and Serie A football matches, as well as NBA basketball.

These features let you get creative with the type and selection of lines to be included in your bet. Whether it’s through the mobile betting app, an online bet request tool, or directly tweeting the bookmaker for custom odds, it has never been easier to get a price on virtually any selection you can think of.

The Bet365 Bet Builder is a feature of the Bet365 website, where you can build bets on the fly to get custom odds. You can find Bet Builder by clicking into any event and choose the ‘Bet Builder’ option from the menu. Click ‘Add a Selection’, and you’ll be presented with a pop-up, where you can start to add lines to your custom bet.

Picking your custom selections is a breeze, with options ranging from Match Result, Both Teams To Score, Number of Goals Scored, to Corners, Goalscorers and more, in the case of requesting bets on football.

You can combine up to 6 selections in one custom bet, allowing you to expand on the odds available from betting through standard bet selections. A couple of points of note here – Bet365 Bet Builder bets cannot be cashed out, and they must be placed before the action gets underway. In other words, there’s no in-play betting available through the Bet Builder facility.

Bet Builder is also available through the Bet365 app – just tap ‘Bet Builder’ at the top of any match selection to begin customising your bet.

Sky’s Request a Bet feature has been a massive hit with their customers, offering wide ranging flexibility to put together unique betting lines and combinations. You can request a bet on Twitter by simply tweeting @SkyBet your selection, with the hashtag #RequestABet – they’ll ping you back your odds, plus a link to directly place the bet. Alternatively, you can use the helpful tool on the Sky Bet website or app to construct your bets.

Note that with Sky Bet, your requested bets are forwarded on to the trading team, who calculate the odds and upload it directly to the Sky Bet website. This is a process that can take a bit of time, so always be sure to request your bet well in advance of the event starting.

Your bet will appear on Sky Bet’s Request A Bet page, alongside other requested betting selections and odds. From here, you can also choose to back the bets requested by others, which become publicly available bets once quoted by Sky Bet for the first time.

Request A Bet odds are available on the event page, so you’ll see these presented as available markets when you’re choosing your selections.

Through the app, it’s simple to request odds on any selection. Activate the ‘Request A Bet’ toggle bar, which should be switched to ‘On’ as you’re building your selection. Choose the components of your bet in the usual way, a click ‘Request Price’.

It’s as simple as that – you just build your selection in the usual way through the usual interface, but instead of placing the bet directly, you’re requesting a price from the trading team once you’ve got your selection in place.

Football

Requesting a bet often gives better odds than you would find from an accumulator of the same selection. If you’re thinking of an acca bet and you’ve got some collections in mind, it’s always worth requesting odds before plumping for the selection as publicly quoted. This can give you better odds on what is essentially the same bet – plus bet insurance, where available, safeguarding your stake against a single failed leg.

Also keep an eye out for promotional bets tied to request a bet features – commonly used by bookies trying to promote certain betting events, or to encourage punters to try their bet request facility.

Horses

Try requesting your odds as early in the day as possible. This is a good way to take advantage of discrepancies between different bookies, before markets have levelled out closer to the race start time. Feel free to request from a couple of different bookies, which allows you to pick the best of a selection – even if all odds quoted are better than you’d get from a standard bet of the same selections.

You might also want to think about checking out betting exchanges, where you can often find better odds on your custom selection without even touching request a bet.

Requested bets do sometimes differ in their rules and restrictions, so it’s worth reading these before taking on a custom selection. Rules like stake and payout limits and even wagering requirements in some instances will apply, and this varies by bookmaker as well as by market.

Where ‘insurance’ is available, bets will be voided in the event that one leg fails, and only lost when there are two failed legs to your bet. Voided bets are stake returned, so where insurance applies, it’s a good way to increase your chances of holding on to something if your bet falls short.

Request a bet odds are either calculated through bet builder tools where available, or remitted to the trading team (e.g. Sky Bet), where the odds are calculated and signed off manually. This means the process can take some time to put into effect, so you shouldn’t necessarily leave it to the last minute to request your custom bet.

This is also the case with bets requested on Twitter – once approved, you’ll be tweeted the odds and a betting link, which you can click directly to set up your custom bet at the odds specified.