A big part of betting in a savvy way, is protecting your bank roll.
To do this, you not only need to make well researched value bets, but you also need to understand how to cover yourself if things go wrong.
There are lots of different approaches to this and I will take you through a few of them here.
However, it should be understood that none of these are fool proof. They may protect your stake to a point, but it’s still possible to lose some or all of your money.
Each Way Bets
The most common type of insure bet is an each way.
If you bet £5 each way on a horse to win, that’s a £10 total bet: £5 to win and £5 to place. The win part of the bet pays out at the odds offered, while the place part of the bet pays out at a fraction of those odds, usually 1/4 of 1/5.
If you bet £5 each way on a horse to win at odds of 5/1 with the place paid at 1/5 of those odds, and your horse won, you get paid out 5/1 on £5 (so an extra £30) and evens on £5 (so £10 return). That’s a £40 total return.
However, if the horse only placed (came 2nd, 3rd, 4th depending on the number of places paid), you would lose the £5 on the win, but still be paid out at evens for the £5 place bet, so you get a £10 total return. This is the same as your total stake, so you haven’t lost anything. If the place rules were 1/4 of the odds you would even make £1.25 profit.
If the horse doesn’t even place you lose the lot.
Compare this with a £10 bet on a horse to win, where you lose everything unless the horse does come first, and you can see why so many punters think of each way bets as insure bets.
Hedging
Hedging can be used as a way to insure your bet, as well as a way to lock in a positive return depending on the circumstances.
You need to right scenario for it to work, so hedging won’t always be an option, but learning how to quickly spot a hedging opportunity can minimise losses and even increase returns if you are good at it.
A hedge is when you wager on both sides of the bet at different times for a desired result.
For instance, you might bet £50 on Sunderland beating Newcastle United in the FA Cup at odds of 3/1. That would be a total return of £200 if you are right.
However, 30 minutes in Sunderland aren’t showing the promise you hoped for and you decide it’s too risky. Newcastle are still available to win at 2/1, so you bet £40 on them for a potential return of £120.
Now, if Sunderland win you get £200 minus the £40 bet on Newcastle for a total return of £160. If Newcastle win you get £120 minus the £50 bet on Sunderland for a total return of £70.
In this example you made money either way, but if the odds were different you might break even, or just reduce your losses. It doesn’t take a draw into account though (bets like this run for regular time only, so extra time/penalties don’t count). If the match was a draw at 90 minutes you would lose both bets.
So it can be used as an insure bet, but there are lots of moving parts that all have to be in the right place at the right time, so it’s not easy.
Cash Out and Partial Cash Out
This is a very simple mechanism bookmakers introduced that became widespread by about 2016.
Placing bets which are eligible for cash out allows the punter to end the bet early if they decide to. This can be used to minimise losses or lock in returns depending on the state of affairs at the time.
The bookmaker will asses the situation and offer a cash out price based on the remaining risk. It will always be lower than the full payout that would be owed if the bet was left to run and won, but by how much is question.
A bet that is doing well but still has some time to run might be offered a cash out price with a small profit, while one that is doing well and is almost over will be offered almost the full amount. A bet that is not doing well with time to run might be offered a cashout price and a smallish loss, but one that is not doing well and is close to finishing might only offer pennies.
Nevertheless, bettors can use this tool to turn their wager into an insure bet, it’s just about getting the timing right.
Using partial cashout – where part of your stake is cashed out and the other part is left to run – is an especially useful option.
A £10 football bet at 10/1 that is doing well but is only 1 goal away from ruin could benefit from partial cash out. You could cash out £5 worth of the bet at the current price which might lock in a nice profit, then let the other £5 run. If the bet wins the remaining £5 will get the original odds, if it loses, hey, at least you still made some money.
Betting Exchanges
Betting exchanges are used as a way to insure bets all the time.
An exchange allows you to act as the bookmaker. So instead of backing an outcome you are laying it: saying that it won’t happen. You can even name the odds you want. This allows you to basically cancel out your original bet on your own terms – provided there is someone will to take your bet of course.
Let’s say you make a regular bet with a bookmaker that a tennis match will be won by Player 1.
However, their game is off and they aren’t doing well so you head to the exchange and bet on them losing instead. You will need the right odds to effectively cancel out your other bet, but provided liquidity is good on the exchange you should be able to at least minimise your loss.
This is mathematically more complicated because you need to work out exactly how much to stake to get the job done, but again, if you practice and get good at it you can quickly spot opportunities and pounce on them.
Bet Insurance Acca Offers
These are offered quite frequently, but they aren’t quite the same as protecting your stake because the ‘insurance’ isn’t real money.
The offers only apply to accas, or at least, I don’t remember seeing them applied to singles.
Bookies love accas because they make so much money from them, so to encourage bettors to place them, they promise to return their stake if the acca is let down by a single leg.
This is appealing because it happens quite a lot. We push our accas a little bit too far in the hope of bigger returns, but end up winning nothing because only 4 of the 5 legs win.
Well with an insurance offer your stake is returned as a free bet when this happens. That means you get another bite at the cherry.
As you can see, while these offers are often called acca insurance or bet insurance promotions, in reality, that’s a bit of a stretch. You don’t get your stake back, you get free bet credits which must be spent on other bets, and often with additional terms and conditions too. Better than a straight loss, but it’s not cash.
