What Does A Settled Bet Mean?

Once a winning bet is settled, you’ll be able to claim your winnings. If the bet is settled as a loser, you’ll lose your money, and the bookie gets to keep it.

What Happens To Settled Bets Online?

Betting online has become a phenomenon over the last few years and, by betting with online bookmakers, you can quickly view the progress of your bets in your account history. Lots of bookies divide this section into subheadings such as settled bets and unsettled bets. Once an unsettled bet has been settled, your winnings will be added to your account balance. Lots of bets are settled within seconds thanks to state-of-the-art computer systems.

What Happens To Settled Bets In Betting Shops?

If you’re thinking of placing bets in a betting shop, the betting process is a little different. You’ll need to write out your bet on a paper betting slip and hand it over to a member of staff to process behind the counter. Nowadays, bets in most big bookmakers are settled by computers, so you can normally get your winnings quickly once a winning bet has been settled. But sometimes you’ll need to be patient, especially when staff are busy taking bets on other horse races or sporting events.

What Happens To Settled Bets With On-Course Bookmakers?

If you’re thinking of going for a day out at the races, you’ll find that most on-course bookmakers also use computerized systems, nowadays.

It was different back in my days as an on-course bookies runner. Bookies just handed out tickets with no record of the bet you’d had on them. Instead the bookies made a note of the ticket number and a record of your bet in a ledger.

I can even remember one day when the boss turned up without any tickets, and he was simply writing down descriptions of the customers who placed bets with us. There was man with brown hat, man with grey overcoat and, dare I say it, lady with kinky boots. Yet somehow the day ran smoothly with no sexual harassment charges pending.

Nowadays at the races, you ask for your and bookies will present you with a neatly printed ticket with your selection and bet size on. It will even explain how much you get if your horse wins or if it just places if you’ve had an each-way bet.

When the race is over, the bookies simply printout all the winning bets and crosses them off as the winning tickets are presented. You can normally collect your winnings for a settled bet before the next race is off.

Why Do Some Settled Bets Take Longer To Pay Out?

There can be a variety of reasons why some bets may take longer to payout than others. The obvious one is when bookies are experiencing a high volume of business. This is often the case when there is a lot of horse racing on at the same time, as the result of each race and the settlement of all bets need to be checked by members of staff before being processed. Obviously, bookmakers only have a limited number of staff, so it can take a few minutes extra to settle bets in these busy periods.

Close photo finishes can also take a while to sort out. Before the development of high-pixel cameras, stewards could deliberate for what felt like an age before deciding whether one horse had won or whether it was a dead-heat. This time has been greatly reduced by advancements in technology, with stewards able to narrow gaps down to a single pixel to find even the smallest distance between two horses and declare a winner.

But stewards can still take an age deliberating over steward enquiries, another big reason why it can take longer than normal to settle bets. The rules of horse racing have tightened up how stewards’ enquiries are settled but the stewards can have quite a few things to consider before announcing their decision. They may also have to interview jockeys, and sometimes stewards enquiries may not be settled until after another race or two.

Expected foul play can also lead to bets taking longer to be settled, though this is only normally restricted to punters that stand to make larger than normal sums of money from the result.

How To Make More Settled Bets Winners?

Nothing beats the enjoyment of settled bets that are winners, and here at Betting Gods it’s our goal to try and provide you with lots of winners. We offer daily free tips for horse racing and other sports, which you can get by email. Our professional tipsters also offer subscription services, so you never have to miss a winning settled bet ever again.

You’ll also find lots of other betting advice articles here on the Betting Gods blog, which are all free-to-read. Happy punting!