One of the huge benefits of online betting is that it has made markets accessible 24/7. It’s an asset for punters that they can sit down at any time of day or night and get into their betting strategy and look ahead at future markets and the latest odds trends.
But there are times when a bettor could bump into a market that has been temporarily frozen or even play a part in the freeze. The freeze in a market doesn’t mean that it is being cancelled or is no longer going to be available. It is a temporary closure while the bookmakers assess the market. It’s not that regular of an occurrence, but it can happen on any platform. But how can a punter’s action turn into a market suspension?
A Huge Stake Hit
If the bookmaker receives a large maximum stake in a market, they are likely to issue a market pause. It covers betting sites that accept PayPal, Scrill, Neteller, bank cards and all other payment methods available for depositing. Bookmakers have a lot of assets to protect, and the arrival of a huge stake in a single outcome is going to raise a red flag.
Even for a legitimate bet, they could pause to look at the market, especially if it is a maximum playable bet. The bookmaker will make the necessary adjustments to prevent taking in potentially more money on that side of the book.
Bookmakers operate by creating level books, so if a particular market, like a home win in a football match, gets influenced by a massive bet, they will want to make the other options a lot more appealing to punters by adjusting their odds.
Trending Market Options
Bookmakers watch and analyse markets all the time. If an occasion arises where a sudden influx comes in one selection, they are going to want to investigate. In sports betting, most casual punters will simply look for a big, well-known team and back them even at unfavourable odds-on quotes.
That’s a common trend. But if in a horse race, for example, there was a sudden big rush of money from several sources on a big 16/1 outsider, that could be deemed suspicious market interest.
Multiple bets arriving from different accounts on an outsider option that had largely gone ignored in the market, will cause a market to potentially freeze to check on the betting patterns. Your legitimate bet may simply get caught up in the crowd.
In-Play Suspension
The most common occurrence of market freezes on a bet is during in-play betting. This will happen when any major event in a fixture, such as a goal, a red card or penalty kick being awarded occurs. A game-changing moment will require a big refresh of the markets.
If you go to place an in-play bet just at the very moment when this happens, you are probably going to be frozen out while the markets are updated. This also applies to Cash Out offers.
The cash-out feature at online betting sites allows bettors to settle away early. If you have a Cash Out offer waiting, that could be cancelled or at least the value of it altered because of a major moment in the game.
Low-Risk Patterns
If you bet regular patterns, like low-risk bets with small stakes, that’s something that is going to quickly get frowned upon by the bookmaker. Not only could this see any future, similar bets of yours frozen out, it can also lead to you getting a ban from the bookmaker. Playing long odds-on favourites all the time with a small stake is not going to get you far.
What Can You Do When a Betting Market Is Frozen?
Nothing. When a market is suspended, there is nothing that you can do about it, as it’s not possible to place a bet during this time. You will simply see any odds options for that market disappear from the sportsbook and it’s a matter of waiting to see when they come back.
Article written by Zachary Cordova
