If you bet online you may have noticed a message from a bookie (or an option on a betting site) to “Accept All Odds Movements”. If you know what that means, you probably don’t need to read anything more. In fact, what are you even doing here? If you don’t know what it means, however, fear not, as we will explain what this message tells you and we’ll look at whether or not you should be agreeing to accept all movements in the price when placing a bet.
Accept All Odds Movements
This message is usually displayed when you add one or more selections to a betting slip. You will usually have the option to tick a box, confirming you do indeed want to accept odds movements or you should be able to close (or just ignore) it to indicate that you do not want to. Sometimes you may see this option somewhere within the general or bet settings, indicating that it will be applied to all future wagers that you might make.
Refers to Odds of Your Selection Changing
Odds movements are not something that you might find in Monty Python’s Ministry of Funny Walks but, rather, the term refers to the price (odds) of your selection changing. Odds change all the time as bookies take bets or new information about the team, player or event comes to light. If you see, for example, Rafa Nadal at odds of 1/5 to win a particular match of his, normally you cannot claim those odds just by clicking on the price.
Bookie Can Legitimately Change Odds
There are various stages to go through in order to confirm a bet and these can vary from site to site and depending on what settings you have opted for. However, at any stage – from when you first see the price to the bet being 100% confirmed – the bookie can fairly and legitimately change the odds. This is not because they are advertising one price to attract you but then immediately reducing it when you want to make the wager. It is as described above, simply the bookie responding to market forces or team news, or an updated weather forecast, or whatever other variable it may be that might affect the outcome of a particular event.
Bets Subject to Change in Price
However, these routine and frequent changes can be a little confusing for some punters. You may go to place a bet and receive an error message saying words to the effect of “The odds for one or more of your selections” have changed. This becomes more likely the closer to the event you are as odds change more frequently as more and more bets are placed on the various selections, and more bets are generally placed just before an event starts. In addition, if you are placing a multiple bet with a number of different selections there is an increased chance that one (or more) may be subject to a change in price.
Odds Movement Ensures Bet Placement
If you tick the relevant box to accept all odds movements then your bet will be placed, irrespective of the new price. This is handy if you want to make sure you always get your bet on and saves time and effort of having to process the bet again. The odds can move either way, so the new price may even be better; but at the same time, it could be worse if other people are backing the same selection and forcing the price in.
Should I Accept All Odds Movements?
“Accept all odds movements” really means, “Accept worse odds” because, of course, there is no reason why anyone would ever not want better, higher odds. Indeed, at some sites, where the odds have increased, they simply automatically confirm the bet at the bigger price.
When it comes to odds that have dropped, however, the bookies deliberately phrase it in a way that makes it sound as harmless as possible. But if it really means you are automatically going to take lower odds, is it really something you want to be doing?
This may largely depend on how much of a price-sensitive customer you are. Casual punters placing the odd bet on a horse, football team or tennis player they fancy may not care all that much if they back their pick at 5/4, 11/10 or even money. On the other hand, a punter who is seriously trying to beat the bookies and who has aspirations of being a pro gambler or who just wants to maximise the value they get will very much care about such differences in the price.
Not Always the Best Course of Action
A £10 bet at odds of 11/10 will only pay £1 more than the same wager at evens but for those betting regularly, or large sums, or including selections in accas, these differences can really add up. Ultimately, if you care about the odds, then ticking to accept all odds movements (also known as accepting worse odds!) is probably not the best idea.
It is rare for odds to change by a large amount but it is certainly not unheard of, for instance if a star striker of a football team is withdrawn at the last minute due to an unpublicised injury; and if you have already ticked to confirm the bet irrespective of any changes in price, you will not know until it is too late. Even a casual punter, one largely unconcerned about analysing all the stats for value and backing their fancies at the best possible price, is likely to be displeased by a sizeable shift in the odds.
Even if the price change is only minor, for the few extra seconds it takes, we would strongly recommend not opting to accept all odds movements. It is far better to just review them on a case by case basis and then you can decide whether the new price is acceptable or you might be better off either making the bet with a different bookie or even picking an alternative bet entirely.
What About Better Odds?
As we have already said, at some sites, where the odds change in your favour, which is to say they increase, such a movement will automatically be accepted. You may not necessarily even realise unless you go back to check the bet or it wins and you receive more than you were expecting.
However, some bookmakers may have an option to accept bigger prices, or odds movement up, or words to that effect. Where this is offered, we would recommend taking it up because otherwise you might have to manually confirm you want bigger odds, which seems both a little strange and certainly a waste of time.