Request a bet is one of the most modern and well-received features to have hit the online gambling industry in years. The ‘request a bet’ or ‘build a bet’ feature allows players to create their own accumulators or ‘multiple’ bets.
Where it is different from a normal accumulator is that traditionally a multiple is a basic bet, i.e. betting on five football teams or four horses all to win etc, while this feature allows people to create a multiple bet within one sporting event.
Within one football match for example, you can get prices on the match result, goal scorers, total goals, both teams finding the net, corners and so much more and have them placed into an accumulator.
Build Your Bet Offers (Updated on: March 2021)
As previously mentioned, not all bookies currently offer this facility, however below are some of the most popular build your bet options available to punters in the UK today.
*Significant Terms: This offer can be claimed by new bet365 customers only. To claim, a deposit of at least £5 (or currency equivalent) must be made within 30 days from your account registration to qualify you for a 100% matched amount in Bet Credits, up to a maximum of £100 (or currency equivalent). Once the offer has been claimed, you will receive the Bet Credits and they will be held in your account balance and are non-withdrawable. To use the Bet Credits you have been awarded, you must place qualifying bets to the value of your qualifying deposit (capped at £100 – or currency equivalent) and these bets you make must settle within 30 days of claiming the offer. Only bets that qualify and are settled after you have claimed the sign up offer will count towards this requirement. The bets you place must meet certain conditions to be able to count towards the release of your Bet Credits. These conditions are outlined in the full terms and conditions. You are not eligible to withdraw your Bet Credits and Bet Credits stakes are not included in any returns. Any returns from Bet Credits placed will be added to your Withdrawable Balance. The use of PayPal, Google Pay, Apple Pay, Paysafecard, Fast Bank Transfer or any other available debit or prepaid cards, for either your qualifying deposit of any subsequent withdrawal of returns from Bet Credits stakes, is not permitted unless your accepted form of Identity Documents and the PVC you entered has been successfully verified by bet365, or bet365 has successfully verified two accepted forms of your Identity Documents. Bet Credits cannot be used on certain products, offers and/or promotions and bet types as detailed in the full terms and conditions. If your account has been inactive for 90 consecutive days, your Bet Credits will be forfeit and eliminated from your account. Full Terms & Conditions apply.Show Less
The number of markets available with bookmakers today is huge, however there will still occasionally be times as to when punters are unable to find what they are looking for on their chosen sportsbook. This is where build your bet offers come into play, which act as an automated version of the request a bet feature that is also available with a large number of platforms. Punters have long been able to request a particular bet by contacting their bookie via email or social media, however build your bet facilities allow customers to automatically create their own wagers, saving them both time and effort
How to Request a Bet
The ways in which you can make your own bet have already been modified and improved plenty since the initiative became popular just a few years ago.
Different gambling brands have their own ways of allowing you to create your own bet, which we have more information on, but using bet365 as a standout example of how easy it is to use a bet builder here are the steps you need to take:
- Using a football match as an example, click on the game of your choice from the betting list.
- Right at the top of the screen, you’ll see ‘bet builder’, click on this.
- The screen will be blank, other than an ‘+ Add Selection’ option. Click this.
- From there, you can choose your market first. Choices include Player to Score, Player Card, Result, Double Chance, Total Goals, Corners, Cards, Free Kicks and more besides.
- To build the bet, click for example on Player to Score. Within this section, you can choose a player from the list and whether you are backing them to score first, last, to score 2 or more, 3 or more or to score any time in the game.
- Then if you wanted, you can choose the result. Choose the team you believe will win and whether you think they’ll win the game overall, to win the first half, second half or be winning after 10 minutes.
- You could then click on Total Goals for instance, picking total goals in the match, the first half, the second half or the first ten minutes. As well as this, you can choose whether those total goals or for one team or the other or both combined.
- At each juncture, the price of your individual selection is displayed and once you click ‘Add this Selection’ it will build your bet into an accumulator, showing the total odds for the bet you’ve created.
Using the steps we’ve outlined above, you can use the bet365 bet builder very easily. There are up to 6 options available to you with bet365 when creating your own bet with markets including the match result (full-time or half-time), both teams to score, the number of total goals scored, players to score, corners, cards and to qualify or lift the trophy in cup game, no matter how the result is achieved.
As has so often been the case, bet365’s version of the build your bet feature has proven to be one of the best and easiest available on the market.
The Ladbrokes build a bet feature works very much in the same way as the other brands; it allows you to create your own multiple bet on the same event. However, unlike other brands Ladbrokes will also allow you to do this on sports such as horse racing and not just on football games.
The key difference with Ladbrokes however is not just that more than one sport is included in the feature, but also that you can build your bet in different ways. As well as being able to put together your own accumulator online, Ladbrokes also allows you to take advantage of their #GetAPrice feature on social media.
Asking the experts via Twitter for a price on a selection that is not currently available is how major brands such as Ladbrokes started with this sort of venture, and many still take advantage of it to this day rather than scrapping around the odds lists online to build an accumulator.
Paddy Power – Request a bet
Another very popular version of this feature has been the Paddy Power bet builder. Marketed the same way as any other accumulator, the special element here is the bet builder insurance offered, i.e. if one leg of your personal bet at 4+ selections lets you down then you can get your money back as a free bet up to £10.
If the bet builder is available, which it certainly is on major football competitions, the associated tab will show within the bet page on your chosen event.
An array of available bets will appear, and you begin choosing your bets by tapping the ‘odds’ button. Choose your various selections and watch the price increase, then go to your Paddy Power betslip. From there, input your stake and confirm by clicking the ‘Place Bets’ button.
The odds you get on each individual selection are fair and mirror the main betting market, the major difference being that you can build your own accumulator which would ordinarily not be offered by the bookmaker.
888Sport’s build a bet feature is another to have gained positive reviews from regular punters. 888’s bet builder allows you just as the other brand’s do to combine various markets within the same football game.
The bet builder is available pre-match and in-play, with unique multiples being allowed that would ordinarily not be offered on the main match betting list.
In each major football match at 888Sport, you can select a player to score 2 or more goals, the home team to win and over 9.5 corners all in one bet. Using 888’s bet builder, you can put all of these individual selections together to create one accumulator bet with odds displayed as you go along.
Football is the main concentration for the bet builder feature right now at 888Sport, though it is hoped the feature will be available on other sports very soon.
William Hill: #YourOdds
William Hill may be the world’s most historic bookmaker, however this does not mean that they do not move with the times. Those registered with William Hill are able to take advantage of their #YourOdds feature, putting them in greater control. Punters are able to request odds on their own unique bet on football matches, revolving around corners, goals, bookings and penalties, along with a host of other occurrences.
Bettors must contact William Hill via social media in order to request a bet, with their team then offering a price and adding the bet under the “#YourOdds” section of the selected event. The majority of requests are adhered to, with both new and existing customers being able to take advantage. An example of this facility from William Hill is a punter wishing to bet on both teams to score, over 10 corners and two particular players to score during an upcoming football match. The #YourOdds offer from William Hill is certainly a welcome addition to their already fantastic betting platform.
Coral: #YourCall
The #YourCall feature at Coral is available to all customers on a range of sports, with punters having to tweet their requests in order to receive their price. Meanwhile, a small number of #YourCall specials are made available to customers at Coral throughout the year.
Available on all football leagues and competitions, including both pre-match and in-play markets, punters can also request odds on cricket, boing, horse racing, golf and tennis markets, among others. In the event of a market not existing, bettors can use this facility in order to create it for themselves. #YourCall bets at Coral cannot be combined with any other bets, while the bookmaker will void any bets in the event of a player in which you have staked on not participating.
Betfred: Pick Your Punt
The Pick Your Punt promotion at Betfred puts punters in control of their wagering, allowing them to create and customise their own bets. The feature means that customers can build then own bet and receive an instant price. Available on all major football leagues around the world, there is no need to request anything, unlike with other bookmakers.
So, for those who are looking to back Sergio Aguero to score, Manchester City to win and over 10 corners being awarded, the Pick Your Punt facility at Betfred caters for your every need. Meanwhile, for those who are unable to find what they are looking for using this facility, simply tweet your bet using the hashtag #PickYourPunt, with the bookmaker responding to the majority of requests.
Request a Bet on Twitter
The already established bet builders available on the major bookmaker’s online platforms have their origins in the ‘request a bet’ phenomenon on Twitter.
Using various hashtags unique to each company, such as #GetAPrice with Ladbrokes, punters are able to @mention the bookmaker and request odds on a specific selection such as the number of passes in a game, shots, tackles or for a player to be given a yellow card within the first 20 minutes.
If your selection can be priced up, the bookmaker will tweet you back with the odds and a link to follow to place your unique bet.
One thing you should bear in mind with this feature however is that there are a large number of requests made during big games, so if you have a bet in mind then be sure to make time before the game gets going and ask for your odds well in advance.
Mobile Only Bet Builders
There are a number of mobile-only bet builders available, some firms sticking to this because of the difference in mobile use versus desktop while firms also see this as a way to positively increase their own mobile usage among their customer base.
It’s good for business and for the download figures for apps, however as a customer you may feel left out if you are not somebody that bets via mobile.
As of right now, though there is always scope for change, Boylesports, Mansionbet, 10Bet and Netbet do offer a bet builder feature but do so only on their mobile sites and apps.
What Are the Advantages of Building Your Bet?
There are a number of reasons for online punters to use the various ‘build your bet’ features available on the market, these being the main ones:
- Flexibility – why stick with the odds and bet variations the bookmakers are already pushing? If you believe there are three, four or even up to six different backable things that are about to happen in a single game then why not have the ability to back them all? Build a bet gives you that flexibility.
- Increased Odds – no individual selection will have boosted odds just because you are building your own bet, but why bet on two even-money things in a game and spend twice the stake amount when you can get 3/1 for backing them together?
- Maintaining Interest in a Game – once you’ve built your bet, it can make watching games all the more exciting. With some of your selections successful, the final half-hour of a match can be enthralling knowing that one person scoring or two more corners may win you the cash.
- You Can Bet In-Play – some firms allow in-play bet building, so you can see how the first few minutes of a match are shaping up and who is in the team before making your selections.
- You Can Bet on Both Teams – not too many bets allow you to bet on both teams, but with build a bet you can wager on a home player scoring and his team getting more than 9.5 corners, while backing the away side to win or to score a certain number of goals.
How Bookies Calculate Odds
Whilst not all bookmakers offer this option to punters, build your bet allows punters to stake cash on more diverse markets. Bookies will look to balance all possible outcomes surrounding a market, meaning that they attract an equal number of bets on such eventualities. Therefore, each market used in a bet builder facility are likely to offer appealing odds, however the main issue for punters comes when combining such events. Margins offered by bookmakers will often become magnified, meaning that prices are not always so attractive.
Many betting sites use software in order to come up with market odds, taking a particular scenario and combining it with factors related to the likelihood of it occurring. A bet builder should only really be used when punters have a strong feeling surrounding a series of scenarios occurring, while checking that the odds on offer are worth it is also important. The potential rewards from placing a build your bet punt are sometimes bigger, however they are also often riskier.
FAQ
❔What is request a bet?
Request a bet is a feature offered by many bookies, allowing punter to create customized accumulators surrounding a specific sporting event. Normally available on football matches, markets include total goals, first goalscorer, match winner and number of corners.
❔Do I need a Twitter account to request a bet?
No. While Twitter is the platform normally used to request bets, punters can contact their bookie’s customer support team in order to do so as well.
❔Which bookies offer bet builder just on mobile?
A small number of bookies only offer their bet builder feature to mobile customers. Such platforms include 10Bet, NetBet, MansionBet and BoyleSports.
❔Can I request a bet on bet365?
The Bet Builder feature is available on selected football matches at Bet365, allowing punters to create their own pre-match wagers.
❔Can I cash out a request bet?
This depends on the bookie in which you are registered with. Many operators state in their terms and conditions that bets placed using the request a bet feature will not be available for cash out.
Conclusion
The various bet builders now available are a great addition to the online betting world. Too many of us ultimately place bets on outcomes the bookmakers are already offering, which in itself can be to our disadvantage.
Building your own bet means truly putting selections together that you believe will be successful, and being able to enjoy a game from start to finish while all the time hoping for a big accumulator to pay off.
