The basic idea of a bookmaker is that they offer you odds on events that they’re covering and you can either take those odds or shop around to different bookies and see if any are offering better value. Sometimes, though, punters will have an idea of a bet that they’d like to place that doesn’t come under a bookmaker’s typical remit. When this is the case, companies that offer the ability to request odds are the way to go.
Most of the time this is done through social media, such as via the company’s official Twitter account. Sometimes you’re able to get in touch with them via their customer service team or using some other method, after which they will offer you odds if they’re able to. The thing to bear in mind is that you can’t really shop around at this point, meaning that the odds that you’re offered are in a take-them or leave-them sense and notoriously poor value.
Bet Requests
The most convenient way of asking a betting company to present you with odds to something that they don’t offer as standard is to request a bet from them. Not all bookmakers offer this feature, but most of the big ones do and if they’re able to offer a market then they will. Just because you’ve requested a bet to be offered odds on doesn’t mean that they’ll definitely do it, of course, so don’t be surprised if they say they don’t have odds for you.
The vast majority of the time, the biggest bookmakers offer you odds on bets that you’ve requested of them via social media. They do this because it’s a good way of getting their services out there, given that other people will read your tweets or Facebook posts requesting the bet in the first place. You’ll usually have to send a tweet with your bet on and include a hashtag so that they see it, looking something like this:
@Bookie Can I have odds on Liverpool winning 3-0, conceding 4 corners, Trent Alexander-Arnold getting booked and the opposition giving away a penalty? #AskBookie
The bookmaker in question will reply to you either saying you can have odds for the bet or else saying that they’ve got no market to offer. If they have odds then they’ll usually send you a link to where you can place the bet at the odds offered; though obviously you don’t actually have to take them up on the odds if you don’t want to. If you’d prefer, you can just pretend that they never replied to you and avoid placing any bet on the market.
Bookies are generally proud of this feature, if for no other reason than it’s a good money maker for them. As such, the ones that offer it will usually have a selection of the bets that they’ve been requested to offer odds on on their website, allowing other punters to place the bets placed that different people have already asked for. If you’re after an odd market then it’s always worth looking on these pages first.
Odds Requests Are Not Good Value
The main thing to remember about bets that you’ve requested odds for is that they are are usually extremely poor value. Because bookmakers don’t usually offer the markets that are requested, they know that they don’t need to be competitive with their pricing. Think of it this way: if you wanted to place a bet on Liverpool winning 3-0 then you could do so with any bookie worth their salt that has a sportsbook, so you can shop around.
Place a bet on Liverpool winning 3-0 and also conceding four corners, whilst one of their players gets booked and they win a penalty and all of a sudden your bet is so specific that the bookie you’ve asked it of knows that you won’t be able to get that bet anywhere else. To put it more specifically, you can request odds on the same bet from other bookies that offer the service, but there’s never any guarantee of what you’ll get.
As a result, all of the sportsbooks that offer request-a-bet style services know that they have no need to be competitive with their pricing and will usually offer you much poorer odds than the bet is actually worth. They also have to do this because the nature of the bet makes it almost impossible for them to balance their books, so they’re not in a rush to offer loads of people really generous odds on outrageous markets.
In addition to all of that, bookmakers will often limit bet requests to specific sports. If you’re a big football fan then it’s fair to say that you’re not going to struggle to find a bookie willing to offer you odds on most things. If you’re a lover of water polo, on the other hand, bookmakers are much more unlikely to cover the bets that you request of them. That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t try, just don’t be surprised at the outcome.
One way to try and get more value when placing these bets is to request them from multiple brands, of course this increases the hassle but if you do win it could be worth it.
Related Contingencies
If you are asking a betting brand for odds with a single outcome then the odds will work in a standard way. An odds trader or computer will price up a market and you will be offered odds on your outcome factoring in the betting company margin. If the bet is highly unique the margin will be higher as the betting site has more unknown risk and there is less competition.
Most bets that are requested however are related contingencies, this means there are multiple outcomes but these are related to each other, i.e. one outcome can affect the likelihood of another outcome. Related contingencies are discussed in more detail on our dedicated page but suffice to say that when you combine related events the odds are usually poor.
Taking the example from earlier, combining a correct score with bookings, penalties and corners we are magnifying the bookies margin by combining these scenarios together. Like an accumulator the more selections you add into your bet the worse the odds value for you. When you add into the fact that these individual markets can also be less competitive, compared to something like the match result, it means often bet requests are a poor reflection of the real odds.
This isn’t to say these bets shouldn’t be placed. After-all if you have a highly specific prediction they can still offer better odds compared to betting on the match result or each market as singles. The main thing to be aware of is bet requests are not good value long term and should only be used if you have high confidence in an outcome or if you just want place them for enjoyment.
Bet Builders
A way of getting a market similar to one that you might request but without having to go through the rigmarole of getting in touch with bookmakers via social media or some other method is by using their bet builder feature. This is something that most of the big bookmakers offer and it is similar to the request-a-bet offer insomuch as it allows for related contingencies to be added to your betting slip.
Bet builder features allow you to add a series of markets together to create a mini-accumulator filled with related contingencies of things that you couldn’t normally bet on together. As with requested bets, the value is poor on these types of wagers but they’re still an interesting prospect for those of you looking to bet on something a little bit off the beaten track. They’re worth thinking of as an alternative to requesting a bet.