Postponed match betting rules, explained
What happens to a bet when a football match is postponed or abandoned, how an accumulator shrinks, and a worked treble using real BAI8 Desk prices.
On this page
If a football match is postponed, your bet normally stands if the game is played inside the bookmaker's time window and is void if it is not. A void bet returns your stake. If a match is abandoned after kick-off, bets already decided stand and the rest are void. In an accumulator, a void leg simply drops out. The window is the part that differs between bookmakers, so it is the part to check.
Postponed: the time window
Each bookmaker sets how long a game can slip and still count. Sky Bet keeps bets if the match is confirmed to take place within the current or the following three days of the original local kick-off date, and voids singles if no new start time is confirmed within three hours of the original kick-off. A kick-off moved before the original time is not a postponement at all. Other bookmakers use shorter windows, often 24 or 48 hours, so the same postponement can leave your bet live with one firm and void with another.
Abandoned: what was already decided
When a match is stopped and not finished, the question is whether your market was settled before the stop. Sky Bet's rules:
- Already decided stands. A first-half result after half-time, or a first goalscorer once the first goal is in.
- Undecided is void, unless it is announced within three hours that the game will restart within three days.
- A short stoppage is not an abandonment if play resumes before midnight local time.
Forfeits are different again: a walkover awarded before kick-off voids every bet, and the score a league awards later does not count for settlement.
A worked accumulator
Take three real prices from the BAI8 Desk on 2 November, used here only as an illustration: Sassuolo 2.95 against Fiorentina, PEC Zwolle 2.45 at Willem II and Halifax 4.4 at Cheltenham.
| Bet | Legs | Combined price | Return on 10 units |
|---|---|---|---|
| Treble, all three played | 3 | 31.80 | 318.00 |
| Halifax game postponed and void | 2 | 7.23 | 72.28 |
The combined price is the legs multiplied together: 2.95 × 2.45 × 4.4 is 31.80; without the 4.4 it is 2.95 × 2.45, or 7.2275, shown rounded. The postponement does not cost you the stake, it shrinks the bet. More on how combined prices build up in accumulator odds explained.
What this does not tell you
These are one bookmaker's rules, quoted as an example, and they change. Exchanges and other firms have their own. Read the rules of the place you bet before a game, not after it is called off. Nothing here says whether any of the three prices above is worth taking alone; for that, see what a positive edge actually means.
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Common questions
What happens to my bet if a football match is postponed?
It usually stands if the match is played within the bookmaker's window and is void if it is not. Sky Bet, for example, keeps bets if the game is rescheduled within the current or following three days of the original date; other bookmakers use shorter windows, often 24 or 48 hours.
What happens to my bet if a match is abandoned?
Bets whose outcome was already decided before the abandonment stand, such as a first-half result or a first goalscorer once the goal has gone in. Everything else is void unless the game restarts within the bookmaker's window, per Sky Bet's rules.
What happens to an accumulator with a postponed leg?
The void leg drops out and the bet becomes the next bet down, so a treble becomes a double at the remaining prices, per Sky Bet's rules.
Is a forfeit the same as a postponement?
No. At Sky Bet a forfeit or walkover before kick-off voids all bets, and any score awarded later does not count for settlement.