NBA bettors were given a welcome reprieve early in Sunday's Game 7 of the NBA Finals between the Indiana Pacers and the Oklahoma City Thunder.
In the moments following Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton's catastrophic leg injury suffered in the first quarter of the Thunder's title-clinching win, bettors held their breath – first, to see if Haliburton would return (he didn't, later diagnosed with a torn Achilles tendon), and then, to see if their Haliburton wagers would be voided.
Most major legal sportsbooks did as expected, wiping out any single bets or parlay wagers involving Haliburton.
A bet can become void for many reasons. Whether your bet is cancelled due to a major early injury, an abandoned game or a non-participant, you’ll get your money back. In this article, we’ll explain what causes a void bet and how sportsbooks respond to different circumstances.
Key Takeaways
- A void bet simply means a bet has been cancelled.
- If a bet becomes void, the full stake is refunded automatically.
- Abandoned games and other unforeseen circumstances can make bets void.
- Parlays remain in play even if a bet on the card has been voided; the affected wager is removed, and the odds are recalculated.
If you’ve ever come across a void bet and been left wondering what’s happened and why, you’re definitely not alone. Void bets aren’t hugely common, but they crop up occasionally when something happens that’s beyond a sportsbook’s control.
In this article, we’ll talk you through what causes sportsbooks to declare a bet void, and explain what happens to your stake in these situations.
What is a "void bet"?
If you see that your bet is ‘void’ this simply means that the sportsbook has opted to cancel your bet, likely due to unforeseen circumstances.
When making bets void, sportsbooks will automatically refund the entire stake. So while it can be frustrating to see that word pop up, it’ll never mean you’re left out of pocket.
Sportsbooks can cancel bets for a number of different reasons. We’ll take you through some of the main reasons why bets tend to become void below.
Covers Expert Tip
Five Reasons Why a Bet is Voided
A range of different circumstances can result in void bets, either as single stakes or as part of a parlay.
Here are a few of the reasons why your chosen sportsbook might have made your bet void:
The game has already started
Now this doesn’t happen often, but sometimes, due to technical errors, sportsbooks will mistakenly accept a bet on a game that’s already begun.
In extreme cases, players can even manage to place bets on markets where the result has already been determined. This occurs sometimes with in-play betting. There have been a few occasions where sportsbooks have offered odds on certain players scoring first when they or another player has already scored, for example.
If you manage to place a bet like this you might be forgiven for thinking you’ve cheated the system and will emerge triumphant, but sportsbooks can (and will) cancel any bets that are taken accidentally.
Your selection isn’t running (or playing)
Should your chosen horse fail to start, or the athlete you’ve bet on withdraw at the last minute, you’ve got what’s called a non-runner.
Most sportsbooks will make a bet void in cases like these, so stakes are automatically refunded and no money is lost. This gives players peace of mind in the run up to an event, particularly if rumors start to circulate about participants facing illness or injury.
The benefit of placing a bet at this early stage is that the odds can be more favorable, but it comes with a big drawback. If you choose a horse that doesn’t end up running in an ante-post bet, your bet will be lost, rather than voided, so you won’t get your stake back.
Game circumstances have changed
If the circumstances behind an event or market change shortly before or during the event itself, this, too, can void any bets placed on that market.
Say weather or an unplanned interruption affects an NFL game, for example. In such cases, overs are sometimes reduced, and the chasing team’s target is recalculated. This would make any bets placed on the match void, as the odds offered prior to the game no longer apply.
In some sports, we see games abandoned part-way through. This occurs more frequently in single-player sports, like tennis, where an injury can stop the game in its tracks. While tournaments will declare the uninjured player the winner if the other withdraws, sportsbooks may well void bets on these games.
The exact terms sportsbooks use to determine whether a bet is void in such cases vary from bookie to bookie. Usually, a certain number of sets needs to have been played for the sportsbook to consider the advancing player the winner, and pay out on bets accordingly. If a game ends before those sets have been played, bets will be made void.
The timing of the game has changed
Large-scale sports events, such as football matches, are postponed or abandoned from time to time. This can happen for a whole range of different reasons.
Postponements occur because of something that would make it impossible to play the game, like particularly bad weather conditions. Cases of illness or injury can also lead to postponements of a portion of, or the entire game.
Games have also been postponed for reasons completely unrelated to the sport in the past. Let’s not forget that back in 2022, the whole of the UK postponed all Premier League football matches for a weekend following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
If a game is simply postponed, bets won’t always be automatically voided. Instead, sportsbooks will give a certain timeframe in which the game needs to be played or concluded. The specific timeframe used varies from sportsbook to sportsbook, but it’s typically around 48 hours.
If the game is abandoned entirely, then sportsbooks will make all bets placed void, and stakes will be returned.
You’ve used an insurance bet
Also known as an insurance bet, an insure bet is one that’s placed on a certain participant, with the agreement that should they not win, but come in inside of the listed places, the bet is void and the player’s full stake is returned.
We often see insure bets offered on horse racing and greyhound racing, but they can crop up in other sports too.
What happens to parlays if one part is voided?
If a single bet is made void, it’s a simple case of returning players’ wagers for that bet. But it gets a bit more complicated if that bet makes up part of a parlay, or accumulator.
A single void bet won’t cancel a whole accumulator. Sportsbooks will instead offer that accumulator as a four-fold instead of a five-fold, and pay out if all remaining bets win. Fanatics, for example, often trumpets its Fair Play approach which sees the book void any legs or bets on a player who suffers an early-game injury.
If the player took advantage of an offer, like a boost, when placing that bet on five markets, they’ll likely lose this and simply receive winnings as though they had only bet on four to begin with.
Can you have a bonus bet refunded if it's voided?
Bookmakers offer bonus bets all the time, and sometimes players will opt to use these on markets that later become void. In these cases, the response is really up to the individual sportsbook. Some act very differently to others.
Many sportsbooks won’t automatically reissue bonus bets if they become void, even though this is rarely a player’s fault. However, the majority of sites are open to doing so on request.
It’s always worth contacting your chosen sportsbook if you find that the bonus bet you used became void and you didn’t get the chance to win your bonus back. Often it’s just a case of asking the question via live chat or email, and your sportsbook will reissue a bonus bet that you can use on another market. It’s not guaranteed, but it never hurts to ask!
