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The multi-bet: cashing out or letting it ride - we take a look

19th June, 2015
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Doomben hosts another weekend of racing. (AAP Image/Dan Peled)
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19th June, 2015
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Nearly all bookmakers who offer multi-bets love to entice punters to have a go at striking it rich.

What could be easier, they say – put 6-7 legs together of some good bets and if they all come in, the odds quickly add up!

While an analysis of just how likely a multi-bet is to coming off, a significant new factor offered by everyone from the TAB to bookmakers is the offer of a cash-out – a chance to either cash out on a bet where nine out of ten bets have got up, and the 10th just isn’t worth risking, or plunge on, risking it all.

It’s the dream of many casual punters, who embark on a $5 wager on a long selection of bets, hoping that everything goes to plan for a big collect.

On Wednesday night, representatives from the TAB in NSW posted up the following replica of a multi-bet that has been cashed out:

Heading into the second game of Origin, and with NSW up by just four points at half-time, the question had to be asked: did the punter do the right thing by cashing out?

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Those more cynical further had more questions: the date looked out on the TAB ticket. Why would you cash out during a game? How did that cash-out number come to be? Was it worth holding on with $72,503.39 on the line?

The Roar asked the TAB’s Matt Jenkins, Media Operations Manager, to fill us in on the bet. He told us since the launch of cash out in mid-April, there has been $9.5 million cashed out on multi-bets.

He told us the bet was placed at Wentworthville Hotel, Wentworthville in NSW on June 9, with the replica ticket date just a typo.

The cash out is not a negotiation with the TAB – it’s an offer calculated from the odds of the multi and amount invested.

Any ticket that still has some legs to go can be scanned at a self-serve terminal (EBT) and a cash out offer will be made providing the markets are open. A ticket can be scanned as many times as you like to check the offer.

The TAB couldn’t go into further details for The Roar to figure out how much cash punters have left on the table by cashing out early, or conversely, saved themselves by taking a sure winner over further risk.

It seems clear that the TAB, owned by Tabcorp, wouldn’t introduce a new feature unless pressured by other operators, or if they saw a long-term win in place.

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These two, provided by the TAB, show when it paid to let it ride.

TAB multi-bet winners

TAB multi-bet winners

So what should you do? It all comes down to the individual as to how risky they want to be.

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