Request a Bet Explained

We’re living in the era of customised betting and with request a bet features, bettors can engage directly with bookmakers to create their own tailored wagers for their favourite sports or events.

This is all about creating your own market and numerous top bookies have opened up channels where punters can have their custom suggestions officially priced up and made available to back.

In this guide, we’ll cover what this bet type entails and how it works. We’ll also take a look at the bookmaker-specific nuances of the different operators that facilitate custom bet requests.

What is Request a Bet?

With RequestABet, punters can engage with top UK online bookmakers to propose their own unique combinations of selections or outcomes that aren’t available in standard pre-match markets.

More traditional betting staples, like match results or over/under goals, have fixed odds limitations. However, by requesting your own bet, you can combine multiple elements from the same game or even across matches into a single wager.

The concept is fairly straightforward and is all about giving bettors more flexibility and control. It works for the betting sites by driving more business through their books, creating new ways to bet beyond their off-the-shelf options.

Typically, you submit your desired bet to the relevant bookmaker’s trading team, who assess its feasibility. If they approve, they come back with custom odds for your bet.

It’s particularly popular in football betting, where the massive range of markets (goalscorers, corners, cards etc) can be a playground for creativity.

However, there are no guarantees that bookies accept every request. Traders are tasked with ensuring that suggested combinations are realistic and balanced.

Popular RequestABet Markets

There are practically endless possibilities to use as building blocks for your customised bets. Football punters can craft custom betslips using layers of different markets. We’ve highlighted some of the more popular markets bettors use:

• Match result — With 1×2 betting, you’re forecasting the home win, draw or away win from a particular football fixture. These ones are easy to stack on top of each other and pair well with other market types.
• First/Last/Anytime Goalscorer — Goalscorer betting tips are widely available and specify which players scores first, last or at any point during a match. This is ideal for constructing bets around star strikers.
• Total Goals — These over/under total goals betting markets, involve predicting whether the number of goals in a match will beat a pre-determined line (e.g. over or under 1.5, 2.5, 3.5 goals etc.). This is another popular bet type for accumulator bets.
• Both Teams to Score (BTTS) — With both teams to score predictions, you’re forecasting whether both teams will find the net in a football fixture. This one is frequently linked with total goals or match results for high-probability combos.
• Player to be Booked — A market that picks a specific player to receive a yellow or red card during a match. Odds for this one tend to be higher because it’s more difficult to land.
• Corners — With things like Premier League corners predictions, you’re wagering on the total number of corners awarded in a game (over/under). Alternatively, you can look at team-specific corner markets and even handicap lines.
• Correct Score — Correct score bets are precision wagers asking punters to guess the exact final scoreline of a football contest (e.g. 1-1, 2-1 or 3-0 etc.). It’s notoriously difficult to get right, so should be used sparingly with request a bet combos.
• Double Chance — If you’re making double chance predictions, you’re placing wagers that cover two out of three possible game result outcomes (e.g. home win or draw, away win or draw).
• Half Time/Full Time — Half time/full time betting tips aim to correctly forecast which team will be winning after 45 and 90 minutes during a fixture (e.g. draw at HT, home team win at FT).
• Total Cards — You can bet on the combined number of bookings (over/under) with total cards markets here, or even focus on teams specifically if you prefer.

How to Request a Bet

We’ll get into some specifics for some of the biggest bookmakers in the next section, but for now, here is a basic step-by-step guide on how you can request your own bet:

1. Log In or Sign Up: Access your account on the bookmaker’s website or app. If you’re new, you’ll need to register and verify your details to comply with UK gambling regulations.
2. Browse to the Game/Event: Next, head to the sports section and select the match or event you want to bet on. Look for the request a bet or similar custom bet tab.
3. Build Your Custom Combination: Choose from available markets and combine 2-6 selections (limits vary) to form your custom wager. The odds will update dynamically in some cases with each selection you add.
4. Submit the Request: If the bet isn’t pre-priced on site, submit it via the site’s form, live chat, email or social media channel as per their instructions. Provide clear details to reduce your chances of rejection.
5. Wait for Pricing: Now, the trading team reviews your request. If it’s approved, you’ll receive odds for your bet via notification, email or a direct link to add it to your bet slip.
6. Place the Bet: Review the odds, enter your stake and finally, confirm. Options like cash out may be available once the bet is live.

Requesting Bets by Bookmaker

The idea around request a bet is generally consistent, however, each bookmaker tends to have their own twist on the format. Next, we’ll look at how the market works with some of the leading UK operators and household names:

Paddy Power Request a Bet

Paddy Power’s take on the feature is branded as #WhatOddsPaddy and to request a wager with them, you can send their team a message on X directly @AskPaddyPower, with that hashtag above included in the text.

In the message with that #WhatOddsPaddy hashtag, you’ll need to detail your suggested combination of selections from football matches before sending to request a bet Paddy Power.

Their team does an assessment and will answer your request quickly, pricing up the realistic ones if they work and adding them to the #WhatOddsPaddy section on the sportsbook.

If you don’t want to go down the X route, you have the choice of emailing them at SMPriceRequests@paddypower.com or talking to an agent using the live chat function on their site/app.

Paddy Power won’t entertain impossible scenario bets and they are also big on politeness. Abusive or unmannerly requests will be ignored.

Sky Bet Request a Bet

With Sky Bet, the process works slightly differently. You must browse to the dedicated request a bet Sky bet tab, featured prominently on individual football match pages.

In the “Request A Bet” tab, you’ll be able to browse a list of pre-priced options for the game, which feature different sets of combinations. You can view them in order of odds size if you prefer (e.g. up to 10/1, 80/1 and above etc.)

If you want to build your own custom bet, you’ll need to change over to the Bet Bulder tab to put one together. In there, you’ll find layers and layers of markets to explore with dozens of options for match, team and player bets.

Sky used to allow customers to request their own bets through their social channels, however, that was discontinued in October 2024.

William Hill Request a Bet

As per their own promotional blurb, William Hill put punters “in the driving seat” with their version of the theme, known as #YourOdds.

William Hill allow bets to be requested for football plus horse racing and tennis too, and to request something, you’ll need to reach out to them at @WilliamHill on X, remembering to include the hashtag #YourOdds.

One tagged, the social team will take your message and forward it to the company’s traders, who price your request a bet William Hill up and reply with a link to a bet docket, if everything is above board.

William Hill also have a dedicated #YourOdds section on their sportsbook, where you can take a look at dozens of multi-match custom combos for different competitions and fixtures.

#YourOdds also gets its own tab for individual games from the Premier League schedule, La Liga and beyond, with listings in there to suit every risk level and budget.

Pros & Cons of Request a Bet Feature

The request a wager feature has plenty of plus points, but like every other bet type or market, there are also some potential drawbacks to consider. Let’s get into those in more detail now.

Effective Request a Bet Tips & Strategies

There are steps you can take to make the very most of each custom request. Here is some advice from our betting experts at BetIdeas to help you round out your betting strategies.

Correlated Outcomes Work

You can link certain markets together without inflating the risk level of the bet unnecessarily. For instance, you could back a team to win, over 2.5 goals in the game and a certain number of players receiving yellow cards in the same game. Odds will boost and all three outcomes can occur at the same time.

Look at Pre-Priced Markets

Before you submit your custom bet request, you should check the bookmaker’s existing requested bets tabs. Hundreds of ready-made options and multi-match requests are already in there, allowing for quicker bets. You might save yourself some time if you spot the bet you’re about to request.

Take Advantage of Request a Bet Insurance

Some markets will have insurance that refunds your stake if a single leg of your multi-part bet loses. This is especially useful for those longer accumulators where there is a higher potential for something to go wrong. We all know the pain of one losing leg in a big acca and insurance can soften the blow.

Time Your Requests Wisely

High-profile events (like the World Cup Final etc.) are extremely busy times for bookmakers, so you should submit your bet requests early to allow for longer processing times. Always include clear details to speed things up.

FAQs