Are Bet Builders The New Accumulators? Are They Good Value?
Visit any online bookmakers right now and one thing becomes increasingly obvious, the bookies really, really want you to place a Bet Builder.
What is a Bet Builder? A bet builder, not the same thing as a request a bet, is an instantly priced combination bet of related outcomes on a single event that punters themselves craft and construct, watching the odds fluctuate with every added outcome.
And the more you pick and mix, the higher the odds rise. But the higher the odds, the less likely the outcome is from coming out your way. Hence why these Bet Builders are being pushed by the bookmakers now more than the regular accas that were all the boom just a few years ago.
Why Are Bet Builders Pushed So Much?
Well, the straight up easy answer is that these bets are complex and that means they represent terrible value for punters and carry exceptionally high margins that are entirely weighted in the bookie’s favour even though the punter themselves crafted it.
Also, these markets increase bets on matches by creating a competitive element with friends. This is the line most advertising takes when promoting them.
Plus, they are an easy sell. They are, after all, promoted as your bet, your choice, your wager. It’s easy to see the appeal from both ends even though only one is likely to end up happy.
Overround And Margins
At the end of the day, bookmakers survive thanks to the overround and creating their own margin. Because of this, punters must be wise to the notion that books will build margins into the odds in order to guarantee themselves a profit regardless of the outcome of the event.
The size of the event and market dictates the margin, as the bigger the event or market is the more people are likely to place bets on it meaning that the bookmakers don’t struggle to cover themselves.
The bookies aim is to balance a book, this is simple for something like a match result market with win, lose or draw outcomes. The company simply needs to get the right proportion of wagers on each outcome and they guarantee themselves a profit, which means they can offer more competitive odds.
When it comes to a bet builder, however, these are complex bets on markets known as related contingencies (i.e. the outcome of one prediction can affect another) and the number of possible outcomes means it is impossible to balance a book in this case. Therefore to compensate bookies take a big cut. In short, bet builders carry high margins and lower value.
To that end, not only do bookies over promote these features, just as any business does to one of its biggest earners, but also the odds they generate will deliberately be enticing in order to encourage people to bet on what is at the end of the day a thoroughly less likely outcome.
And, because each built bet is unique, the specific bet builder that you have created is a market that is not offered elsewhere so your bookie has no need to offer competitive odds. And the best part is punters cannot get enough meaning Bet Builder are, for the bookmakers at least, win win.
Should You Avoid Bet Builders?
If your main concern is getting value then yes but at the same time that is not the only reason we bet. Bet Builders offer a way to make very precise predictions on outcomes and if you have a very strong inclination that several related outcomes will happen in a match it can get you better odds than just betting on the result or both teams to score.
The main thing to be aware of is these are poor value and over time you could lose more betting on bet builders than other markets but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use them at all. What you should do is only use them when you are very confident that a series of events will happen in an individual game.
Bet Builder or Accumulator?
Firstly these are completely different bets, bet builders combine markets within an event and accumulators combine results from different distinct events. You can’t place an accumulator on first goalscorer and correct score within a match for example, which is what the bet builder was created for.
Both have poor margins that get worse as you add each selection. In accumulators margins are additive, for example if an individual match result has a margin of 5% and you combine five of these together in an acca then the bookies margin goes up to 25%. This is why companies promote acca insurance and tiered accumulator bonuses as the more selections you add the better it is for them.
There is no specific benefit of an accumulator over a bet builder and it depends on the type of bet you want to place, just be aware these are poor value and over time put the odds more in favour of the bookie.
