As I write this in spring 2021, most of the big bookmakers have a Cash Out option available in some shape or form. Football markets are the most common options for Cash Out, however the option is slowly but surely spreading to other sports including golf.
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For those of you who’ve been betting on golf for a few years now, some may recall the now defunct bookmaker ‘Extrabet’ who were the first and only bookie at the time to allow their online customers to exit out of a bet before the result was known. Primarily a by-product of the fact that Extrabet offered spread betting on golf and other sports as their main business, Extrabet’s ‘Close Bet’ functionality was a popular option before they, as a business, were eventually swallowed up by SpreadEx in 2011 and with it the feature disappeared.
The other option for closing a bet early that’s been around for a few years now has been to trade on the exchanges such as betfair. The exchanges allow users to back and lay outcomes of sporting events to their heart’s content and, provided someone will match the bet that you propose, then this option provides by far the most flexibility across a massive range of markets.
Trading on the exchanges though does take some experience and mathematics, so canny bookmakers have been feverishly working on a more mainstream option for punters – hence the birth of ‘Cash Out’. If you want to learn more about betfair trading on golf then read our basic strategy guide here.