What is a Bet Builder and how do they work?

A Bet Builder is a popular way of creating your own bet by combining markets on a selected event or even across several.

Punters can take their pick of sports to bet on such as tennis, NFL, boxing, Formula 1 and basketball amongst others, but the king of the Bet Builder is undoubtedly football, simply because of the wide range of markets offered by football betting sites.

What is a football Bet Builder?

As the name suggests, a football Bet Builder allows you to customise your bet by adding multiple markets from a match into a single bet. 

It’s similar to an accumulator but instead of picking out more than one fixture, the punter makes several selections from the same game and adds them to a bet slip.

The best Bet Builder sites offer an extensive range of markets for each fixture, so once you’ve picked out a game which takes your fancy, click on the Bet Builder tab and check out all the options.

For example, if you suspect a game could be an entertaining but feisty affair then you may decide to combine over 2.5 match goals, +10.5 corners and at least five cards. 

The odds will be calculated for you once your selections have been added to the bet slip and, as you would expect, they increase with every option you pick.

The above example is a three-legged football Bet Builder, but you could add several others to increase the odds such as a named player to be booked or another to score at any time.

UK betting sites usually impose a limit on how many legs you can combine, so it’s worth checking with your favoured bookmaker if you enjoy trying to land a monster acca, although you can still get big odds on less than a handful of outsider picks.

The Betfred Bet Builder allows you to select up to five markets for your single-game acca while it’s eight legs on the William Hill Bet Builder. However, punters can make up to 12 selections with the bet365 Bet Builder.

Same market multiples in a football Bet Builder

It’s not always possible to combine some markets in a Bet Builder, but the bookmaker will let you know whether your picks are permitted. 

An obvious example would be selecting both teams to score in the first half and then adding goals at both ends over the course of 90 minutes.

It stands to reason that the odds would not be increased by the second selection because it is covered by the first.

However, there is nothing to stop a punter from choosing a handful of players to come good in some markets such as anytime goalscorer, receiving a card or shots on target. 

Picking players A, B and C all to score would be admissible in a football Bet Builder and it’s also permitted to select player A and B to receive a card in the same game as the two markets are not dependent on each other.

There are many new betting sites which have Bet Builders, but the more established ones offer a much greater range of sports and more options. 

Bet365 not only offers Bet Builders for a single match, it’s also possible to combine multiple games. 

For example, Team A to win at Team B and +11.5 match corners could be combined with something like both teams to score in a game involving Team C and D in which Player A is booked. 

This kind of bet is effectively a football Bet Builder double in which all four selections from the two legs must come in for a pay-out. 

It’s crucial, though, that you research the various markets before placing a wager on one of the dozens of betting apps out there. 

There are some great data-driven sites which will help you decide whether to go for shots on target, cards, anytime scorer or corners, so punters are certainly not short of information.

In-play and cash out betting sites

Bet Builders are an interesting way of betting while watching live games as you can tick off successful legs as they come in and bet365 also allows you to make your selections after kick-off just in case you want to get a feel for the match in the early stages.

Some cash out betting sites allow you to settle your Bet Builder early, but your pay-out will be settled at a lower figure than your potential winnings from the outset.  

Although football dominates the betting landscape, there are plenty of other sports to satisfy your Bet Builder desires. 

Bet365 is one of the best tennis betting sites around and as with their football Bet Builders you can combine a multitude of markets such as a player to win, set betting, aces, double faults and breaks of serve. 

Additionally, punters can create a Bet Builder across several matches, although not all gambling sites offer this as an option.