If you follow football betting on X, you will have seen punters firing bespoke multi-leg bets at bookmaker accounts and getting a price back. That is request a bet, and it is one of the few routes to odds on a combination that is not on the board.
Before you send your first one, it pays to know what traders will price, what they ignore, and how a request differs from a self-built bet on existing markets, which we cover in our Bet Builder guide.
Request a bet lets you ask a bookmaker to price up a bet that is not available on its standard markets. You submit the selection; a trader at the bookmaker reviews it and decides whether to offer odds. The bookmaker sets the price; it is not guaranteed, and the trader can refuse the request outright without explanation.
A typical request reads like this: Arsenal to win, over 2.5 goals, and over 10 match corners in one Premier League fixture. Those 3 legs will not appear together as a single-priced market, so a trader builds the price manually and quotes it back to you.
Most requests are multi-leg, which means long odds and a lower strike rate than a single. We treat them as entertainment bets, not the backbone of a staking plan. Betting Village is not a bookmaker, and everything here reflects our own opinion.
The principle is the same across UK bookmakers, even though the submission channel differs:
A quoted price is an offer to you, not a confirmed bet. Until you stake it, nothing exists on your account, and the bookmaker can withdraw the price if the market moves on team news.
| Quick tip: Send requests well before kick-off, ideally the night before. Trading desks are busiest in the hour before a match, when requests are most likely to go unanswered. |
There is no single industry process. The feature name, submission channel, and response route vary by operator, so check the bookmaker’s help pages before you send anything.
| Bookmaker | Feature name | How you submit | Typical response channel |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sky Bet | RequestABet | Post or direct message on X to the @RequestABet account | Reply on X, with the priced bet available in the app |
| William Hill | #YourOdds | Submitted via the #YourOdds route, including on X | Reply on the channel used, price added to the account |
| Paddy Power | Requesting a price | Social request or in-app contact channels | Reply on the channel used |
| Betfair | Requesting a price | Social request or in-app contact channels | Reply on the channel used |
| bet365 | No branded X request service | Bet Builder covers most bespoke combinations; check bet365’s help pages for current routes | In-app, where available |
Request-handling changes without notice: accounts are renamed, channels close, and some desks pull back from social requests during busy periods. Treat the table as a starting point and confirm the route with the bookmaker. Only request bets from operators licensed to offer gambling to British customers, which you can check on the Gambling Commission register.
Sky Bet requests go to its RequestABet account on X. You post or message the full selection, naming the exact fixture, the competition, and each leg as a measurable outcome. If the trader prices it, the reply points you to a single-priced bet you add to your slip before the stated expiry.
Wording matters more than most punters realise. Compare these two:
Shot-count legs are a favourite of ours because they settle cleanly, and our guide to shots on target betting explains how the 1 and 2 shot lines behave by role. Sky Bet also confirms that some RequestABet bets are eligible for cash out, covered in the FAQs below.
A Bet Builder is self-priced from markets the bookmaker already offers, and the odds appear instantly on your slip. A request a bet is priced manually by a trader for a combination that is not on the board, so it takes time and may be refused.
The practical test is simple. If every leg you want is selectable in the builder, use the builder and get your price in seconds. If 1 leg is missing, say a specific corner count or a card combination the builder will not accept, that is when a request earns its place. Our Bet Builder explainer covers how builder legs are priced.
There is a third route people confuse with both: Bet boosts, where the bookmaker publishes an enhanced price on a combination it has chosen. You are accepting their selection rather than submitting your own.
Getting a price back is a craft problem. These are the rules we follow when we put a request together:
Scorer legs are the most requested component in football and require the most care, because they directly affect the match result. Our work on the anytime goalscorer market explains how we read scorer prices and where correlation creeps in.
Note on how we research legs: We start with recent form over the last 6 matches, check the head-to-head record for fixture-specific patterns, then use per-90 data for shots, shots on target, and cards rather than raw season totals. That last step matters most for rotation-risk players, where totals flatter a starter and undersell a substitute.
Every UK bookmaker applies a maximum payout limit, and long-priced bespoke requests are where that cap bites. Stake £5 at 400/1 and the quoted return is £2,005, but if the operator’s ceiling for that sport sits below it, your return is capped. Caps vary by operator and by sport, with football and racing often carrying different ceilings, so check the rules in your account rather than assuming 1 figure applies everywhere.
Void legs are the other settlement question. If a named player does not start, that leg is usually voided, and the bet recalculated on the remaining legs, which shortens the price. Some operators void the whole request instead, so the terms attached to your quoted price matter. The price is specific to that request and fixture, and it expires; you cannot bank it for next week.
Responsible gambling: Bespoke multi-leg requests are long odds and high risk. Stake only what you are comfortable losing, set deposit limits with your bookmaker, and get free, confidential support at begambleaware.org, GamCare, or the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133. 18+ only.
Use our research to pick the legs for your next request, rather than relying on guesswork. Our free Premier League tips go up by 9 pm the night before, where possible, with the stats behind each call, so you have time to shape a request and send it before the trading desk gets busy. Want a second opinion on the wording before you stake it? Message us on X, and we will take a look. Betting Village is not a bookmaker, and all tips reflect our personal opinion, so do your own research before placing any bet. 18+. Betting should be fun. Gamble responsibly. begambleaware.org.
It varies by bookmaker and by how busy the trading desk is. Requests sent the night before a fixture tend to be answered faster than those sent minutes before kick-off. Some are never answered, which is a decline in practice.
You can submit a request on X without one, but you need a funded account with that bookmaker to place the bet once it is priced. The priced selection is added for you to stake in the app or on-site.
bet365 does not run a branded X-based request service in the way Sky Bet does with RequestABet, and its Bet Builder covers most bespoke football combinations. Check bet365’s own help pages to confirm the current route before assuming a request is possible.
Football dominates request volume by a wide margin. Horse racing, darts, NFL, and golf requests are handled differently by each operator, and some desks only take requests on selected competitions. Availability is bookmaker-specific, so check their stated coverage.
Sky Bet confirms some RequestABet bets are eligible for cash out, with eligibility shown on the individual bet rather than guaranteed across the feature. Other operators vary, and availability can be withdrawn in-play, so never assume cash-out will be available.
It is a promotion where your stake is returned, usually as a free bet, if your request falls short by a set number of legs. Terms differ by bookmaker and by promotion, including qualifying odds and leg minimums, so read the T&Cs attached to each offer.
The usual reasons are correlated legs that overlap too heavily, selections spread across multiple fixtures, wording that a trader cannot settle, liability that the desk will not take on, or a market that the operator does not offer. Rewording and tightening the request often fixes it.
