Football Rules Hub

In This Article:

General Rules
Opta Stats
2 UP
Booking Points
Goalscorer Rules
Sub Insurance
Abandoned or Postponed Matches
Price Boost
Enhanced Accumulators
Request A Bet/BuildABet
Transfer & Manager Specials
Featured Popular Bets & Competition Specials
Antepost Markets
In Play Rules
FAQs
eSoccer

General Rules

All bets are settled on the result after 90 minutes play unless otherwise specified. This includes injury time but does not include extra time or penalty shootouts. On some occasions we may issue special extra time betting which will be on the 30 minutes including injury time added in that period.
If a match is abandoned, any bets where the outcome has already been decided e.g. half-time result or first team to score will stand. All other bets will be made void regardless of the score-line at the time of abandonment. In the event that a selection is made void, the stake will be refunded, unless your bet involves more than one selection, in which case it will be settled on the remaining selections. Abandoned games will be deemed to be games which do not reach their natural conclusion on the calendar date.
FA introduces Yellow & Red Cards for Managers in EFL and Domestic Cups. Cards shown to managers or substitutes do not count towards the total. Only cards shown to players currently on the pitch will count.
Goalscorer Bets will be settled on the Opta result announced where possible, followed by our Feed Provider and finally any official competition website. Any subsequent corrections or amendments made - including those by dubious goals panels - will not apply for settlement purposes. Live Opta stats can be found here

For more of our General Football Rules Rules please visit our Football - General Rules article.

Opta Stats

Opta collect data for all the competitions that we offer stats markets on. SkyBet will always use Opta for resulting.
Please be aware that some websites, including uefa.com and fifa.com choose to use a different data provider, and therefore, on occasion, those websites might differ to Opta. Live Opta stats can be found here
The stats markets for Players include Shots, Offsides, Tackles and Assists, and our settlement will extend to all variants of these markets such as ''Player to have the Most Shots on Target''. Stats markets for Team and Match bets are also settled against Opta data received, these include Shots, Tackles, Offsides and Fouls.

For more information please visit our Football - Match Stat Markets article.

Full Time Result - 2UP

We offer a Full Time Result - 2UP market on selected pre-match football matches across our Sportsbook.
If your team goes two or more goals ahead, at any point in the match, we will pay you out as a winner!
This can be on single and multiple bets.
Bets placed on the Full Time Result market do not apply to this offer. 2UP is a separate market and must be bet on in order to be paid out early. This offer does not apply to bets placed on the Draw selection in each game.
This offer will not apply where a bet has been fully Cashed Out. Where a bet has been partially Cashed Out and your team goes two goals ahead, the bet will be settled on the remaining active stake.
If your bet is paid out early in accordance with this offer it will not be paid out again if your selection goes on to win the match.
There is no maximum pay out on this market.
This market applies to regular time only - any goals scored in Extra Time do not count towards the offer and bets will be settled at the end of the standard 90 minutes.
You can find which football matches have this market available as they will be signposted with our 'Early Payout' coupon tag in yellow.

Half Time Early Payout Accumulators

If your whole accumulator is winning at half time, it will be paid out early as a winner regardless of full time results.
If your whole accumulator is winning at full time, it will be still be paid out as a winner regardless of half time results.
Void if any fixtures are void due to postponement or abandonment.
Acca Freeze is not available on Half Time Early Payout Accumulators

Booking Points

We assign booking points for red and yellow cards and let you bet on how many points you think there'll be over the course of a match.

A yellow card earns 10 points and a red card earns 25 points.
If a player receives 2 yellow cards and is consequently shown a red card, they receive a total of 35 booking points.
Extra-time does not count towards the total.
Only cards shown to players currently on the pitch will count.
Cards shown to managers, players already substituted off or substitutes not yet used do not count towards the total.
If your bet is on 10+ booking points your bet is a winner if there are 10 or more booking points.

For more information on Booking Points you can read our article here.

Goalscorer Rules

All bets are settled on the result after 90 minutes play unless otherwise specified. This includes injury time but does not include extra time or penalty shootouts. On some occasions we may issue special extra time betting which will be on the 30 minutes including injury time added in that period.
Own Goals do not count
Bets will be settled on the Opta result announced where possible, followed by our Feed Provider and finally any official Competition website. Any subsequent corrections or amendments made - including those by dubious goals panels - will not apply for settlement purposes. Live Opta stats can be found here.
Although every effort will be made to quote all potential goalscorers, should a goalscorer not quoted score all bets will stand

For more of our Goalscorer Rules, please visit our Football - Goalscorer Rules article.

Sub Insurance

Sub Insurance applies only to specified markets with "Sub Insurance" in the market name.
For bets placed on a Sub Insurance market, if the player you've backed gets substituted, your bet will carry over to their replacement.
Where more than one substitute comes on at the same time, the specific replacement for each player will be determined by Opta.
If a player comes on as a substitute and is later subbed-off, your bet will roll on to their replacement. e.g. Diaz is replaced by Jota, who is later replaced by Nunez. A bet on Diaz to score would roll on to both Jota and then Nunez.
Applies to 90 min betting only, unless otherwise stated.

Abandoned or Postponed Matches

Postponed Matches

If any match is postponed and rescheduled we will take the following action:

All Matches

If the match is confirmed to take place within 48 hours of the original kick-off time, all bets on the match will stand, unless:
If confirmation of the rescheduled start time is not received within 3 hours of the original kick-off time, bets will be void and the stake will be refunded, unless your bet involves more than one selection, in which case it will be settled on the remaining selections.
If kick-off time suffers from consecutive delays which take it over the 3 hour period mentioned above, bets will still stand as long as the eventual reschedule is within 48 hours of the original kick-off time.
If the match will not take place within 48 hours of the original kick-off time bets will be void and the stake will be refunded, unless your bet involves more than one selection, in which case it will be settled on the remaining selections.
If the selection is in a multiple bet or accumulator any refund must be requested before kick-off of the first leg of the multiple bet.
Where a confirmed postponed match features as part of a multiple bet, the bet will stand on the remaining selections in the multiple.
Please note that games which have their kick-off altered well in advance to accommodate live TV, or to ease fixture congestion will not be classed as postponed.

Abandoned Matches

If a match is abandoned after it has already kicked off, any bets where the outcome has already been decided e.g. half-time result or first team to score will stand. All other bets will be made void regardless of the score-line at the time of abandonment and the stake will be refunded, unless your bet involves more than one selection, in which case it will be settled on the remaining selections.
Abandoned games will be deemed to be games which do not reach their natural conclusion by midnight local time.Games where a referee removes the players from the field of play for a temporary period, but resumes the remaining minutes of play by midnight local time will not be deemed as abandoned.

For more of our Abandonment and Postponement rules, please visit our Football - Abandoned or Postponed Match Rules article.

Price Boost

What is Soccer Saturday Price Boost?

Soccer Saturday Price Boost is an offer we have on each week of the Football season where you can bet on a three-fold accumulator, where two games are set by us but the third is where you are in control. You can back either team to win or choose a draw.

What is the Maximum Stake?

Max Stakes rules apply and can vary on a customer by customer basis.

Why is the maximum stake £10?

The maximum stake has been reduced as the Soccer Saturday Price Boost allows you to choose one team to win or a draw selection to be chosen in one of the three games the boost is offered on

For more of our Price Boost terms and conditions, please visit our Price Boost article.

Enhanced Accumulators

We offer some great 'enhanced accumulator' bets which give you better odds on your bet!

What are enhanced multiple accumulators?

These special bets - such as the Soccer Saturday Price Boost - allow you to get better odds than if you were to manually add the same selections in to your bet. Meaning bigger payouts if your bet wins!

Where can I find enhanced multiple accumulators?

Check the 'Enhanced Accumulators' or 'Soccer Saturday Price Boost' section under 'Special Bets' in the football area of the website to find what enhanced accumulators we are offering.

For more information please visit our Enhanced Accumulators article.

BuildABet

All BuildABet bets are for 90 minutes unless otherwise stated. Extra time and penalties will not count - except when phrases 'To Qualify', 'Lift The Trophy' & 'Win The Tie' are quoted - For all bets containing such phrases, remaining selections in the bet will be settled on the 90 minute result unless stated otherwise.
BuildABet functions as a standard multiple bet, with each leg of a BuildABet being subject to the selection's respective market rules. For example, a 'Player to be Carded' selection will be subject to our standard rules relating to the Player to be Carded market.
If one selection of your BuildABet is voided, the remaining selections will continue to run.
For example, if you had placed 4 selections within your BuildABet and 1 selection is void, it will settle on the remaining 3 legs, at the odds of the remaining selections.
For settlement rules, please refer to the respective rules of the individual selections within your BuildABet.
For more information on our BuildABet markets, please vist our BuildABet article.

RequestABet Rules - Football: Match Betting

All bets are for 90 minutes unless otherwise stated. Extra time and penalties will not count - except when phrases 'To Qualify', 'Lift The Trophy' & 'Win The Tie' are quoted - For all bets containing such phrases, remaining selections in the bet will be settled on the 90 minute result unless stated otherwise.
RequestABet functions as a standard multiple bet, with each leg of a RequestABet being subject to the selection's respective market rules. For example, a 'Player to be Carded' element of a RAB will be subject to our standard rules relating to the Player to be Carded market.
If one selection of your RequestABet is voided, the remaining selections will continue to run.
For example, if you had placed 4 selections within your RequestABet and 1 selection is void, it will settle on the remaining 3 legs, at the odds of the remaining selections.
For settlement rules, please refer to the respective rules of the individual selections within your RequestABet.

For more information on our RequestABet markets, please visit our RequestABet article.

Transfer & Manager Specials

Transfer Specials

Loan deals WILL count unless otherwise stated
In cases where it is unclear whether a deal has been completed before a deadline, we reserve the right to delay settlement until official confirmation has been received from governing bodies.
The player must be registered to the club in question before the specified time frame ends. Pre contracts or other similar agreements that signal business to be completed at a date later than specified will not count.
When a player moves to a club, and is then immediately loaned out to another club, we will settle on the club that has signed the player permanently and not the loanee club.

Next Permanent Manager

You're betting on: who will be appointed the next permanent manager of a club/country

Others available on request
Every effort will be made to quote all potential new managers for the market, but should a manager not quoted be appointed, all bets will stand.
Caretaker and interim managers will not count unless they complete at least 10 competitive games for club managers when they will then be deemed the permanent manager.
Should a club appoint a director of football this will not count in the settlement of permanent manager markets.
In the event that a club change the structure of their management team and do not call the appointed individual first team manager, Sky Bet will settle the market on the individual who is responsible for selecting the first team. In the event of any ambiguity over the appointment, Sky Bet may determine using its reasonable discretion how to settle the market based on all the information available to it at the relevant time.

For more of our transfer/manager specials please visit our Football - Specials Rules article.

Featured Popular Bets & Competition Specials

Popular Football Selections

Each day we'll tell you what the best backed teams are and give you a quick option to add them to your betslip. Normal Football betting rules apply.

Featured Football Bets & Competition Specials

Bets will be settled on events displayed in the market/event notes. You can also find information about these in the help section. Should one of the events included in the specials be made void as per our postponed and abandonment rules then all selections will be made void and the stake will be refunded, unless your bet involves more than one selection, in which case it will be settled on the remaining selections.

To view our most recent Featured Popular Bets & Competition Specials, please visit our Featured Popular Bets & Competition Specials article.

Antepost Markets

League/Cup/Competition Winner

You're betting on: which team will win the stated competition or finish top of the stated competition over the course of the league season

Promotion

You're betting on: which team will secure promotion over the course of the season

Promotion markets include both automatic promotion positions as well as promotion via any play off structure used for the specified competition

Relegation/To Stay Up

You're betting on: which team will finish in (or out of for 'To Stay Up' market) the relegation positions over the course of the league season

League Handicap Betting

You're betting on: which team will accrue the most points over the course of the season after the stated handicaps have been applied to ALL teams

Settlement will be based on the total points on the final league table. If two or more teams finish on the same number of points after the handicap has been applied then dead heat rules will apply. Goal difference will not count. An updated Handicap table can be found with the article here.

For more of our Antepost and outright rules please visit our Football Outrights - Rules article.

In Play Rules

All bets are settled on the result after 90 minutes play unless otherwise specified. This includes injury time but does not include extra time or penalty shootouts. On some occasions we may issue special extra time betting which will be on the 30 minutes including injury time added in that period.
If a match is postponed as per normal postponement rules, bets on that match will be void and the stake will be refunded, unless your bet involves more than one selection, in which case it will be settled on the remaining selections. . Games which have their kick-off altered well in advance to accommodate live TV, or to ease fixture congestion will not constitute a postponement. Where a postponed match features as part of a multiple bet, the bet will stand on the remaining selections in the multiple.
If a match is abandoned, any bets where the outcome has already been decided e.g. half-time result or first team to score will stand. All other bets will be made void regardless of the score-line at the time of abandonment and the stake will be refunded, unless your bet involves more than one selection, in which case it will be settled on the remaining selections. Abandoned games will be deemed to be games which do not reach their natural conclusion on the calendar date.
Games where a referee removes the players from the field of play for a temporary period, but resumes the remaining minutes of play on the same calendar date will not be deemed as abandoned.
Games or markets where a result cannot be found will result in bets being made void 12 hours after the game has kicked off and the stake will be refunded, unless your bet involves more than one selection, in which case it will be settled on the remaining selections.
When a venue for a match is changed after the publication of odds, we reserve the right to void all bets. If a selection is made void on this basis the stake will be refunded, unless your bet involves more than one selection, in which case it will be settled on the remaining selections.
Timing markets will be taken from the information published by the live feed provider or competition website if this data is unavailable.

For more of our In-Play Rules, please visit our Football - In-Play Rules article

FAQs

FAQ guide to football betting

Includes information around Football RAB (Request A Bet) terms, which football markets are available for cash out, how booking points work and which independent sites you can check for results amongst other popular queries.

Please click the link for more information read our FAQs - Football Betting article.

eSoccer

All match markets are settled based on the official score at the end of normal time
This includes any added injury or stoppage time but excludes extra-time, time allocated for a penalty shootout or golden goal
Settlement will match that provided by our feed provider
Incorrectly listed teams will result in the match being voided
If a match is abandoned for any given reason (feed dropped, rage quit) leading to the match not reaching its natural conclusion in the expected time, known outcomes will be settled accordingly but any other will be voided
Postponement of a fixture will result in all markets being voided
For further rules around eSoccer, read our article eSoccer Rules here.