How Bookies Settle Up With Customers: Why Tuesday

In the world of bookmaking, one often hears the term “settling up with customers”.  What exactly does this mean for the bookie?

First off, when a bet is placed, it will be deemed ‘unsettled’ or "live" if it is ongoing.

A bet becomes settled after the result of the event becomes official, at which point the result of the wager has been locked in and considered to be complete.

A good example of a bet that may take hours, or even days, to settle would be an election outcome.  Think the 2000 or 2020 US presidential elections.

Also, horse betting payouts can be delayed if there's a steward's inquiry or jockey objection.  We've witnessed this occur in recent years with marquee races such as the Kentucky Derby.

“Settle-up Day”, typically the Tuesday after Monday Night Football during the NFL season, is when all customers who are at or above their settle-up figure must be seen to zero their account. This is when you pay and collect, and it is usually the only time you see your customers face-to-face.

But Monday Night Football only takes place a quarter of the year.  The folks at AcePerHead.com suggest it is best to maintain that Tuesday “settle-up day”.

“The only reason I was in this game was to put cash in my pocket, and settling on Tuesdays in much better for that purpose. The reasons? Well, you need to start with some of the basic truths about sports gambling. The first of those is that, at any given time, you will have more of your customers owing you money than vice versa. Given that, you need to remember that on the last night of the gambling week, customers who are down will almost always bets just enough to get under their figure, and thus avoid having to pay you. Since we know that most customers play favorites, you are now in a very powerful position. You have desperate people calling to gamble on sports, and you already know who they want to bet on and how much they are going to wager. You should take great advantage of this situation, and you do that by adjusting the lines.

“If your settle-up day is Monday, then the last day for customers to get under their figure is Sunday, and nearly every team in every sport plays on Sunday. It is much harder to tweak the lines when there are 45 games than if you make the last day of your week Monday, when there is only one game in town, and you can do much more effective job adjusting the lines with only one game. Go ahead and check the MLB schedules. Almost like clockwork, the leagues cut Monday games in half once football season begins.”