What Changes Once a Match Goes Live
Before the first ball or the kick-off, a market moves slowly. Prices drift as team news comes out and money arrives, but you have time to think. Once the match starts, three things change at once.
Prices react to every event. In cricket, a boundary, a dot ball or a wicket can move the match odds. In football, the price barely moves for long stretches and then jumps when a goal goes in. Tennis moves on almost every point.
The market pauses often. After each important event, the panel suspends the market while prices are reset. You will see "Suspended" across the boxes, and nothing can be placed until it reopens. Our homepage guide explains suspensions and settlement rules in detail.
Your bets are no longer accepted instantly. Most panels add a short hold, called the bet delay, to every in-play bet. This is the single most important thing to understand about live betting, so it gets its own section below.
In-play markets for a match normally appear under the In-Play tab on the panel as soon as it starts, and the same markets you saw before the start usually carry on. In cricket, session markets keep opening as the innings goes on. If you are new to sessions, read the session section on the homepage first, and our cricket betting page for how each market behaves.
The Bet Delay: Why Your Bet Says "Pending"
When you place a bet before the match, it goes straight to the market. When you place one in-play, most panels hold it for a few seconds first. The bet slip shows a spinner or the word "pending", and only after the hold is it accepted or rejected.
The reason is fairness. Some people watch from the ground or use a feed that is faster than everyone else's. Without a delay, they could see a wicket fall and lay the batting side before the price changed, at the expense of everyone on the other side of that bet. The delay closes that gap.
What it means for you in practice:
- The price you tapped is not guaranteed. If something happens during the hold, the market may suspend and your bet is rejected, or, on some panels, it is matched only if your price is still available.
- Rejected bets cost nothing. If your bet is turned down, your balance is not charged. Do not instantly place it again at a worse price out of frustration. The match situation has changed, so think again.
- Do not tap twice. A pending bet looks like nothing is happening. Pressing Place Bet again can leave you with two bets. Wait for the slip to confirm or reject.
- The delay length varies by sport and by panel. Cricket and tennis tend to have longer holds than slower markets. Your panel's rules page may state it.
Stream Lag: You Are Always Behind the Market
Every video you watch is delayed. Satellite TV, cable, free websites, app streams and the stream on the panel all run some seconds behind what is happening at the venue, and the delay is different on each. Mobile data adds more delay on top.
Meanwhile, the market is moved by people and systems with faster information: official scoring feeds and people at the venue. The practice of betting on what you can see at the ground before the broadcast shows it is called courtsiding, after tennis, where it first became well known. Bet delays exist largely because of it.
The practical lesson is uncomfortable but important: if you see something happen on your screen and rush to bet on it, the market almost certainly already knows. You will either be rejected, or matched at a price that has already moved. Treat live betting as a judgement about what happens next — the next over, the next set, the rest of the half — and never as a race to react to what just happened.
A simple check: if the market suspends while your stream still shows the bowler running in, your stream is behind. On a slow connection that gap can be wide.
How Prices Swing, Sport by Sport
Each sport moves its live market in its own rhythm. Knowing that rhythm helps you tell a normal swing from a real change in the match.
| Sport | How the price moves | What moves it most |
|---|---|---|
| Cricket | Small moves ball by ball, sharper moves on boundaries and wickets | Wickets, especially of set batters; the required rate in a chase; rain arriving |
| Football | Slow drift as time passes, then big jumps | Goals, red cards, penalties, and the clock running down |
| Tennis | Point by point, with large moves at key points | Breaks of serve, set points, a medical time-out |
| Kabaddi | Steady shifts with each raid | All-outs, super raids and tackles, the score gap late in the second half |
Cricket: ball by ball
In a T20 chase, the match odds follow the gap between runs needed and balls left, adjusted for wickets in hand. Two quiet overs can move the price more than a single six, because they squeeze the required rate. A wicket of a set batter late in a chase is often the largest single move of the innings. In Tests, prices move slowly for long periods and then sharply around new-ball spells and the weather. For research before the match, see our match research guide.
Football: minute by minute
With no goals, the price of the draw shortens steadily as time runs out, and the leading team's price shortens the same way once they score. The market suspends on goals, red cards and penalty decisions, and usually on VAR checks. A goal in the last ten minutes produces a much bigger move than one in the first ten, because there is less time left to change it. More on football markets is on our football page.
Tennis: point by point
Tennis is the most jumpy live market. The server is expected to hold, so a hold barely moves the price, but a break of serve can swing it hard, especially late in a set. A player who looks in trouble on your stream may already be priced as the underdog. Also watch for medical time-outs and retirement rules, which differ between panels. See our tennis page.
Kabaddi: raid by raid
Kabaddi scores change on almost every raid, so the market shifts in many small steps. The big moves come from all-outs, which wipe out a side and hand the other team bonus points, and from super raids and super tackles. A lead that looks large can shrink fast in the final minutes. Our kabaddi page explains the scoring.
Unmatched Bets in a Fast Market
Before a match, an unmatched bet is usually harmless. It waits, and you can cancel it. In-play it is more dangerous, because the match keeps moving while the bet sits there.
Here is how it goes wrong. You ask for a slightly better price than the one on offer, and your bet waits unmatched. Ten minutes later the match has turned against your selection, the price drifts out to the level you asked for, and your bet is matched — at exactly the moment you would no longer want it. The market filled your order because the situation got worse.
To avoid it:
- In-play, take the price on offer or do not bet. Do not leave orders hanging at better prices.
- Check Open Bets after every live bet and cancel anything still unmatched that you no longer want.
- Some panels let you choose whether unmatched bets are cancelled when the market suspends or kept. If yours offers the choice, cancelling is the safer setting for live play.
In-Play Discipline: Three Rules Set Before the Start
The speed of live betting is the main risk, not the odds. Decisions get made in seconds, often while emotions run high after a wicket or a missed chance. The answer is to make the important decisions before the match starts, when you are calm.
1. Fix your stake
Set the preset stake buttons to your normal unit before the match. During play, use only those buttons. Typing a new amount in the moment is how a ₹200 habit turns into a ₹2,000 bet.
2. No chasing
If a live bet loses, the next one is not a chance to win it back. It is a new bet, judged on its own. If you notice yourself increasing stakes after a loss, stop for the rest of the match.
3. A stop rule
Decide in advance: a maximum number of live bets per match, or a loss figure at which you close the panel. Write it down if it helps. When you hit it, log out — not after one more over.
If these rules keep getting broken, that is a signal worth taking seriously. Our responsible gaming page explains how to set limits or pause your account, and we act on those requests the same day.
Your First Live Bet, Step by Step
If you have never bet in-play, make your first one deliberately small. The aim is to see how the delay, the slip and settlement work, not to win money.
- Choose a calm moment. Pick a cricket match during the middle overs, not the last over of a tight chase. Fewer suspensions, easier to follow.
- Open the match from the In-Play tab and look at the Match Odds market. Note the back and lay prices and how much money is available at each.
- Decide before you tap. Which team, back or lay, and why? If you cannot say why in one sentence, skip it.
- Use your smallest stake button. Something you would not mind losing, such as ₹100.
- Tap the price and check the slip. Confirm the colour (blue for back, pink for lay), the odds, the stake and, for a lay, the liability.
- Place the bet once and wait. Watch the pending state. Do not tap again.
- See what happened. Accepted? It will appear in Open Bets as matched. Rejected? Note the reason and how much the price had moved.
- Watch the profit and loss figures next to each team change as the match goes on. That is your live position.
- Let it settle, then find it in your account statement. You have now been through the full cycle.
If Your Connection Drops Mid-Bet
Mobile data during a big match is not always reliable, and this is the situation that causes the most worried messages to us. Here is what actually happens:
- Bets already accepted stand. The market does not care whether you are online. They settle normally, and the result appears in your statement.
- A bet that was pending is uncertain. It may have been accepted or rejected while you were offline. The only way to know is to check.
- After reconnecting, check Open Bets first. Only then decide whether to place anything again. Re-placing a bet that had in fact gone through leaves you with double the position.
- If the page will not reload, close the browser tab and open the link again rather than refreshing repeatedly. If you cannot get in at all, our login help page covers the common causes.
If something looks wrong after a disconnection, such as a bet you do not recognise or a balance that does not add up, screenshot Open Bets and the statement and message us. We will go through it with you.
Betting is for adults 18 and over. India's Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025 restricts real-money online games, and several states have their own laws. Check what applies to you.
Reviewed by the Reddybook Club support desk · Last updated 7 October 2026
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