Have you ever stood on the terraces at a footie match, only to see your team go three goals down in the 85th minute and decided enough is enough? There’s no way back, and for you, the result is locked in. Well, that’s a lot like early payouts in sports betting. Bookies see a result as a matter of when, not if, and settle a market early. But there’s a little more to it than meets the eye, and today, we’re explaining exactly how it all works.
What’s an Early Payout in Betting?
An early payout is a term used by the bookies to signify the early settlement of a market. The terms of how the payout works will vary, but a common situation is the 2 goals ahead early payout. If you back a team to win, and they go two goals up at any point in the match, the bookies settle your bet as a win, regardless of the result.
It’s not just in-play markets, either. Famously, the likes of Paddy Power and Betfred have settled markets like the Premier League winner weeks, and even months, before the title race has reached a conclusion.
Early Payout vs Cash Out – Differences and Similarities
A common misconception around the early payout meaning is that it’s the same as a cash out. It is not. The biggest difference is that when cashing out, you control when this occurs and take the price offered at that specific time.
The meaning of early payouts in betting is that there are pre-determined parameters about when the bet is paid, such as needing to lead by a certain number of goals or points. Also, you’re paid at the full odds you took when placing the bet, not a reduced sum as you would with a cash-out.
Let’s work through a quick example. We place a bet on bet365 for Chelsea to beat West Ham at odds of 5/6 with an attached 2 up early payout. Our £10 stake returns £18.33 (£8.33 profit) if Chelsea wins. The Blues fly out of the blocks and are 2-0 up after 20 minutes. This triggers the offer, and our bet is paid in full.
Let’s assume there is no early payout bet365 promo for this game, but we want to cash out. As the game is still live, there’s still a chance West Ham can get a point or even an unlikely win. So, the cash-out price reflects this, offering a total return of £14.00. We can still lock in the profit, but not for the full amount, which is the trade-off here.
Why Do Bookmakers Offer Early Payouts?
In principle, it seems a crazy concept from the bookies to pay out any market early, as it’s not that uncommon to see teams come from behind to grind out a result. But the bookies aren’t mugs, and there’s method to the madness.
The simplest explanation is that it’s a marketing tool. You will want to opt in if you know you can get paid early and not have to sweat the last remaining minutes, as your bet clings on after being 3-0 up at half time. For the bookies, the trade-off between customers utilising their offer and betting more frequently over the money they would have lost if the market ran a natural course, clearly stacks up.
Why Do Punters Take Early Payouts?
We’ve all endured the heartache of watching our bets crumble after dominating early. Who can forget Arsenal’s famous 4-4 draw with Newcastle United after being 4-0 up at half-time? The reality is that if you’d have used early payout with this, you’d have won and could have still had a chuckle at The Gunner's expense.
Knowing that a team doesn’t have to get to full-time to win a game is huge. To capitalise on this, choose fast starters or oppose teams that are slow out of the blocks.
A great research metric for your bets is goals by half. This shows the total goals scored and conceded in each half, which gives you an idea of whether teams peak early or late. In the 2024/25 season, Everton has scored 64.5% of their goals in the first half, which makes them a good team to target. Conversely, Bournemouth have scored 63.8% of their goals in the second half, so we’d rather shop for better odds for their games than obsess with 2 goals ahead early payout offers (ideally, you get both).
There’s no reason not to use early payout
Jonathan Askew – Early payout promos are everywhere now. I’m at a point where I very rarely bet with bookies that don’t offer it for footie bets. The odds would have to be huge at a rival bookmaker, but given how competitive the whole industry is, that’s rare these days. Not all sports and markets have it, but if you’re betting without it when there are options to bet with it, you’re losing a ton in terms of security.
How Early Payout Works
Almost as if this was planned, Everton and Bournemouth provided one of the best examples of why you should power your early payout bets with data. In the second game of the 2024/25 season, the pair played out a blockbuster at Goodison Park. Everton led 2-0 until the 87th minute, eventually losing the game 2-3.
If you’d backed Everton with an early payout on bet365, the bet would have settled as a win. If not, the late heartache would have meant your bet would lose. Here’s how it played out:
Best Sports for Early Payout
When early payout was first introduced, it was limited to football betting. It makes sense, given that it’s the most popular sport in the UK and works seamlessly with multiple markets.
If the bookies strike gold, you can bet your bottom dollar they are going to milk it for all its worth. And, as a result, you’ve now got the option to use this feature across multiple sports and markets.
Football – 2 Up Early Payout
2 goals ahead, early payout. This is now the gold standard for football betting sites and is used by the likes of Ladbrokes, Coral, and bet365 to signify that they pay out when your team goes two goals to the good. There have even been occasions where some bookies (Boylesports) have run super-limited promos paying out if your team goes just one goal ahead. We’ll keep this updated if they crop up again.
INFO
Early payouts work on accumulators and singles. The bet will settle as a win when leading by two for both markets. It’s entirely possible to have an acca wrapped well before the final whistle if the stars align, which is a huge advantage for acca bets, given their volatility.
Golf – Round 3 Solo Leader
Fancy a dabble on the golf? Well, you may as well get on board the early payout bandwagon with bookies settling outright winner bets at the end of the third round. Simply put, if your pick leads after 54 holes, you’re quids in!
Darts – Four Legs Ahead
Bully’s special prize for the darts nuts amongst you is not a speed boat but instead an early payout if your match bet leads, at any stage, by four legs. This is most common for Premier League Darts betting, but variations are usually seen throughout the majors, such as the UK Open, World Matchplay, and World Grand Prix. Unfortunately, because the World Championships is set-play, it doesn’t feature here.
Tennis – 1 Set Ahead
If you’re looking for more support than Andy Murray’s metal hip, look no further, tennis betting fans. When your player goes one set ahead at any point in the match, the bookies are paying as a win. This adds tons of value when betting on best-of-five sets for the men’s majors and is also a cool feature for any of the best-of-three games.
Rugby – 17-Point Early Payout
You might need your early payout calculator for rugby, as most bookies require a 17-point lead before they settle up. It’s a bigger margin than most sports, but still only two converted tries and a penalty are needed to get the job done.
Basketball – 20-Point Early Payout
We’ve encountered multiple early payout offers for basketball, but most are around the 20-point mark. These games will cover all NBA and the vast majority of the major Euro leagues as well. It’s not as common as some, but Boylesports is running this promo at the time of writing.
Can We Know Which Markets Will Feature Early Payout?
The bookies are keen to get punters through the door – to do this, they shout and stomp about every running promo or offer. Most will have an “EP” logo or specifically say early payout for the market, so it’s easy to see what is paying early and what isn’t.
Others can be a little more subtle. For early payout at bet365, you need to open the game markets, and at the top, it will say if the option is available or not. If you’re unsure, the best thing to do is get in touch with customer support, or if you’re feeling adventurous, dive into the behemoth that is online betting T&Cs.
Best Early Payout Betting Offers
You can use our Free Bet Hub to check out which bookies have early payout running. For us, there are two standouts: bet365 and Boylesports. Between the pair, they have by far the biggest range of sports and game coverage linked to early payouts and excellent free bet offers for new customers.
When Early Payout Goes Wrong
Before these markets became as standard as an Arsenal second-place finish, the bookies only used this as a marketing ploy for iconic events. This included paying out early on everything from Premier League winners to Presidential election races that looked dead in the water. But believe it or not, they don’t always get it right. Here are some examples of times the bookies have, for once, been left red-faced and out of pocket, forcing Joe Public to ask why do bookies pay out early?
Betfred Pay Out on Manchester United to Win the League… Twice!
Fred Done’s stunt in 1998 to pay out on United to win the league is one of the most iconic sports betting fails. With a handful of games remaining and Man United 12 points clear of Arsenal, Done pulled the trigger. The press coverage it got at the time was incredible, but six weeks later, the joke was on Done, as Arsenal fought back to win the league on the final day by a single point, costing Betfred over £500,000 in the process.
So, you’d think a smart man like Fred Done wouldn’t make the same mistake twice, right? Right!? Think again, because he paid on United in 2012 before “Agueerrrrooooooo” broke the red side of Manchester’s hearts and Done’s wallet.
Paddy Power Gets Trumped
Donald Trump's 2016 US election win sent shockwaves throughout the world of politics and online betting. Irish bookie thought the then TV personality had no chance against Hilary Clinton and, for the most part, the early polls backed this up, prompting Paddy to payout on a Clinton victory. As votes started to pile in, Trump overturned a huge deficit, before Clinton conceded and Paddy Power were out of pocket to the tune of £4,000,000.
Betfred Pay Out on Liverpool
The most recent payout has come from this 2024/25 season, where Betfred has taken it upon themselves to settle all league winners' bets on Liverpool. With 11 games still to go, it’s super early, even by Betfred’s standards, and it remains to be seen if this £1,000,000 gamble will pay off.
More Betting Terms Explained
ThePuntersPage Final Say
We know that a lot of you will want to know what is early payout in betting, and this guide covers that and more. What started as a gimmicky publicity stunt is now an engrained feature for online betting and, where possible, one you should utilise when betting. For once, the risk is taken by the bookies in return for customer loyalty and, for us, it is one of the best ongoing promotions you can claim.
Early Payout Explained FAQs
Early payout is when bookies settle markets before they are completed. There will be terms based on the sport and market, but it allows punters to get paid on bets where markets remain open.
The most common early payout in football is two goals ahead. This means that if you back a team to win and they go two goals ahead at any point, the bookies will settle your bet as a win, regardless of the final score.
No, not all sports feature early payouts, but the promo is becoming much more popular, expanding initially from football and now used in tennis, darts, rugby, basketball, American football, netball and cricket, amongst others.
No, an early payout can only be claimed on singles and multiples, usually linked to outright or match-winner markets.
The maximum bookies payout in cash will vary based on the sport. Each bookmaker has limits as to how much you can win. For example, the maximum you can win on a Premier League game at bet365 is £2,000,000.