How to use a betting slip

A betting slip is a paper or electronic form that records the bets you place, the bet amounts and the odds for the bets.

To place any type of sport bet, whether online or off, you’ll need to use a betting slip. At a traditional betting shop, you’ll be given a betting slip as a receipt for bets you place. Then if your bet wins, you return the betting slip to a teller to claim your payout.

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Online betting slips

Electronic betting slips are used to place sports bets online. Unlike the paper versions used at betting shops, they automatically calculate and list the payout you could win from bets you place.

You can usually access a betting slip at the top right of any page on a sports betting website. However, some bookmaker sites display a betting slip only once you’ve clicked particular odds in a betting market.

Betting slip basics

Using a betting slip is very simple if you’re going to place a single bet on an event. Although there are small differences in the layout and format of the slips used by different bookmakers, they all work in a similar way and require the same information from you. A betting slip includes these elements:

a list of selections you can choose to bet on
space for entering the stake, or amount of money, you want to bet on your selection, in the currency set for your account
an E/W or Each Way checkbox will be available for relevant betting markets – if you select this, your stake will automatically be doubled, with half of it going to a bet on your selection winning and the other half going to a bet on the selection achieving a place
the return, or amount you’ll earn, if your bet wins
the total stake that will be deducted from your account when the bet is placed
a Clear bet link or button, which you can use to clear a bet from the betting slip
a Clear bet slip link or button, which you can use to clear all bets from the betting slip
a Place bet button or link, for submitting a bet.

Once you’ve used a betting slip to place a bet, the funds for the bet will be deducted from your account and the bet will be listed in your account statements as an open bet. If you have insufficient funds to cover the bet, you’ll be prompted to deposit funds.

Placing more than one “single” bet

You don’t need to fill in a new betting slip every time you want to place another bet. In betting markets, each unrelated bet is called a single bet. A betting slip is designed so that you can place as many single bets as you choose at a time. You can make several selections and enter the amount of money you want to stake on each of them.

Some betting slips display the potential winnings for each bet separately. Others display the total potential winnings for all the bets you place.

Placing multiple bets

A multiple bet is a single stake bet on two or more selections. The bet typically pays out only if all the selections win. As soon as you make two or more selections on an online betting slip, the slip will automatically offer you multiple bet options. These will vary depending on how many selections you’ve made.

To place any of the listed multiple bets, you simply enter a stake in the field for it and then submit the betting slip. Make sure that if you don’t want to place a multiple bet, you don’t accidentally enter a value in any of these fields.

Depending on how many selections you are making, you may also be provided with fields to place combination bets. Leave these blank unless you specifically want to place a combination bet – as these can significantly increase the value of the stake required to place your bets.