Sky Bet is the first UK facing bookmaker to end its RequestABet service.
First launched almost a decade ago, the #RequestABet option allowed betting sites to tap into the burgeoning world of social media – allowing punters to ask for odds on multiples that otherwise weren’t available on their site/app.
But the advent of the Bet Builder tool, the cost of tracking the #RequestABet hashtag, as well as a general shift in popularity away from Twitter (X), has convinced Sky Bet to shutter its service.
At the time of writing, many of their main competitors in the UK market were still offering their own take on the bet type.
Changing Landscape
It should be noted that Sky Bet will still run the RequestABet feature on their website and app, but they’ve pulled the shutters down on the hashtag and its accompanying social media feed.
The firm took to Twitter to reveal that the service would no longer be offered, and that the #RequestABet hashtag would also not be monitored any more.
Our #RequestABet service is not currently available and this inbox is no longer actively monitored. Please contact @SkyBetHelp for support. Thank you.
— Sky Bet #RequestABet (@RequestABet) October 31, 2024
Although it’s a decision that won’t change the sports betting landscape, it still notable that punters first started requesting bets via social media as early as 2010. The phenomenon would have its own acronym, RAB, created by industry insiders.
Sky Bet’s own dedicated platform was launched in 2015, which confirms that while technology and consumer tastes have changed since, the demand from punters to curate their own multiple bets remains.
It was also the first time that the bookmakers had embraced the notion of related contingencies positively, allowing individuals to place multiple selections that are related to each other in some way….not something the bookies have always been particularly amenable to.
Of course, most leading firms – including Sky Bet – now have their own Bet Builder tools, which enable punters to create their own multiple on a single event, or more, by perming selections from dozens of individual options.
However, not all requests can be facilitated by the Bet Builder model, so now Sky Bet customers with more imaginative bets in mind will no longer be satisfied.
It will be interesting to see if other bookmakers, who continue to offer RAB via a dedicated social media hashtag, will be so keen to cease such a popular channel of customer engagement in an age where the UK betting market is more saturated than ever before.
Propped Up
One of the most popular options for punters when it comes to placing their RequestABets, or building their own bet, are player props.
However, a gambling scandal in America has cast such a shadow over player prop bets, many bookmakers have stopped offering odds on players on short-term contracts with their teams.
Jontay Porter, the former Toronto Raptors player, has been banned from the NBA for life after admitting his part in a scheme to cheat the bookies.
He and his associates, which included known high stakes gamblers, devised a scheme in which he would deliberately underperform in games….with punters in the know backing the ‘unders’ side of props like player points, rebounds etc.
Porter took to the court in May for a game against the Sacramento Kings, playing three minutes before being replaced after complaining of feeling ill. All prop bets on the 24-year-old were settled, which meant that those backing the unders were paid out in full.
It’s thought that at least one individual punter won more than $1.1 million (£850,000) from the plot, which was flagged up by a number of bookmakers after they reported suspicious betting patterns and unusually large wagers.
An NBA investigation found that Porter had violated a number of league rules, by ‘limiting his own participation’ in one or more games and by disclosing confidential information. As well as a lifetime ban, the 24-year-old could also face criminal charges.
The following has been released by the NBA. pic.twitter.com/h2TIkaE7xs
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) April 17, 2024
It led the NBA Commissioner, Adam Silver, to question the merit of bookmakers offering player prop bets – particularly on players who did not have the financial security of long-term contracts.
Porter was on a ‘two way’ deal with Toronto, which generally sees a player deployed by a lower league team whilst still being available for selection for an NBA franchise. These contracts are typically far less lucrative than an exclusive deal with a top-flight side.
So now, many bookmakers are pulling player prop odds where the individual is on a two-way or short-term contract. Punters in the UK will have already witnessed many bookmakers enacting this unwritten rule already.