Once the whistle goes, "Why live betting is bad?" comes down to timing. Live betting means placing a bet after the game has started, while the result is still open. In play betting and in game betting are other names for the same thing. What does it change? The odds move with every goal, point or turn of play, the markets open and close within seconds, and the bettor reacts to what is happening instead of guessing in advance.
Live betting against pre match betting is a choice between two kinds of information. A pre match price is set with days of data and plenty of time to compare. A live price reacts to what the bettor can see, but it moves fast, and anyone watching a stream sees the action a few seconds after the book does. That gap is why a live betting delay exists: an accepted bet waits a few seconds before it stands.
Live betting odds work from the same idea as any other price: the book estimates the chance of each outcome and keeps a margin on top. The difference is time. Before the game the chance rests on form and team news; in play it rests on the score, the minutes left and the flow of the match. Prices can swing hard, and the margin on live markets is usually wider than on the line set before the game.
Live betting markets range from the next goal or the next point to the final result, corners, cards and totals that update as the game runs. In play betting began to spread once online books could take bets at speed and data feeds could report each action within a second. Today live betting on sports covers most major events, often with dozens of markets each, though smaller events may carry only the result and a total. The choice is wide, and the time to think is short.
Many markets, such as the next goal or next point, open and close within seconds as the game runs, leaving little time to think.
By keeping a record of every live bet and its result, which shows the real effect of the wider margin over time.
Impulse: a lost bet invites another straight away, and the speed of the market makes chasing losses easy to slip into.
A stream reaches the viewer a few seconds after the book's data feed reports the action, so the price has often moved already.