It’s common for sportsbook operators to temporarily pause acceptance of wagers on certain games if large, odd-altering money has come in on those contests. There’s no uniformity for how longs these halts last, but recent trends suggest pauses on college football games take longer to be lifted than they do on NFL contests.
Bettormetrics, an odds data and intelligence provider, recently published a report analyzing halt times from week eight of the college football season and week nine of the NFL, indicating that it takes sportsbook operators longer to adjust odds on college games than NFL matches after significant money comes into the market.
“The analysis found that while operators exhibit short suspensions during NFL games, there are still significant improvements to be made on suspension times during college football game,”
according to the research firm.
Bettormetrics’ analysis targeted the largest domestic online sportsbook operators, which are as follows (in alphabetical order): Bet365, BetMGM, BetRivers, Caesars Sportsbook, DraftKings, ESPN Bet, Fanatics, FanDuel, and Hard Rock.
Reducing Suspension Times Can Boost Sportsbook Profits
Football is the most wagered on sport in the US and the NFL is leader over college football, but the latter is popular among bettors and a potential money-maker for gaming companies.
There are 134 FBS teams — the NCAA’s highest football division — and 129 FCS teams, underscoring the point that there are ample opportunities for bettors. Profit-focused gaming companies need to provide access, meaning reducing pause times is essential.
“Those who master suspension in college games will ultimately come out on top,” said Sabin Brooks, chief revenue officer at Bettormetrics, in the statement. “Doing so is a win-win because the bettor will have an improved betting experience meaning they will keep coming back and the operator will be able to bring in more handle, meaning a fly wheel of better product, customer experience and sportsbook profitability.”
In terms of suspension times during the aforementioned periods, DraftKings and FanDuel had the lowest or best times on NFL games. For college games, FanDuel was the leader followed by DraftKings. During the cited period, operator suspension times were 8.7% longer for college football games than NFL equivalents, according to Bettormetrics data.
Why NFL Games Have Shorter Pause Times
Bettormetrics didn’t explain why halt times for NFL games are usually shorter than for college games, but the reasons behind this are easy to understand.
Among the various domestic betting markets, the NFL is highly liquid, meaning it can take massive amounts of money to force odds changes. Likewise, while there NFL games that may not be popular among fans or bettors, there’s no such thing as an “obscure” NFL team. That’s not the case in college football.
While Bettormetrics didn’t get into this part of the equation, it’s possible that the longest betting on pauses on college football games occur outside the confines of the four major conferences. In a hypothetical scenario, if a large bet or bets led to a pause on an SEC game and the same scenario occurred on a Sun Belt Conference game, it’s likely the suspension on the latter would last longer due to lack of liquidity.
