Rule 4 Deductions at Bookmakers

• Author
• Recent Posts

Man of Mystery

I opened my Betfair account on 22nd April 2003. I was one of the first subscribers to Adam Todd's BetTrader and was a founding partner of JuiceStorm.com on 17th February 2007.

Latest posts by Man of Mystery (see all)

• The TopTrap Greyhound Profit And Loss Account On Betfair - March 17, 2022
• Betfair Best Execution – 11 Requested & Filled At 320 - January 16, 2022
• BTB System e-book - March 13, 2015

[note]

Article from Juicestorm Betclub.

[/note]

When there is a non runner in a race the bookmakers need to adjust their odds to account for the increased chances of the remaining horses winning. They also need to adjust the odds of bets that have already been placed. There is a standard procedure for this, known as “Rule 4”.

The table below shows the deductions made by bookmakers for a non runner, which are based on the odds of the non runner at the time of its withdrawal. Some bookmakers do not charge more than 75p, others may charge upto 90p as shown below.

Click on the image to enlarge.

Example – £10 win bet, taking an early or board price of 9/1
2 horses withdrawn before the start.
One horse trading at 3/1 (deduction 25p), the second horse trading at 14/1 (deduction 5p)
Total Rule 4 deduction will be 30p in the £
£10 @ 9/1 = £90 WINNINGS on the bet before rule 4.
Deduct £27 from the winnings part of the bet (90 x 30p) so the bet now wins £63 (SP 6.3 /1)
Then add on your original stake of £10
Total Returns would be £73 making a profit on the bet of £63

Note that some bookmakers do not charge a 5p rule 4 BUT if there is another non runner, even if that is also 5p, they will always add the 2 together, so 2x 5p rule 4 will be 10p. It is therefore not safe to take an arb (or adjust a bet) on the basis of a bookie not charging 5p rule 4s.

Learn more about Betclub here[/button]