If you have ever become frustrated when attempting to place a multiple bet online, then the chances are you have encountered what are known as related contingencies.
Basically, the notion of related contingencies stops the punter from placing a single bet on multiple outcomes where each outcome could be seen to have an effect on a future outcome in the same bet.
From a bookmaking point of view, this is not permitted as the odds you are striking on one event may be directly affected by the outcome of another.
WHAT ARE RELATED CONTINGENCIES?
Let us dig slightly deeper to explain what exactly might be considered a related contingencies bet.
As the term suggests, related refers to something that is connected in some way while contingency refers to something that will possibly happen in the future.
In betting, therefore, related contingency rules stop us from placing bets on events that are deemed likely to have a direct impact on each other.
This is why you will sometimes find that if you add multiple selections to your betting slip, you will note that the option of placing an accumulator, for example, on these selections is not available.
To help avoid coming across this when placing future bets, let’s take some related contingency examples to clarify what might fall into this category.
RELATED CONTINGENCIES IN FOOTBALL
Football is one of the most popularsports to bet on and therefore it has a multitude of betting markets available. Not all of these individual markets can be combined in a single bet.
For example, you might try to bet on Real Madrid to win their Champions League quarter-final tie and also to win the competition outright. This bet would not be possible under the related contingency rules as the two outcomes are intrinsically linked.
Basically, if Real Madrid win the quarter-final, the odds on them going on to win the competition will be decreased accordingly. The odds of Real Madrid winning their quarter-final, or indeed losing, are factored into the outright price on them winning the tournament.
Similarly, in the Premier League, you could not place a single bet on Manchester United to beat Chelsea and Manchester United to win the league. By beating Chelsea, Manchester United have improved their chances of winning the league (gaining three points) and so this outcome has an effect on the bet you are attempting to strike.
Within a single match, there are also examples of related contingencies. If Celtic are playing Rangers, you could not place a single bet on Celtic to have a player sent off and Rangers to win the match. If Celtic lose a player, this is deemed to have an impact on Rangers’ chances of winning the game.
Similar rules cover individual goalscorers and match outcomes. You cannot, for example, bet on Cristiano Ronaldo to score first and double this up with Real Madrid to win their game, as the first outcome would greatly affect the chances of the second occurring.
You should, however, look for special markets such as win casts or anytime scorer and match result markets. These account for the impact of related contingencies and offer odds to reflect this and allow you to bet on such outcomes accordingly.
RELATED CONTINGENCIES IN OTHER SPORTS
Related contingencies are quite common across all sports. Take a darts match between Phil Taylor and Michael van Gerwen for example.
You could not place a bet on van Gerwen to win the match and to score the most ton-plus finishes. By accruing more ton-plus finishes, van Gerwen is likely to enhance his chances of winning the match.
As with football betting, you should look for special markets in cases like this, where you will often find markets that offer – as an example – van Gerwen to win the match and score more ton-plus finishes, or Taylor to win the match and score the most 180s. These markets take account of the relationship between the individual outcomes concerned.
Another potential example of a related contingency would be in horse racing. For the Royal Ascot Festival, most bookmakers will offer markets on the leading trainer and leading jockey across the entire five-day meeting.
You could not combine a bet in these two markets on Aidan O’Brien to leading trainer and Ryan Moore to be leading jockey. As Moore rides horses for O’Brien, their success or failure is extremely likely to be linked together.
