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IT Betfair Exchange has introduced the Passive Bet Delay, a system that eliminates the bet submission delay for waiting orders (placed at off-market odds). The traditional delay remains on orders that can be matched immediately. A simple distinction that increases operational efficiency and market liquidity. This feature has been tested across several sports over the past few years and is currently being tested on selected football leagues on a rolling basis. It is not currently active on all Betfair markets.
What is the Bet Delay on Betfair Exchange and why does it exist
When a market goes in-play, any order you submit is not executed immediately: there is a waiting period that typically ranges from 1 to 5 seconds, with peaks of up to 12 seconds for some football leagues.
The problem with a "blanket" delay
The classic system applies the delay to every order, without distinction. This is an inefficiency of the betting exchange: an order placed in the queue at a price far from the current market price represents no risk whatsoever. Under the old system, that bet was penalised in exactly the same way as a speculative order.
How Betfair's Order Book works: back, lay and the price ladder
To fully understand the Passive Bet Delay, it is important to be clear about how the exchange platform is structured. Unlike a traditional bookmaker, there is no one here accepting your bet: every order must find a counterpart among other users.
The Ladder
The market is organised as a ladder (price scale), identical in principle to financial markets. On each price level there are two sides:
| Odds | Lay liquidity (lay side) | Back liquidity (back side) | Position in the book |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.46 | — | € 320 | Back waiting (passive) |
| 1.45 | — | € 580 | Back waiting (passive) |
| 1.44 | — | € 1,200 | Back waiting (passive) |
| 1.43 / 1.42 | € 2,400 BEST LAY | € 1,900 BEST BACK | ⬅ CURRENT SPREAD |
| 1.42 | € 2,400 | — | Lay available (active if you click) |
| 1.41 | € 890 | — | Lay waiting (passive) |
| 1.40 | € 560 | — | Lay waiting (passive) |
The best available back price is 1.42 (the lowest price at which someone is willing to lay). The best available lay price is 1.43 (the highest price at which someone wants to back and is waiting for a counterpart). The difference between these two values is called the spread.
Active vs Passive bet
The table below analyses the difference between an active and a passive bet. A passive bet waiting to be matched carries zero delay.
| Bet type | Where it sits | Can it be matched immediately? | Informational risk | Delay applied |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Active | At the current market price (best available) | YES | High | 5 sec (unchanged) |
| Passive | Outside the spread, queued in the book | NO | Zero | 0 sec (eliminated) |
How the Passive Bet Delay works: the mechanics in detail
Betfair's system evaluates each order at the moment it is submitted and determines, based on its position in the book, whether to apply the delay or not. The logic is binary and instant:
↓
Can the order be matched immediately at the submitted price?
├─ YES (ACTIVE order) ──→ standard delay applied (e.g. 5 sec)
│ → executed after the delay
│
└─ NO (PASSIVE order) ──→ delay = 0 sec → registered INSTANTLY
→ enters the queue in the book with no wait
Practical example: Tennis in-play
The match winner market for a tennis match shows the following prices at a given moment:
| Side | Best available price |
|---|---|
| 🔵 Back — best price | 1.42 (someone is laying at 1.42) |
| 🔴 Lay — best price | 1.43 (someone wants to back at 1.43) |
🟢 Scenario A — PASSIVE order → 0 seconds of delay
You place a back bet at 1.44. That price is higher than the best lay available (1.43): no one is currently offering to lay at 1.44, so the order cannot be matched at this instant. Betfair recognises it as passive and registers it in the book immediately, with no wait. The bet is now visible to everyone and waits for the market to move towards 1.44.
🟢 Scenario B — PASSIVE lay → 0 seconds of delay
You place a lay at 1.41. That price is lower than the best back available (1.42): no backer wants to accept your lay at 1.41 right now. This is also a passive order: registered instantly in the book, with no delay.
🔴 Scenario C — ACTIVE order → normal delay (e.g. 5 seconds)
You click 1.42 to back at the best available price. This order can be matched immediately with layers who are currently offering at 1.42. The system applies the standard delay (e.g. 5 seconds): during this window you can cancel it; once the time elapses, it is executed.
Why eliminating the delay on passive orders is fair
A legitimate question: if the delay is removed, does it not risk favouring those with bots or fast connections? The answer is no.
The delay protects against a specific risk
The in-play bet delay exists to protect users from those who exploit ultra-fast data feeds to place orders at prices that are already stale before the market can update. A trader with a feed that arrives 2 seconds ahead of others could, without a delay, match orders at prices that are already wrong.
This risk exists only for orders that can be matched the instant they are submitted. A passive order is by definition positioned outside the spread: it finds no available counterpart at that price. It does not matter how fast your feed is — you cannot match it immediately. The risk of latency arbitrage is structurally absent.
The benefit is bilateral
The feature is equally available to everyone: backers, layers, manual traders and API bots. It creates no informational asymmetries and puts all participants on the same footing. The result is a more efficient market with greater liquidity available across a range of prices.
Operational benefits for traders and bettors
Below is an analysis of the benefits for the various categories of Betfair Exchange users.
1. Smoother scalping and in-play trading
Those who do scalping on Betfair open positions at better prices than the current market, waiting for the market to move by one or two ticks. Under the classic system, every passive order required a wait that made the whole process slow and awkward. With the Passive Bet Delay, positions can be built in the book instantly, with no need to wait out the delay.
2. Dutching and multi-selection strategies
In dutching on markets such as Correct Score or multiple outcomes, orders must be placed across many selections within a tight timeframe. Under the old delay, placing 5–10 passive orders could take 25–50 seconds of cumulative waiting. Now it is a matter of a few moments — faster, smoother, and free from frustrating delays.
3. API and bots
For those operating via the Betfair API, the delay on passive orders created request queues and slowed book management. With zero delay, bots can continuously update their quotes in the book without accumulating lag, getting closer to the behaviour of market makers in financial markets.
Passive Bet Delay rollout: enabled sports and markets
Betfair has taken a gradual and cautious approach, testing the feature sport by sport before rolling it out further.
betDelayModels field is available in the Betfair Exchange API.Why is football slower to adopt?
Football presents critical conditions: its markets are the most liquid and heavily trafficked on the platform, data feeds come from heterogeneous sources with varying latencies, and events (goals, penalties, red cards) are discontinuous and unpredictable. Betfair prefers to test on medium-volume leagues before extending to the Premier League and Champions League.
How to check whether a market is enabled
There are several ways to verify this. A user can place a passive waiting order on a live market and check whether there is any delay. Other options are:
| Method | How to do it |
|---|---|
| Betfair API | Check the betDelayModels field in the listMarketBook response. If present, the market supports passive delay. |
| Stream API | The field will be added to the Stream API in a future release (not yet available at the time of publication). |
| Web/app interface | There is no direct visual indicator for the end user; the effect is noticed by the absence of any wait when the order is placed. |
The impact on market liquidity
Reducing the delay on passive orders is not just a benefit for individual traders: it has a systemic effect on the quality and depth of the market.
When placing a waiting order costs 5 seconds of delay, many operators avoid building positions in the book at prices away from the current market. The result is a thin book with little liquidity outside the spread.
With the delay eliminated, it makes sense to position oneself in the book across multiple prices in advance, contributing to increased liquidity on both sides. More passive orders in the book mean tighter spreads, lower intraday volatility and greater ease for everyone in finding a match.
Video explanation of the Passive Delay ladder
In the following video, I demonstrate live how the Passive Delay works. For this purpose, I am using the ladder feature in a sports trading software. You can see the delay in seconds and how I place live bets. I recommend watching the video carefully to better understand the implications for trading.
Summary: the golden rule of the Passive Bet Delay
📋 In brief
- Order at the current price (back at the best back, lay at the best lay) → can be matched immediately → normal delay (e.g. 5 sec)
- Order outside the spread (back at a higher price, lay at a lower price) → cannot be matched immediately → 0 seconds delay
- The logic is automatic: Betfair evaluates each order at the moment of submission
- The feature is available to everyone (manual and API), with no additional configuration
- Rollout ongoing: Tennis, Baseball, NFL, NBA, Darts already at 100% coverage; Football under progressive testing
The Passive Bet Delay is one of the most significant infrastructure evolutions Betfair Exchange has delivered in recent years. Correctly distinguishing between genuine risk and unnecessary bureaucratic friction, and acting accordingly, is exactly the kind of improvement that makes the platform more competitive and professional for advanced traders.
Do you have questions about in-play strategies or how to use the Passive Bet Delay in your market approach? Leave a comment below or visit BettingExchange.net for guides, analysis and dedicated tools.
Gianluca Landi
Professional Sports Trader | Founder of ScoreTrend
Sports trader since 2007 and online with the first sports trading site and courses since 2011. Engineer specialized in data analysis and betting exchange strategies. Amazon bestselling author and founder of ScoreTrend, the leading platform for match trading and betting with proprietary indicators such as xTrend, Goal Trend, SOD, and Draw Balance.
