Updated: 06.07.2025
The sports betting world is highly competitive, so operators in the industry are always on the lookout for means to outdo their competition and reel in new customers. One tactic favored across the betting world is the use of bonuses to attract would-be customers and retain existing ones. Within the last few years, a new kind of bonus called an "Early Payout" has emerged, and it offered by two of the UK's leading bookmakers. When you wager a bet on an event that is yet to take place, and your bookmaker offers you a payout before the event is actually finished, that's an early payout. And it, along with a few other new bonuses, has proven to be ridiculously popular with the betting community.
The fundamental tenets of the Early Payout offer are consistent across the industry. However, as is the case with all promotions, each sportsbook gets to have a bit of fun with the concept and make it their own, accompanying it with their own flavor of terms and conditions. So, let’s look at two of the best Early Payout offers on the market right now.
The Bet365 Early Payout Offer is called ‘Two Goals Ahead’. This promotion, as its name indicates, pays out your winnings on a football selection if the team you are betting on goes two goals ahead during the match. This offer applies to all full-time pre-match bets placed on every major football competition, including:
The accentuation is also applicable to accumulator wagers, thus if you have a collective bet and the team or teams within that bet goes two goals ahead, you are counted as a winners leg, even if your team or teams go onto lose the bet. The terms of the promotion do not apply to New Odds markets.
The Paddy Power Early Payout Offer is similar to the Bet365 promotion. Referred to as '2 Up - You Win', it not only pays out on any football bet where your team goes two goals up at any time during the match but also pays out on a multitude of the largest football competitions across Europe, which consist of the following:
A significant distinction is that the Paddy Power offer pertains solely to pre-match single bets. It does not extend to accumulator wagers. You can still win up to a maximum of £2,500 as an early payout, and you can access the offer using either the desktop site or mobile app.
Offers for Early Payouts are quite rare, so even seasoned bettors may not have much experience with them. The idea behind Early Payouts, which can be a somewhat confusing concept for newer bettors, is simply this: if a bookmaker thinks a bet has already won, they will go ahead and pay out the winnings, regardless of whether or not the event the bet was placed on has actually taken place yet. On the face of it, this might seem like a nice little gimmick for a betting shop to use. But in actuality, and more often than not, in the long-run for the bettor, it can be quite a tempting offer to pass up.
Bookmakers aim to build their reputation and attract new customers by extending this principle to a wider array of wagers and making it a formal offer to all punters. For punters, especially those on the verge of joining a specific sports betting site, Early Payout betting is an offer far more appealing than the conventional Welcome Bonus. The latter often entails a protracted list of stipulations and conditions that one must fulfill to gain access to the bonus.
Similar to many sports betting promotions, a great way to understand the mechanics of these kinds of deals is through an example. Suppose you elect to participate in a bookmaker's Early Payout offer, one that's available just for new customers. Here’s a walkthrough of the system:
As you can see, offers for early payout are relatively uncomplicated and understandable. This simplicity is a big reason why they are gaining such popularity among football bettors.
At present, the Early Payout Offer is not as frequently seen as some other sportsbook promotions, and Bet365 and Paddy Power are the only two bookmakers that regularly make these offers available. Other bookies, like Betway, have previously offered Early Payouts, and given how popular these offers are, we can only assume that several other bookmakers will follow suit and start offering Early Payouts as well.
It is worth mentioning too that Early Payout Offers are occasionally tied to specific happenings, like the Champions League final or the NFL Super Bowl, which are instances when bookmakers can bring in fresh customers. Whatever the outcome of the offer, the particulars of how these work will differ a lot across the kinds of sports involved.
The early payout on football is the most common way this promotion is offered, and it functions in a straightforward manner. Since football is a relatively low-scoring game, offering this promotion at two goals provides a nice balance, and gives bettors opportunities to cash in.
For example, if you are wagering on the favorite in a soccer match, you stand to gain from the Early Payout if the team demonstrates its superiority by going two goals up at any point in the game. Conversely, teams that are known for starting matches with a strong showing can be good bets for the Early Payout, as it makes no difference if they go on to lose or draw after such a promising start.
Finding an Early Payout Offer in basketball is a rare occurrence, but these offers have existed. Teams in basketball have a tendency to jump out to large leads before being caught and passed by their foes. For an Early Payout Offer to be profitable in these circumstances, it would have to be based on the notion that it is indeed a common occurrence for one team to have a commanding lead at some point in a game only to have that lead vanish by game's end.
American Football is a game of fast and unpredictable scoring. When a team goes ahead, it can seem only a matter of time before the defense breaks and the other team scores, too. Playing offers based on this volatility makes sense. And so we come to our one and only U.S. offer for the year. Bet365 serves up their NFL Early Payout: if you bet on the match result and your team is up 17 or more points, consider it a winner no matter what happens in the next four quarters.
Early Payout rugby offers could also have some advantages for punters, particularly in some of the early Rugby Union World Cup games. These matches—pitiching the minor rugby nations against the heavyweights—tend to have enormous scores and a lot of points. An Early Payout Offer allows punters to claim their winnings before the outcome of the match is really in doubt. Bet365 has been a pretty solid operator in this area, having paid out for leads of 15 points as recently as the 2019 World Cup.
Like all promotions from bookmakers, early payout offers have their positives and negatives. You can examine both the upsides and downsides of this type of deal below.
Pros
Cons
At first glance, the Early Payout Offer may seem like an unlikely promotion for bookmakers to make available. It effectively enables punters to benefit from some of the advantages of in-play betting – that is, being able to ‘cash out’ before the game is over – yet makes this available at pre-match odds, potentially tilting the advantage in favour of the punter. So, why would they do this?
The truth is that today’s bookmakers, especially the more prominent, high-profile companies, don’t conduct their businesses in the old-fashioned way. Look back a few decades and you’d see bookmaking as the domain of shrewd odds compilers doing battle with punters. Increasingly, though, bookmakers have begun to compile their odds using automated means and to conduct their businesses using more modern methods.
In simple terms, the confidence of bookmakers stems from their belief that the majority of their customers will lose in the long run. Buoyed by this belief, they attempt to attract as many new punters as possible, often running promotions that seem, at first glance, to be in the customer's favor. The same principle, for instance, underlies those each-way offers at attractive-looking odds on major golf tournaments. As far as I can tell, these offers tend at least at first glance and first impression to be good for the customer. But are they?
We can still seize these chances when they arise, though, and sharp bettors can and should benefit from these Early Payout Offers.
Earlier, we pointed out that the Early Payout Offer shares some characteristics with the Cash Out promotions offered by contemporary bookmakers. Although these two kinds of offers have some common ground, they are, for the most part, quite different from each other.
Early Payout Offers are tied to specific in-game events, like a football team going two goals up, and can only be given when these events happen. Cash Out deals can be applied at any moment in a match. You can use Cash Out to hedge against a pre-match bet that’s going south—a sort of insurance policy that enables you to claim a portion of your wager back while you still can. Cash Out is an option that gives you a modicum of control over your betting destiny. You cannot do that with an Early Payout Offer.
The Early Payout Offer is straightforward; punters know exactly what they stand to win or lose. Cash Out figures, on the other hand, depend on the calculations made by the bookmaker. They fluctuate throughout a game and can even change after you've opted to Cash Out. Cash Out promotions are a regular feature across many sports and markets, while Early Payout Offers are more targeted and less frequent.
Here are some top tips to help you further in this regard.
Betting companies supply an extensive range of promotions, deals, and offers, all crafted to entice and hold on to customers. The Early Payout Offer is one of the most punter-friendly promotions. Although relatively rare, it offers payout before an event is actually finished. It resembles the Cash Out deals that bookmakers provide, yet it is easier to operate. It is a new way to enhance your sports betting. Because they are not common, you should absolutely record any instance in which you encounter an Early Payout deal and try—if you can—to use it to your advantage.
Early pay outs are settled automatically and the cash due will be paid into your betting account instantly.
Early pay out it the latest marketing tool aimed at helping bookmakers overshadow the competition and win your custom.
An early payout is considered when a bookmaker decides to provide the winning bettor with their winnings before the conclusion of the event they bet on. Most of the time, this occurs with a paycheck to a winner whose team is clearly ahead and has a very low chance of losing, such as a soccer team that's two goals ahead.
At present, two of the most prominent bookmakers in the UK and Ireland offer this kind of deal: Bet 365 and Paddy Power. Bookmakers have provided Early Payout deals before, and they might well proliferate as a form of promotion in the future. That's because they're a popular way for bookmakers to lure in new customers and reward existing ones.