How To Cancel a Bet on Hollywoodbets (Just Remember, there are No Guarantees)

We all make mistakes. Most of us have at least once placed a bet in a rush and tapped the wrong button, especially when playing on our phone. The Bet Confirmation page which often appears when you click "Place Bet" is there to try prevent these kinds of mistakes but it's still easy for them to happen regardless. 

Before we explain how to cancel a bet on Hollywoodbets, we must tell you there's no guarantee they will agree to do it. Bookmakers in South Africa and the rest of the world are under no legal obligation to cancel your bet just because you ask them to. 

In many instances, bookmakers like Hollywoodbets will however agree to cancel your bet because you've made a genuine mistake. This is in spite of the fact the terms and conditions you accept as a player state that all bets are final and once you've confirmed your bet, you cannot cancel it.

Have you tried clicking the "Back" button on your betslip?

Before you try to cancel your bet, check to make sure it's actually been confirmed. Thеrе's usually a "Back" button аt thе bоttоm оf your betsliр, that you can use tо саnсеl a bеt bеfоrе it's рlасеd. If you change your mind about a bet and it hasn't been confirmed, click this button to go back and change your selection. After clicking to confirm your bet, however, it's too late and this is much harder to change.

When might bookmakers consider cancelling your bet?

The most likely reason that a bookmaker like Hollywoodbets might agree to cancel your bet is if it looks like you made a genuine mistake. For example, if you normally bet R10 at a time on soccer multibets and suddenly you place a R1 000 bet and want to cancel it, the bookmaker might see from your betting patterns that you probably made an honest mistake. 

In these instances, we advise you to contact Hollywoodbets customer support on 087 353 7633 or email hwhelpline@hollywoodbets.net as soon as possible and explain what happened. There's still no guarantee any bookmaker will agree to cancel your bet, but the sooner you let them know the better the chances of it happening.

Before asking Hollywoodbets or any other bookmaker if they will consider cancelling your bet, make sure your bet meets the following criteria:

✅ It's a Sports or Lucky Numbers bet 

No bookmaker will not agree to cancel Live Games bets because there's simply not enough time to process your request. The only time you might get your money back is if there's a technical fault with the game.

✅ The event hasn't started yet 

Hollywoodbets and other bookmakers won't cancel a bet if the event has started because the odds might have changed. Even if the event is only a few minutes in, the result is already partly known and allowing you to cancel your bet could give you an unfair advantage over the bookmaker.

How to cancel a bet on Hollywoodbets

If you want to cancel a Bet on Hollywoodbets, you can contact customer support on 087 353 7633 or email hwhelpline@hollywoodbets.net. You'll be asked to provide your Hollywoodbets account number as well as the reference number for your bet. Remember that bets are cancelled at the discretion of Hollywoodbets and their decision is final. 

Remember, Hollywoodbets and other bookmakers are within their rights to deny your request to cancel a bet, so give yourself the best chance of success by explaining your situation carefully and not losing your temper. The support agent will look into your account to see whether you have a case. It might take a while, even up to 48 hours, for your request to be looked into. Depending on the circumstances, don’t be surprised if they refuse to cancel your bet.

Why don't bookmakers like to cancel bets?

So, what's the big deal if I want to cancel my bet anyway? Bookmakers don’t like to cancel or change bets because it would encourage more punters to do so, increasing the demand on their traders and customer support staff. If anyone could cancel a bet at any time, the number of players contacting customer support would increase, making waiting times longer and leading to poor customer service for players like you.

Another reason bookmakers don't like to cancel bets is that it opens them up to abuse from players. The truth is many punters don't want to cancel a bet because they've made a mistake, they want to cancel it because something has happened to make the odds they took less appealing. 

For example, with sports bets, when events like injuries occur, bookmakers change their odds to reflect these developments. Let's say you take a bet on Tottenham at odds of 2.00 but Harry Kane then gets injured and can't play. The bookmaker might adjust the odds on Tottenham to 2.30 because they now have a smaller chance of winning.

Because the odds you got on Tottenham before the injury news was smaller than they are now, you might want to cancel your bet. But if bookmakers always agreed to cancel bets in these circumstances, every punter would want to do the same whenever the odds moved against them. Gambling is a risky business, and if bookmakers allow you to take the risk out of betting they'll have no chance of making any money. 

What to do if a bookmaker won't cancel your bet

Depending on the circumstances, bookmakers won't always agree to cancel your bet, but there are some alternatives that can help you to get at least some of your money back.

Use Cash Out

If your bookmaker offers a Cash Out feature, you can cancel your bet by taking the Cash Out offer available. Bear in mind that Cash Out offers fluctuate as the odds change, so you won't necessarily get the same amount back when you cancel a bet this way. 

That’s why it’s a good idea to check the Cash Out offer as soon as possible and well before the betting event starts. If the odds haven't changed, most bookmakers in South Africa charge a 5-10% fee (taken off the Cash Out offer) for cashing out a bet that's still to run. Read more about how to Cash Out on Hollywoodbets.

Bet the other side in-play

If a Cash Out offer isn't available at your bookmaker, another option is to bet against your original bet. Let's say you decide to bet on Over 2.5 goals when Liverpool play Leicester and now you want to cancel your bet. As long as you have enough funds in your account, you can bet on Under 2.5 goals to ensure one of your bets will win without a doubt. 

If you decide to use this method of cancelling your bet, make sure that you set your stake on the second bet in such a way that your potential winnings will pay exactly the same amount as you staked on the first bet.

If placed correctly, the two bets will cancel each other out and you'll end up making a very small loss because of the bookmaker's margin.  

Let it ride!

Your other option is to just let the bet ride and see what happens. You might be pleasantly surprised by the results! I can't tell you how many times in the past I've wanted to cancel a bet and it ends up winning... 

For more about online sports betting, casino games and lotteries in South Africa, visit the Betting Guide homepage to find bookmaker reviews, promotions, betting tips and more.