Fear of Missing Out After Cashing Out

For some bettors, there is a distinct fear of missing out on a bet. One of the biggest fears of missing out comes when bettors take the option to cash out early. You’ve probably seen examples of this. Here’s one.

A bettor placed a 16-leg parlay bet. The wager was $25 on the all-NFL parlay. Hitting all 16 legs, which would be extremely difficult to pull off, would pay out over $735K. With 15 legs down and all of them correct, the bettor has a choice to make. Cash out or let it ride?

The bettor could cash out – also called a buy out at some sportsbooks – and take about $135K or let it play out and walk away with $736,959 if the last bet is a winner. Too often, many bettors have the fear of missing out if they simply cash out. 

Why You Should Never Cash Out EARLY

There are those that say bettors should never cash out a bet early. This, of course, eliminates the fear of missing out (FOMO). If you never cash out, you’ll never miss out on a win. Now, you may lose a bet, but you’ll never miss out on a win.

Those that say bettors should never cash out have good reasons. Think about why sportsbooks are in business. They operate to make money, to make profits. If there is any way that a sportsbook can lower its liability on any bet, the book will normally take that opportunity. In the case of a cash out, it works like this.

You place a $100 bet on Team A on the moneyline at +320 odds. Your payout, of course, will be $320 if Team A wins. At halftime, Team A leads and your sportsbook offers you a payout of $160. Now, we need to know if taking the buyout makes sense. 

Well, you can figure this out by taking the payout on the full bet ($320) and dividing it by the real-time odds. Those would be +160 (320/160=2). We take 2 and multiply it by our original stake of $100 and get $200. What that tells us is that we should be getting $200, not $160. This is why bettors should avoid cashing out.

Should You Ever Cash Out EARLY

Well, that is up to the individual bettor. Let’s go back to our bettor in the 16-leg parlay example. After his first 15 legs hit, he had one more bet to go – the Lions on the moneyline at +400. If Detroit won, the bettor gets the $736K and change. A Lions loss and the bettor is out $25 plus a whole pile of cash.

In the end, the bettor took the buyout. He settled for about $133,000 just before kickoff. It proved to be a wise decision as the Lions went on to lose that day. Should you ever cash out? Sure, but again it’s up to the individual bettor. If you think you are going to miss out, there are ways to get past those feelings.

Dealing with FOMO in Sports Betting

Nowadays, almost every sporting event is viewed through the sports betting lens. Even when we don’t have a stake in a game, we will still talk about it and maybe fear that we are missing out on a winning bet. It may even cause us to bet on games where there really is no value. That is the real key to dealing with FOMO.

Stick to your betting strategy. Follow the numbers and place the bets that make sense. Don’t fear missing out on a wager you didn’t like in the first place. Limit your exposure to social media. There’s too much misinformation and hype that will lead you to think you’re missing out.

Remove any triggers that make you think you’re missing out. If that includes some of your friends, it might be time to move on from them. Shift your focus to missing out on bets you didn’t make that ended up losing. 

There are plenty of other things you can do to get over the fear of losing out on any sports bet. It all starts with having the right mindset and then sticking to a winning betting strategy.

Other FOMO in Sports Betting

You completed your rollover and you have 5 grand sitting in your account. You decide to take your money and run. Now you have $5K and you can pay off a credit card, pay for an upgrade to your home or pocket the cash, whatever. But a few days go by and there are a slate of games coming up this weekend. You cannot help but look at the spreads. Of course there are a few you like. Do you have it in you to take your 5 grand and just watch football on the weekend without betting? Or, do you fear missing out on the opportunity make even more money? Of course the latter is probably most likely to be the case.

The best way to handle this conundrum is to take a small part of your winning and deposit at another sportsbook which is offering a healthy bonus. Let’s say you take just $500 and deposit it somewhere offering a 100% cash bonus. You not only double that $500 to $1000 but you can also play those two games you like this weekend and then some. Put $200 on each game and even if they lose you have $560 more to bet with.

The super power of any sports bettor is discipline. Learning proper bank roll management, knowing when to cash out or when to take a break after a losing streak are all assets that successful sports bettors have. They are second only to picking winners when it pertains to the pursuit of beating the bookie.