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Overtime Rules

Sports betting

What is Overtime Rules?

Overtime rules decide whether extra periods count for settlement — included in basketball and hockey lines, excluded from 90-minute football markets.

ByBetting Desk·Sports Betting Editor

Reviewed byKris Fawkes·Chief Editor

What it means in practice

Overtime rules define whether periods played after regulation count towards the settlement of a bet. The convention differs by sport and by market. In basketball and ice hockey most sides, totals and handicaps include overtime by default, whereas in football the standard match markets settle on ninety minutes plus stoppage time only, so extra time and penalties are ignored unless the market name says otherwise. Outright and to-qualify markets take the opposite approach and follow a tie through to its conclusion. Because a game decided after regulation can flip a total or a handicap that had already been beaten, this distinction changes the real probability attached to a price. The operator's rules section states which markets include overtime, and that wording governs settlement even when a scoreboard suggests otherwise.

Why it matters

A definition like this one decides what an offer is actually worth. The same wording turns up in bonus terms, on payment pages and in game rules, and it is usually where a promotion’s real cost is hiding — so it is worth reading an operator’s own terms with this meaning in mind rather than the marketing above them.

You must be of legal gambling age where you live — 18 in most markets, 19 or 21 in others. Understanding a term does not make an outcome more likely: casino games are built to return less than they take over time. Set deposit and time limits before you play.

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