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Live odds & in-play
How BetFinder keeps prices fresh: exchange odds refreshed through the day, the LIVE pill on in-play games, and what happens when a price isn't available.
Updated 2026-06-07 · BetFinder team
Nothing on the betting board is typed in by hand. Prices are driven by a betting exchange, where odds move whenever real money backs one side or the other — so the board is a living page, not a morning snapshot. Prices refresh through the day before games start, and once a game is underway it goes in-play and its numbers update while you watch.
This guide covers what that looks like on screen: the LIVEpill, how quickly in-play prices move, what “pre-off” means — and, just as important, what the board does when a fresh price is not available. The short version: it keeps the last good prices and says so, rather than inventing numbers.
Fresh prices before kick-off
From the moment a game appears on the board, its prices are refreshed through the day. Exchange prices drift as money arrives — a favourite shortens after team news, an outsider drifts when nobody fancies it — so the odds chip and the percentage on each row reflect the marketas it stood at the last refresh, not a price captured once and left to rot. As kick-off approaches, more money flows in and the market firms up, which is why a game several days away can carry a thinner, jumpier price than one starting within the hour — and why some distant games carry no price at all yet (more on Awaiting price below).
Spotting live games: the LIVE pill
Once a game starts it becomes in-play. On the board, a green LIVEpill appears in the row’s time cell, just under the kick-off time, and the same pill sits in the header of the game’s match page. The sidebar signals it too, quietly: hover a sport row whose games are currently in-play and a Live nownote appears — so you can tell which of the covered sports have action right now.
In-play prices refresh while you watch
While the board is open, in-play prices refresh roughly every 15 seconds — you never need to reload the page. The odds chip and the confidence percentage on a live row move with the game: a goal, a wicket or a break of serve shows up in the numbers within moments. The pick itself can move too. Each row’s headline is always the selection most likely to land, recomputed from the live prices — so if the favourite goes a goal down and the market flips, the green pick line flips with it. Open the board on a busy evening and you can watch it happen.
Two quiet courtesies keep this calm. Only rows whose prices actually changed update, so the board never flickers or reshuffles just to look busy. And updates pause while the tab is in the background, then catch up the moment you come back — so the first thing you see on returning is always current.
What pre-off means
Pre-offis exchange shorthand for “before the off” — before kick-off, the first serve, or the stalls opening. A pre-off price is the last price a selection traded at before its event started. Most of what you do on BetFinder happens pre-off, because that is when bets are normally placed; in-play numbers are there to help you follow the game, not to chase it.
You will meet the term in one honest disclaimer in particular. If you have legs on a betslip and one of those games kicks off, the slip flags that leg LIVE; and if fresh data for it stops arriving, the slip says plainly: A LIVE leg is frozen at its pre-off numbers. The betslip guidecovers the other flags, but the principle is the one running through this whole page — stale numbers get labelled, never disguised.
When data is missing: the honesty rules
Live data has gaps. Markets suspend around goals, connections drop, and some games simply have no formed market yet. The board follows two rules, both designed to never show you a fabricated number.
- Keep the last good prices. If a refresh fails or comes back empty, the board holds the last real prices it had rather than inventing movement. Nothing jiggles to simulate liveness; the numbers may briefly lag the game, but they are always numbers a market genuinely produced.
- Awaiting price, not a guess.When a game’s market has not genuinely formed, the pick line reads Awaiting priceand both chip cells stay empty — no odds, no percentage, no placeholder. Once a real price forms, the row fills in on a later refresh. You can see this state on the bottom row of the demo above, and the betting board guide walks through the full anatomy of a row.
Quick answers
How often do prices update?
Pre-off prices refresh through the day, with markets firming as kick-off approaches. Once a game is in-play and you have the board open, its prices refresh roughly every 15 seconds. Updates pause while the tab is hidden and catch up the instant you return, so what you are looking at is always the freshest data the board has.
The game is live but the odds haven’t moved — is something wrong?
Usually not. Quiet passages of play genuinely move prices very little, and rows only change when the price actually changed. If the market has suspended or a refresh failed, the board deliberately keeps the last good prices rather than fake movement — so a still number means “nothing new”, never “made up”.
Why did a live game’s pick suddenly change?
Because the headline is always the most likely selection, not a fixed tip. In-play, the most likely outcome can genuinely flip — a red card or a late goal reorders the whole market — and the green pick line follows the live prices. Legs already on your betslip are not silently swapped; they keep the numbers you added them at and get flagged instead.
Can I bet in-play through BetFinder?
No — BetFinder never takes, places or holds bets. In-play prices are there to help you read the game and judge value honestly. If you do bet, you place it with your own bookmakeror exchange, and the live price you get there is the one that matters — always check it before committing money.