What Does Off The Board Mean In Sports Betting and Wagering?
What Does Off the Board Mean?
If you hear someone use the phrase” off the board” when discussing sports betting, they are referring to a game or event where the sportsbooks refuse to take any bets. Since many sportsbooks operate under their own set of rules and guidelines, they can take any game or event off the board without a moments notice. As soon as they hear rumblings about certain circumstances that could affect the outcome, they protect their bottom line and pull the game until they know the exact details of what’s going on.
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Why Do Games or Events go Off the Board?
There are several reasons why sportsbooks take games off the board, but the main one is usually surrounds an injury to a key player. For example, if rumblings got out that LeBron James was nursing an injury, sportsbooks would likely deem it too difficult to set odds without knowing James’ availability to play. The books then have two options. If they catch it in time before they set the lines and odds, they can keep it off the board altogether. If they post a line and then get word, they will take it down until they know for certain what James’ status is to play.
Also, It is not uncommon for games to be taken off the board temporarily and then relisted once the book feels confident they know the entire situation surrounding the event.
From my experience, the most common sport to see games listed as “off the board” or OTB for short, is football. The reason being is that teams are more susceptible to injuries and the odds can fluctuate quite drastically with a key player missing.
Most times you will see “OTB” for games involving teams that are playing on a short week - think Sunday night then Thursday night. Sportsbooks don’t feel the need to rush lines out on these games like they would for teams playing on normal rest because they know the public will still bet it regardless of what happenedin the prior game.
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