Settlement: when a bet is graded, and by whom

Settlement is the operator marking a bet as won, lost, pushed or void, and moving the money. It is done by the book, not by the league, the broadcaster, or the scoreboard, and it is done against whatever source the terms and conditions name — usually official league data, sometimes a specified third-party provider.

The book needs a single authoritative source it can point to, because a scoreboard, a broadcast graphic and a live data feed routinely disagree in the minutes after a game and it must be able to justify every payment. That is why grading waits for the official confirmation rather than the final whistle, and why the wait is longer on some markets than others.

Delays are normal and vary by market. A moneyline on a major league usually grades within minutes of official confirmation; player statistics can take considerably longer, and settled bets can occasionally be reversed if the official source issues a correction within the window the terms allow.

And that is the trap. People treat the live scoreboard as the settlement authority and assume a slow grade is a problem. It is usually the ordinary gap between the broadcast and the official record — and the balance updating is the only moment the bet is actually decided.

What to do with it. Read the settlement source named in the terms for any market you bet regularly, and keep the bet reference until the money has moved.