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The Voice Line / one bet
a spoken bet carried through
One bet, spoken, and what it cost
One bet followed from the moment the line is answered to the moment it is paid: the hold, the price read aloud, the stake given in words, the recording, and the two costs a screen bet never has - the worse price and the call itself.
Desk spec
- stake
- 50.00
- spoken worse by
- 2.7%
- screen equivalent
- 48.65
- call cost
- 4.75
- total cost
- 53.40
- overhead
- 6.8%
the price read aloudThe spoken price, obtained after a hold. Across 1,200 matched bets it was worse than the screen in 408 and worse by a mean 2.7%.
the recordingThe record of what was said, kept for a fixed window. Of 96 disputes it decided 71, and 46 of those against the caller.
the channel costHold time plus call time. A mean 9.5 minutes on the line, or 4.75 where a number is billed at 0.50 a minute.
Direct answerA 50.00 bet given by voice at a price 2.7% worse than the screen is 48.65 of the same market at the screen price. Adding the 4.75 call, the same bet has cost 53.40, which is 6.8% more than the identical bet placed on a screen without a call.
one spoken bet, in full
0.0 line answered
3.1 hold ends, an operator picks up
3.1 identification read back
4.0 the price is read aloud
stake 50.00 at the spoken price
5.2 the bet is repeated, a code is given
6.4 the call ends
the same market on screen 48.65
(the spoken price is 2.7% worse)
the call 4.75
total cost of the same bet 53.40
the channel adds 6.8%
Two costs, one of them invisible
The worse price is the visible one, because a reader can compare it once they know to. The call is the invisible one, because nobody prices it: it is not on the bet, it is on a phone bill or it is the minutes of a morning. Put together they are what the channel adds to the same bet.
Every figure is illustrative and derives from the invented samples. The bet, the price and the call are shapes, not any operator behaviour.