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The Voice Line / the call
from greeting to confirmation

What happens between the greeting and the confirmation

A call is a sequence: a greeting, an identification, a wait while the market is looked up, a price read aloud, an instruction given in words, and a code read back to close it. Each step can go wrong in its own way, and each one leaves a trace on the recording.

Desk spec
steps
6
mean call
6.4 min
mean hold
3.1 min
accepted first time
1,512
changed or declined
288
confirmation
a spoken code
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 answer

A telephone bet runs through six steps: a greeting, an identification, a hold while the market is found, the price read aloud, the instruction spoken by the caller, and a confirmation code read back to close the call. Of 1,800 completed calls, 1,512 instructions were accepted on the first reading and 288 were changed or declined after the price was read back.

The six steps, in order
  1. Greeting - the line answers and states who is calling whom.
  2. Identification - the passcode, the question or the registered number.
  3. Hold - the market is looked up; 3.1 minutes on average.
  4. The price, read aloud - the spoken market and its price.
  5. The instruction, spoken - the stake and the selection said in words.
  6. The read-back and a code - the bet repeated and a confirmation given.
where a completed call goes 1,800 completed calls accepted on the first reading 1,512 84.0% changed after the read-back 288 16.0% and of the 288, the change is usually the stake, not the market: the caller hears the price and moves the stake to fit it

The read-back is the hinge

The step that matters is the read-back, because it is the moment the caller hears the bet as the line has it. A bet changed at the read-back is not a declined bet; it is a bet the caller reshaped after hearing the price. That is the whole reason the price is spoken before the stake is confirmed.

A confirmation code is the smallest part of the call and the part a reader keeps. It is what a later dispute is opened with, next to the recording.
The recordingwhat the line keeps and what it decidesWhen it failsengaged lines, suspended markets and declined betsThe disputewhat happens when the two sides remember a call differently