The Voice Line / the limits
what a voice cannot do
The things a voice cannot do
A voice channel is narrower than a screen channel. It carries a reduced menu, it cannot close a bet early, it cannot take a partial instruction, and it holds a maximum it will take without a second check. This page names the boundaries of the channel itself.
Desk spec
- spoken menu
- part
- cash out
- not offered
- partial
- not offered
- max before a check
- per channel
- reduced menu
- about a third
- second check
- a repeat
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 voice channel carries a reduced menu - roughly a third of a screen menu in this sample - and cannot cash out a bet, take a partial bet, or show a running position. It also holds a maximum it will accept in one instruction without a second check, which is a limit of the channel rather than of the account.
| feature | screen | voice |
|---|---|---|
| full market menu | yes | a fraction, read aloud |
| cash out a live bet | yes | not offered |
| partial cash out | yes | not offered |
| a running position | shown | read on request |
| one instruction of any size | up to the account limit | a maximum before a repeat |
| the spoken menu is about a third of the screen menu in the sample | ~33% | |
the shape of the limit
the channel limit is not the account limit
the channel takes one instruction up to a point
beyond it, a second check is spoken
so a large bet by voice is two steps
where the same bet on a screen is one
and a live position cannot be closed by voice
because closing it is a cash-out, and a
cash-out is not offered aloud at all
The channel limits are not disadvantages to be argued with. They are the shape of the channel, and a reader who knows them chooses the channel for what it does rather than for what it does not.