cancelOrders for pending bets

[jasonmarin]

Hi,

I'm wondering if there is a way to cancel an order during the time delay. In other words, an order that is waiting for processing.
It seems that the cancelOrders API operation only works for unmatched bets and not for pending bets.
Inplay delay protects bettors against the unfair advantage people have that are live at the event. But how it protects us during the delay period?

For instance, the referee awards a penalty kick and a people who is at the game places an over bet. At the same time, I lay the same over bet. I watch the game on TV so at the moment I don't know about the penalty kick. After a few seconds, I will know it but I cannot do anything. At the end of the delay time, my bet will be matched and matched bets cannot be cancelled.

Any input would be very much appreciated, thank you in advance.

[betdynamics]

I don't think so. You need a bet reference in order to cancel a bet, but you wouldn't have a reference until the bet had been placed.

[jasonmarin]

The "marketId" and "instructions" parameters are not required for cancelOrders: https://api.developer.betfair.com/se...i/cancelOrders.

If none of them is specified, it cancels all bets. If marketId is specified but "instructions" is not, it cancels all bets on a market. So you don't need a bet identifier to cancel a bet, but unfortunately cancelOrders only works for unmatched bets and not for pending bets.

[Mr Magoo]

You can't cancel submitted bets that are still waiting for the bet delay.

If you could, it would be really simple to bypass the bet delays entirely... Imagine betting in-play on a football match. You write a bot that constantly and repeatedly places a back bet on each team, at the current odds. The same bot also cancels these bets moments before the bet delay runs out. Now, when a team scores, you quickly press a button and your bot will *skip* cancelling the appropriate team back bet. End result: you could get an instant bet matched the second you see a goal being scored.

So, it would be terrible if he API allowed users to cheat in this way.

[jasonmarin]

Thanks Magoo for your answer. You are absolutely right, this would be terrible. It doesn't mean that the way cancelOrders currently works is much better, but allowing pending bets to be cancelled does not solve the problem. Thanks again for your thoughts.