Betting
Placing a bet
Bet against the house at posted odds with cash and/or trophies.
This guide covers betting against the house on a contract page. You pick an outcome, stake cash and/or trophies, and bet at the contract's posted decimal odds. If your side wins, you're paid stake × odds.
There are two ways to bet on Rivalizer. This guide is about the house book (betting against the contract's issuer at fixed odds), reached from the "Place a bet" panel on any contract page. The other way — even-money 1-versus-1 trophy wagers against another user — is covered in How Payouts & Fees Work.
Where to bet
Open any contract and find the "Place a bet" card (the TrophyBetForm). It has four parts:
- Pick a side (decimal odds) — each outcome shows its odds (e.g.
2.50×) and the remaining house capacity (up to $X). - Cash (tokens) — whole dollars drawn from your in-app balance.
- Stake trophies — quantity steppers for each trophy you own, valued at face value.
- A summary showing your stake and potential payout, plus the Bet button.
How your stake is valued
Your stake value is simply your cash plus the face value of the trophies you stake:
stakeValue = cash + Σ (trophy.faceValue × quantity)
Cash counts 1:1. A staked $500 trophy counts as $500 of stake. You can stake cash only, trophies only, or any mix — but the total must be greater than zero.
Payout = stake × odds
The potential payout is your stake multiplied by the outcome's decimal odds, rounded to the nearest dollar:
payout = round(stakeValue × odds)
Worked example
You stake $200 cash + one $300 trophy ($500 total) on an outcome priced at 2.50×:
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Cash staked | $200 |
| Trophy staked (face value) | $300 |
| Stake value | $500 |
| Odds | 2.50× |
| Potential payout | $1,250 |
| Of which: your stake returned | $500 |
| Of which: profit (before fee) | $750 |
If your side wins, you get your $500 stake back in kind (the same $200 cash and the same trophy), plus $750 of profit (a small platform fee comes out of the profit — see How Payouts & Fees Work).
Capacity: how much you can bet
Each outcome can only absorb as much betting as the issuer's posted collateral can cover if that outcome wins. The house's liability on a winning bet is the profit it must pay (stake × (odds − 1)), so capacity is measured against that.
The remaining capacity shown next to each outcome (up to $X) is:
maxStake = floor( (collateral − currentLiabilityOnThatOutcome) / (odds − 1) )
A bet is rejected if it would push that outcome's total liability past the posted collateral. If you see "Over capacity (max $X)", lower your stake or pick a different side.
Capacity example
The issuer posts $1,000 collateral. An outcome is priced at 3.00× (so odds − 1 = 2).
| Existing bets on that outcome | Liability used | Capacity left for you |
|---|---|---|
| None | $0 | $1,000 / 2 = $500 |
| $300 already staked | $300 × 2 = $600 | ($1,000 − $600) / 2 = $200 |
Different outcomes have independent capacity — they don't share a pool here; each is checked against the full collateral on its own.
Rules & restrictions
| Rule | What it means |
|---|---|
| Contract must be OPEN | You can't bet on a closed, resolved, or cancelled contract. |
| No betting after close time | If the contract is past its end time, betting is blocked even if it hasn't been resolved yet. |
| You can't bet on your own contract | The issuer backs the line and can resolve it — so they're barred from betting on it. |
| Stake something | Total stake (cash + trophies) must be greater than $0. |
| Within capacity | Your stake can't exceed the remaining capacity on your chosen outcome. |
| Invite-only mode | If the platform is in invite-only mode, non-admin users can't bet on public contracts. |
| Whole numbers | Cash and trophy quantities must be whole, non-negative integers. |
Concurrency note
Bets are placed inside a strict (serializable) transaction with automatic retries. If two people bet on the same outcome at the same moment, the system makes sure they can't both slip past the capacity check and over-allocate the issuer's collateral — one will succeed and the other will be told capacity is gone.
After you bet
Your bet appears under "Your bets" on the contract page with its status:
- OPEN —
to win $X(awaiting resolution) - WON —
won $X(payout net of fee) - LOST —
lost - PUSHED —
refunded(contract was cancelled)
See Resolution & Disputes for how and when these settle.