OddsPapi Bookmaker Latency & Refresh Speed
Most odds APIs promise “real-time” data but hide their actual performance. At OddsPapi, we monitor the speed of our 300+ bookmakers every second. The table below displays the current average delay (in seconds) between the bookmaker’s internal timestamp and the moment it hits our API. We show you the data for every single bookmaker we support, so you know exactly what to expect before you write a single line of code.
Live coverage table
| Bookmaker | Max live delay (sec) | Max pregame delay (main, sec) | Max pregame delay (sec) | Player props | Domain |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No data | |||||
Understanding the Data: How We Measure Speed
In the high-frequency world of sports betting, latency is money. Here is exactly what our metrics mean:
Max live delay (sec)
This is the most critical metric for in-play betting bots and tools. It measures the time elapsed from the moment an odd changes in the game to the moment it is available via our WebSocket feed. We prioritize “Sharps” (like Pinnacle) and major “Softs” (like Bet365) to keep this as close to 1 second as physically possible.
Max pregame delay (main, sec)
For high-profile tournaments (NFL, Premier League, NBA), we increase our polling frequency. This ensures that opening lines and major movements for the most popular events are captured instantly.
Max pregame delay (sec)
For niche markets, we optimize for coverage. This metric shows the standard refresh rate for the broader catalog of events.
The Technology: WebSockets vs. Polling
The numbers in the table above represent the baseline availability of the data within our system. However, how you connect to OddsPapi determines if you actually realize those speeds.
❌ The Slow Way: REST API (Pull)
If you rely solely on HTTP requests (pulling data every 10 or 60 seconds), you are adding artificial latency to your own system. This method is perfectly fine for displaying odds on a comparison website, but it is too slow for algorithmic trading or arbitrage.
✅ The Fast Way: WebSockets (Push)
Our architecture uses a Push model. The millisecond our system detects a price change from a bookmaker (like a goal in soccer or a line shift at Pinnacle), we push that data packet to your server via an open socket connection. This adds virtually zero overhead to the baseline latency listed above.
Why Does Latency Vary by Bookmaker?
You will notice in the table that some bookmakers are consistently faster while others hover around 4–10s. This is due to the nature of the data source:
- API-Friendly Books (Sharps): Bookmakers like Pinnacle and Exchanges typically have cleaner data structures, allowing us to ingest updates instantly.
- Complex Web Books (Softs): Consumer-facing books like Bet365, Unibet, or DraftKings use heavy anti-botting protection (Cloudflare, Akamai) and complex web applications—this processing overhead naturally adds a few seconds.
- Geo-Location: We process data globally. If a bookmaker is hosted exclusively in a specific region (like Asia or Latin America), network physics applies.
Don’t Just Trust our Numbers—Test Them
We are the only provider publishing this data because we are confident in our infrastructure. But you shouldn’t just take our word for it. Sign up for our free tier and start poking around. It includes access to our API so you can timestamp the requests yourself and verify the freshness of the data against the live bookmaker sites.