“Why would you place your Bet Builder anywhere else?” Sky Betting and Gaming’s Commercial Director, Kylie Paynter-Stout, has a lot of confidence in the firm’s latest football product, Ghost Leg, launched for the 2026/27 Premier League season.

Football has been the most bet upon sport in the UK since 2019. As such, it is a regular focal area for product development, like the now widely adopted Super Sub, initially developed for Sky Bet and fellow Flutter Entertainment brand Paddy Power.

Sky Bet itself is no stranger to product innovation around football. The firm was a particular innovator in the development of bet builders in the UK, launching its now-withdrawn RequestABet feature in 2015 and still widely popular BuildABet in 2022.

“Sky Bet and RequestABet have historically led the way in same-game parlays, but with Bet Builder now pretty commonplace across the industry, we wanted to do more and take another step to gain a competitive edge,” Paynter-Stout remarks.

“We launched a range of new player markets at the World Cup, settling player props on 120-minutes rather than 90 for knockout competitions, and now you can get paid as a winner if one leg of your BuildABet lets you down… why would you place your Bet Builder anywhere else?”

What is Sky Bet’s Ghost Leg?

Ghost Leg is a new feature Sky Bet has applied to its pre-match bet builders, launched on the first week of the EFL season, 14 August. It functions as a token, with customers offered one token per week between 9:00am Friday-11:59pm Monday.

It wasn’t available for EFL bettors for long, however, having been restricted to the Premier League from 21 August onwards, though it will be applied to midweek Champions League fixtures between 8 September-10 September.

So what does Ghost Leg do? If applied to an eligible BuildABet, the Ghost Leg will remove one leg of this bet builder if it loses. If all remaining selections win, the bet will be settled based on the new odds after removal of the losing leg.

Customers need to opt in to become eligible to use the token. It can only be used on BuildABets with five or more legs and combined minimum odds of 3/1 or greater.

“When developing Ghost Leg, we wanted to look beyond simply turning losing bets into winning ones,” Paynter-Stout says. “For us the innovation was about giving customers more of a chance, rather than just changing the outcome.

“We tested a number of different ideas with customers to understand what would genuinely improve their Bet Builder experience, and which concepts they found most appealing. 

“Ghost Leg stood out because it gives customers more flexibility while keeping the excitement of building and following a multiple bet.”

As mentioned above, this is far from the first time Sky Bet has upgraded to its flagship bet builder product, BuildABet. It’s also far from the first time the bet builder product in general – not just Sky Bet’s but the industry’s as a whole – has been upgraded.

Paddy Power got ahead of the game with the Super Sub feature. When activated, if a footballer is subbed off during the game, bettors will see said subbed-on player take their initial choice’s place on their bet builders. 

Super Sub was quickly rolled out at Sky Bet, and similar products have been launched by William Hill, bet365 and others. For its own part, Sky Bet has also upgraded its accumulator product through the launch of Acca Freeze, allowing players to freeze one winning score mid-match.

“Acca Freeze and Super Sub both give customers more ways to win,” says Paynter-Stout.

“But more than simply giving customers more winning experiences, these products recognise those frustrating betting moments – when your team squanders a lead, your player has been subbed off early, or your Bet Builder has fallen one leg short. Ghost Leg, much like Acca Freeze and Super Sub, aims to give something back.”

Future of the bet builder?

The bet builder is now as well established a feature of the British betting market as the trusty old accumulator. Bet builders and accas are the backbone of football betting, whether on the Premier League, EFL, National League or international tournaments.

Bet builders were routinely cited as the backbone of 2026 World Cup betting as well, while its impact is felt well beyond the UK’s borders – bookmakers from the Czech Republic, Croatia and Sweden, among others, mentioned the significance of bet builders to trading during the tournament to SBC News.

“Bet builder is an incredibly popular and fast-growing part of our sportsbook, so we see plenty of opportunity for it to continue evolving,” says Paynter-Stout.

“That evolution isn’t just about finding new ways to give customers more. 

“There are also opportunities to introduce new markets, make the experience simpler and more intuitive, and bring more pre-match and in-play content into Bet Builder. Ultimately, it’s about making the experience more engaging and useful for customers.”

Sky Bet sees itself as being at the centre of product innovation, whether around bet builders or elsewhere. The firm is one of the top five betting companies in the UK – alongside Flutter sister brand Paddy Power – for a reason.

The latest product launch comes amid a wider push for UK visibility and expansion, all within the context of the new tax pressures on iGaming and a fractured landscape around the football market, although this latter factor didn’t hold Sky Bet back with its latest Premier League marketing campaign.

“We’re proud of our record and Sky Bet’s position in the market – especially given the intense competition we face every single day,” the firm’s Commercial Director concludes.

“Our focus will continue to centre on how both customer demands and media consumption are constantly evolving and how we can seek to elevate the betting experience for football and sports fans, to build trust in the brand and the proposition.”