The Clock Desk / The open window
Promotion windows
The window a promotion is open for
An offer is advertised with one time and governed by three. It opens at an instant, it is scheduled to close at another, and it can close early the moment an allocation or a pool is exhausted. Only one of those three is usually printed where the reader meets the offer.
Account spec
- Opens
- Monday 00:00 UTC
- Closes (stated)
- Sunday 23:59 UTC
- Effect of "while stocks last"
- closes earlier
- Zones in the advert
- 1 of 40 pages
the boundaryThe instant the account's day is measured from. On the samples it is 00:00 UTC, which is a different wall-clock moment for every reader.
the countdownWhat a window is measured from and whether day one counts. A window advertised as 30 days delivers 29 days 23 hours 59 minutes on the sample.
the calendarThe working-day clock money moves on, with its cut-off, its weekends and its holidays. One working day covered 87 hours 30 minutes on the sample.
Direct answerA promotion is governed by three times: the instant it opens, the instant it is scheduled to close, and the instant its allocation or pool is exhausted, which can be earlier than the stated close and is what "while stocks last" means. A window stated in the operator's zone is a different wall-clock window for every reader.
The same seven-day window in three zonesopens Monday 00:00 UTC
stated close Sunday 23:59 UTC
length 7 d 00 h 00 m advertised, 6 d 23 h 59 m elapsed
reader in UTC+0 Monday 00:00 .. Sunday 23:59 local
reader in UTC+13 Monday 13:00 .. Sunday 12:59 local
so the window runs into a second local Monday
reader in UTC-8 Sunday 16:00 (the day before) .. Saturday 15:59 local
so the window STARTS on the previous local Sunday
the word "week" is the same for all three readers
the dates they must put in a diary are not
Three times, one advertisement
- the open
- The first instant a claim is accepted. Claims before it are refused, and a claim placed a second early is refused for the same reason a bet placed after a cut-off is refused. On the sample it is Monday 00:00 UTC.
- the stated close
- The last instant a claim is accepted if nothing else intervenes. On the sample, Sunday 23:59 UTC, which is 7 days minus one minute of elapsed window because both ends are stated inclusively.
- the actual close
- An allocation exhausted, a pool won or a budget spent. This is the time that matters and the one that is not printed, because it cannot be known in advance. On the sample the allocation is a quantity and not a time, so the close moves.
Why an allocation closes the window earlya bonus pool of 50,000.00
a credit of 25.00 per claimant
claims available 50,000.00 / 25.00 = 2,000
if claims arrive at 40 an hour, the pool lasts 2,000 / 40 = 50 h
stated window 7 d 00 h = 168 h
so the pool is exhausted on day 2.1 of a 7-day window
the advert says seven days
the arithmetic says two, for every claimant after the 2,000th
What to look for in an offer window
- Find the open and the close as two separate statements. An advert that gives only one has given you half a window.
- Find whether the close is a time or a quantity. "Ends Sunday" and "ends when the pool is won" are different promises and are often printed together.
- Find the zone the window is stated in. On sample G, 1 of 40 pages states the zone next to the window it advertises.
- Convert both ends to your own clock, then check whether the local start lands on the date you expected. For a UTC+13 reader the sample window starts at 13:00 on a Monday; for a UTC-8 reader it starts on the previous Sunday.
- Assume the earliest of the three times governs. If a pool can close the window, the window is not seven days for everyone who reads the advert.
What this page does not cover. The conditions attached to the credit, the requirement to be staked and what each game contributes belong to the bonus-terms desk (cycle 8). The rules about what an advertiser may claim and how the small print must travel with it belong to the advertising desk (cycle 47). This page is only the window and the clock it is stated on.