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Banned From The Bookies

This week we are covering a topic which will relate to everyone in numerous different ways. Some of you will never have had an experience with this, some will have had accounts limited, and some of you may struggle to get a bet on all together.

First of all, let’s have a look into what this topic means and a bit more information on the background of becoming “banned”.

What does it mean to be “limited”, “banned”, “gubbed”?

These days most gamblers who are betting on sports markets gamble online, which includes mobile, Pc’s or tablets. The technology out there has made it extremely easy for bookmakers to keep track of your accounts, betting patterns and of course your profit/loss.

Thousands and thousands of people who are shown to make a profit over a period of time or even look like they know what they are doing are starting to have their accounts limited. Accounts are not physically shut down, as the bookmakers want to continue to show improved numbers of customers which in turn attracts more sponsors/investment, among other beneficial stats and figures.

Once you have your account limited, this means your maximum stake is reduced to a figure that the specific bookmaker seems fit. For example, you may be using £10 a point to follow Rhodium Racing’s (fantastic!) Tips, but your particular bookmaker has had enough of the profit you are banking each month so that they will limit your stake to £1 on every bet.

Why would this happen to me?

Operators say scrutinising winners is necessary to help prevent fraud. But the evidence shows that a winning streak over a period of time can signal “foul play” to the decision makers. This so-called “fraud prevention” – which is the official terminology used by the operators – seems a very convenient excuse to limit accounts on successful punters. Most often, however, efforts to spot savvy customers are not rooted in a desire to thwart dodgy schemes, but to save the company money and turn away punters who “know what they are doing”.

Bookies may spend considerable resources trying to spot those who bet for a living. They scrutinise user behaviour. While casual punters are more likely to bet minutes before an event begins, pros will often seek the best odds by laying their wager hours or even days in advance (because the longer one waits to bet, the more information becomes available about a particular event, and thus the easier it is for bookmakers to price it).

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How can we avoid this happening to me?

Before I go into detail about how we can take steps to prevent this happening to you, let me share with you my experiences and the mistakes I made. (Unfortunately, I researched this topic a little too late in my betting career!)

The Bookmakers I’m limited with:

• Coral = Max Bet = £2
• Ladbrokes = Max Bet = £0.12p
• Skybet = Banned from Cash Out
• Boylesports = Max Bet £1-£5
• Bet365 = Max Bet £1-£10 on 3 accounts
• SB = Max Bet = £2
• 888Sport = Max Bet £0.50p

Early in my career of turning a consistent profit, I made several mistakes which are avoidable and can help prolong your accounts. Here are some great tips to help prolong your betting experience with any particular bookmaker.

1. Spread your points out into different bookmakers

This is one that you should do anyway as it will allow you to always find the best odds for our horse racing tips. I would suggest using five different bookmakers and load them up with 20 points each.

This way, you do not look like a big player to the bookmaker, and you will find that you will lose with one or two accounts while making a profit with others. It should help to balance your winnings.

2. Do not make frequent withdrawals

This was my biggest mistake! In my younger days, I was withdrawing cash left, right and centre. Loving the money in my bank but having my accounts limited one bookie after another.

It was only when I started researching “why?” I found out that this is a massive red flag for the bookies. If you withdraw your winnings regularly, this means they have a much smaller chance of winning that money back. Put yourself in the bookies’ shoes, why would they want your custom if you withdraw all of your winnings every time you win?!

For my betting, I only withdraw winnings around Christmas time. This pays for what is always a tough financial time of year for everyone and also pays for next year’s holiday. It’s not only a great savings pot, but I’ve also not had any problems with being “limited” since using these tactics. This is just my idea and something that works for me.

If you are on £1/£2 per point, this won’t affect you as much and from my experience, withdrawing once a month should be fine. For those on £10/£20 per point, it’s best to keep the withdrawals down as much as possible.

3. Give a little bit back to the bookmaker

This is a tough one to bring yourself to go through with, but let’s say you make £300 profit in a month, that is pure profit and is your money to play with.

One way of staying ahead of the bookie is by placing one or two lazy looking accumulators for around £5/£10 that have little chance of winning.

You would still walk away with a nice profit for your month’s work, but you will also show the bookies that from time to time they have chances of winning back your hard earned cash.

4. The older the account, the better!

I’m not 100% certain of the reasons behind this, but from researching this subject and from my own experiences, it seems that bookmakers have more trouble limiting accounts that have been open for years. Furthermore, you should be able to push the boundaries further the older your account is.

So if you have an account with bookmakers that you created years ago, try using these for your bigger stakes betting.

These are just a few tips which should help prolong your accounts.

I must mention that there are a few mainstream bookmakers I have never had problems with:

• William Hill
• Betfair
• Paddypower
• Skybet (no maximum stake – just the cash out limitation mentioned above)

I use these four bookies regularly but have not been limited, so hopefully, it’s the same for everyone.

Creating new accounts with the same bookmaker once you have been “banned.”

It seems quite obvious to create a new account with the same bookmaker once they have put their curse on your previous account; but it’s not that simple nowadays!

Back when online betting was starting to kick off, it was easy to create multiple accounts under different family members names to try and beat the system and stay one step ahead of the bookies. It was evident that this was never going to last and the days of creating accounts under the names “John Smith” or “Teresa Green” are long gone.

The big names in the industry now use state of the art IP tracking software to monitor how many accounts, different betting patterns and what names are betting from the same IP address (basically the same Wifi account in your home). You may well be able to get a few bets on, but it won’t take long for them to realise that “Aunt Maggie” is you betting in your front room! Scary stuff!

Those smaller bookmakers make you send a copy of ID and a utility bill. So getting the wife or husband to create a separate account is still achievable with some firms.

Verdict

I’ve been cautious to leave my personal opinions on this subject out of this blog (this matter angers me!) and focus on the facts. I’ll happily go through them if we ever meet at the races one day. But, to summarise on the basic principals that we can take away from this article is, don’t be greedy, follow the tips above, and you should prolong your accounts for your betting life.