UK Bookmakers that are ok for Australian punters

I think it depends on WHY you want a number of accounts with bookies. I went through a few of them but only to take advantage of the free bet offers. There are a few excecptions, but these offers are very difficult to obtain if you don't have residency or at least the appearance of residency in the UK, particularly if you are resident in a state where they don't allow free bet incentives. Ladbrokes is the only one I keep active. Once you've squeezed all the free bets out of them, I can't see any point in keeping them....depends on your approach, I guess. For what it's worth, I thought Betfred were cr@p and Ladbrokes were the best in terms of service, but that might be down to the way I operate the account....I am sure others will differ in their experiences.

Thanks Ian for your quick response.  The main reason is that the UK bookmakers seem to provide better fixed odds especially for early markets which is where I like to trade.

You might take a look at Paddy Power.

In my experience (about 20 accounts opened) UK books are all pretty much the same.

- None are really bookmakers. They don`t actually invest any trust in their own odds-compilers and will limit/shut you down at the first sign of you showing any understanding of the need to find value in your bets.

- Arbing will see you out the door even quicker.

- Never had problems getting my $$ of em.

- It`s simply a massive pain the ar$e continually opening new accounts in friends names in order to keep betting w/these guys.

So I for one can`t be **** anymore but they make loadsa ricks so if you can be bothered going through the process of continually opening new accounts in new names go for it and take their cash..

Agree with RAPS. The only difference I found was in the ease of opening accounts and lack of interference from the "security" departments. It was hard enough for me, even though I maintain a UK address and bank account. It would be nigh on impossible otherwise - even having friends there is not an easy option. They are all quick enough to place restrictions on anyone they consider to be using their accounts for arbing or manipulating free offers (which seems strange, when you think about the way you would achieve this) or worse still if you start taking regular money off them.

In respect to turnover and getting accounts closed down, what sort of levels are you talking about before they will close you down. I don't imagine they are going to close me down on the occasions when I do arb and generally lose with the bookmaker and win with Betfair or am I totally naive?

Here's the thing, Jdubya...as I said it seems strange that they would seek to restrict activity on accounts where inevitably you are looking to lose to benefit either from a free bet offer or from an ARB opportunity, but it is all about stopping Joe Punter getting an edge....that wouldn't do !!! The terms and conditions are fairly common across the board (This from Ladbrokes):


"25. If the terms of the offer are breached or there is evidence of a series of bets placed by a customer or group of customers, enhanced payments, Free Bets or any other promotional offer results in guaranteed customer profits irrespective of the outcome, whether individually or as part of a group, Ladbrokes reserve the right to reclaim the bonus element of such offers and in their absolute discretion either settle bets at the correct odds, void the free bets or void any bet funded by the deposit bonus"

They also restrict accounts to people who are resident in the UK and Northern Ireland.

Deposits are difficult to make from Australia because they do not accept neteller or moneybookers etc. and paypal only allow you to hold one account in your country of residence which is obviously a problem if you are living in Australia and seeking to also operate in the UK. I certainly wouldn't get involved in any form of duplicity :-) but there are obviously ways around all of these things, but they are not easy to do and come with inherent risks.

Realistically you need to be able to hold a UK bank account, and demonstrable address, plus suitable ID (Driving licence, rates bill etc.) After all that (and then the in built cost of currency exchange) I can't see how traditional arbing would generate a profit. I CAN see how fiddling the free bets would, but that is a different kettle of fish altogether. Don't suppose that helped much at all :-)

Thanks Ian, I appreciate you taking the time to respond to my query.