5 Live Investigates bookie limiting

good shout

Very interesting listen.

The bookies are making out they only restrict "Pro" gamblers, when in fact anyone who wins with their first couple of bets probably gets shut down or restricted.

Paddy Power say they'd rather a thousand people win £2000 than one win £2m.....well then let everyone have a bet up to a certain liability then, actions obviously speak louder than words Paddy, & unlike the advert "I dont hear yeah"

Let's have a full public disclosure of all customer accounts on an annual basis that are restricted with reasons why.

investor.....hows betting been going last 12 months.............u still making plenty

Won a few hundred on William Hill,Paddy's and Betfred and now restricted which is pretty pathetic because they are not large sums of money,Betfred one day I was limited to winnings of £100 per market and I lost nearly £100 during the course of that day yet the next day I was limited to 15p on a 7-1 shot the day after I lost not won,Bet365 are the best in my opinion as won a few thousand before restricted,some of the other jokers offer absolute joke odds and brazenly claim best odds.

I'd rank the following

1. H1lls
2. Bet3six5
3. C0rals
4. Marathonb
5. Sptbet
6. Freds (but not if you include horses)
7. L@dybrokes
8. Betw@y
9. Skibet
10.VeeC
11.B0yles
12.P@ddy
13.888S
14.Tit@n
15.StanleyJ

For Horses its:

1 - Bet 3 6 5







2 - Hills
3 - C0rals
4 - VC
5 - fred
5 - t0te
6 - SJ
7 - L@dbr0kes
8 - 888
9 - 5pbet
10 - PP
11 - B0ils
12 - Bfsp0rtsb00k

The rest I wouldn't trust (even less than the above) but 3 6 5 are head and shoulders better than the rest for horses.

I tend to agree. Hills and 365 accounts last longest......if well managed.

Going well thanks freddiewilliams.

I'm amazed to see C o r a l in your lists (and near the top). They stick up stupid prices on the
football - stand-out arb-able prices - and shut your account within days if you have the temerity
to bet them. What the heck do they put the prices up for, if they don't want to take bets?

I've never had an internet account with them before, and they closed me within 2 months after I won
a poxy £180. Most of my bets were under £50 and the biggest price was 3/1.

I was genuinely amazed at their response - I even played roulette to try and keep them sweet.

I am amazed to see three six five so high up the list.They didn't close me but I can't put more than 50 quid on NFL,Champions league and for lower leagues is maybe 5 quid.
I wanted to put 5 pounds on one outsider in golf tournament just for a place.I wasn't allowed a single penny.

Let jamesdean or rob_the_bantam know

BetVic, Skybet.

to justify bans ,bookies would have to prove that 'winners' were not bonus abusers or arbers ,or infact anyone who took more than half their bets as free bets .

In this case closing accounts are possibly justified.

I can't see the logic though of bookies banning punters who win regularly through luck (that would be stupid)  , betting history should indicate where a punter has been lucky or not .

torcello - Bet 365 fantastic imo . I have always had way above average luck with them and no trouble from them ,if i don't use them for a couple of months i get an e mail asking where i am and a freebie if i want it ?

betb-right are crap, stan james worst for me by far, had multiple accounts closed after like 10 bets. bvic bad too, unbet limited me to pathetic stakes of pennies but then raised limits, only one that's done that to me appart from betfair sportsbook.
anyone seen any other type of media bring attention to the issue lately?

356 are good yeah, had 1 account limited to 5 quid or so, but they were right to limit me tbh, made a ton of their lines a few years back

i have no problems with bookies limiting winning accounts so long as they can prove that they are twice as scrupulous and proactive in restricting accounts where they believe they may be dealing with problem gamblers or customers losing money they cannot afford to lose.

it's the complete disparity between how they treat these two groups of users which is the real scandal.

i also think the tax on games of chance (e.g. FOBTs, fruities, virtual sports, casino games) with a negative ev should a minimum of 75%.

opened an account with CORALS a few months back, one bet of £200 on the cricket world cup that lost then received an email saying that I was no longer permitted to wager on the sportsbook, however casino, bingo, virtual etc were all available

We can only hope that the government will put a restriction on fixed odds stuff so bookmakers will be forced into laying bets like they did in the old days.
Odds compilers are non existent these days and any £50 bet can move a price from 20/1 into 12s with the small firms. I also personally think that the bookies don't hedge like they used to as well. Bookmaking is in a very very sad state at the mo but if the fixed odds stuff goes then it's game on.

Skybet were hilarious. I remember around 2009 I bet perhaps £100 with them at odds of 150. I made the fair price about 200 but someone kept backing small amounts on Betfair below odds of 100. As I didn't have a very big bank and it was a very illiquid market, I didn't fancy losing 5 figures, so I part-hedged with them. By a fluke it won.

Then 2 days later I had another winner at 26 (and 1 loser in between). So after winning 2 out 3 long shots where the odds were quite obviously in their favour, they limited me to £1 bets

Quite ironic. I was a pro sure, so they got that right, but they were also getting value on the bets. I was pretty surprised I was limited.

Bookies aren't running a charity - they should be fully entitled to ban who they want  . Folk who take advantage of bookies probably take advantage of folk generally ,scrounging etc -last one to 'buy a round' before sneaking off to the toilets  ,or maybe leaving the pub at precisely the time lady with the collecting tin makes an appearance .  .

not very nice people in my experience . self ,self  >  me ,me  - what can i get ...for me ?

how about a campaign to stop bookies taking advantage of weaker players   ? a ban on FOBTS and the like - that would please me more ,maybe the BBC can take that up ?

Normally I'd join you in condemning chances Coachbuster but your buying a round analogy is awful, these are bookmakers we're talking about here, not generous friends.  Like you say they arent charities and they would do anything to screw vulnerable people out of their money in a heartbeat quicker than any punter, the source for that claim being real life.

Typically books will restrict you if youre bets are constantly beating SP, rather than on winnings, though I'm sure hitting the max stake button raises a few flags on their end.  BetVictor closed me down after 3 bets worth about £20 each, Bwin were just as quick, as were marathon and a few other online only books.  Betfred and Ladbrokes took months to shut me down and both were only after consistently winning with £20-£50 bets and being over 1k up.  Bet365, Skybet and William Hill have no sign of stopping me but then I only bet horses on here, the bets I do on william hilsl can be back in shops for my kind of stakes without hassle so I don't really care if they restrict me.

The name I'm surprised to see on here is Corals, since openning my account there in January I am £1300 up after staking £1700 on just over 100 bets, in the past month I'm up £600 alone with no sign of a restriction in place.  It will come and probably soon but again I'm not backing on horses there, usually its tennis or cricket, often they'll be out of line with every other book when a market first goes up.

that was pretty awful  clacher

however , bookies probably have to protect themselves ,as without limits folk would be arbing all day ,and getting wives/girlfirends/aunties/friends/dogs etc to get involved too  . I notice arbing patterns all day  but i realise if i got involved i'd soon get the chop - what would be the point of that ?

as long as you use bookies to get decent prices they shouldn't mind  ,decent odds the same as here less commission of course ,you just have to shop around

I never said they shouldnt restrict/ban punters, I'd do the same, I just said your analogy is turd and nobody should ever feel sorry for the poor lambs being taken advantage of.

I'm definitely not one of the guys who cry about it, its just a consequence of people taking advantage of loss leading offers.  If you look around the scaffy coupon websites for 1/2 washing up liquid and nail files, you'll see tons of folk who are restricted by places like Boots or WHSmith, its the same deal and Boots are right to restrict them there.

It can be frustrating for gamblers as typically a punter will have lost for years before they figure out how to win, so theres a sense of entitlement that doesnt exist elsewhere and tbh I can feel it myself.  I'm in my 30s and lost for 13 years, must have been about 3k per year before I started to win in 2015, to then be told after winning 1k in profit that your account is no longer being serviced is a little jarring but understandable.

it's a  nasty old competitive world out there clacher my old fruit .

wiseoldpunter

wiseoldpunter
Date Joined: 30 Jan 12
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28 May 16 19:39
Joined: 30 Jan 12
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tried to place 3 one pound doubles and a one pound each way treble on pricewise selections at 9-05 am in shop told its sp only. i think everyone should watch sick and corrupt bookmaking industry exposed om youtube


This is from a thread on the Horse Forum and sadly is a reality for most

korals
got my account closed yesterday after committing a cardinal sin.
i betted a winner.
after losing week after week , i took 7/2 tommy starwatch and it won.
on the account i lost £94.
i rung them last night and told them what i thought, not that it done any good,
the only thing is my withdrawal is pending,
fuuny when i put money into corals , it went in straight away.
i want to withdraw my money and i made to wait.
aboslute joke firm,

should be a sign above theirs shops, and a warning when you bet online
ONLY LOSERS ALLOWED IN

i basically only bet greyhounds.
so far this year i had about 10  bet365 accounts.
they price up about 2 hours before the meetings, there is no liduity on betfair , so i am not arbing.
i take their price and 9/10 i beat the sp.
the account is usually closed within days.

@Starship
Its absolutely disgrace - Uk have become place with no rules, no customer protection. They(gambling commissions) like money for licences, bils but it only goes one way- protect firms and be happy from their contribution. I'm just 32 but this situation now is worse I've ever seen in gambling when it comes to winning money by gambling.

The UKGC and IOM GC are useless idle scum. I blame them.

What are people's views on this issue of limiting with the spreadbetting firms (spreadex, sporting index)?

know they used to pride themselves on saying winners welcome (as they balance either side of spreads in theory) but any experiences?

I've won thousands from spreadex recently and they are still sending me free bets and offers. Sent me a birthday offer to trade for 2 days and they'd refund any losses up to £50. They are a generous company so far. Might be because spread betting is lethal and it's possible to lose big. I read someone lost £5 million to them not so long ago.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3310497/Duncan-Bannatyne-s-former-accounts-manager-jailed-stealing-8million-Dragons-Den-star-feed-gambling-addiction.html

He used the money to pay off debts of £5.4million at the betting firm Spreadex, with another £500,000 at Ladbrokes and £250,000 at Sporting Index, the court heard.

wow - thats an eyeopening story for sure, yes.

Maybe like you say, why they would stand more losses against a player, as they see it can come back quickly.

Just out of interest, I wonder if it makes much difference if you cash out/withdraw winnings, rather than holding them in the account.

I think it helps slightly if you don't deposit and withdraw excessively as each transactions costs the bookmakers/exchanges money.

British punter to take legal action against Bet365     https://www.punters.com.au/news/Punter-to-take-legal-action-against-Bet365_1...    Another reason not to bother with bookmakers.

https://www.punters.com.au/news/Punter-to-take-legal-action-against-Bet365_1...