BETWAY - areal bookmaker

you did well I had a £20 on a  9/2 winner second horse i did was withdrawn and was then limited to pennies.

yet still better then bfs sportsbook.

I was restricted to pennies on a telephone account at rancid bet baldy before ever having placed a bet: 'We have traders here who used to work at WH - they remember you'.

thats got to be breaking some data laws.

I still don't understand how 'bookies' and other gambling sites etc (all 1,000000000 of them...) actually have any customers left to fund their costs/wages??

Surely the industry is shafted? (aside from exchanges)

@Monty.. Betway don't have the KG priced up

lost about a grand a week with Betway for about 3 weeks, then won 1.5k in week 4.

BOG and bonuses withdrawn, max winnings about £75 on a normal race.

stu - it's called the casino mugs. Open an account with any of them and within hours the 'bonuses' for the casinos are non stop in your inbox. You won't see an offer for a bet on racing though.

We're discussing this on the site belonging to the WORST offender . Betfair Sportsbook's very existance is an insult to all long standing Betfair exchange players .

Yep, I do get that magic - but are there really enough of those customers to go round??

w hill sportsbook   boyles pp  worst in my view in that order

The simple fact is that we are all gambling to make money. Unfortunately, all the online bookmakers restrict accounts very quickly and cannot accommodate the punter. If we did not have the exchange then an incredible majority could not gamble without hiking to a local shop. Times unfortunately have changed and I for one am glad I can at least bet via the exchange.

Sad Sad times and the one of the worst things about the situation is the FACT that those in the racing community don't KNOW/BELIEVE/WANT TO ACKNOWLEDGE that this is a serious problem that exists for almost all

I got this email from them after three losing bets!

After a careful review by our senior trading team, we have taken the decision that your account *****123***** will no longer be eligible to receive any future sports promotions from Betway. This means that Bonuses, Free Bets, ex gratia payments, Best Odds Guaranteed or reward points will no longer be redeemable.

This decision is final and will not be overturned but let us assure you this action has been taken only after much consideration by our senior trading team.

Please note that you are welcome to continue using your account with us recreationally.

The Betway Team

Pretty standard throughout the industry as much as you like on things you can't possibly win on etc

i understand the firms are there to make money but they are so risk averse its not funny...i had ONE bet with 365  an ew bet on a golfer..finished 3rd..restricted to pennys thereafter..

What about apollobet ?  Three bets on the golf - best finish tied 34th - now won't even take the £5 free bet I got for opening the account.  These jokers are one of the approved bookmakers with the BHA - only seem to be the mickey mouse ones who have signed up.

i got a free 50 bet(had to be used all at once) one time off w hill but tried using it but was restricted to a fiver..i rang up and said how can i use it ?  eventually a senior trader rang me and allowed me to have the lot(50e!!) on,he seemed very nervous in case i won the bet and the share price plumetted!!..no one would believe it but it actually happened..

apologies for the inaccuracy of course i meant the arc not king george. LOL 5-1 for the king george now that would be a bet

The only surprise is why waste forum space on this subject. Unless you have on a space mission for the last 6/7 years we know there are no bookmakers (making a book on an event) there only organisations wanting to take money from recreational punters (much nicer term than mugs).

I wouldn't consider opening an account with any of them.

The issue, Brian, is that there are organisations that hold a bookmaking licence, a condition of which should be that they lay bets to advertised prices to anybody to a specified (but realistic) minimum.

If they do not wish to do this then their license should be removed.

That the BHA choose (presumably despite the efforts of the HBF) to ignore the issue is in itself a scandal.

The reason we keep mentioning it is because the racing/betting world carries on in a way which says that there are bookmakers who exist to take bets off punters and there are still people who can bet freely at what are fictional prices to almost all (the racing press and other tipsters on social media prove this)
But get your point Brian

I do sympathise and agree that bookmakers are doing their best to ruin the sport, but I still find it strange that those knowledgeable of the situation waste their time opening an account with the shysters.

Anyone who appears to know what they are doing is closed down or severely restricted: from which it follows that bookies only want losers That being the case their signing up to Gamcare/when the fun stops  and similar campaigns is disingenuous and hypocritical. The bookies' ideal customer is someone who has learning difficulty caused by serious accident for which s/he has been awarded huge amount of damages, and who has a gambling addiction.

Birchy seems to get his bets on

Even though increasing numbers know the score and are on the receiving end i think threads like this should be continued to be posted if only to remind those not currently affected what might await them.The firms responsible do not want the message to spread and this alone is a good reason to continue doing so.When they restrict a minority of there customers to tiny amounts they send a message to all of there customers.

If the campaigners aren't careful, they'll end up with paying income tax on winnings and being allowed to have as much as they like on -- but only if they bet into the pools all the bookies will run after Fred's (the Tote's) licence expires in a couple of years.

The big firms don't want people betting on racing, imo, as it's an area they can get beat. Just as casinos will let you gamble all day on the one-armed bandits yet monitor very closely players at the blackjack table, bookies these days only want/need the FOBTs and the football accas, and would rather we didn't bet on the nags.
Thankfully we have the exchanges, but with the ridiculous premium charges that's getting harder as well.

From the books point of view it's a fantastic business model - systematically remove anyone with half a chance of winning, and then let losing punters have BOG, money back as a free bet concessions, price pushes etc etc, knowing the people they do allow to bet with them are going to hand over their money in the end.

They're just doing what all business do - maximising their profits in any way they can get away with.

The people punters should be holding to account, however, are the worthless, freeloading, self-serving, spineless media helper monkeys, whose ONLY job is to seek the truth and report it, know exactly what is happening, but choose to say absolutely nothing, as long as the bookmaker side work, junkets and unrestricted betting accounts keep on coming...

yes the sickening aspect of it is the constant wheeling out of "reps" .i understand the logic of bookies trying to maximise their profits etc.but the lies of the "reps"  is very hard to take.like the boils lad was on sat morn spouting about the bets they were taking on the derby etc..i wonder if they were asked why they constantly refuse any bet over 20e what would they say?

The people punters should be holding to account, however, are the worthless, freeloading, self-serving, spineless media helper monkeys

Agreed but then we must remember the Sporting Life which is now pushing up the daisies.

Better than simply sat here fuming, is for everyone who uses exchanges to keep spreading the word as much as possible.

Exchanges (despite charges) remains a better product long run than any bookie will ever be.

problem is stu there no liquidity here until v close to race time.then  the cat is out of the bag in most cases

The old saying: if you're not part of the solution you're part of the problem...

Yeh, I know it's not simple, but people like Caan Berry are trying to promote exchanges over the twots that call themselves bookies, buy showing the rubbish they are for anyone with half a braincell. Everyone can do their (even if little) bit.

Income tax will NEVER be paid on winnings; because HMRC would be opening up the opportunity to offset any losses made; by everyone.

They ain't be doing that.

Good point boing - also things like a Premium Charge would become tax deductable as an expense...

or at least only Net profit (minus charges) could be taxed...

Income tax will NEVER be paid on winnings; because HMRC would be opening up the opportunity to offset any losses made; by everyone.

Historically, that is true. However, the Americans manage to tax winnings (and do allow net winners to offset their losses aiui) and even in Britain you pay tax if it is part of your business, which is why a lot of bookmakers handed in their licences to play on here.

So how do you move your money/betting from the bookmakers to the exchanges and carry on winning?