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Hi All
I recently tried to put a £10 bet on with a bookmaker on line and was told I could only have £3:15 on.
Now I only bet small stakes £20 being as much as I’m willing to stake.
With this bookie since the begining of the year I have staked a little over £400 so works out about £10 a week, I am showing a profit on the account around £100 (happy days).
Is it normal for accounts like this to have bets restricted??Thanks John
Hi Venjee,
All I can do is give you the benefit of my experiences which are years out of date now as I just use Betfair Exchange nowadays.
When I first started betting online I opened accounts with a dozen online bookmakers.
I was also advised by shrewder punters than I that they wouldn’t last long and it might be a good idea to manage the accounts by making sure I never tried to back any horse for an amount which triggered the “referred to trader” flag, that I wasted a fiver at least once a week in the online casino and had the occasional in play bet late at night on football, all to try to give the impression of being a casual recreational punter, maybe even betting with a can of lager in the other hand.
I was also advised to do multiple bets which, although the antithesis of the efficient win only or each-way thieving (“dead eight,” odds-on favourite) bet, further gave the illusion of being a recreational punter and the day one came off and I got restricted or closed down I’d at least have won a decent sum as compensation.
That resonated with me as my Dad had always said: “if you’re going to do a money crime, do a big one! It’s a risk versus reward thing!”
Winning money off a bookie isn’t a crime, but they treat you like a criminal if you do it!
I was also told bookies vary and Bet365 were the best inasmuch as, so long as you didn’t just cherrypick all the “ricks” (on their own well over the odds), you could steadily get up to £8,000 up before they called time on you.
I was well advised.
BetBright restricted me to SP only after my very first bet (a losing one, it was beaten a neck and I bet win only) had shortened from 14/1 to 4/1.
BetFred outright closed my account after I bet a rick in a Special three-way market at 5/2 which went to evens, also finished second and I didn’t have a bet with them over the Cheltenham Festival.
Paddy Power restricted me to backing a horse to win a fiver after I went £600 up with them.
BetfairSportsBook, their sister firm, are better, but still won’t let me back anything to win more than £100.
William Hill, Ladbrokes and Coral are long gone.
Ditto SkyBet, BetWay, BoyleSports and 888Sports.
Bet365 were indeed best – they let me get £8,000 up almost to the penny before telling me I’d won enough of Denise Coates’s £7.7 billion off them.
In all, I’ve had about a dozen accounts closed or restricted heavily.
And here’s the thing: I wouldn’t even consider myself a particularly good punter.
I know loads of shrewder punters than myself, including on this forum.
“They don’t want you to win.”
I am "The Horse Racing Punter" on Facebook
https://mobile.twitter.com/Ian_Davies_
https://www.facebook.com/ThePointtoPointNHandFlatracingpunter/
It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"Breaking News:
Nathbet has restricted Ian to winning a half packet of out of date hob nobs (non chocolate)
Gaelic Warrior Gold Cup Winner 2026
Thanks for the reply Ian.
I just find it amazing I’m restricted, I’m a casual punter don’t bet big stakes. hey ho such is life.
“Nathbet has restricted Ian to winning a half packet of out of date hob nobs (non chocolate)”
I haven’t even had a bet yet!
Or even opened an account!
FML!
Merry Christmas!
I am "The Horse Racing Punter" on Facebook
https://mobile.twitter.com/Ian_Davies_
https://www.facebook.com/ThePointtoPointNHandFlatracingpunter/
It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"“Thanks for the reply Ian.”
You’re welcome.
“I just find it amazing I’m restricted, I’m a casual punter don’t bet big stakes. hey ho such is life.”
Err, if I’ve read your numbers right, you’ve staked £400 and you’re £100 up.
That means you’re showing a 25% profit on turnover.
That’s three to four times better than me in a good year!
You’re clearly some judge – and they really don’t like those!
Merry Christmas!
I am "The Horse Racing Punter" on Facebook
https://mobile.twitter.com/Ian_Davies_
https://www.facebook.com/ThePointtoPointNHandFlatracingpunter/
It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"Ians spot on with his description of it all.
At least you’re up venjee, similarly to Ian I once put 2 losing horse bets on with Stan James that beat SP and was restricted straight after lol.
To any casual punter reading this who’s finding it damnably difficult, or at worst impossible to get on, I Perseus of godly warrior’s heart will enact the ultimate justice and retribution by unsheathing my blade, and at a stroke, slaying your monster – the old enemy, and for the mere inconsequential fee, of relieving you of your stake.
I’ve never been restricted, they know I’m a mug!
I've stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains
I've walked and I crawled on six crooked highways“I’ve never been restricted, they know I’m a mug!”
Use this to your advantage Purwell! Whenever you’re more confident on a really good value bet make sure to use those firms as you’ll most likely be allowed more on.
I’m down on my Skybet, 888 and spreadex accounts so use the Skybet and 888 accounts when trying to get on bigger Cheltenham ante-post bets, when that fails I’ll just drive to whichever shop has the best price, there’s a coral 30 seconds from my front door but I took an hour and a half round trip to the closest paddypower shop a few weeks back to get 10/1 instead of 8/1 on Luccia for the mares novice at cheltenham lol.
Have not used bookmakers sites for several years now to be honest.
All my bets are with the exchanges.
I've stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains
I've walked and I crawled on six crooked highwaysI bet a decent amount most weeks with 365 and this year i am making a decent profit. Never any hint they might restrict me though.
What kind of levels of punting and winnings generally lead to restrictions? Guess one has to be, at least, a £1k/week punter OR are we talking £000s/week punter?I don’t know if Bet365’s policy has changed since my experiences with them, Wilts, but I refer you to my original post on the subject if you want a general idea how it was back then.
They don’t give advance hints, btw, it’s just “bang!” – from out of the blue – the old “Dear John, Having reviewed your account….” email and it’s bye-bye BOG, bye bye free bets, bye bye cash-out and hello not being able to back anything to win more than a tenner.
I am "The Horse Racing Punter" on Facebook
https://mobile.twitter.com/Ian_Davies_
https://www.facebook.com/ThePointtoPointNHandFlatracingpunter/
It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"Thanks Ian.
Hmm, so i need to, possibly, prepare for a surprise.
The only account i had probs with were Paddy Power, during Cheltenham festival this year. Restricted me on a couple of 66/1 e/w punts; i only wanted a fiver e/w on both horses and they restricted me to £1.50 e/w! At first, i thought it was some kind of website error
Having said this i rarely bother with other accounts; tend to stick to my 365 one, and just occasionally popping into Bet Victor.
Wilts,
The £1.50 on a 66/1 shot will have been because of a win limit of £100 – which was probably set by a computer algorithm and applied to anybody backing those horses, not specifically to you. But equally it might have been specific to you if they’d decided you were unprofitable, so you could have £50 on a 2/1 chance, but not £5 on a 66/1.
This is where people go wrong about restrictions, they aren’t always personal. As an example, we don’t have enough information about the bet reported in the opening post to know why it was limited. We’d need to know the price he was trying to take, whether that price was out of line with other bookies, whether the horse had been put up by a leading tipster, what time of day he was placing the bet, and the type of race. All those things would be factors in the algorithm.
A bet on a 10/1 shot that gets limited at 7am, would probably be accepted in full 10 minutes before the race. A bet on a 10/1 shot in a class 6 AW handicap might suggest inside info, but a bet on a 10/1 shot in the Derby would be taken in full. A bet on a 10/1 shot that was 8/1 with every other book, etc, etc.
You mention BetVictor – I gave up on them after being refused a £200 single win on a 4/1 shot in a Group 1 race at Royal Ascot. They still declined when I offered to take SP. And that was 22 years ago!
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