It appears that there might well be a revolution on the betting horizon. I read recently of a survey covering around 600 punters who had accounts with bookmakers ( a total of over 6500 acounts between those surveyed). What a surprise when I learned that over 55% of punters had restrictions on their accounts.
Many even had their accounts frozen or discarded. The vast majority of the punters had restrictions on Horse Racing accounts. How many accounts do you have to play with? Unless it’s approaching something like 50 you don’t have enough.
Do you use your local betting shop? If not you should give it serious thought. It seems that anyone who can find a regular source of winning bets is in danger of having his account closed. All the old bits of advice should be heeded. Apart from spreading bets between numerous bookmakers to putting in the odd “mug bet”. You should now think about also laying the “mug bet” on one of the exchanges. That way you keep losses to a minimum.
Not very surprisingly the “leaders” in the “Closing or restricting” stakes are the so called big boys of bookmaking. After all in their position, business-wise, they should have most clients and thus have a larger clientele from which to choose from. Fortunately the exchanges do come out of this to the better.
When the different sports are separated to see where the damage to punters accounts is being done it’s very much an “as you were” theme. Those leading the field by banning horse racing punters are also there when banning football. Punters are concerned.
Restricted Betting Accounts
| betting theme | accounts closed | accounts closed/ heavily restricted |
not restricted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Horse-Racing | 28.1 % | 78.1 % | 7.7 % |
| Football | 6.4 % | 29.6 % | 34.4 % |
| U.S. Sports | 4.5 % | 22.7 % | 54.5 % |
| Cricket | 4.3 % | 59.4 % | |
| Rugby | 21.1 % | 47.4 % | |
| Tennis | 20.6 % | 48.9 % | |
| Motor Sport | 58.3 % | ||
| Politics | 57.1 % | ||
| Darts | 62.7 % | ||
| Golf | 50.9 % |
These figures show just how ruthless the bookies can be when their profit is at stake. The Not Restricted column shows us exactly where the bookies are really making their cash. What is the answer to these figures? Well, we could all give Horse-racing a miss on our accounts. Unlikely I know, but definitely worth thinking about. Another angle might be to bull-up on a different sport. I know that isn’t very appealing but then again, profit is what we’re after. Does it matter where it come from?
Since I began delving in to this aspect of betting closures there has been a development in which there is to be an official enquiry into the protocols of online betting. It will consider the aspects. Winners having problems getting paid out. Layers misinformation on advertising leading to failures to pay out on winning bets through ambiguous advertising. There appear to be a lot of misleading promotions and unfair terms within these promotions.
One point highlighted is, punters having to play for longer than they thought was required.before they can with draw their winnings. Also in the limelight is the short amount of time the layers allow the punters to enter a complaint. Or to challenge the layers decision after a complaint is made.
My own pet peeve is the “Enhance Odds” adverts to entice new customers. In todays ads there is an “enhanced odds” offering of 25/1 about a 1/4 shot. Of course the stake is restricted and winnings paid as a FREE BET. To me is all about getting the customer on their books and any winnings from a free bet invariably withheld until it’s restaked and lost.
The Competitions and Markets Authority has launched the enquiry after the Gambling Commision about the unfair terms in misleading promotions. Let’s hope this is a new dawn in the betting world.
