forum.sports-pro.co.uk

YAIYAM · Group Performer Joined: 21 Feb 2006 Posts: 10764

Anyone else started to get restrictions on there online bets on how much and what they are being offered.
BET365 have told me i will not be getting guaranteed odds on any bets.
Stan James will not let me place a bet that will win over £250.
Are these type of restrictions common or are they doing it on an Individual bases?
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Forest are Treemendous

theGoingStick · Site Admin Joined: 21 Nov 2006 Posts: 17146

I haven't been given those restrictions so you must be doing too well with them

Although admittedly I very rarely use anything other than betfair now

You don't really want to do business with a bookie that limits your winnings to £250. Betdirect were like that, you just couldn't get anything on with them.

accajacca · Group Performer Joined: 18 Dec 2007 Posts: 2354

i am not allowed to win more than 11p per day from sportingbet on their financial products

they also won't let me withdraw my money (or my girlfriend withdraw hers) without copies of 3 types of ID, which i have faxed and emailed them and they continue to say they haven't received.

bunch of jokers in the extreme - avoid.

YAIYAM · Group Performer Joined: 21 Feb 2006 Posts: 10764

I use sportingbet purely for Golf betting on top 10's as they pay out in full for ties which to me is a good promotion
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Forest are Treemendous

jennywales · Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2009 9:00 am Post subject:

AJ, in this electronic age it might seem very old fashioned but it works.

Send them copies of your ID in the ordinary post but make sure you send it registered. They then HAVE to sign for it (and there is a barcode you can use to track it via the Post Office website) or ask for it to be sent back (in which case there will be evidence for that). It is also then automatically insured! They can't then say they haven't received it (or it has been lost, or whatever). If you can't find an address to sent it to (and this sometimes happens) send the material to their registered company address. Then you will be able to say you sent it, and someone signed for it!!

If they still refuse then to pay you your money, send them a "Letter before Action" stating that they will be taken to Court if they don't pay up. (I'm not sure about the law relating to gambling profits, though - I had always assumed that gambling DEBTS were unenforceable, at least until recently, but I'm not sure about PROFITS - do you know a friendly solicitor for a quick chat?) A letter to the RP (copy to them) might help, as well, even if it doesn't get published!!

I have had experience dealing with utilities (water company and BT) in this way) and it usually works. If it doesn't it usually turns out to be one frightened and irresponsible employee sticking correspondence down the back of the filing cabinet (it has happened!) and they need to find out about this. It is also the case that internet based companies, including BT, have cut back on staff so much that their people in HQ are barely literate and are only capable of answering the phone. A real letter on real paper does their heads in!!

The main problem though appears to be that these companies are simply not geared to dealing with individuals' problems. Particularly if they owe you money! Their policy usually is to ignore your bleats until something like the above happens - this is how we got a water bill for over £1000 for one quarter reduced to £200 for the whole year! You have to force them to listen to you!

accajacca · Group Performer Joined: 18 Dec 2007 Posts: 2354

all good advice jenny - i have already told them i will be writing to the RP and emailed them a copy of my draft. they apologised and gave me an email address to resend it to - which i will shortly. they have about a grand of mine/my gf's money. funny enough they never asked for id when we deposited, and both of our accounts were "randomly selected" for security checks. laughable.

i am also banned from sportingindex, but to be fair i was picking them off on poor prices when everyone else in the market had moved and they were still sitting there watching tv forgetting to look at betfair

paddy power are jokers and ladbrokes have banned our work IP address as a load of the options guys were taking A LOT of money from them on their financials prices, so i don't use them a lot.

bet 365 are very bad at pricing financials but i have let them off as i like using them for sports so don't want my account suspended for the sake of a few days free money on financials.

betfair is alright. i'm not a huge fan of a number of aspects, but they have a great business and i use it, so good luck to them. am interested by betdaq, but have never used it. might give it a try for this football season.

there is a gap in the market for a privately backed/owned bookies who run a 104% book on all sporting events and will stand a bet. i'm surprised someone hasn't already filled it.

alansouthcoast · Site Admin Joined: 28 Mar 2006 Posts: 13721

Most bookies monitor large bets on a regular basis, if you lose, they will take a bet, if you win, it gets restricted. One way around it is to go into a shop and ask how much they can take on the managers discretion and stick to just below that figure, leaving a tip helps things run smoothly.
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If at first you dont succeed..then skydiving isnt for you

accajacca · Group Performer Joined: 18 Dec 2007 Posts: 2354

i'll give them a tip - if you can't run a book in a 3 outcome event with a 10% overround and betfair available to hedge if you're seeing one way business, you're in the wrong comma business!

jennywales · Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2009 11:06 am Post subject:

Indeed, but most "traditional" bookies (and I include the big chains in that) are out of their depth with this stuff - I guess the explosion in spread betting and other such has caught them without the expertise they need and they are too frightened to admit it.

My betting is so small that I have never had this problem (I wish!), and I stick to the horses anyway, where I find both Bet365 and Paddy Power pretty OK. Betfair is great.

If you start your own company (why not?) I'll join - but I don't think my £2 e/w and possibly a 10p L15 is going to help your profits much!!

accajacca · Group Performer Joined: 18 Dec 2007 Posts: 2354

the more i think about it (and i have, at length) my ideal job is to own and run a bookmaking company. the reasons for not doing so are numerous - primarily the need for several millions of pounds in risk capital.

you would also need a vast amount of money for set up costs, staffing, IT, advertising, regulatory costs, etc. the barriers to entry are immense - which in my view is what protects the high street crookies from bankruptcy - with it so difficult for a new firm to compete at their level, and the fact that there will always be punters that orefer traditional bookies to exchanges, they have no immediate incentive to offer sensible service.

what i would very much like to do is set up a company betting only on premiership football. i'd run it on a 104% book, no commission, no premium charge, low operating costs (due to having only one market we cover), and a max payout of say £5,000 per bet at the beginning.

the problems i can see with it are

a. you would still need a large amount of starting capital
b. a lot of the volume on betfair is in running - not sure i would want to offer that
c. people like one-stop-shops, so i'm not sure how much biz i would attract offering just pl football

etc etc.

something i may revisit in later/another life though.

archie mackenzie · Group Performer Joined: 15 Oct 2006 Posts: 2759

Rowan · Group Performer Joined: 27 May 2006 Posts: 8439

TAFKAB · Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2009 9:26 pm Post subject:

boyles have now stopped me placing any bets on football that will win over €500. disgraceful carry on. i've been cleaning up lately on the irish football as boyles have been pricing up first and getting a few teams wrong. needless to say they were told where to shove their a\c. maybe if their odds compiler wasn't so bad at his job, they wouldn't have to do these things
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Oh why did you do it, have you not the guts to say. You said it was an accident, or even a ricochet

accajacca · Group Performer Joined: 18 Dec 2007 Posts: 2354

pleased to report SportingBet have returned my funds today. very good of them after a couple of months!

they said on their email "you are now free to deposit/withdraw funds or continue to bet". i emailed them back and asked whether they planned to increase my maximum win on financials to over 11p or whatever it is, and they emailed me back saying no

laughable bunch of characters, involved in pricing markets they don't understand, but only to people who understand them even less. what a tin pot business model. they should be ashamed.

glennie1970 · Posted: Mon Oct 05, 2009 9:36 am Post subject:

first time ever for me in 21 years of gambling.

I was interested in backing Kenyan Cat in the 4.20 at Warwick and saw that Betfred at the time were offering the best odds of 4/1. I loaded £30 onto my account and went to place the bet. I got a message saying that I could have £5 on and that was all. I rang them up and was told that mine is a monitored account

I had a quick add up and since I opened the accout in March I am £835.00 in profit. I bet Betfred wish they were Stan James when it comes to me

very strange

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My dog is my god