The biggest problem the successful bettors have to face is the limitation of the bookmakers. Beating consistently the bookie lines will eventually lead to the termination of your account.
Just like the casinos, bookmakers don’t want winning players and the will kick you out eventually. For this reason, they employ specialists or use the services of third-party software with the ability to assess the risks associated with each betting account and specifically with certain betting patterns. If a bookmaker feels your account represents a risk to their finances they will justify low bet limits or the account suspension/closure as an irreversible trading decision.
Of course, there are some who are accepting winning players such as Pinnacle or the Asians but it’s a lot harder to beat their lines in the long run. The good thing is that there are some tricks that we can use to prolong the life of our accounts. B
ut first, let’s see how the bookies are limiting the accounts.
How boolies limit accounts
You are going to be limited with one of the following ways:
- Completely closure of your account. In most cases, you will receive an email with the reason of being limited such as arbitrage, bonus hunting and others.
- Limitation of stakes. This is one of the most commons technique as the bookmaker is trying to discourage you for continuing your activities. In most cases, you will not be notified and you will realize that when trying to place the bet. The limits will be higher in the obscure markets and smaller in the popular ones.
- Remove betting markets. Is some case you will face a complete removal of betting markets and especially in those you are performing well.
- Restricted from taking the bonuses. If the bookie realizes that you are hunting their bonuses (especially for those performing matched betting) you will be restricted from that option.
Bookmakers will always state in their terms and conditions that they reserve the right to close your account at any time so that they are legally covered. You are accepting those terms when opening the account.
How to avoid bookie limitations
I have to start here by saying that there is no a proven theory on what you should do to avoid the limitations. However, you can try something from the following:
- Avoid betting in obscure leagues and markets.
For example, if I from Greece put a large bet in Austrian Basketball second league that will raise some eyebrows to the bookmaker. Something has triggered me to do such a bet and certainly is not the knowledge of the teams or being a fan of them. Mug bettors tend to bet on their teams or in the big leagues and teams. The bookmaker will think that somehow I have found an edge there (arbitrage software for example) and put my account into review.
- Mug bets.
The Free Dictionary defines a mug punter as a customer who is gullible and easily swindled. In relation to betting, a mug punter can be defined as someone who is hopeless at betting.
Winning bettors use mug betting to disguise their betting activities and avoid being identified as advantage players.
You can try from time to time to bet on hot favourites or on parlays. Also, bet on markets that the bookmakers are having a bigger edge such as corners or first goalscorer. By placing a number of bets on the same team, accumulators and on high profile events, matched bettors pass for regular punters.
Obviously, each mug bet is laid off on an exchange to minimize losses.
- Round your stakes.
Typical punters are staking with round numbers (10 or 20 euros for example). If you consistently putting stakes with decimals (85.23 for example) that may seem to the bookmakers that you are matching another bet (if you are an arber for example).
- Don’t bet on obvious palps.
Palps are the errors that the bookies are making when setting their odds (odds of 2.00 for example when the other bookmakers have odds of 1.50 on the same market). By taking advantage of those errors you are definitely going to be limited from the bookmaker.
- Avoid unnecessary withdrawals.
Keep withdrawals to a minimum in order to stay under the radar. Additionally, keep your first withdrawal at a small amount. If you are a bonus hunter don’t withdraw immediately after fulfilling the bonus rollover if you want to keep the account active. Also, try to do some deposits from time to time.
Conclusion
It is always frustrating to be limited on bookmakers but as winning players we have to accept it as part of our business and adapt to it. Bookmakers have invested tons of money to develop systems to identify those who are beating their lines. You can only try what we have mentioned before to keep your account active for a longer period.
I hope that you have found my article useful and informative. If so feel free to share it or leave a comment below. Also, any other suggestion on how to avoid bookie limitations would be welcomed.