You’ve finally got the perfect betting system, your yield is consistent, the odds are readily available and you are building that bankroll!

All smooth sailing…

Then BOOM

You get whacked with a betting restriction by your bookmaker or even worse, a complete ban!

So now what? Let’s check out our options…

My Bookmaker has imposed betting limits, is my betting career over?

Absolutely not!

I don’t want to fool anyone, I won’t be talking you through the illegal methods of sidestepping bookmaker regulations. Those methods are risky, time-consuming and most importantly; unnecessary. We have easier, more effective and legal methods.

In our article here, The Illegality Of Betting Account Limits, we talk about how we believe account limitations and restrictions are in fact illegal. We are doing something about it, contesting it and making some ground. Join the fight!

But in this article, I’ll delve into how we can deal with the bookmaker betting limits while we have them.

Types Of Bookmaker Betting Limits And Restrictions

Not all limits are equal. First, let’s see what types of limits we are dealing with.

• Bet Size Limits
• Account Closures
• Voiding Bets

Bet Size Limits

The most common, and often coming out of nowhere, they can leave your bet sizing plan in a hole. This is the kind of limit we’ll be addressing most today.

As you can see above, this limit only allows for 40% of the preferred stake. Not only does that ruin your staking plan but it also destroys your opportunity to ever grow your bankroll effectively.

Not all bet size limits are the same, you may be limited to bet sizes of $500 and it may not be affected by it all.. right now. But again, that potential bankroll growth now has a limit.

You are also now in the firing line, you’re on a list. Keep beating the bookies and it may not be long until they lower those limits to the point of unusable.

Account Closures

Oh boy! You must have really scared the bookmakers to have them completely close your account. Kudos, and condolences.

See the picture above of my associate trying to log in to his closed account, it’s like he doesn’t even exist! Rare but not unheard of.

Voiding Bets

This is the most nefarious kind of bookmaker restriction. When you place a bet and it is automatically accepted then the bookmaker decides you have beaten them so they cancel it. That is dodgy.

This could happen for a few reasons:

• The bookmaker made a technical error with their odds: Not our fault, the bet should stand.
• The bookmaker made really poor odds calculations: We beat them fair and square, the bet should stand.
• You bet an uncharacteristically large and seemingly winning bet and they hadn’t yet limited your account: Absolutely not our fault and shame on them for considering this a viable option.

This type of limitation is always contestable and I implore you to contest it.

Making Money With Restricted Betting Accounts

We have 6 strategies to mitigate the impact of account limits, they are:

• More Bookmakers
• Live Betting
• Betting Exchanges
• Betting Shops
• Betting Brokers
• ..Migrating

We’ll guide you through all 6.

More Bookmakers

Simple, open accounts with other bookmakers. If you are limited by one just go to another one right?

Yes, but there’s more to it than that. Every sports bettor should have accounts with as many legitimate bookmakers as possible, for 2 main reasons.

Firstly, it gives you the opportunity to shop around for the best available odds. That difference between $2.24 and $2.28 odds could be the difference between a profitable or a non-profitable system in the long run. We are working with small margins in sports betting or any type of investment. Respect them.

Secondly, It gives you the opportunity to spread your bets between bookmakers or even spread a single bet over multiple bookmakers. This is essential. Before you’re limited it can help you avoid limitations by doing smaller spread out bets and reduce your chance of being flagged as a big stakes winner. Then once you have been limited you can bet up to the limit on your restricted account and spread the rest of your bet across other accounts.

Open more accounts, trust me.

Live Betting

In many cases, your account limits for prematch bets will not be the same for live betting. Often the limits aren’t as strict, in some cases, they are gone completely.

This is purely because, well… most people suck at live betting. The bookmaker margins are higher, your reactions need to be quicker and your system needs to be watertight. It can be done.

There is a couple of options with using live betting to avoid those restrictions.

You can try to adapt and alter your betting strategies for live betting, creating a new strategy using the same principals or even creating a completely new live betting strategy, if you’re up to it.

The other option is to pounce on the opportunity to bet live on games that have just begun, or that have remained unchanged since the beginning. Same bets, often fewer limits.

It’s a strategy many successful sports bettors have delved into and adopted, it’s worth investigating.

Betting Exchanges

Betting Exchanges have exploded in popularity over the last few years. Stay tuned for a full explanation and breakdown of Betting Exchanges from us in the coming weeks

It’s a simple concept, essentially instead of betting against the bookmakers, you are betting against other bettors around the world. With the exchange taking a small cut.

The logic here is obvious, why would they limit you when you are not taking any money from them? They want you to continue betting big and often, they take their little cut and everyone’s happy. No limits, ever.

There is only one hurdle with using Betting Exchanges as your primary method betting method, bet availability. You can only bet on what is available and with no compulsion to have a wide range of markets available, you are relying on other people around the world to take up the bets.

Betfair specifically is the best in this area, having up to 90% of the betting exchange market share in many countries, the betting opportunities are certainly there if you’re willing to find them.

Betting Shops

Many countries around the world still have bricks and mortar betting shops. While they are often filled with recreational punters betting on their favourite coloured horse, they can also provide a great opportunity for successful bettors.

Usually, one bookmaker will have a monopoly on betting shops; In the UK you’ll find lots of Paddy Power, in Australia TAB dominates. This certainly restricts your ability to compare odds between bookmakers, but you will often find every market you can find online also in these shops.

The ability to bet completely anonymously is the biggest advantage here, no need for an account = less chance of being limited.

There have been cases of people being banned from bettings shops, but there is certainly an opportunity to use this method before they get onto you. The strictness of betting shops varies from country to country.

And hey, if they ban you from their shop just wear a fake moustache and a wig. Foolproof!

Betting Brokers

Betting brokers have popped up everywhere in the last few years. What they do is charge you a small fee to give you access to many bookmakers under one account, through the broker.

This lets you completely sidestep account limits because you have these betting brokers as mediators. Often they are putting on 1000’s of bets at once so your profitability fades into obscurity among all the rest of their clients. The betting broker will not limit you, they get their fee and are happy.

The catch-22 here is the relative lack of transparency and understanding about Bet Brokers, as well as adding a 3rd party to the betting process with access to your money. I think as the Bet Broker industry continues to evolve they will become a huge part of the betting landscape.

For now, I would say they are absolutely an option to look into, just do your due diligence.

..Migrating

Alright, alright. It sounds a little crazy.

But here at The Value Betting Blog, we know multiple people who decided to explore their betting options in different countries.

If you take your betting seriously and it has become a genuine income source for you, with a lifestyle in which you can travel, why not? Different countries often have completely different country-specific bookmakers. New bookmakers, no limits.

Obviously not for everyone, but also not to be dismissed.

Conclusion

Clearly, we can and will continue to find ways to not let bookmakers take advantage of us.

Being limited is not fair, it lacks integrity on the part of the bookmaker. So let’s fight it. Use the above methods, and let us know if you have any others in the comments below.

If and when you get limited, argue. Message them in live chat, get it in writing. Don’t feel sorry for yourself, use these methods to continue your betting investments. Then join us in opposing the bookmakers who continue with this practise.

Read about what we’re trying to do and our progress here. Then follow us on twitter for all the updates!