I've had a guts-full !! After 4 years without updating this site and finding it still getting up to 100,000 hits a month, it seems time to now start to expose those under-handed bookmakers that effectively close any accounts down by restricting their bets to pathetically small amounts at the first sign of a winner in their midst. They prove to all that they cannot stand ANY winners and really only want you if you have a giant "SUCKER" or "LOSER" label tattooed on your forehead. Any online bookmaking corporation should surely hold any bet from the first in line to risk a reasonable limit that even a lowly one man outfit racecourse bookmaker is obliged to take, yet they can get away with disgraceful behaviour like this! Surely someone restricting or refusing a bet from one person, yet accepting a big bet on the same horse at the same odds from the next person in line is practicing a perverse form of discrimination as well! Any racecourse bookmaker in Australia trying such a tactic would have his licence rightly taken away very quickly, so why do these big online companies get away with it? It is time to stop them... and if you are still on the losing end of the punting game, I want to warn you as to the bookies to do no more than grab the free offers from and get out from them for good, instead giving your long-term business to a bookmaker that will treat you as fairly as the next person and not keep you just because you are "LOSER" to them.
These so called U.K. bookmakers (they are nothing more than glorified accountants nowadays) need to be named and shamed for their treatment of customers, roughly in order of worst and most gutless down to the barely acceptable........
1. www.sportingodds.com They quickly reduced my bets down to win a maximum of £200 for an extended period, but recently, even this pathetic restriction was reduced to win about £50 in the end, effectively closing down the account. Reports are that they now do this to nearly everybody that even has a hint of being more than an idiot.... some after just a few bets and a single winner are now cut down to this £50 limit. If you are one of the few to have an unlimited account then they are laughing at you because they know you are their favourite type of LOSER! Contact them at enquiries@SportingOdds.com
2. www.sportingbet.com These are really a sister company to Sportingodds, so what goes on at one, they know just as much about you within the other. LOL! "We are number one... over 2.7 million customers in 200 countries" their self-promotion claims! A joke!... only because most of these accounts have effectively been closed down by limits on bets to win less than a days wages for most people. Don't even bother to open an account with either if you've been restricted by the other one unless you can grab any free offer and get out for good. One person that sent me factual and detailed information on his account just recently was given bets to win $5000 in the early stages, but this was soon pulled down to win under $500 after a few wins and in the end they dropped his win limits to about $100. Completely pointless to even have an account with them in such a case. Contact them through here http://www.sportingbet.com/info/contact/contact.asp
3. www.betfred.com I don't know the highs of their internet betting but I could certainly get a bet on to win £600+, until after getting about £1200 in front over an extended period, they suddenly reduced my bet to win the most outrageous of amounts of around £20. Take any special offers they might give you and get out is my recommendation on this lot. Contact them at support@betfred.com
4. www.bet365.com Considering their claim to be one of the biggest bookies in the UK they are pathetic for giving even a reasonable bet if you might have a clue as a punter. They will not give me a bet to win any more than around £10, and I can inform you that there are many that are restricted to amounts to win less than £100. Contact them at support@customerservices365.com
5. www.victorchandler.com This bookmaker was one of the best for a long time, but you can forget them now in all respects in my opinion. They would once give a good bet to the first in line, just like any good racetrack bookie, but suddenly without any sign of what was to come, they simply CLOSED my account down mid-afternoon during racing. They appear to have been taken over by the "no one must win with us in any circumstances or we get rid of them immediately" accountancy mob now. I don't think they deserve your custom... and as I suggested before... take the free offers and GET OUT! Use a fair and reputable bookmaker such as below that has the courage to accept a bet without crying in their vault full of money because someone actual beat them. Truly PATHETIC! Contact them through here http://www.victorchandler.com/contact_us.jsp
6. William Hills. God, I almost forgot completely about these heavyweights. Once I had some money in my account left over from a few past bets on a Melbourne Cup or two and tried to get rid of it by backing with them and laying back on an exchange, I think on favourites or second favourites from memory. The problem was that one bet after another won and a modest sum had become thousands by the end of the afternoon. The next day, my bets were cut back to win amounts of $100 or so on racing... I tolerated this for a while until they finally refused to even accept a bet of 1cent on any horse or dog race! I finally got rid of my money with them after they made it near impossible for me to withdraw because I had to show proof of an already destroyed credit card I had used years earlier, by doing a huge losing bet with them on a soccer match (I know nothing of this game) and backing the same team to lose or draw with other bookies (less a big chunk of commission). I'm aware of a friend that has most of his bets cut back to win a few hundred dollars, but nothing compared to this extreme attack they threw at me. Another I would avoid like the plague.
7. www.betdirect.net Bet Direct run by Littlewoods. This bookmaker simply LIES to get rid of their winning customers. They suspended my account after earlier reducing my limits to £200 to £300 and when I queried why, they made the claim by an e-mail stating....
Due to
In accordance with this
Regards - Barry
Further query to newsgroups totally contradicted this lie as three other Australians with accounts with them informed me that their accounts were still open and bets were being put on whenever they chose to. Now we have bookmaking companies that are so low they have become LIARS!!!!!
Maybe you would like to ask these LIARS why they would act in such a shameful manner help@betdirect.net
8. www.totesports.com They have a general restriction on new customers to win no more than £500, which is reasonable, but as with me, you will soon be reduced to bet limits to win from £50 to £100 if you show even signs of being a winner. Contact them at customercare@totesport.com
9. A special mention www.stanjames.com Stan James. This bookmaker was fair with me for a long time but it has changed now, as my opinion of them has changed drastically. They would let me on to win bets of £500 for a long while, then they reduced it to win a moderate, but not completely unreasonable £400. Several weeks ago, I requested a withdrawal to my account of £2200, which I got without problem, but then they duplicated the same request a few days later when I found the extra funds in my bank account. I might have withdrawn the lot and even if they had realised this overpayment at some time in the future, I could have made them jump through endless hoops in any attempt to retrieve these funds. Some would say I was stupid to be so honest as to e-mail them and inform them of the overpayment. They were thankful to the tune of a £100 pound free bet, yet what I asked instead was that they please consider a modest increase from my minimum bet from the £400 win limit I had with them (whoopie, sometimes I bet to win as much as £600). I received a reply from accounts that surely such an amount was too low and they would see what they can do for me. Three days later I was trying to get bets to win the standard £400, and everytime was cut back to £200. A few weeks later, they cut all my bets to win a maximum of £100. News is that the head trader has made this decision and it will stand. So for my honesty to them, they reward me by cutting my already modest limits in HALF and then QUARTER! That is a disgrace and like a stab in the back from them. I have since closed my account down with them. They have no shame! Please let them know at service@stanjames.com
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These are the very worst, but there are others that deserve almost as much contempt, and in the coming days I'll expose them as well. As opposed to this lot of "bookmakers" I will tell you without doubt that the BEST bookmaker in the UK to open an account with is Ladbrokes www.ladbrokes.com They will give a fair bet and yet I'm well in front with them. They deserve to have customers as long as they have this policy of accepting that there will always be a small percentage of winners amongst their many losers. They use this information from these winners to their own advantage, whereas my understanding is that the no-hoper "bookmakers" just get caught out by these people opening new accounts in the names of friends and hitting them for far bigger amounts that catch them out, instead of giving them a modest bet to win £500 or so, and therefore a chance to shorten the odds on that information. In my case, they would know I'm only getting on to shorteners in the horse-racing markets, but instead they probably get caught by these "new" punters for five or ten times the risk. Incompetence and stupidity is how I rate these sort of bookmakers and they deserve to be hit accordingly. Four other reasonable bookies are Paddy Power, Coral and Blue Sq. There are only two Aussie bookies I'll recommend at present, IASBet and CentreRacing (as opposed to CentreBet). Much more to come in the following weeks on both U.K. and Australian bookmakers. I have more information from disgruntled customers and will update in coming days.
This is just the opening volley of my campaign to expose these online bookmaking companies, but I also want people to contact me and let me know of their own experiences with any of them so that I can collate information and in time publish it. There are a few bookies I'm behind with so I'm unable to comment on their treatment of winning gamblers. I want to also list the means that some people find to overcome these problems and avoid detection of second, third or even more accounts so that anyone can flood them as "new" customers without them quickly becoming aware and take them to the cleaners for far bigger amounts than they would otherwise be hit with if they simply accepted a fair bet in the first place. Please send an e-mail to me with anything you might think of assistance in stomping out this practice. philm1@betting-ring.com