Getting limited or restricted by a sportsbook is the worst thing that can happen to you as a matched bettor. It severely hampers your earning potential.
But by following a few simple yet effective tips you can avoid being 'gubbed' by sportsbooks and, most importantly, continue to build risk-free profits matched betting.
What Happens if Your Account Gets Limited?
Online sportsbooks can limit your account if your betting activity does not match the behavior and patterns of a regular sports bettor.
When you get limited, the sports betting platform restricts your maximum bet amount to a much lower-than-normal amount. Sportsbooks will not tell you if you are limited until you try and bet.
There are two types of account limits:
- Promo Banned: your account remains open and you can place normal bets but you will not be allowed to take advantage of any promo bets.
- Complete Ban: Your account is completely closed down by the online sportsbook.
11 Tips to Avoid Your Sportsbook Account Being Limited
There's no surefire way to avoid your accounts getting limited. The overall goal is to make sure your activity looks like that of a normal bettor, not a matched bettor.
Having said that, there are some tried and tested tips that can help you keep your accounts open longer and maximise your matched betting profits. Here's our top 10:
1. Use a Betting Exchange
Betting exchanges are an ideal alternative for your hedge bet or lay bet. If they are available in your state, use a betting exchange. They are matched bettor friendly. You can learn more about exchanges here.
2. Round Your Bets
Instead of betting $23.69, bet $25. A regular sports bettor would use round figures when placing a bet.
3. Placing your Hedge Bet
Always place your hedge bet on a different sportsbook than the one offering the free bet or promotion.
4. Regular Betting
Exclusively using free bets and promotions is another way sports betting sites can recognize you as a matched bettor. Incorporate some regular bets across all bookmakers to avoid gubbed accounts. Always hedge them to minimise losses to a few cents. It's worth doing this as you won't be using free bets all of the time.
5. Browsing the sportsbooks
Don’t always log in to a sportsbook and immediately place your bet and log out. Scroll around, and check out some different markets to look like a normal user.
6. Main vs Alternate Lines/Props
When placing significant wagers, opt for money lines, point spreads, and totals rather than player props or alternative lines. Although there is no specific threshold for defining a significant wager, any amount exceeding a few hundred should be considered as such.
7. Stick with Large Markets
The bigger the market the better. The largest markets are the main lines on established sports. NFL, MLB and NBA games are ideal. There's usually a lot of bets placed in these markets and so being picked out individually is unlikely. Avoid smaller markets such as tennis and small NCAAB/NCAAF games. Dont worry, you can matched bet on a wide range of sports, so you won't be stuck for choice.
8. Avoid Sportsbook Pricing Errors
Some sportsbooks may make a mistake and misprice a particular line. Don’t be tempted to bet on the obvious mispriced lines. For example, if every book but one has the Phillies money line near -250 but one book has the line at +200 for the Phillies. This would result in a huge arbitrage opportunity. Books will quickly void that bet and have a reputation for limiting/banning you if you bet a line that was clearly a mistake.
9. Withdrawing funds
Sportsbooks keep track of your deposit and withdrawal history. Avoid withdrawing immediately after receiving a sign-up offer. Instead, keep the money in your account and place additional bets or hedges before making a withdrawal. It is advisable to wait several weeks or even months before withdrawing.
10. Closing Line Value
Beating the closing line consistently signals to the sportsbook that you will be a profitable bettor in the long term, even if you are currently not ahead on that particular book. It may be difficult to avoid beating the closing line on every bet, but it becomes even more challenging if you place your bets closer to the start of the event.
11. Don't Multi Account
Matched betting multi accounting is the action of setting up several different accounts on the same sportsbook under different names. Some individuals carry out multi accounting to deceive sportsbook companies and maximise winnings from free bets, however, this is strictly against sportsbook policy and can result in harsh restrictions. Instead, just use the traditional matched betting process to safely maximise profits from sportsbook promos.
The Ultimate Tip to Avoid Being Limited by a Sportsbook
When looking to minimise your chances of sportsbook account restrictions with matched betting, one trick trumps them all - finding an elite matched betting platform.
See, with most matched betting platforms in the US, member support, guidance and software is limited. This can mean you're left at the mercy of sportsbook algorithms, and often have to find out what does and doesn't work the hard way.
At ProfitDuel, our industry-leading customer support, simple walkthrough guides and easy-to-use software allow you to earn profits with ease. The best part? We offer new members a 14-Day Free Trial to help kickstart their profit-building journey.
So why not give it a whirl? What've you got to lose?
