More Bookie Problems

Unfortunately following the recent good run the inevitable has happened and I've been restricted by another bookie.

This time its William Hill which is a bit of a body blow as i've used them a lot over the last 2-3 years. I suppose it was going to happen but it still astonishes me the way my account has been restricted - especially by a company like William Hill.

This is a company who have a turnover of £1.07bn and made £193.3m profit in 2010. I made about £2-3k out of them. Here's a statement from the chief exec when 2010 results were announced in February;

“Looking forward, while we recognise that the economic environment will continue to be challenging in 2011 for all consumers, as is reflected in market expectations, we are confident our customer-focused, multi-channel approach, extensive product offering and our exploitation of technological advances ensure we are well-placed,” said the company.

Maybe he should have added - and we will begin only deal with losing punters. Perhaps the shares are worth buying.... Pathetic.

More seriously though it causes me an issue - and one that I am trying to resolve to continue getting the best odds available.

So how do I resolve?

There are clearly ways of opening additional accounts with bookies that have closed or restricted my account. Some of these have been documented through the likes of SBC.

In the meantime I've opened further accounts with additional bookies which will spread my bets a bit more.

Additionally I've decided to use Betfair more where it's sensible to do so - i.e. if price is within a set parameter of recommended by the tipster then I'll use Betfair.

It may mean that I will lose BOG benefit with some tips and not maximise profits but if I'm within about 5-10% of the recommended price it's probably ok in the interests of prolonging bookie accounts.

Clearly the use of Betfair is impossible for tipsters like Equine Investments where the price on disappears in seconds (if it is there at all). This problem is compounded by the fact that betting on Equine tips with bookies is more than likely to get your account restricted.

Anyway will see how this progresses in the short term while I consider the other options.

Far from ideal.