Bookmakers don’t love to close accounts, but the evidence suggests that they don’t hate doing it either. If you’re a big bettor then it’s entirely possible that you’ll have had an account or two closed over they years, such is the extent to which bookies will move to protect their profits as and when they can.
Sky Bet, of course, are no different to all of their competitors, using their terms and conditions, which virtually no one ever reads, as an excuse to close the account of winners rather than pay out too much money to them.
It isn’t just winning that can result in an account closure, of course. There are numerous different reasons why a company might move to close someone’s account, with legal ones being top of the list. There are some key laws that punters obviously have to obey and if you fail to do so then there is no reason why a betting site would keep your account open.
Indeed, the likelihood is that you’ll be reported to the police, so that is worth bearing in mind before you get too upset about not being able to place a wager on your Sky Bet account.
bet365 Value Customers
Sky Bet often seem like a brand that are in the punters corner with all their offers and free bets but if you actually look at their odds compared to other brands they are very poor value, the worst odds out of all the big named bookies. Why is this? Well, in my opinion they take customers for granted, those that win too much get limited and those that don’t face poor long term value.
Almost any sportsbook is, therefore, better than Sky when it comes to value but the best is clearly bet365. The bet365 brand don’t make as much of a fanfare about their offers and boosts like Sky Bet do but they have plenty of them and when you combine that with the much better prices available generally it becomes a clear choice. bet365 also haven’t limited their concessions like best odds guarantee on UK&Irish racing in the same way the Sky have. If you want a site that cares about you as a customer then for me there is no other choice than bet365.
Sky Bet’s Terms & Conditions Are The First Place To Look
When you open a betting account, the company that you’re opening the account with presents you with a wealth of terms and conditions. The vast majority of punters scroll straight to the bottom where they can click ‘agree’, meaning that they’re not entirely aware of what it is that they’re actually agreeing to. If you’re amongst their number, the likelihood is that you’ll then be somewhat surprised when your account is closed after you’ve done something that breaches their Ts and Cs but you really shouldn’t be, all things considered.
If you find yourself in a position where your account has been closed, the first thing that you should do is to consider whether you might well have broken one of the rules in the small print that you scrolled through on sign-up day. The first of these worth mentioning are legal ones, with the likes of money laundering and match fixing being top of said list. If you’re using your betting account in order to try to launder money, that is against the law and both the betting company and the police will want to talk to you about what you’re up to.
A similar thing is in place for people that have engaged in the likes of match fixing. If you’ve been taking part in such an illegal activity, the chances are that you’ll want to make the most of it by placing some bets on the result that you already know is a foregone conclusion. If you use your Sky Bet account to do so then the company will move pretty quickly to get your account shut down and will almost certainly put the police in touch with you about the whole thing. Given you know it’s illegal, you shouldn’t be too surprised by this.
As part of the fears over money laundering, bookmakers engage with the Know You Customer procedures. This requires you to fill in all sorts of forms and do other things in order to prove that you are who you say you are and that your money is your own. If you fail to do so or there is any suspicion that your information isn’t right, your account will be suspended at the very least and possibly even closed by Sky Bet. The same is true if you’ve used someone else’s banking information, say, or the money used isn’t your own.
It is worth pointing out that it isn’t just illegal things that result in account closures. Bettors that move to abuse promotions and offers will also find themselves in a situation where they have their account closed down by Sky Bet. Some people might think that they can get around that sort of thing by using the exchange of Betfair, but what they fail to realise is that Betfair, Sky Bet and Paddy Power are all owned by the same parent company. If you’re found to be using the exchange to abuse a Sky Bet offer or promotion, therefore, then your account will be closed as a result.
Don’t Win Too Much
The entire reason that most people open a betting account is to try to increase their betting balance. The problem is, this flies in the face of why it is that bookmakers operate. They want to make as much money as they can, which means that if a customer is winning too much money then they’ll do what they can to limit their losses.
This will often result in an account being limited initially, but if that doesn’t stop the bleeding then they will feel as though they have no choice but to close the account down completely.
Given the fact that this is standard practice in the betting industry, it is no surprise that Sky Bet are just as likely to close down a winning punter’s account as anyone else.
The crossover with Paddy Power and Betfair also means that Sky Bet’s owners have a good chunk of information about you, so if your account is closed down by one of the other companies then there is an increased chance that it will be closed down with them too. It is really frustrating and annoying, but it is also just the way that the world of betting works.
Examples
The sad fact about the betting industry is that many companies will use their terms and conditions, which often contain obscure or hard to understand things, to close down the accounts of customers without any further information.
This often leads to people feeling as though they’ve been screwed over, so they take to the likes of forums and social media in order to vent their frustrations. If you have a look you will find countless examples of people being in exactly that boat, often with Sky Bet not even bothering to tell a customer why the decision to close their account was taken.
It could be down to something as simple as someone forgetting to update their address, as happened to one user, or using their wife’s card because their own had been blocked.
Sometimes it can be a misunderstanding, such as a punter asking for their account to be closed, wanting to open another one years later but not being allowed to because it is on the records as their account having been closed for ‘business reasons’. The simple fact is many don’t ever find out what these ‘business reasons’ are, which is as annoying as it is frustrating.
Here is an example of an email one of our team members received from Sky Bet limiting their account for all promotions:
We are writing to you with reference to your Sky Bet account, User ID: XXXXX
Following a recent in-depth review by our trading team we regret to inform you that your account requires tighter restrictions in the future. This means your account will remain active, however the following limitations will be applied:
You will no longer be eligible for any free bets or cash credits offered as part of any promotional offer from Sky Bet.
Please note your eligibility to promotional offers will be removed on Monday 29th May.
If you believe you met the qualifying criteria of a promotion prior to this restriction being applied, this may still be honoured – please contact us through our Help & Support site here.
Please note, this decision is final, it will not be overturned, and has been made in full accordance with the Sky Betting and Gaming’s Terms and Conditions which are available to view here. For more information surrounding this restriction, please read this article here.