There are few things more frustrating than having your sports betting mojo disrupted by getting limited. One day you are picking winners left right and centre and the next you can’t even get a bet on.
What is ‘Being Limited’ by a Sportsbook? Being limited refers to restrictions being placed on your betting by your sportsbook. This may come in the form of a reduced maximum bet size, not being able to take advantage of certain bet types, or being prevented from betting promotional markets. Sportsbooks are well within their rights to do this regardless of how hard done by the bettor feels. Being limited may be unavoidable but there are ways to prevent it occurring so quickly.
When Are Sports Bettors Limited?
The main reason: You win and win often! Getting limited is in some ways a badge of honor. It usually occurs after you have had some period of success or are showing signs of being sharper than the garden variety bettor. Sportsbooks limit your betting as they see you as somewhat of a liability to their bottom line.
They may not want you to ‘go away’ completely but they do want to reduce their exposure to risk. Hence the name limited (not banned). If you are truly a consistent winner then the bets you make are useful information to a sportsbook but there is no need for them to pay top dollar for that intel.
Clearly for a bettor, being limited reduces opportunity to make a profit.
The Example
Here is a personal example:
Recently I had an 8 week period of strong results betting the NFL moneyline market. This is a tough market and not one where I have had outrageous success in the past. Stupidly I was placing the majority of those bets with one sportsbook. In hindsight it was simply because I preferred the functionality of their app, their prices were always competitive and so I overused them. I took my eye off the ball.
Very soon I received an email to inform me my betting was being limited. No actual threshold was set but when I tested the threshold it was below 50% of my normal bet sizing. The math is more related to liability than stake but nevertheless it hurt!
The most frustrating thing, I could have prevented it. I could spend the day cursing at the sportsbook or reflect on what I did. This limiting was self inflicted because I knew better!
Don’t let this be you!!
Here are the best strategies to avoid being limited:
Manage Withdrawals!
This is my number one tip. The most obvious action to alert a book to your success is making a withdrawal. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to realize these are being monitored heavily. A large withdrawal (or larger than normal) is a massive red flag.
So what can you do about this given you do actually want the money? Well there are a few strategies.
Firstly leave the money in the account for a while (if you can afford to). Turn some of the winnings over. I know that is risky but it helps. From the perspective of the sportsbook, if the money is still in your account it’s in play. If it is withdrawn its effectively gone. If you must make a withdrawal make it smallish, certainly not the whole amount.
Secondly, from time to time deposit some more money into the account even if it’s not needed. That way you are showing you are not taking your action somewhere else. It signals loyalty. For example if you have surplus money in your account, maybe deposit $200 at the beginning of a weekend and withdraw $300 at the end. That way you have taken $100 of the surplus with you in a less obvious way.
Bet with Multiple Books
There is more to this than face value. The advantage of using multiple books is that you have the ability to spread your bets, and your wins, across different accounts which makes your full betting picture harder for one book to see. Or does it?
There is a school of thought out there that sportsbooks may from time to time share information about bettors track record. If they do, we don;t think it’s anywhere near as coordinated as some would believe. After all the sports betting industry is super competitive and getting an edge on your competitors would seem as important as having one on your clients
Betting with multiple books allows a bettor to be more calculated in the way they distribute their bets. For example when a bettor sees a line or market they deem as ‘weak’ or wrongly priced the plan would always be to increase your exposure to it by betting big. The thing is an abnormally large bet is a sure way to raise a few red flags on your betting prowess.
Assuming the market is priced similarly at more than one book a bettor is able to place regular sized bets at each book thereby spreading their action and drawing less attention to themselves.
The draw back? You will need to have money available in all accounts, meaning more of your bankroll is tied up. On top of that your pending bets and betting history would need to be combined externally to your repertoire of books so you can keep track of what bets are active and your win loss record.
None of this is easy but if avoiding being limited is a high priority then its also very necessary.
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Reduce or Remove Action from a Book
A way to fight fire with fire is to remove action from a book. If you have multiple sportsbooks available to you then it is possible to reduce action at any one particular book. This puts the ball firmly back in their court. Any good sportsbook will want your action (even limited action). They need turnover and your action going somewhere else means a reduced handle.
The beauty of this move is that it forces the sportsbook’s hand. They will attempt to entice you back and this gives you less chance of being limited in the immediate future.
If you have already been limited by a book this is a great way to open the door to negotiations.You may not be able to have the limits removed altogether (after all you are good) but that may be raised to a higher threshold giving you more opportunity to profit.
It doesn’t hurt to ask!
Keep Promotion Ratio Low
We aren’t saying don’t use promotions. Far from it. What we are suggesting (and this is actually at the recommendation of sportsbooks themselves) is to keep betting on promotional markets to somewhere between 10% and 20% of your overall betting. 20% may even be too much.
The reason being, sportsbook promotions are meant to be used in the spirit of fun and entertainment more so than an avenue to bank monster profits. Use them that way. Bet them, have fun, but don’t try to milk them. This is a sure fire way to pop up on any sportsbook radar. It’s easy to track and you will get found out.
Losing the opportunity to bet on promotions will be the first step, but it also alerts sportsbooks to your intentions and no doubt they will look deeper into your betting history.
The thing here is, if you become a serious sports better the promotional thresholds (other perhaps sign up bonuses) become too small to make a huge difference to your day to day betting anyway. Why risk the added attention. Keep it reasonable and you should be OK.
Don’t Bet with Obscure Amounts
An effective staking strategy is a must for all bettors. The thing is an obvious strategy also signals that you know what you are doing. One of the most obvious giveaways is using obscure staking amounts. This is common when bettors have clear targets about how much they wish to risk and what return they are looking for based on the odds they are taking.
An example may be where a bettor wagers on market at odds of -135. They may wish to return a profit of $150. In order to do this they will need to bet $202.43.
A totally legitimate strategy but it could not be more obvious that a staking strategy is in play. This alone may not get you limited but it puts you on any sportsbook radar.
Bet Sparingly on Secondary Leagues
There is nothing wrong with betting on minor league baseball, secondary golf tours, satellite tennis tournaments or random college games that draw little or no attention. It’s fun and, if done right, profitable.
The issue here is, if this becomes the majority of your betting, then it signals to betting agencies that you know exactly what you are doing. And clearly you do!
You will need to disguise this type of betting by ensuring that you are wagering on more mainstream markets (maybe with less success but a breakeven would work here).
Sportsbooks sometimes limit secondary leagues by default as they are armed with less accurate and timely information in order to frame tour markets. If this is the case, avoid taking books for the maximum. It only makes you stand out.
Throw in Some Hail Marys
If you bet on sports then inherently you have some gamble juice in you. In all reality you probably do from time to time throw a hail mary bets down for fun with the hope it may just come off.
The thing is these types of bets are seen by sportsbooks as the play of mug punters (Australian for squares).We all know you’re not that but it helps paint a more loose picture of you as a bettor and that is a useful reputation to have when trying to avoid being limited.
Test Out Your Limits
There are varying degrees of limits sportsbooks place on their bettors. If your get the dreaded ‘you’re limited’ email, its worth investing some time to work out on which markets and by how much.
You may only bet limited on certain markets or bet types. If this is the case, then use the account for other bet types to keep it active and help you avoid being limited elsewhere. You never know when this book will throw a great price your way and its useful to still have some skin in the game with them.
The added advantage to testing your limits and keeping some action with the book is that over time they may see your loyalty and reduce the amount you have been limited in an effort to increase your activity with them. It can’t hurt.
Use New Bet Strategies to Your Advantage
We as bettors are always looking to grow our betting skills and find new sports that we can bet to increase our turnover and keep us active.
If and when you are testing a betting strategy, it may lose while it is being refined (If it doesn’t then you’re a genius). Those losses can be used to offset some wins at a book where you have been on a hot streak. Obviously over time you don;t intend to keep suffering losses but while it’s happening it can have some benefit.
Be strategic about how you learn new skills. Its just another way to get some bang for your buck.
The Game Starts Now!
Being limited is not a personal attack. While it is frustrating it’s really a backhanded complement and a recognition that you are doing something right. Does that mean you want to be limited. Absolutely not! Prevention is always better than cure.
Good luck and as always, gamble responsibly!