When this article was first written a few years ago, there were some great promotional and bonus offers around from the best Australian sportsbooks.
Sportsbooks such as Ladbrokes, Betfair and Palmerbet were able to provide some great bonuses and promotions that provided excellent value for new and recreational customers. However many of those promotions and bonuses are now unable to be published publicly due to Australian legislation that prevents offering incentives to new customers to join a site. Instead, you'll have to look at some of the other great features of a site when you're deciding to join. Check out the table below if you're thinking about joining a new site.
Ladbrokes
Global Betting Giant
Top rated sportsbook in Australia
Betr
Australia's Newest Sportsbook
Huge promotions and offers
Neds
Take it to the Neds Level
Great tools to help new punters!
WHAT ARE YOU REALLY GAMBLING WITH?
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Back in the day, some of our Twitter followers had expressed concern when they were blocked from participating in online promotions. Getting barred from an online sportsbook isn’t something new. It can happen when a sportsbook identifies you as a winning punter or bonus abuser as they have the right to limit your wagers or ban you altogether if they so desire. It’s not fun, it’s not personal, it’s just business.
However there are ways that you can manage your betting to help avoid the wrath of the online sportsbooks. Basically if you are always throwing jabs rather than trying to land knockout punches, you’ll find that you won’t become a target of the ban-hammer.
Here are five ways to help reduce the chances of you getting banned at an online sportsbook:
1. Don’t abuse bonus or promotional offers
Promotions are designed as a marketing tool to attract and retain recreational punters. The Australian sportsbooks know that their offers are favourable towards punters, so they limit the amount that you can wager on these markets. It minimizes their exposure as it is designed to attract recreational punters rather than professionals in the hope that they will stick around and bet on some other markets.
If you hit up every single promotion for the maximum amount, and don’t bet on anything else, then you are a chance to be flagged as someone who purely abuses promotions.
The answer is to let a few promos go through to the keeper every now and then, and make sure you place some other bets on the site rather than just hitting and running their promotions.
2. Leave some funds in your account
It sounds simple but so many punters love to deposit and withdraw their winnings straight away. It’s understandable for recreational punters who don’t bet with a bankroll. But if you’re depositing, hitting a promotion and then withdrawing straight away, you’re going to get noticed. That’s why many promotions have play through requirements, to stop people deliberately abusing them.
If you leave some funds in your account, then it serves a few purposes. Firstly, you’re telling the sportsbook that you intend to bet there again in future which they will like. It also helps you to build a bankroll which is ideal for those looking to elevate from a casual punter to something more professional. Finally, having funds in your account means you don’t need to redeposit next time you want to bet which saves you time!
If you stick with the recommended sportsbooks that we promote here on Before You Bet, then your money is 100% safe so you should have no security concerns over leaving some money in your account.
3. Reduce your bet sizes
If you are a winning punter and your bet amounts are starting to get into serious money territory then you may want to employ some tactics to avoid getting noticed as a winning player.
If your bets are consistently under the $100 range then we have found that the sportsbooks generally won’t have a problem with that bet amount. When you start to bet more than that figure, then you may like to consider reducing your bet size per site to avoid getting noticed.
4. Spread your bets
If you continually pound the one bookmaker, they will soon take notice, but if you spread your bets around a number of sites, then it’s less likely your betting activity will raise a red flag.
Most sportsbooks will offer odds around the same mark, so if you’re betting say $500, consider placing 5 x $100 bets around a few different sportsbooks rather than unloading on the one. It helps to reduce your impact on one sportsbook without forfeiting the size of the bet you would like. We have over 25 sportsbooks on this site, so there's no reason why you can't spread your wagers.
With so many great sportsbooks around with similar lines/prices, each offering great promotions, there’s no need to be stuck in just the one place. Shop around!
5. Mix up your markets
It also doesn’t hurt to bet on a variety of sports and markets. If you’re constantly landing one particular bet type, particularly on a niche market, then you will probably soon have your bets reduced on that market or even banned altogether. If however you are betting across a number of different sports, then you’re less likely to get noticed. It doesn’t hurt to have an occasional speculative bet or a novelty type bet just for some fun, and doing so will make it less obvious that you are a step or two above a mug punter!
These tips won’t guarantee that you will avoid the ban-hammer but they will certainly help if you are a consistent winner or someone chasing bonuses. Some sportsbooks are more lenient than others, so if you are worried that you may run into some problems then we suggest you give these tips a try! Happy punting!
