Why Do Australian Bookmakers Limit Winning Punters?

Why do Australian bookmakers limit winning punters?

A 2017 review for the Department of Social Services found restrictions routinely applied to consistent winners; the industry argued betting is for entertainment, not income. Entain (Ladbrokes, Neds) told a 2023 hearing that 176,000 of its 698,000 active customers made money in 2022, and that on some events it may impose "some restrictions on a small number of customers".

How a bookmaker makes money, and why a winner breaks it

A bookmaker prices every outcome a little short of its real chance. On an AFL head-to-head priced 1.90 and 1.90, the two implied chances add up to 105.26%, not 100%. If the money on each side balances, the bookmaker keeps 5.00% of everything staked whichever team wins. That margin is the business: it only pays while the prices are right on average, and while most customers take them as offered.

A punter who keeps taking prices that turn out to be too long is collecting that margin instead of paying it. Usually that shows up in the price before it shows up in the results: the odds they took shorten by the time the event starts. Pinnacle's guide to closing line value says that at recreational bookmakers, consistently beating the closing price is a key factor in whether an account gets limited. Our guide to closing line value explains the measure.

Worked example: what beating the close looks like

On Tuesday you back the Swans at 2.20 with a bookmaker. By the opening bounce on Saturday, every bookmaker has them at 2.00. Your closing line value is 2.20 / 2.00 minus 1, or +10%: you took a price the whole market later decided was too long. Win or lose that game, a bookmaker that sees an account do this week after week is looking at a customer it expects to lose money to.

Comparing prices across bookmakers is how punters find those prices in the first place. The odds screen shows the same market side by side, and our public track record shows how often our own published picks were taken at a better price than the close, with the scope and date on every figure.

What the research found

In 2017 the Department of Social Services commissioned the Australian Gambling Research Centre to find out how common restrictions were. Its review, Betting restrictions and online wagering in Australia, by Jennifer Podesta and Anna Thomas, found, as at 2017:

• It is in every set of terms. Its scan of 20 Australian wagering operators “revealed that all had clauses within their terms and conditions that referred to their reserved rights to close or restrict accounts.”
• Who gets restricted. Restrictions “appear to be routinely applied to customers who are winning consistently over a period of time or whose losing margins are simply too low.”
• How. The most common restriction its interviewees reported was a cap on how much they could bet, in some cases to less than one dollar.
• How many. Closures were reported to be less common than restrictions, likely affecting less than 1% of accounts, about 10,000, a figure that includes accounts closed for fraud, for using promotions in ways they were not intended, and for identity concerns. The review could not estimate how many accounts are restricted.

It also recorded the reasons bookmakers give besides winning: using promotions in ways they were not intended, insider knowledge, betting through other people's accounts, automated betting software, and concern about problem gambling.

What the 2023 parliamentary inquiry heard

The House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs looked at online gambling in 2022 and 2023. Its June 2023 report, You win some, you lose more, gave the practice its own section, headed “Encouraging losses, banning those who win”. What the bookmakers told it:

• Sportsbet: its chief executive said customers are blocked only in narrow cases, when “we believe that they're acting with information that the rest of the market doesn't have, and if their behaviour is distorting the market”, as the ABC reported.
• Entain, the owner of Ladbrokes and Neds: of 698,000 active customers in 2022, 176,000 had made money. It said it was required to take bets from everyone on Australian racing, and that “for some other events where there's less liquidity and less certainty” it may restrict a small number of customers.
• Responsible Wagering Australia, the industry body: blocking winners was not industry practice, but “inevitably, there will be occasions when a customer is excluded and there doesn't appear to be any adequate explanation other than they're winning.”

The committee recorded support for more transparency about why accounts are closed, and for minimum bet limits applied consistently across sport and racing.

Is it legal?

When the ABC looked into restricted punters in 2019, it reported that there is nothing illegal about it and that the right to do it is written into the bookmakers' terms and conditions. A punter it interviewed described the pattern: once a bookmaker identifies you as a winning customer, “they will restrict or effectively ban you from betting with them”, often “not necessarily after being a long-term winner, but after a few bets.”

Racing is where the bookmakers themselves describe limits on that right: Sportsbet told the ABC it complies with minimum bet limits as directed by racing and sporting governing bodies, and Entain told the 2023 inquiry there are Australian racing bets it is required to take. This is not legal advice.

It is not only an Australian pattern. Arbitrage bettors, Wikipedia's entry on arbitrage betting notes, commonly see their maximum stakes cut heavily once a bookmaker detects it. Three researchers who bet real money on mispriced football odds for five months wrote up what they called the industry's discriminatory practices against successful clients.

Minimum bet limits

A minimum bet limit makes a bookmaker accept a bet up to a set amount from any customer. The 2017 review noted that Racing NSW and Racing Victoria had introduced them for racing. The committee's Recommendation 25 asked the Australian Government to consult with industry and people who gamble to determine minimum bet limits for online wagering, for inclusion in national regulation. The Government's response of May 2026 does not mention minimum bet limits, and calls on the States and Territories to examine the recommendations that fall within their responsibility.

What you can do

• Read the terms. Each bookmaker's terms say what it can do with an account, including restricting or closing it. Read them before you deposit.
• Take the best price you can see. Comparing the bookmakers you already use improves the price of any bet you were placing anyway. See how to compare odds across Australian bookmakers.
• Keep your own record. Your bookmaker must give you a free monthly activity statement; our guide to tracking your betting results covers the rest.
• Know where help is. BetStop blocks you from every licensed Australian online and phone bookmaker in one step. If betting stops being fun, Gambling Help Online is free and confidential on 1800 858 858.

BetBank does not suggest ways to hide betting from a bookmaker. Expect any account that wins steadily to be restricted in time, and never bet more than you can afford to lose.

Sources

1. Parliament of Australia: You win some, you lose more, chapter 4 (House of Representatives committee report)
2. Australian Gambling Research Centre (AIFS, 2017): Betting restrictions and online wagering in Australia, a review of current knowledge (PDF)
3. ABC News (2019): How betting agencies restrict punters who win too often or too much
4. ABC News (2023): Betting inquiry sees wagering companies squirm over blocking winning gamblers
5. Pinnacle: What is closing line value (CLV) in sports betting?
6. Wikipedia: Arbitrage betting
7. Kaunitz, Zhong and Kreiner (2017): Beating the bookies with their own numbers, arXiv
8. Australian Government response to the You win some, you lose more inquiry report (May 2026, PDF)
9. BetStop: the National Self-Exclusion Register