Getting Gubbed at the Bookies is No Fun: Here’s How To Minimise The Risk In The First Place and Even Profit From Restricted Accounts
When you wake up one morning...
It’s all fun and games until you wake up one morning and see the dreaded message waiting for you in your email inbox.
‘After reviewing your account, we have decided to place a restriction on your bets’ – or something to that effect.
You my friend have just been gubbed.
While it’s a pain in the arse, you might take some comfort in the fact the only reason they have gubbed you is because they see you as a threat to their profits. Which means, you’re doing the right thing.
That said however, those words won’t put money in your back pocket. So what do you do? Where do we go from here?
First, let’s just clear on what being ‘gubbed’ or what ‘gubbing’ actually means…
What Is ‘Gubbing’ In Matched Betting
Being ‘gubbed’ basically refers to the fact that a bookmaker has deemed your account to have broken their ‘in house rules’.
You’ll usually receive an email that tells you ‘after careful consideration’ some sort of restrictions has been placed on your account. This could be;
- No longer able to take part in any bonuses or free bet offers
- A restriction on the amount of money you can place on a bet
- Or both
Do gubbings only happen to matched bettors? Absolutely NOT. I have a friend who recreationally gambles and has had numerous accounts restricted.
Gubbings can happen at any time. But, there are reports and research of times when you are more likely to get gubbed including:
- After major events such as Cheltenham
- After the new year
- Before the end of the financial year
- Start of the new football season
Again, this isn’t written in stone as a gubbing can come at any time – sometimes staright after your first bet. Betway are known for gubbing accounts pretty quickly after a welcome offer has been taken for example.
Gubbed Account? Here’s Why They’ve Done It
While the reasons for the gubbing might vary, it’s usually done because the bookie sees your account as a threat to their profits.
Here’s a list of the reasons to why your account may have been gubbed:
1) You’ve smashed too many free bets and bonuses
This is a sure fire way to get yourself gubbed. If you ONLY take the promotional offers and never be seen to place a ‘normal’ bet, this will eventually flag up on the system. This is usually the mistake made by many beginner matched bettors.
2) You’ve Made Too Much
This would be the reason a normal punter would be gubbed for example. If you’ve had too many wins, it’s not uncommon for a bookmaker to restruct your bets. Harsh? Yes. But the reality nonetheless.
3) You’ve Got More Than One Account
There’s a strong case here, that if you are using multiple accounts under different names, you’ll not only get gubbed by the bookmaker but you could face legal action too. Pretending to be someone else is fraud. You can read more about multi-accounting or ‘gnoming’ here – but in short, I DO NOT recommend you have multiple accounts with the same bookmaker.
So if you take advantage of too many bonuses or free bets, have a prolonged period of time being ‘in the green’ and basically not looking like a regular punter – you run a higher risk of being gubbed.
Avoid Being Gubbed: 5 Ways to Reduce The Risk of Getting Gubbed
Listen, gubbings are part of the game. They happen. And, as you’ll have learned from the previous section they even happen to regular normal (but possibly well informed) punters.
The only thing you can do as a matched bettor is to actively keep the ‘heat’ away from your account.
Now, it’s important to note that you cannot eliminate the risk of being gubbed but, you can reduce the risk.
One way to do this is by deploying an ‘anti-gubbing’ strategy:
1) Place Mug Bets
While it might seem a bit harsh, the name ‘Mug’ actually refers to the average punter who gambles there money at a bookmaker.
Placing a ‘Mug’ bet is basically placing a bet just how a regular person would. I’d recommend placing ‘mug’ bets on:
- Your Favorite Football Team
- High Profile Events
- Accumulators
- And all with varying amounts (£5 / £10 / £20 etc)
Of course, when placing these ‘mug’ bets we’ll be laying out selections off at a betting exchange, so our losses will be minimal.
There’s no ‘best’ strategy where this all concerned, but one way to use mug bets is to ‘sprinkle’ them around the offers you take.
So, for your most profitable bookies make sure you’re not only placing mug bets around the same time you’re taking up an offer, but you have some sort of consistency with your mug bets.
Example: You support Man Utd. So, everytime Man Utd play you place a mug bet.
You could also mix and match this with other mug bets to make your account look as ‘normal’ as possible.
2) Use Your Nugget
…and by ‘nugget’ we mean your brain.
Don’t smash the same bookie over and over again. Miss some offers, don’t max out the amount your betting and when an offer is available place a bet without triggering the offer.
Just using a little bit of common sense and mean the difference between no money and whole load more profit in the long run.
3) Vary Your Deposits
Some bookies are really quick to gub – ahem…Betway.
Some matched bettors have reported to have had their accounts closed right after they took the welcome offer.
One way to avoid sucisicon from the outset is to place a bigger (or smaller) deposits.
Example: Bookie A is offeringa £20 free bet if you deposit and place a £20 bet. In this scenario we could deposit just £5 or £10 or go much larger and deposit £50 instead.
4) Bet On Accumulators
Accumulators can be a great source of profit for bookies. As you’re not just betting on the outcome of one match but multiple matches.
So, part of your gubbing strategy should be to place more bets on accumulators.
5) Bet on Major Events – Without Taking The Offers
A typical punter would be a person who goes and places a bet on a horse they heard some great things about from their local butcher.
Make sure you copy this behaviour – bookies know they’ll have an influx of bets during big events like the Grand National. Look like one of these punters.
How To Get UnGubbed: Lift The Restriction on Your Betting Account
Unfortunately there’s no clear way to get your restrictions lifted on your account.
That said however, I was personally gubbed by SkyBet and William Hill after the Cheltenham Festival in 2019. A Year later I logged in to find the restriction on my William Hill account had been lifted.
There are also various reports online off people having their account ‘reinstated’ – So it does happen. To increase the chances of this happening:
- Place mug bets on a consistent basis
- Wait
There’s no guarantee this will work however and the decision to lift the restrictions is solely up to the bookies themselves.
How To Make Money From Gubbed Accounts
There are however a few ways to make money from your gubbed accounts. Here’s list of ways to try and at least bank some profit from those restricted accounts:
- Casino Games
While this isn’t always the case, a lot of the time if you’ve been gubbed it’s usually the sportsbook side of the bookie.
This should mean you can still take advantage of the casino and slots. Word of warning however, there are some great risk free and low risk offers in the casino side of matched betting. But getting yourself familiar with the whole process is recommended before you go ahead and try to complete any offers.
- Horse Racing Offers
Some people have reported that even though their accounts have been gubbed, they are still able to take advantage of some horse racing offers such as extra places.
Again, this will most probably vary from bookie to bookie.
- Offers and Bonuses
Huh? Aren’t we restricted from these? That’s why I’m here after all…?
Yes – but not always.
Amazingly enough some people have reported to still be able to take part in some offers and bonuses even after they’ve been restricted.
Another thing to look out for is while you might not be able to take advantage of the offers you may still have access to the price boosts.
- Arbing
While not advised on normal healthy accounts, if you’ve waited and seen no change in your account restrictions the next step might to look at arbing.
Arbing is basically where yout ake advantge of odds differences between bookie accounts. Bookmakers usually are on top of this and try to reduce the amount of times this can happen – but with so many markets arbing opportunities do arise.
So, if you got an account you no longer see as profitable you start arbing with that account and still make a profit.
Gubbed Betting Accounts
To sum it all up – not all gubbing were created equal.
By this I mean, sometimes you can have a partial restriction, sometimes it can just be a for temporary period time, sometimes you’re fully gubbed and can do very little with the account and sometimes you’ll have an account reinstated.
It’s ahrd to predict what bookies will do what as we don’t know exctly what information they are going.
So, if you have been gubbed it’s well worth going into the account and seeing what you can and cannot still do. You might surprised to learn that you can take advantage of price boosts for example.
There will be time however that you’ve been gubbed anf have no way of making profit any more. At this point it’s probably best to have a look into using the account to start arbing. But again, this should be your last resort.
And finally, the best protection is to not get gubbed in the first place. While there are some matched bettors out there that question the effectiveness of ‘mug’ betting and looking like a regular punter, there’s no doubt about it…
If you look like the loser, you’ll end up being the winner.
