Betting Sites That Don’t Limit – Our Top 4
If you are looking for which bookmakers do not limit then you are going to be a +EV gambler and realistically there are none that you want to join. If bet size is important to you then you only really have the betting exchanges to use if you want to bet and make a profit using large stakes. No betting site will ever limit you if you place -EV bets because it is inevitable that you will make a loss in the long run. If you place +EV bets over the long run then one of the betting exchanges is the only way to avoid bookmaker limits. If you are sports betting at an exchange then the amount you can bet will be dictated by market forces and you will be treated just like everybody else in this regard.
Betfair
Betfair is the oldest betting exchange still standing and still just about the market leader. They have the largest range of betting markets out of the four exchanges available and the most liquidity the majority of the time. You can bet as much as you like and your specific account will never be limited, although under some circumstances select accounts need to pay a "Premium Charge" but this is linked to HOW they use the account rather than being targeted for winning as such. In addition, the bookmaker has a mobile app that includes all benefits of the website.
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The original betting exchange.
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The most liquidity which allows the largest bets.
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Some existing user bonuses giving Free bets now and then.
BETDAQ
Betdaq are another exchange that will not limit players, they allow bets on be placed on their sports betting section or in the exchange where you can back and lay any amount with no limits. They have a large number of sports and bonuses available to bet on but not as many as the market leader.
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Wide range of in-play makets with attractive stats and graphics.
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Live streaming of UK horse racing.
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Interesting "tips" section available for free.
Smarkets
Smarkets are an exchange that has the look and feel of a financial trading system rather than a sports betting site. Once you get used to it though placing bets is quick and easy and the various profit and loss scenarios are displayed on your betslip before it is placed. There is huge liquidity in the few hours before an event begins and this is the best time to place large bets without any limit.
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Virtually unlimited bet stakes are accepted.
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Unique graphical odds history displayed for every market.
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Fantastic customer support.
Matchbook
Matchbook has an exchange with fewer sports and markets but just as much liquidity as the others in the hours before an event starts. When it comes to US sports you might even find they have more money available to match with, meaning that you can bet large amounts earlier. Sports betting at matchbook is a simple affair and they do the basics well.
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Simple easy to use website.
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Fast payouts.
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Generous and varied Welcome bonuses.
Reasons Why Bookies Limit Customers
Having your account limited is nothing to worry about and quite the opposite it is arguably something to be proud of. It means that you are better at sports betting than the majority of people and the bookies suspect that you may even be better at it than them. Online bookies do not want you to win their money so only allow skilled gamblers to place small bets and that is their prerogative. A bookmaker who does not limit the stake amounts of winning players will go out of business sooner or later. It is a red flag warning not to join a betting site if there are no limits imposed on anybody. There are only two possible reasons why that is happening; Either their odds are so bad and their promotions are of so little value (if they exist at all) that no customers can win there, so why would you want an account? OR... they are insolvent (or soon to be insolvent) and so are gambling themselves that customers will have a poor run of luck and need them to be able to place big bets at all costs in the hope of winning the stakes. In our experience these days they are the two main reasons you would get "bookies that don't limit".
How Do Bookies That Don’t Limit Work?
We review UK bookmakers that are licenced by the UKGC and the majority of these, certainly the biggest bookmakers, would be unable to operate as a going concern if they were unable to limit winning accounts. By winning accounts we do not mean those that had a lucky 10-leg Acca come in or someone who played on casino games and hit the Jackpot. We mean those who use any such betting strategies that are +EV, and only bet on these. Recreational punters only look for having fun really whereas for professional gamblers all that matters is the value in the bet. Because bookmakers offer odds on so many things it is impossible for them to never make a mistake and unless they limit bets from the sports bettors placing bets on only these mistakes they will make a loss, and eventually go bankrupt.
The sports betting companies that don't (or didn't) close winning accounts are either those who run betting exchanges where they have no liability themselves, or they were a very different kind of bookmaker known as "Asian" online bookies. We are not sure if they really were Asian but this is the name they were collectively known as from the turn of the century up to about 2014 when they could accept UK punters without needing a UKGC licence. They did not offer as many bet types as traditional UK online bookies (no horse racing for example) and would focus instead on "Asian Handicaps" (which is perhaps where their nickname came from) for mainly US team sports but also football. Because they always had a spread covering whatever the line was they would happily accept huge wagers knowing that firstly they were probably correct in their odd compiling (compared to UK bookmakers who are nothing like as accurate) and also that by moving the line, they would be able to attract an equal and opposite amount of money on the other side hedging their liability. Because sports bettors would look for the best value odds, it was of little difference to them who won and who lost, as long as they had both sides of the spread covered. For this reason there was no need for them to limit players' accounts.
It is interesting to note that Asian bookmakers did not, as a rule, offer any promotional bonuses or Free bet offers, certainly not high % ones like online bookies in the UK do today. For this reason they never had to deal with bonus hunters (or arbitrage bets) because they never attracted that kind of customer. If they did it was only because their customers were using the betting account as an alternative to the betting exchanges. Today people in the UK can only get a betting account at these bookmakers by using a betting broker but that is beyond the remit of this article.
What Limits Do Betting Companies Have?
Every betting company will have its own limits that it imposes on players. Some of these are general limits that apply to absolutely everyone and they restrict how much somebody can win from one bet (or on one day) and it is normally set sport by sport with football usually the highest with limits of millions of £s and then more niche sports like perhaps snooker, darts or Esports being quite a bit lower. A comparison of five of the main UK sports betting companies shows:
| Betting Site | Football (UK Premier) | Horse Racing (UK & Ireland) | Tennis | Golf | NFL | Esports |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bet365 | £2,000,000 | £1,000,000 | £500,000 | £500,000 | £500,000 | £25,000 |
| William Hill | £2,000,000 | £1,000,000 | £250,000 | £500,000 | £250,000 | £10,000 |
| Ladbrokes | £1,000,000 | £1,000,000 | £250,000 | £500,000 | £250,000 | £50,000 |
| Betfred | £1,000,000 | £1,000,000 | £100,000 | £500,000 | £100,000 | £5,000 |
| Sky Bet | £500,000 | £250,000 | £250,000 | £500,000 | £250,000 | £50,000 |
Separately from these general limits, a bookmaker may wish to impose limits on individual customers and these can vary from person to person but will usually be done as %s of the normal limit. So a player who is pretty good and knows what they are doing but not so much that they definitely only place value bets, could be limited to *50% stake sizes. Someone who definitely only places value bets with no sign of tilting or any cover play (non value bets) at all, will likely be limited to *10%. It is possible that you can even be limited to *0% in some instances.
*These figures are for illustration purposes only.
Reasons Why Bookmakers Close Betting Accounts
There may be several specific reasons but they all fall under the same root cause and that is they will close betting accounts who win. Now that could be they win through skill and being able to identify true odds better than the bookie's odds compilers, it could be that they win betting in-play because they have access to quicker pictures than the bookies, it could at the extreme be because they are taking part in match-fixing. All of these are reasons for a bookmaker to close a betting account and what links them all is that if they were to be left open then the bookmaker will lose money.
How To Avoid Limits – Tips & Strategies
There are a number of "urban" or "internet" myths that surround the limits sometimes imposed by bookmakers and we will look at the main ones below:
Bet in Whole Numbers
This is probably the most ridiculous thing we have read, and if it really was that simple to avoid bookmaker restrictions on your account then the rest of this article would be pointless, just do that! The logic came from when using arbitrage in its purest form you would often bet obscure amounts, such as £10.17 on one side of the bet in order to return the same profit no matter which bet won. So it was assumed (incorrectly) that this made you stand out as an "arber" (someone who bets using arbitrage) and betting a round number of £10 would be better and make you look more like a "mug" (by which we mean a -EV gambler). This is nonsense, it is the bets that you place which determine whether or not you are betting on value or not the stake amount has nothing to do with it.
The next three which we have seen written are all basically different ways to say the same thing, that is... "lose".
Diversify Your Betting Strategies
By that, it is assumed that you have a winning betting strategy, and so by diversifying and trying out other betting strategies you will not stand out as having a winning strategy in there. That is true if the strategies you use alongside the winning one do not also win, having TWO winning strategies will not stop you from being limited any more than having just one, the diversification does not change anything. What it really means by "diversify" is as well as using your winning strategy make sure you use some losing ones as well. Now this might actually work but you have to ask yourself what is the point in using a winning strategy if you also have to lose and in the end you just come out break even, then the whole thing is pointless and you may as well be limited because at least that would save time.
You Win Some, You Lose Some
This is another way of saying the above, do not win all the time, lose sometimes as well. This is an equally ridiculous notion if anyone thinks that will actually prevent you from finding your betting account limited. Firstly, it is impossible to know in advance which bets will lose in exactly the same way you do not know which will win. Your individual wins and losses are not something that bookmakers will take into account when setting betting limits. It is whether your bets are +EV in the long run. (The exception here is if you are betting on rigged matches, in this case, yes, definitely lose some as well as win, but what you are doing is illegal and having a betting account limited if you are caught is probably the least of your worries).
Play a Lazy Acca Bet
Again, all this means is to place a bet which is not +EV, because any Acca bet is almost certainly going to be poor value and is definitely the sign that this customer is a mug, so it is just another way of saying "lose money" really. It might work in the short term and your account may not get limited straight away but it is the same conundrum that if you are having to lose all your profits in order to maintain an unlimited account, what is the point of having an unlimited account then? If it does not make you money what is the virtue of having it?
Advantages of No Limit Sportsbooks
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There is no advantage in itself, but if you are a +EV gambler then doing so at a sportsbook that does not limit your bet size will make you more money than playing at a bookmaker where the stake amount is limited.
Disadvantages of No Limit Sportsbooks
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They offer no +EV promotions
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They offer terrible odds (In the UK today)
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If they in fact do have good bonus offers and they also have competitive odds, and they do not limit customers, then a major disadvantage is that bookmakers that don't limit accounts will sooner or later go bust. When that happens you will probably lose your entire account balance.
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Linked to limiting accounts, at the extreme, it is even true that bookies that don't close accounts are also either poor quality bookmakers or going bust, it is one or the other.
Conclusion
Bookies that don't limit are seen as something of a ***** Grail to some online gamblers and this is a fallacy. Any bookmaker that does not limit their winning customers who are not just lucky, but who are +EV in the long run, will go bust. You do not want to be playing at that bookmaker when it happens. A bookmaker that limits customers is a sign of sound risk management and likely a sound balance sheet, it is annoying when you are denied access to large +EV bets but the alternative is far worse.
There is no real way to stop being limited other than to lose over the long run. No bookmaker will ever limit a losing customer, why would they? But if you are someone who is a losing customer then ironically being limited would be a good thing, you would lose your money more slowly. Limits are only considered bad by players who win, because it slows down the rate at which they win.
In conclusion, our advice is not to overthink it, or even really think about it at all. Place the bets that you are happy with and the stakes that you are happy with. Never do anything else trying to pre-empt what a bookmaker may or may not do. If they limit your account then so be it, there are plenty more fish in the sea. You do not want to be betting at no limit bookmakers so just bet at the well run ones that do and make hay whilst the sun shines.
The top betting sites are…
Here at Legalbet we have also categorised the top betting sites and their features to make them easier for you to find. They are:
By Sport: Football | Tennis | Boxing | Cricket | Snooker | Golf | UFC | Darts | Greyhound | Rugby | Horse Racing | Basketball | Baseball | Formula 1 | Ice Hockey (NHL) | Volleyball | Cycling | Netball | AFL
By Payment Systems: PayPal | Skrill | Klarna | Boku | Debit Cards | Apple Pay | Paysafecard | Neteller | Google Pay | Prepaid Cards | Revolut
By Features: Cash Out | £5 Minimum Deposit | Minimum Bet Sizing | Live Streaming | Betting Exchanges | Safest | Fast Withdrawal | Daily Free Games | New Betting Sites | Horse Betting Apps | Football Betting Apps | Virtual Sports Betting Sites
By Events: Politics | WWE | NRL Grand Final | MLB World Series | Euro 2024
By Esports: CS:GO | Dota 2 | League of Legends | PUBG | Valorant | FIFA | CS:GO Betting Sites with Paypal
Frequently Asked Questions
They can close accounts for any reason they want, it is entirely up to them. Logically though bookmakers will close accounts if they see that the account is unprofitable to them, and believe that it will continue to be so.
There is no definitive way to do this because every bookmaker is different and will have different policies. Even if you knew the policy of one bookie there is no reason that they can't change it in the future.
Each bookmaker displays in their T&Cs section the maximum that can be won from one bet or in one day and for each sport. That is just the absolute maximum though, they do not HAVE to lay customer's bets to those limits, and often the limit varies from user to user and is only known when you try to place a bet above your limit.
The short answer is yes, there are a number of circumstances where a bookmaker can refuse to pay out. Simply winning is not one of the reasons though, they must suspect (and have evidence of) some kind of fraud taking place at some point.
They do not "know" that you are, they can only ever guess. The guess is based on the bets that you place. Although every bookmaker would operate slightly differently they will probably have a system to compare the bets that you place to the price at the exchanges at the time you place them.
