Banned for winning too much?

I've heard that people have sometimes been prevented from betting because they win too much. For example, I'm told that someone was apparently able to predict corners in football matches better than the bookies and so was no longer allowed to bet. I see it might be an unusual problem but has anyone come across someone banned from financial spread betting because they won too much?

apparently.

What a pleasant problem to have!

SinbadTheTrader said:

I've heard that people have sometimes been prevented from betting because they win too much. For example, I'm told that someone was apparently able to predict corners in football matches better than the bookies and so was no longer allowed to bet. I see it might be an unusual problem but has anyone come across someone banned from financial spread betting because they won too much?

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Swing and position traders wont get many problems. Its the day traders and scalpers the firms dont like.

But even then the bigger shops wont ban you.

But they will try to limit your wins though. This means that you will not get to same order handling treatment as a consistently losing client does.

Things like delaying your internet orders and rejecting them if the price moves in your favour.

A losing client will be allowed to get on with it.. they can bet as large and as often as they like, no delays or rejections for them..

SinbadTheTrader said:

I've heard that people have sometimes been prevented from betting because they win too much. For example, I'm told that someone was apparently able to predict corners in football matches better than the bookies and so was no longer allowed to bet. I see it might be an unusual problem but has anyone come across someone banned from financial spread betting because they won too much?

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I'm banned from IG index and have in fact had accounts closed in my partners and a friends name (3 accounts in total). However, in each case this was purely from sports betting and after many months of restrictions being imposed on each account. After 10 years with IG my first account was closed with a simple letter saying 'account closed for commercial reasons'

I've not heard of this happening due to financial betting. Would like to know.

Regards
JW

jaswells said:

I'm banned from IG index and have in fact had accounts closed in my partners and a friends name (3 accounts in total). However, in each case this was purely from sports betting and after many months of restrictions being imposed on each account. After 10 years with IG my first account was closed with a simple letter saying 'account closed for commercial reasons'

I've not heard of this happening due to financial betting. Would like to know.

Regards
JW

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That's interesting. If you don't mind me following up...

What sort of restrictions did they first place on your account?

Was the reason for the ban simply that you were winning too much or were other factors involved?

Can you give some idea of how much was involved and over what sort of period of time?

And was there anything, how shall I put it?, unconventional about how you were betting and winning or were you just smarter than IG?

I suppose one important difference between sports and financial betting is that the latter can be hedged against much more straightforwardly than the latter so the SB firm can spread any losses among many different futures traders and may not suffer directly.

jaswells said:

The letters I have received say they are closed for 'commercial reasons' but have been told I cannot have an account with them.

Quite simply the kind of trades I placed were often shoort term and took advantage of market irregularities/poor pricing by IG. Time and effort pays off. However, they deemed my account too profitable so closed it. This is one good reason I would not advise anyone to bother using spread betting for long term gain. You can spend years refining a strategy to find you are no longer a client they wish to serve.

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.

26-10-2008

tar said:

http://www.trade2win.com/boards/spread-betting/41702-where-successful-spreadbetters.html

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Thanks, an interesting thread.

Would it be a correct summary that, if they can hedge, SB firms won't care how much you win?

SinbadTheTrader said:

That's interesting. If you don't mind me following up...

What sort of restrictions did they first place on your account?

Was the reason for the ban simply that you were winning too much or were other factors involved?

Can you give some idea of how much was involved and over what sort of period of time?

And was there anything, how shall I put it?, unconventional about how you were betting and winning or were you just smarter than IG?

I suppose one important difference between sports and financial betting is that the latter can be hedged against much more straightforwardly than the latter so the SB firm can spread any losses among many different futures traders and may not suffer directly.

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No problem. To be honest Ive been a punter for 25 years and my bans are like badges of honour to me!

Firstly I do not pretend to be profitable in financial spread betting and am infact in the process of learning the possibilities which may exist.

With IG I had held a losing account for 8 years. I could pretty much have limitless stakes. Once I started winning and won a few thousand off them a max. punt of 5 pounds a point was imposed. This pretty well stuck for over a year, but I consistently won a few thousand a month during that period. For the final 4 to 5 months they restricted bets to 2 pounds a point. There were no other odvious restrictions other than that although there was clearly a concerted effort to improve price setting and a number of markets were closed for longer periods in an attempt to refresh prices more accurately.

I dont think the overall sums where huge (30-40K) but all I was doing was finding prices daily which were clearly out of sync with other market participants. Betfair played a huge role with the most transparent and up to date representation of any sporting market. IG's software was quite simply not up to it.

An acceptance by IG of a weakness in the system and, as you say, an inability to hedge sporting markets effectively caused the closure of these account.

we r talking about Financial Spread betting not sports betting ...

I have been winning consistently for the past 10 years and i have not been banned!

tar said:

we r talking about Financial Spread betting not sports betting ...

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Same company though so possibly the same issues

foredog said:

Same company though so possibly the same issues

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There is a big diffrence between sports and financials , anyway this was the real reason :

jaswells said:

The letters I have received say they are closed for 'commercial reasons' but have been told I cannot have an account with them.

Quite simply the kind of trades I placed were often shoort term and took advantage of market irregularities/poor pricing by IG. Time and effort pays off. However, they deemed my account too profitable so closed it. This is one good reason I would not advise anyone to bother using spread betting for long term gain. You can spend years refining a strategy to find you are no longer a client they wish to serve.

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but every trader takes advantage of market irregularities or poor pricing. Indeed, it's the only way to make money!

arabianights said:

but every trader takes advantage of market irregularities or poor pricing. Indeed, it's the only way to make money!

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Not exactly , but u can take advantage sometimes ....

tar said:

we r talking about Financial Spread betting not sports betting ...

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Talking about financial betting not sports betting, but i think most SB companies want you to join and lose you shirt as quick as possible so the next punter comes along etc.etc.etc.

for financial spreadbetting i would recomend Futuresbetting, as they are opposite to all and hedge all bets, so want the client to win....they earn by the fixed spreads they charge.

SinbadTheTrader said:

I've heard that people have sometimes been prevented from betting because they win too much. For example, I'm told that someone was apparently able to predict corners in football matches better than the bookies and so was no longer allowed to bet. I see it might be an unusual problem but has anyone come across someone banned from financial spread betting because they won too much?

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Exactly, most of this stuff you hear is anecdotal. I’ve heard people make money trading with indicators, I’ve heard people make money trading the turtle system...etc

donaldduke said:

Swing and position traders wont get many problems. Its the day traders and scalpers the firms dont like..

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This is funny. I've traded with IG index for nearly 4 years, ok not regularly, but 98% of my trades are held less than 1 day, most are held for less than 15 minutes. I've not had any e-mails or calls from them saying "We don't like you".

I have.

Rossini said:

I have.

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U mean u have been banned ? could u give more details .... ?