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When you consider the nature of what they do, it\u2019s difficult to believe that not all bookmakers are absolutely rolling in money.<\/p>\nWhen you consider the nature of what they do, it\u2019s difficult to believe that not all bookmakers are absolutely rolling in money.<\/p>\n
Indeed, for both financial and legislative reasons, more and more sports betting firms seem to be disappearing from the market despite their reputation for constantly making a killing.<\/p>\n
The big boys keep on getting bigger – you only need to read their annual accounts for confirmation of that – so it\u2019s typically smaller, independent or new start up firms that are perishing.<\/p>\n
However you feel about this state of affairs, the question punters will be asking is what happens if you have an account with a bookie that goes bust? Hopefully this article will explain everything you need to know.<\/p>\n
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Under the terms of their licence with the UK Gambling Commission, the bookies must confirm in their terms and conditions how they store and protect your deposited funds, and this information will help to ascertain what will happen should they go bust.<\/p>\n
If your sports betting firm does not have a UKGC licence, and its rare to find this is the case, but you should absolutely withdraw your money and stop gambling with them immediately. They are trading illegally and should be avoided at all costs.<\/p>\n
The key thing to remember off the bat is that any money you deposit with an unlicensed bookmaker is not protected by any governmental scheme. For context, the money in your bank account is protected under a scheme which is why you should feel safe leaving your money in there. You can be in the lap of the gods as far as getting your money back is concerned unless you bet with a licensed bookie, and even then you would ideally choose a \u2018high protection\u2019 brand \u2013 but more on that shortly.<\/p>\n
All gambling firms must keep their customers\u2019 money in an account that is separate to their own trading account, which in theory would help to keep your funds ring fenced and protected in the case of insolvency \u2013 however, this isn\u2019t always the case.<\/p>\n
Consequently, you may not necessarily get your money back if your bookie goes bust even if they are by the book. This all comes down to the level of protection they offer.<\/p>\n
All bookies, no matter whey are based, have to explain in their terms and conditions to what degree their customers\u2019 money is protected. This is a condition of the licence issued to them by the UK Gambling Commission.<\/p>\n
There are three tiers of protection<\/a>: None, Medium, and High.<\/p>\n What this means to you as a punter is as follows:<\/p>\n The UK Gambling Commission can only advise on which level a bookie falls into, and they will from time to time assess the accuracy of the protection level stipulated.<\/p>\n Remember, every single betting brand should list in their terms & conditions the level of protection they offer their customers, and this is where doing your research is key \u2013 if you are averse to risk (some gamblers are, believe it or not) and the possibility of losing your cash, you should avoid no protection bookies at all costs – especially in the current climate.<\/p>\n You may read in the news fairly frequently about a bookmaker that has suffered a hard year in their annual report, but typically the big name firms won\u2019t be going anywhere any time soon.<\/p>\n It\u2019s smaller, independent bookies that can be problematic, especially those brands that largely operate overseas and have been late to arrive in the UK market. If they offer no protection, that\u2019s when alarm bells should begin to ring.<\/p>\n In these cases, it is wise to withdraw your funds immediately if it is still possible. Even after a firm goes bust, there will usually be a window of time in which you can make a withdrawal, although remember if no protection is in place then the firm has no obligation to get your money back to you.<\/p>\n The best thing you can do is request the withdrawal and then pester them with emails etc asking if it has been processed yet. You might just annoy them into fast tracking your withdrawal.<\/p>\n The reality is that there are no hard and fast rules as to what happens in this situation. Some firms will refund your stake whereas others won\u2019t send you a single penny \u2013 and if your outright bet is looking like it has a good chance of landing then don\u2019t expect to see any of your winnings.<\/p>\n Again though, if a brand is bought out by another brand they will often honour any bets placed and do the right thing in an effort to endear themselves to all of their potential new customers.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a long lineage of bookmakers going bust, sadly, both those who operate predominantly on the high street and those who had online operations.<\/p>\n One of the most notable examples in recent times includes Moplay<\/strong>, a firm that burst onto the scene in the summer of 2018 but who had gone bust just 18 months later. They had their licence suspended<\/a> by the UK Gambling Commission when it emerged they didn\u2019t have the means to settle outstanding bets. The threat of a costly lawsuit from Manchester United<\/a>, of whom Moplay were a sponsor, was the final nail in the coffin \u2013 the betting firm was said to owe \u00a312 million to the club at the time they were liquidated.<\/p>\n When the government slapped a \u00a32 maximum stake limit on Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBTs), the consequences were disastrous for bookies of all sizes. While the big names were able to have a reshuffle to some extent, shop closures and redundancies were a formality \u2013 sadly, for smaller brands, it would prove fatal.<\/p>\n Scotbet<\/strong> were one such casualty, while SunBets<\/strong> \u2013 an offshoot from the newspaper \u2013 closed in 2018 due to \u2018disappointing\u2019 trading figures.<\/p>\n You suspect, in the fullness of time, more will follow.<\/p>\n When you bet with a bookmaker that has been licensed by the UK Gambling Commission, you do so with the knowledge that the firm in question is financially sound and able to cater for even the most alarming of downturns.<\/p>\n Alas, when you bet with a bookmaker that has been licensed to operate by a slightly less stringent authority \u2013 the Government of Curacao immediately springs to mind \u2013 then you are taking a risk. They simply do not do exhaustive due diligence on their licensees, and that\u2019s why new offshore bookies and casinos are appearing at a rapid rate.<\/p>\n To answer the original question, bookies don\u2019t go bust all that often and certainly not reputable firms backed by sound financial principles and that have been structured to survive in the long run \u2013 even the toughest of trading conditions are not enough to throw many big-name bookmakers off course. Take William Hill, who in 2018 posted an annual loss of a staggering \u00a3722 million<\/a>. That would put many major global brands out of commission, but since then Wills have recovered and are now thriving once more. That is the difference maker.<\/p>\n That said, offshore betting sites do not always have a particularly long lifespan \u2013 they struggle to compete with the big guns unless they have an obvious niche, such as like the \u2018soft\u2019 books that offer the most appealing odds for connoisseurs of value.<\/p>\n The security of your betting funds is in your hands. As we have learned, there are protections in place with some bookies that allow you to get your money back in the worse case scenario, but some questionable betting operators with no protection offer absolutely nothing in the way of guarantees that you\u2019ll get your money back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When you consider the nature of what they do, it\u2019s difficult to believe that not all bookmakers are absolutely rolling in money. Indeed, for both financial and legislative reasons, more and more sports betting firms seem to be disappearing from the market despite their reputation for constantly making a killing. The big boys keep on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":69,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":{"0":"post-799","1":"page","2":"type-page","3":"status-publish","5":"entry"},"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rulesofsport.com\/betting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rulesofsport.com\/betting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rulesofsport.com\/betting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rulesofsport.com\/betting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rulesofsport.com\/betting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=799"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.rulesofsport.com\/betting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/799\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1030,"href":"https:\/\/www.rulesofsport.com\/betting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/799\/revisions\/1030"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rulesofsport.com\/betting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/69"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rulesofsport.com\/betting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
Do Your Research<\/h2>\n
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Here\u2019s another salient piece of information you must take on board: the betting brand themselves decide which level of protection they plan to offer. There is no law preventing a firm with no protection from offering their services to punters so long as they have a license and state this fact.<\/p>\nWhat Should I Do If I Hear Rumours of a Bookie Going Bust?<\/h2>\n
![\"Rumour\"](\"https:\/\/www.rulesofsport.com\/betting\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/rumour-bigstock-400px.jpg\")
In these cases, your instinct will probably be to panic, especially if there is a lot of money resting in your account.<\/p>\nWhat Happens to My Bets if a Bookie Goes Bust?<\/h3>\n
![\"Bet](\"https:\/\/www.rulesofsport.com\/betting\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/bet-slip-question-mark-400px.jpg\")
There is a potential situation where you have an outright or ante post bet, e.g. Liverpool to win the Premier League (remember the 2019\/20 season?) or a long-term flutter on the Cheltenham Gold Cup, that will be settled in the future after the date the bookie goes bust.<\/p>\nWhich Bookies Have Gone Bust?<\/h2>\n
How Often Do Bookmakers Go Bust?<\/h2>\n