Don’t Do These Things at an Online Sportsbook

Having managed this website for 19 years I have seen everything under the sun as far as sports betting and sportsbooks are concerned. We’ve seen everything from huge contest payouts to theft of players’ funds by scam sportsbooks. We’ve seen the industry go from a few offshore operations to hundreds of them both offshore and licensed.

This article is based on what we’ve observed over these many years. The purpose of it is to help players understand what not to do in order to avoid personal loss.

Sportsbooks have many rules in place to protect “the house”. These rules are mainly in place to keep people from taking advantage of the sportsbook in an unordinary way. If you avoid doing these things then you will likely have no problems with an A+ rated sportsbook.

What may seem like a good idea at the time in order to take advantage of the house can and will most likely backfire. You really have everything to lose and little to gain by taking part in these behaviors as listed below. And it doesn’t matter if it was an honest mistake or not. Sportsbooks guidelines are strict and unforgiving.

Duplicate Accounts

Whether you use your actual name or an alias, opening a duplicate account at a sportsbook is a sure way to get banned for life and have your winnings confiscated. It’s important to remember that sportsbooks are operating at a >10% profit margin and look to shore up any vulnerabilities and save money where they can. Identifying a player with multiple accounts is an easy way for them to get rid of a shady customer and keep cash as well.

Sportsbooks (and online casinos) have entire teams dedicated to identifying fraud. They look for duplicate accounts, strange logins, changes in betting behaviors, and bot activity.

Using Someone Else’s Credit Card

This may seem like no big deal, but sportsbooks don’t like it. They flag it as a possible stolen card and prohibit because of the amount of trouble they have faced in the past through chargebacks. Even if the card belongs to your wife or a family member, it is forbidden. You WILL face issues down the road if you use someone else’s card to fund your sportsbook account.

Multiple Accounts in the Same Household

This one seems a bit unfair to many, but the sportsbook must protect itself against a person using aliases to game the book. Even if someone in the household is legitimately playing at the same shop it really doesn’t matter. If two different accounts sign in from the same ip address, it sends up bells and whistles to the fraud department.

This rule isn’t always enforced as I have personally played in online poker tournaments with friends who are in the same house as me. But why risk it? If at all possible, try using a different online sportsbook or casino than your roommate is using. You don’t want to build up a nice payday only to find out your account is flagged when you go to withdraw funds.

Hedging Bets

A lot of sportsbooks don’t mind if you hedge your own bet to guarantee a profit but plenty of them do. It’s smart to have at least one other shop where you can place your hedge bets so there is zero conflict of interest. You can even reach out to customer service live chat to ask them if it is OK to hedge a bet. If they say Yes, then make sure to screenshot the conversation or ask for a transcript to be sent to your email.

Conclusion

It’s human nature to try and get as much of an advantage as we can. But never for one second think that these companies haven’t already experienced every scam or advantage-seeker’s methods before. They use algorithms to detect these things and will shut you down and take your funds. Read the fine print. Every online sportsbook has a Terms & Conditions page. You can use AI like Grok or Gemini to sift through it and find what you are looking for if you have any questions. Or just jump on live chat.