Betway

If you use successful betting patterns then avoid Betway

Betway appear to be a brand, like many others, which limit or close accounts of punters using certain betting patterns (usually involving finding value). That is Betway's right. The problem comes with the bonus structure. Should a customer lose their first bet they are entitled to a free one up to £50, provided certain wagering criteria are met. This includes turning over the at least 5 times at odds of 2.00 or higher. However, if you are unfortunate enough to have your stakes limited before you have had a chance to turn over the bonus (in my case to less than £2) it can then conceivably become difficult and time consuming to meet the wagering criteria. If you then wish to make a withdrawal of any balance on your account, Betway will not allow this until you have met the wagering criteria. Its terms and conditions also state that it reserves the right to confiscate any balance in your account if you participate in a promotion and cash-in before fulfilling the requirements of that particular promotion. Of course, cash-in is impossible anyway. Furthermore Betway appear to be happy to confiscate your real money deposits too. In my case, I was unfortunate enough to lose my first bet of £50 thus triggering the award of the £50 bonus. I did not want the bonus but Betway appear to offer no way of opting out of the structure. I decided instead to deposit a further £50 of my own money with which to place a second bet. This won, and thereafter my balance, excluding any bonus award, was always higher than £50. Thus I took the view that I was betting with my real account money. Betway has taken a different view. I am now waiting to hear from Betway's "Operations Department" whether they will refund me my second deposit of £50 which seemingly I should never have made because according to Betway it has not been used, as I was betting with the bonus money. However, all in all I am left feeling duped by a bonus structure that in hindsight would actually discourage me from ever registering with Betway. One would have thought that the offer of a risk free bet would be a welcome one, not one where one is left hoping one actually wins the first bet to avoid the complications (and I would argue unethical practices) that Betway's bonus structure creates. On that basis I award Betway a 1 star (it's not possible to award zero) and recommend that nobody considers registering with this brand of bookmaker. It's simply not be be treated like this.Other brands will not and so customers should use those instead.

Finally I should also add that I find it very suspicious that with the exception of my review and the first one (also a 1 star) all the other are 4 or 5 and were a full year ago over the space of a few days. Mine appears to be the first one since then. What does that say?