News reached me earlier today that BetUK have announced the removal of their £500 Minimum Bet Guarantee on all UK & Irish races with immediate effect.

The decision seems to impact ALL customers and as yet, no explanation has been given for its removal aside from a notice on their website and the following email:

The BetUK guarantee lasted a little over 2 months following its launch on the 21st February and takes the number of firms offering online guarantees back down to 3. I have reached out to BetUK for comment but no reply as yet has been forthcoming.

There is some speculation that William Hill may be launching their own guarantee in coming days and if this is indeed true, I will share news on this if and when it launches.

Min Bet Guarantee State of Play

Here then is the current state of play as per MBG’s.

Bet Victor – By far the most extensive offer initially, Bet Victor have rolled out a ‘Bet Guarantee’ market for every UK/Ireland race, where you can win up to £500 from 11am onwards. Both win and each way betting is allowed.

Those of you who have had Bet Victor accounts closed in the past are also welcome to apply to have them reopened to use in the guarantee market. More than a dozen of you have emailed me to confirm previously closed accounts are now usable once again.

Despite initially offering the same odds in the ‘Bet Guarantee’ markets as in their normal racing markets, you can now expect to find worse odds with higher over-rounds and lower value prices.

Therefore, do be sure to double-check the odds being offered in the Bet Guarantee market and how they compare before placing your bets.

Skybet – They will lay a bet to lose up to £500 from 10am onwards, although this is for win bets only and in class 1 & 2 races so is the most limited in scope.

Betfair Sportsbook – Initially offered a £500 lay to lose guarantee for all class 1 and 2 races for UK and Ireland, although this was  expanded on the 30th November to cover ALL races.

You can bet up to £500 on all races win only from 10am and those of you previously restricted by Betfair Sportsbook should be able to get on without issue. Unlike Bet Victor’s offer there is no separate ‘guaranteed’ market and you simply bet as you would do in the regular Betfair win racing markets.

I say you should be able to get on as one growing issue with Betfair’s offer is the fact they have been closing some accounts down for ‘arbing’, which their T&C’s prohibit. Here is how they describe arbing:

“Examples of betting behaviour which indicates that a customer may be arbing includes (i) customers consistently or systematically placing qualifying bets when the price is greater than the corresponding back price on the same selection on the Betfair Exchange at the point of bet placement.”

I have heard from several customers who have had their account closed down for this apparent reason – even though all of them are claiming not to be engaging in arbing in a systematic or consistent basis. Some have been closed down within the space of a few winning bets at short prices. The allegation some are making is that these customers are being tagged as ‘arbers’, simply because they are winning too much, rather than actual arbing – and that this is a rather convenient excuse to close such accounts down.

For the timebeing – its worth simply being aware of this issue if using Betfair and their Minimum Bet Guarantee.

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More Updates As They Come…

If and when there are further updates as per Min Bet Guarantees I will of course keep you updated.

Keep an eye too on the SBC Twitter Feed as through this I regularly share further MBG updates of note as and when they come across my desk.

Explore The Value From The 3 Existing Minimum Bet Guarantees

If you are after more detail on this topic, then you will want to read the special new SBC report exploring the various Minimum Bet Guarantee offers now available to restricted punters.

Based on odds data collected over several months, the report presents our findings on the Minimum Bet Guarantees (MBG’s) currently available from Bet Victor, Skybet & Betfair Sportsbook and answers key questions surrounding them including:

• What kind of value do MBG’s offer punters?
• How do the odds available in MBG markets compare with odds from other bookmakers?
• How useful are MBG’s for punters and how best to use them?
• Which bookmakers offers the best and worst value MBG’s?
• What are the issues to be aware of with Betfair’s MBG offer?

This report is available now for immediate download to all Smart Betting Club members. Sign-up now to gain instant access

Peter Ling
Smart Betting Club Editor

There was more good news for Horseracing punters today with the announcement from BetUK.com of another £500 Minimum Bet Guarantee on all UK & Irish races.

This new guarantee allows all new and existing BetUK.com customers to win up to £500 on any racing bet in the win only markets from 11am each day. Those of you who might have been restricted by BetUK.com will also be able to bet into this market without issue.

BetUK.com was relaunched in August 2018 as a Sportsbook following its purchase by the Swedish based LeoVegas group and they are the current shirt sponsor of Swansea City FC. Little is known about their operation as yet but this new Minimum Bet Guarantee will no doubt see plenty of interest in their service in coming weeks and months, which will help inform opinion.

Min Bet Guarantee Round-Up

BetUK.com are now the 4th firm offering an online £500 Minimum Bet Guarantee – below you can find details on the other 3, including an update on Betfair and issues raised with certain MBG accounts being closed lately.

Bet Victor – By far the most extensive offer initially, Bet Victor have rolled out a ‘Bet Guarantee’ market for every UK/Ireland race, where you can win up to £500 from 11am onwards. Both win and each way betting is allowed.

Those of you who have had Bet Victor accounts closed in the past are also welcome to apply to have them reopened to use in the guarantee market. Indeed already a dozen or so of you have emailed me to confirm previously closed accounts are now usable once again.

Despite initially offering the same odds in the ‘Bet Guarantee’ markets as in their normal racing markets, you can now expect to find worse odds with higher over-rounds and lower value prices.

Therefore, do be sure to double-check the odds being offered in the Bet Guarantee market and how they compare before placing your bets.

If you want a bet that is 3/1 in the regular market but only 2/1 in the Guaranteed market, then you probably won’t take it. But if its 3/1 or indeed 11/4, it might still be worth it if restricted in your choices of where you can bet.

Skybet – They will lay a bet to lose up to £500 from 10am onwards, although this is for win bets only and in class 1 & 2 races so is the most limited in scope.

Betfair Sportsbook – Initially offered a £500 lay to lose guarantee for all class 1 and 2 races for UK and Ireland, although this was recently expanded on the 30th November to cover ALL races.

You can bet up to £500 on all races win only from 10am and those of you previously restricted by Betfair Sportsbook should be able to get on without issue. Unlike Bet Victor’s offer there is no separate ‘guaranteed’ market and you simply bet as you would do in the regular Betfair win racing markets.

Watch For Betfair’s T&C’s

One area of concern I must raise with Betfair’s offer are allegations that they have been closing some accounts down for ‘arbing’, which their T&C’s prohibit. Here is how they describe arbing:

“Examples of betting behaviour which indicates that a customer may be arbing includes (i) customers consistently or systematically placing qualifying bets when the price is greater than the corresponding back price on the same selection on the Betfair Exchange at the point of bet placement.”

Only last weekend, I tweeted about one customer who had their account closed down for this apparent reason – even though he was not engaging in arbing in a systematic or consistent basis. He was simply placing a handful of bets each day from 10am onwards, which just so happened to be profitable and on occasions did shorten in price (equally some bets also did drift in price).

As luck would have it (and very likely connected to the negative press my tweets raised on the topic), Betfair then contacted the customer on Monday to apologise and re-open his account with them. He was told it was down to a “an automated system error”, which also impacted a number of customers over the weekend.

Good news for this one customer, but I have no idea if the others impacted by this ‘system error’ have had their accounts re-opened and if you too have been impacted by a Betfair closure (and are not willfully arbing), then I invite you to get in touch with me, so I can investigate.

For the timebeing – its worth simply being aware of this issue if using Betfair and their Minimum Bet Guarantee.

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More Updates As They Come…

The launch of the BetUK.com offer brings the total number of bookmakers offering an online £500 Min Bet Guarantee to 4 and its encouraging to see another firm rolling it out.

Whether or not other firms, including some of the bigger UK names join the throng, remains to be seen but as and when any other bookmakers roll out such offers, I will keep you updated.

Keep an eye too on the SBC Twitter Feed as through this I regularly share further MBG updates of note as and when they come across my desk.

Discover more on how the Smart Betting Club can help you and your betting.

Peter Ling
Smart Betting Club Editor