Despite the Smart Betting Club‘s work over the years in trying to clean up and provide some regulation to the betting tipster scene, there are still sadly a number of tipster scams that continue to do the rounds.

Whilst the internet has helped in providing transparency and ease of access to good tipsters, it has also opened up new ways to rip off punters through the likes of social media, where unwitting people continue to get caught out.

To help protect you from some of these scams, I have put together a list of 5 of the most common dodgy tipster ploys to watch out for.

Varying from the outright scandalous to the somewhat dubious, it’s a quick rundown of what you as a punter need to be aware of before you join any tipster service.

Dodgy Tipster #1 – Selling Others Tips As Your Own

The inspiration for today’s article is the ‘tipster leech’ who sells off the exact same tips from other genuine experts as his own. Unable to figure out a way to win at betting himself, he simply copies others and leeches off the best – yet all the while pretending to be the expert in question.

After a few months, he invariably gets caught out and so constantly needs to reinvent himself and come up with something new for his mailing list (no doubt full of emails purchased without permission)

Not so long ago, I received a suspicious looking email from him advertising a new hyped wonder system and after analysing the ‘claimed’ results, I spotted identical tips as to those we at SBC have received from another genuine long-serving tipster.

It quickly became apparent that he was a subscriber to this tipster and was re-selling the tips on without permission (and at a pretty hefty fee too). Worst of all, he was supplying them later in the day and after much of the value in the bet had actually gone.

I duly notified the tipster in question who identified the culprit pirating the tips and removed him from his service.

Sadly, it won’t be the last I hear from this ‘tipster leech’ as he has been around for years, making up websites and false promises of tipping expertise on a regular basis. It highlights the care you must take when you get an email out of the blue promising the earth from a tipster service, especially one new on the scene.

Dodgy Tipster #2 – Social Media Tipsters

Social Media has come to dominate our lives over recent years and the likes of Twitter and Facebook continue to be a breeding group for tipster scams.

It’s easy to understand why as you can setup a new Facebook page or Twitter account in seconds, put up a bunch of tips and if they win – great, if they lose, just delete it.

This happens regularly, especially with bets like accas, which are hugely popular on Social Media. All you need do is simply create 10 accounts on Twitter or Facebook, put up a slightly different version of an acca on each one and boom, one of them will probably come good each weekend.

Sometimes the social media tipster actually wants you to lose as they take a cut from the losses incurred through bookmaker affiliate links (As when you lose, the bookies win)

It’s one reason we only proof or review tipsters who actually have a genuine website (not just a Social Media account) with at least 12 months of results to work with.

Be very, very careful therefore if you follow tipsters with a social media presence only.

Dodgy Tipster #3 – Claiming ‘Inside Information’

It’s the oldest trick in the book – claim to have ‘inside information’ about tips guaranteed to win and asking for people to stump up the cash in the hope of getting in on the action.

The sad reality is that even if accepting the fact there might be a very small number of people who do get inside info on certain horses to win a race – they are never going to share it with a stranger, no matter how convincing they sound or how much they charge.

In all the years working at SBC, we have discovered not one genuine ‘inside info’ based tipster worth bothering with.

They almost exclusively are all-mouth-no-trousers types with one goal – to fleece you of cash.

Dodgy Tipster #4 – Quoting Nonsense Prices With Nonsense Bookies

Sliding down the scale of dubious practices are the tipsters who continuously quote odds with bookies that no-one can realistically obtain.

Those tipsters that put up tips available only with bookies such as Boylesports, who according to the results of our Better Betting Campaign, either closed or severely restricted 82% of all surveyed betting accounts. Download our free ‘Getting On’ Report for more on our campaign and survey that reveal these stats.

At the best of times, punters with even a hint of nous about them stand little or no chance getting on with the likes of Boylesports – even if you do, there is every chance if backing a winner your account will be closed.

Other firms consistently poorly rated for closing or restricting accounts include the likes of Stan James, Betway and Ladbrokes and tips put forward with them might not be obtainable for most punters.

So before you get too excited about any tipster, make sure you note which bookmakers they are quoting prices with. If its one of the four firms mentioned above, the chances of you getting a decent bet on are likely to be limited in the long-run.

Hugh Taylor – Are His Quoted Prices Realistic?

Although he isn’t a dodgy tipster (more one that puts up prices no one can realistically achieve), I have to question the likes of At The Races tipster – Hugh Taylor when he puts up tips with a standout price available only with Boylesports.

Just yesterday he put up Mucho Applause at a standout 50/1 with Boylesports – a horse that saw significant backing all the way into its eventual 16/1 SP (it came 7th). Here is the advice he put forward:

How many of his followers might have taken the 50/1 with Boylesports I wonder? Very few I imagine and those that had won’t find their accounts lasting too long if backing 50/1 shots that start at 16/1 SP.

Dodgy Tipster #5 – Silly Stakes & Results Out of Context

Finally, one of my biggest bugbears are those tipsters who quote profits to silly stakes such as 50 or 100 points, simply to make their profits look big.

It might make a great headline to say…”We made 1000 pts profit last month” but if you had to risk 100,000 points to make that – well its nothing to shout about at all. That is just a 1% return on investment (ROI)

Tipsters that constantly claim results out of context wind me right up because it is so misleading and often it’s a sign they are to avoided at all costs.

As a minimum, from any tipster, you should expect to see full results stats including number of bets, amount staked, total profit and key calculations such as return on investment and return on capital.

Putting their results into an accurate context so you can judge just how good they REALLY are.

That’s The Bad, How About The Good?

Hopefully the 5 points above will give you a good steer on some of the more popular dodgy tipster practices out there currently and what to avoid.

If however, you are looking for actually bonafide, genuine tipsters then here at the Smart Betting Club we can help you.

We work full-time on not only reviewing the best new tipsters, but also tracking the ones that continue to make money betting for SBC members.

Ranking and reviewing each tipster not only by their profits, but also how realistically achievable their odds are, how good their customer service is and many other factors. Click here to read all about our exhaustive review and rating process.

You can read all about the very best tipsters, including the 34 top racing experts we recommend in our very latest Horse Racing Tipster Profit Report.

And for those of you more interested in betting away from racing, you can also find similar reports dedicated to the best football, tennis, US sports and golf tipsters. Full details on all of the reports we provide can be found here.

Best of all you can subscribe instantly and save up to £38 on the cost of a yearly membership currently!

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See you on the inside.

Peter Ling
SBC Editor