• Crucially the 2005 Gambling Act meant that gambling debts became legally enforceable, in theory at least, meaning that yes, bookies do indeed now have to pay out by law. There is lots of small print around this issue, however, and lots of “ifs”, “buts” and potential caveats.
• So Do Bookies Have to Pay Out by Law? While you might be fooled into thinking, “I placed a legal bet so the bookies should have to legally payout”, this is not the case. Unfortunately, there are a few ways for a bookmaker to squirm out of paying you your jackpot win.

1. Do Bookies Have To Pay Out By Lawyer
2. Do Bookies Legally Have To Pay Out
3. Do Bookies Have To Pay Out By Law School

If you are a professional bettor, then you also do not need to pay taxes on your winnings. You still need to file tax returns however, but as long as you state the income that has been paid as a result of betting, then you won’t be taxed on these amounts. The Current Tax Situation. In some cases, there may be no tax on gambling at all, while in other cases players aren’t taxed on winnings but casino operators and bookies are required to pay taxes.

There are many reasons why a betting company may not pay out on a bet, but what are the rules and what can you do about it if you think you've not been paid out unfairly?

Bookmakers, casinos and betting sites are private businesses and they all have their own terms and conditions and betting rules. This means unless you read the individual conditions of each company you bet with you could end up falling foul of these rules and end up with capped winnings, or indeed no winnings, from your bets.

This doesn't mean however that betting companies can do whatever they like. They can only refuse to pay you out if you have clearly contravened their terms, and those terms must be reasonable and visible. It is not enough to just have a rule, it must be a fair rule.

There are many bodies in place to ensure proper practice from bookmakers and casinos and as a condition of holding a UK licence companies must be open and transparent with their T&C's. In this article you can read about instances where bets can and cannot be voided along with famous recent cases of non-payment and advice on how to pursue unpaid bets.

If you want to find out more about account limiting specifically see out dedicated guide.

Licensed Betting Sites And Gambling Law

To start with let's talk about licences and law and law. If the company you bet with doesn't have one and you don't get paid out then you are on very thin ice indeed when it comes to trying to recover that money or mediating the issue.

Anyone betting in the UK has certain legal protections that ensures fair and proper treatment of customers. This is afforded by the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) Licence that all companies must have to offer their services in Britain. The Advertising Standards Agency are also there to ensure adverts and promotions are not misleading or obscure.

If you are betting outside the UK (i.e. you are abroad) you are protected by the same laws as at home, that is if you are allowed to gamble by the company in that country (and it is up to you to check this), although many sites will automatically block you any way if you are in an illegal territory (unless you hide this fact (see later)).

If you live outside the UK you need to check whether gambling is regulated where you are, if it is there will be some form of protection in place to encourage proper practice.

If you choose to bet with an unlicensed operator, either because you live somewhere where gambling is unregulated or you are betting with a non-licenced company in a regulated market, then you do so at your own risk.

While it is illegal for gambling companies to operate in the UK without a licence many still do. It is your responsibility to check that the company you are betting with holds a full licence, if they do not and they run away with your money there is little you can do under the law unless you can track them down yourself.

Licence details will always be displayed at the bottom of the home page and should look something like the screenshot above. You can also search licences through the UKGC.

For the record at OnlineBetting.org.uk we not only recommend licensed brands we also within that only recommend those with fair and honest terms overall.

Obvious Errors (Palpable Error or Palp)

All terms will state that if a genuine error is made on behalf of the betting site then they can cancel the offer or bet. This is a common reason for not paying out, and considering many sites have hundreds of thousands of betting lines it can happen from time to time. Either through human or machine error. At the very least you should of course get any stake back in cash.

To qualify this must be an obvious error, not a careless error. If, for example, you see a strong favourite in a horse race at evens with most bookies and 100/1 with one bookmaker then, unless this is an introductory offer, it is highly likely this is an error. If you place this bet and it wins and is then cancelled don't be surprised.

In any case where there is a mistake you can of course dispute this if you think the odds, offer or bet was miss-sold and/or the reasons for cancellation insufficient. If your complaint with the site is not resolved you can then take this to the Independent Betting Adjudication Service (IBAS) who will help mediate your complaint (for more see later).

Offer Abuse

Betting sites have some fantastic offers available for both new and existing customers and while these are designed to give you an incentive to try out a site or market, many people do abuse these offers.

Whether you are matched betting, duplicating accounts, arbing or exploiting weak lines with free bets and bonus funds, if you are found out it is highly likely you will be banned or restricted. Many offers are run at cost, or even at a loss to the operator, to encourage customers to bet and try their products and features. Those that think they can systematically exploit these deals with no consequence should bear in mind these companies know every trick in the book. You may get away with offer abuse once or twice, but not forever.

If you think about it the same is true with any business. If Tesco have a loss-leading offer on cakes to incentivise you to visit, they won't let you come in and buy all the cakes, otherwise they will make a loss. They are hoping you will buy a few cakes and maybe try some other stuff while you are in there. A betting site sign up offer is designed to do the same thing.

Brands are also interlinked and share a lot of information, so don't be surprised if you get banned from one site for offer abuse and then find you cannot sign up with other sites.

If betting with a bonus or free bet and you are found to be abusing an offer it is highly likely your winnings and any promotional funds will be forfeited (as per the small print of the promotion). Unless you are suspected of fraud however any real money you deposited should be returned to you either way.

If you feel you have been accused of offer abuse unfairly lay out your case in writing to the company and if this fails follow the complaints procedure.

Consistent Winning & Exploiting Weak Lines

It may sound harsh but many people get banned from bookmakers and casinos simply for winning a lot.

You must bear in mind these are profit making businesses ultimately and while a betting company will accept that people win and lose they will not tolerate people who bet in specific ways to guarantee returns.

Many bettors are aware that bookmakers have 'weak lines' and will exploit these bets to guarantee wins. Weak lines happen either through error or because in the process of balancing a book sometimes markets can end up with inflated or deflated odds, higher than the natural probabilities of those outcomes.

It is easy to spot punters who only bet on weak lines when betting online. All bets are recorded and companies have software that will flag up suspicious betting patterns. This is something that used to be easier when betting with cash in shops, even this is now becoming harder with facial recognition cameras and other tech features.

Most customers suspected of exploiting weak lines or arbing will not be banned, rather their accounts will be limited. This means you will only be able to make small stakes bets in the future.

It is important to know that if a bookie accepts your bet, and there is no obvious error, they should still pay you out (unless they void it before the bet settles). A betting company may subsequently restrict you but they should give you any winnings if you bet was allowed to stand.

Contravening Terms and Conditions

All bookmakers, betting sites and casinos must display (or clearly link to) general as well as specific terms and conditions clearly on all pages where they could apply. The absence of visible terms should be a warning sign, all the best operators have nothing to hide and if the offer or market is honest then there is no reason why terms should not be clear.

Betting rules may be separate to terms and conditions and deal with specific bet technicalities, limits and individual terminologies.

T&Cs tend to deal with legal restrictions and terms relating to payments, identification, legal territories, etc. This is the place to look if you are concerned you may contravene the legal requirements of holding an account.

Most rules and terms should be linked from the main pages of any site, usually in the footer.

Examples where payment may be withheld for breach of terms include:

Underage or Illegal Persons

If you are gambling underage, from an illegal territory or country or using inappropriately acquired funds then you don't have a leg to stand on.

Get caught doing this and the bookie will certainly keep any winnings, and probably your stake too.

Account Duplication

You may only hold only one account, if you've signed up twice (to get two free bets for example) and they find out before you get paid out then don't expect to have much of a case to keep your winnings.

It is often the case where two accounts using the same I.P. address can be suspended. It is perfectly OK for two adults in the same household to have an account with a bookie, having the same IP however may get you flagged up as a duplicate account. Usually a quick message to customer services is enough to sort this out.

Some operators do stipulate that you may only have one account or take one sign up offer for each I.P. address. This isn't a reason to refuse to pay you out however if they do let you sign up.

As a tip if you want to sign up multiple adults from the same address so it through a mobile phone network.

Account Verification

You must verify your age, you are who you say you are and that you are living where you say you are living (in most cases) to withdraw from an account.

If you fail to comply with verification procedures then the company doesn't have to pay you out. This is a legal requirement to prevent fraud and underage gambling.

System Bets

Obvious use of systems, and certainly if using free bets and bonuses to do so, will likely lead to you being limited or even banned, possibly forfeiting winnings.

These include scenarios where multiple outcomes are backed in such a way to guarantee a profit.

Third Party and Syndicate Betting

Strictly you are not allowed to bet on behalf of someone else, even if that person can legally gamble and gives you the money to do so. This is the cause of many disputes over non-payment and is a controversial rule with many punters.

How, for example, should this apply to betting syndicates? Betting for others and being caught doing so is a common reason for people not getting paid out. There are cases where this has been fought successfully and cases where it hasn't. Ultimately if betting as a syndicate be very careful what you say when you claim any big wins. It may help too if members of your syndicate deliberately have individual accounts with different betting sites to prevent patterns appearing.

Fraud

In the past bookmakers have commonly been used to money launder and so betting companies are obliged to keep track of the money that flows through them.

Rarely you may be asked to prove where a deposit came from before being allowed to withdraw subsequent winnings. The law is with the betting company on this one, they have legal protections that allow them to withhold your money if they genuinely believe it could be fraudulent or criminal.

This is why it is important to deposit your own money with bookmakers. This way you can easily prove where the cash came from without too much bother.

Payment Issues

Commonly customers are blocked when they try to deposit and withdraw using a different payment method, if you deposit using a certain method you will usually have to withdraw using that method too. This is known as a closed wallet system and is operated by most reputable betting sites.

If for some reason you cannot withdraw to the banking method from which you deposited then you should be given the option of a bank transfer or similar. If the payment methods are registered to the same person and verification has been completed then there should be no issue.

For obvious reasons, you cannot add money from someone else's account to your own and you cannot withdraw your own money to someone else's account.

Self-Exclusion

If you self-exclude yourself from a website as part of responsible gambling, then you should check to see if you have any live bets first.

If you do have live bets and you win there is a strong chance that you will not be paid. When you self-exclude you should of course be able to get your account balance back, but don't expect you bet on Chelsea to win the league to still stand two months later down the line.

Betting From Illegal Countries or Territory's

If you bet from a country that is excluded by your betting site or casino then you don't have many rights. In general you won’t be allowed to bet at all if you are in an illegal territory as the company can geolocate you and will not allow you to sign in in the first place.

Geolocation is not however infallible and on occasion (because an IP is registered incorrectly or the network you are using is hidden) you can bet in these regions unbeknown to the operator. If you are found to have placed bets from an illegal country, or country from which the operator does not accept wagers, then you will likely lose your winnings, and possibly your stakes too.

Virtual Private Networks (VPN's)

People use VPN's for all sorts of reasons, and they are not illegal in themselves. What is not allowed however is to use VPN to mask your location or identity to allow you to gamble when you shouldn't.

Get caught using a VPN for illicit purposes and expect to forfeit your winnings and probably have your account blocked.

Contravening Betting Rules

Whereas terms and conditions tend to be very similar legal documents between companies, betting rules can be entirely different.

Many people who fall foul of bookmaker rules do so by contravening the betting rules rather than the terms and conditions of holding an account.

Either way it is always worth having a scan through these before you place any new bets, big bets or system bets.

If you regularly place certain types of bets, or bet on certain types of sport it is also worth reading the relevant rules for these. This will include any major limits or conditions that could influence a winning bet.

Common examples of non-payment for breach of betting rules include:

Payout Limits

Each sport, market, and occasionally bet type, will have a specific payment maximum. If the winnings from a bet you place exceeds this cap then the bookie has every right not to pay you anything above that cap.

When betting online most sites won't let you place a stake that exceeds these limits, but don't take this for granted. Don't assume either that limits will be too high to worry about, with some operators some markets can have very low caps. Novelty bets for example (e.g. betting on a TV show) can have payment caps as low as £500 with some smaller sites.

Bigger bookies tend to have higher limits. You can see the payment limits for all major sports for the bookies we list on our high stakes betting sites page.

Official and Unofficial Results

In general, you will only be paid out on the official result. If you watch a horse race for example and the winner is disqualified then It is highly likely your bet will go down. Some bookies will pay out on both the official and unofficial results and will return your stake for disqualified bets.

Another example could be backing a first goalscorer, you think they have scored first but later the goal is ruled as an own goal, or scored by someone else. In this instance, your bet is usually classed as a loser.

In any case once you've been paid out you should always get to keep that money, it is yours at this point and shouldn't be taken off you. If the bookie made a mistake that is their fault.

Bet Technicalities

There are often different bet types that cover the same markets but in various ways, do not assume the terms are identical for all.

A common example is the difference between a 0-0 bet and a no goalscorer bet. Within the correct score market you can back a 0-0 draw and within the goalscorer market you can back a no goalscorer. These are the same, right? Well not quite.

If the game finished 1-0 but the goal was an own goal then only one of these bets may pay you out. The 'no goalscorer' market does not generally include own goals but the correct score market obviously does. As the odds of both bets are often identical it makes sense to back the one that discounts own goals.

Extra time is often another bone of contention for punters. Almost all markets apply to just 90 minutes (or the length of the standard match in other sports). If your first goalscorer bet comes in in extra-time or overtime then don't expect to be paid.

All bets will come with terms. If the bet only applies to 90 minutes for example then it will say somewhere on the page. Like most things in life if you make assumptions without checking the facts you will come unstuck.

Related Contingency

There are many markets and bets that are related to each other and for this reason you are not allowed to combine these bets into multiples.

For example, the first goalscorer and correct score markets are related, if a player scores a goal it makes the final score you selected more, or less, likely. Therefore, you cannot place a goalscorer and correct score double on the same game. This is one reason bookmakers have dedicated bets for related contingencies such as scorecast, timecast and wincast bets.

You are not even allowed to back a team in a double to win two consecutive games, as the result of the first game can influence the result of the second. You can read more about related contingencies on our dedicated page.

On occasion, you may place a bet that is a related contingency and it could slip through. Especially if this is on a written bet slip in a shop. In this instance, the bookmaker may refuse to pay you out, certainly at the odds you were expecting. This is detailed in the T&C's.

Rule 4 and Other Winnings Deduction Rules

There are dedicated rules dictating what happens to odds and payouts in the event that teams, contestants or runners are withdrawn but the event still goes ahead.

In horse racing, for example, the Tattersalls rules on betting dictate how bookmakers should handle various events that can affect horse race betting. Rule 4 for example stipulates how the odds of current entries should change if a horse is withdrawn from the race. This varies depending on the odds of the withdrawn runner.

Ante-Post Betting

Most bets placed ante-post, and particularly for horse and greyhound racing, will not give you your stake back if that selection doesn't run.

If you back a horse ante-post and it fails to run most bookmakers will not give you your stake back (unless you are covered by a specific non-runner no bet promotion).

Bets placed on the day in racing are usually protected and your stake will be refunded. The positive of ante-post betting is that if a runner(s) is withdrawn then your bet is not subject to rule 4, unlike bets placed on early or board prices.

Abandoned / Postponed / Cancelled Events

If an event or market is cancelled or postponed prior to starting then all real money bets should be refunded, in cash. If the event is postponed and due to start later, or within a few days, then your bets may still stand but you do have the right to cancel them for a full refund if you wish.

If an event is abandoned during the event then in general all bets are off. This is not always the case however, especially when betting in play. Let's say you back a player to score the next goal in play, they do score and you get paid out. The game is then later abandoned. Your bet should still stand and your winnings are valid as your wager was placed and settled while the play was still live.

There are grey areas here. Imagine you backed the first goalscorer before a match and that player went on to score first, the game then gets abandoned. Did your bet win or not? Unfortunately, the interpretation of this is often up to the operator. If they do claim your bet is void in this instance this should also be a very clear in their terms and conditions. At the very least you will get your stake back.

If betting with free bets and the wager is declared void it is entirely up to the operator what to do. Many will reward the free token as the point of it is to allow you to enjoy the site, there isn't however anything that says they have to. It is common to see in free bet terms that should a bet be void the token will also be void. Bonus funds on the other hand should be returned to you.

Do Bookies Have To Pay Out By Lawyer

Dead Heats

For many sports (golf being a good example) it is possible for several selections to tie for one position. This is known as a dead heat, and it can reduce the amount you get paid out from win and each-way bets.

Let's look at two examples:

• You back a player to win with £10 at 12/1 and the match ends as in a two-way dead heat for first. Here you will lose half of your stake (£5), or get paid out at half the odds (6/1), whichever way you want to think of it.
• You back a the same player, 12/1, but this time £10 each-way with 3 places at 1/4 (one quarter) the odds. The player ends up finishing third but is tied for that place with four other players. Your £10 place stake would pay at 4/1 if that player finished in the place on their own. However as four players finished in that place the odds are divided by the number of places. Therefore you will only get paid out at evens (1/1).

If you are unaware of dead heat rules and your bets ends up as a dead-heat then it can come as quite a nasty surprise to see your winnings slashed. Unfortunately those are the rules and they should be clearly stated in the betting terms.

Betting Site Refusal To Pay Case Studies

Bet365 Refuse To Pay Out £1M Due To Third Party Betting

In 2017 Megan McCann, a former student from Belfast, took Bet365 parent company, Hillside Media, to court over the betting sites refusal to pay out £985,000 in winnings while also keeping her stake (£24,960). The issue surrounds the way in which the bets were placed and on whose behalf the wagers were staked. Bet365 accuse Megan of breaching rules through 'third party betting'.

Miss McCann didn't place one bet. Instead she placed £25,000 in bets on 12 different horses in the form of 960 Lucky 15 each-way bets worth £13 each. A Lucky 15 is a type of full cover bet the quite literally 'covers' all possible outcomes from a given number of selections.

If Miss McCann had placed a single £25,000 bet, or a few very large each-way Lucky 15's, then the bets would likely have been flagged up to the traders at Bet365 at the time. By placing nearly 1000 smaller bets Miss McCann was allowed to stake this amount of money without being flagged up.

The twelve horses she bet on were not in big high-profile Saturday meetings. Instead these horses ran in the 6.10 at Bath, the 7.20 at Kempton, and the 7.00 and 8.30 at Naas in Ireland on a Wednesday evening (22nd June 2016).

After initially suggesting they would pay the bet, Bet365 later suspended Miss McCann's account, refusing to pay the winnings and stake (cumulative £1,009,960).

Bet365 claim Miss McCann, a 19-year-old student at the time, placed the bets through here account on behalf of another person, or persons. This is in breach of the 'third party rule' which states all bets must be put up by the customer alone.

Megan McCann has taken Bet365 to the high court, at the time of writing the result of the case is unknown. Her lawyers state that the terms and conditions re too lengthy and complex for the average customer to understand. They also state the third party betting rule is too vague and not practical; potentially stopping all syndicate betting, or even a family member betting on behalf of another (think of the Grand National for example).

Whatever the outcome of this case it is a good reason why you should only ever bet on behalf of yourself using your own money.

Betfred Refuse £1.7M Jackpot Pay Out Due To Game Malfunction

In early 2018 Andrew Green from Lincolnshire thought he had won £1.7M playing electronic blackjack with Betfred. Fifty-Two year old Mr Green (not to be confused with the betting company Mr Green) confirmed the win with Betfred and was so overjoyed he took out a £1000 overdraft with his bank so he could start the celebrations early.

A few days later however Betfred got in touch to tell him there has been a mistake and the jackpot payout would not be issued. The cause of the mistake was cited as a 'software malfunction' that produced and illegitimate jackpot win.

The call from the Betfred head office to say the jackpot was void left Mr Green incensed. He had played the blackjack game for over 6 hours before his failed jackpot win and found it pretty convenient that the malfunction occurred after all this time and only when he won the big prize.

Of course Mr Green has taken legal action against the betting company and at present it is believed Betfred have yet to provide evidence of the so called 'glitch'. The outcome of this case will not be known for a long time but it could end up as a critical case in determining future procedures when software fails.

This case also opens up the question as to who is at fault, should it be Betfred that answers the legal challenge or the software company that developed and licenses the game? The game was new but it had still passed relevant tests and was made available for public use and therefore it is unlikely this will stand up as an excuse. At the very least Mr Green should expect some renumeration based on the fact that Betfred told him he won and didn't amend that for a number of days.

Befred Refuse To Pay Winning Racing Acca Worth £189,000

Another one for Betfred, but this time sports related. In 2019 a punter in Loughborough walked into one of their shops and placed a six-horse accumulator over the days racing, however he made a mistake by adding a horse called Bailarico (due to run in the 3:40pm at Goodwood) instead of Bialco (due to run in the 2:15pm at Perth).

The man noticed his error two races in and so returned to the Betfred shop. He pointed out he had written the wrong horse name but had clearly indicated on the bet slip that the entry was intended for the 14:15 at Perth, and had included the odds at the time for Bialco. The shop staff accepted it was a genuine error and agreed to agreed that if the wager won they would pay out the full amount of £212,000.

When the bet settled and was send to Betfred head office for authentication the bet was refused, and was instead paid out on five selections, giving him £23,000, that is £189,000 less than he thinks he should have won. The ase will be referred to IBAS and could eventually go higher.

This isn't a clear cut example, many will agree with the punter, but some others will also agree there was a mistake and the bookie shouldn't pay out. What it does show however is that your should always check your bet slip carefully, as any error, even small, is an excuse for a bookmaker not to pay.

Know What Bet You've Backed

It is obvious when some bets are lost, there are however lots of other situations where bets are downed or voided for reasons that may not seem so obvious immediately.

Let's say you back a tennis player to win a major tournament during the year. That player goes on to win the doubles at Wimbledon. Great you've won. Well, maybe not. In this case the bet will likely state that the player must win a singles event. If you don't read the bet carefully then you could lose out.

Reading bet terms is not very fun, especially in the moment when placing a wager. It helps however to know the major terms of the bets you place most often, this way you should not make too many mistakes, and in some cases you can exploit this knowledge to back better lines.

My tip would be read the terms for any bets you place on a regualr basis. Should you ever place a high stakes bet, or a bet at high priced odds, then you will only have yourself to blame if you don't spend two minutes looking at the terms and you later end up not winning because of it.

Your Rights - Real Cash vs Offer Cash

If a bookie refuses to pay you out and the bet was using you own real cash then frankly you have more of a case than if it is bonus or free bet funds.

With a bonus or free bet the company can effectively use any of a multitude of their own terms to back not paying you out. Even if you complain and win you will only end up getting promotional funds back. This doesn't mean you shouldn't try, just don't hold too many hopes.

With real money however the stakes (quite literally) are different and non-payment, especially if your stake is not returned, is a matter for serious complaint.

Any money actually in your betting wallet (not currently staked on a live bet) is yours, the bookmaker is simply holding for easy use by you. Unless the operator has serious reason to stop you withdrawing this (such as non-verification or failure to comply with fraud checks) then you have every right to your money back.

Complaining To or About a Bookmaker

The first thing to do is approach the company with your complaint. Do this in writing rather than over the phone so you have a transparent history of the dispute. If complaining via live chat save a copy of the chat log along the way, otherwise when the window closes your text may be lost.

Licensed betting companies are obliged to handle complaints seriously, another reason why it is important to only bet with licensed operators.

Take screenshots of your betting history, and any other documentation that can help your case, and present this to the company as part of your complaint.

In a lot of cases, and this has happened to me, if something went wrong, even if it was your fault, the betting company will often refund or pay you out. After all they want your business for the long term and they don't want to get a bad reputation. It is always worth asking the question.

If you are unable to resolve your complaint there are independent bodies to turn to:

• The Independent Betting Adjudication Service – This is the place to go if your complaint related to a specific bet, non-payment or other betting related or account related issue.
• Advertising Standards Agency – These deal with any complaints arising through misleading information or advertising.
• Gambling Commission – Do not deal with complaints about individual accounts but if you feel the operator has done something that contravenes the terms of their gambling licence you can take it up with the UKGC.

Do Bookies Legally Have To Pay Out

For a far more detailed guide on what IBAS is or how to complain to a betting site see our dedicated pages.

Take Your Business Elsewhere

Fortunately, while bookies are private businesses that can set their own rules to a degree, they also operate in an extremely competitive market. This means companies are forced, in the large part, into giving you fair terms.

Therefore, it is critical that if you do have issues with a bookie not paying you out for a non-legitimate reason, that you go elsewhere to place your bets. Only this way will the industry remain fair for punters in the long term.

If you are being banned or limited because you are exploiting weak betting lines, matched betting, or abusing promotions, then you may get away with this for a long time. There are tons of operators to sign up to. Eventually however you will end up banned or limited with most and betting won't be much fun for you any more.

Of course I would say this, but in all honesty the bookmakers, listed at OnlineBetting.org.uk, and the bingo and casino sites listed at OnlineCasinos.org.uk are the fairest and most respected around. This doesn't mean they are infallible but between them they have hundreds of millions of customers and the complaint rate against them is less exceptionally low. When they do have complaints these operators have dedicated teams and take them seriously, they will respond to you.

Bookmaker or Casino Goes Bankrupt

In very rare situations your bookmaker or casino might actually go bust before paying you out and this can mean you can struggle to get your money back.

While it is the law that UK licensed gambling businesses must hold customer funds in separate accounts there is no government backed protection scheme if they do fail. It is up to the betting firm what level of protection they employ, which is either basic, medium or high. This must be stipulated in the terms and conditions of the site but few of us read those in their entirely.

In reality bankruptcy like this is virtually unheard of and struggling companies are often bought out by competitors, it can happen though and if you would like to know more read our dedicated page on gambling companies that fail and what happens to customer money.

Many people often ask whether bookies are legally obliged to pay out when a punter wins a bet. Most people would assume that bookmakers are held to the same standards as other businesses as gambling is now – in the UK at least – a fully regulated and licensed industry. In the same way that a consumer has rights when they buy something from a shop or online store, it would seem logical to presume that betting sites also have legal obligations to us punters.

For a long, long time bets were not legally enforced, nor was there any independent regulatory body. However, much changed when the 2005 Gambling Act was passed. This piece of government legislation had a range of objectives, one of which was “ensuring that gambling is conducted in a fair and open way”. The Act covered many different aspects of betting but one of its key elements was the creation of the Gambling Commission, a non-departmental public body.

Part of the government, the UK Gambling Commission was responsible for regulating, licensing and supervising a host of gambling activities, including bets on sport (and other events such as the weather, TV and so on).

Crucially the 2005 Gambling Act meant that gambling debts became legally enforceable, in theory at least, meaning that yes, bookies do indeed now have to pay out by law. There is lots of small print around this issue, however, and lots of “ifs”, “buts” and potential caveats. Before we explain more about those, let us first look at why gambling was not initially an issue with which the government concerned itself.

Before 2005 Gambling Debts Were Unenforceable

In the words of the legal experts, Pinsent Masons, the Gambling Act 2005 “replaces legislation dating as far back as 1845”. Amazing as it may seem, before that Act much of the legalese surrounding gambling was more than 150 years old!

One of the key aspects of the 1845 Gaming Act was to make bets legally unenforceable but instead they were considered a “debt of honour”. These provisions were covered in Sections 17 and 18 and although they were tweaked a little over the years, essentially they remained in place until 1st September 2007 (when all parts of the 2005 Act came into force).

This may seem incredibly odd to the modern reader but the reasoning was that by making bets non-legally binding the working classes would be discouraged from gambling. Gambling in betting houses, on horses and on other events had grown a lot and was increasingly being viewed as a social ill.

The government believed that this approach would give the police greater powers to restrict the betting habits of the working classes whilst simultaneously allowing the upper and middle classes to indulge in their favoured pursuits. It also removed the government from involvement in this area, allowing them to concentrate on what they considered more important matters than settling petty gambling disagreements.

So, If Bets Are Legally Binding, the Bookie Has to Pay?

Whilst the situation is much-changed since the 2005 Gambling Act, sadly a winning bet is not always a winning bet. If everything is above board and done fairly then a bookie is obliged to pay out and gambling debts are now legally enforceable.

However, what the bookie, the regulator and independent adjudicators think is fair might well differ from what you as a punter think is right and proper. Let us look at some reasons why a bookmaker might not pay out.

Palpable Error

One of the most common reasons a bookie may refuse to pay out on a bet, or more likely will pay out but at reduced odds, is when they have made an obvious error with their pricing. What constitutes an “obvious” error may not always be clear but perhaps the most common cause of a “palp” is when the bookmaker has got the odds for the teams or players the wrong way round.

Example 1

For example, hypothetically, if you saw that an FA Cup game between Man City and Scunthorpe at the Etihad and Man City to win was showing at odds of 33/1, with Scunthorpe odds-on favourites, it would be very clear and obvious to anyone who knew about football that these odds were the wrong way round. You could back City at 33/1, get your bet fully confirmed and see it stand for several hours or even days but almost certainly, at some stage, the bookie would realise their error.

In this instance they would be entirely within their rights to refuse payment at the accepted odds and instead pay out your bet at the price they should have been offering. Such palpable errors are not uncommon in tennis and other head-to-head sports, where due to a human or technical errors, the odds are inputted the wrong way round.

Example 2

Another fairly common example of a palpable error is similar and might arise due to a simple typo. For example a bookmaker might mean to offer odds of 10/1, but inadvertently offers 100/1, or even 1000/1. Once again, if you back this, even innocently, unaware that you are really getting odds 10 or more times what they should be, the most likely outcome is that the bookie becomes aware of their mistake and pays out your bet at the correct price.

The Independent Betting Adjudication Service (IBAS) – a dispute resolution service that adjudicates on customer disputes in the gambling industry – is very clear about betting sites not abusing this clause.

IBAS state that:

“‘Obvious error’ or ‘palpable error’ rules must not be used to protect operators from errors of judgement or movements in the market they have failed to detect and respond to.”

What that means is that a bookie cannot void a bet or pay at reduced odds just because they got the odds wrong, or were slow to react to changing information.

Looking at that second point, let us consider an example where a bookie prices Liverpool at evens to beat Chelsea, with the visitors available at 5/2. If, by a terrible slice of fortune, Virgil van Dijk, Alisson and Mo Salah all get injured in the warm up, a quick-off-the-mark punter might pile into the Blues at 5/2. In this instance, the bookie would not be able to claim this was a palp and the punter would get paid. And we suspect Jurgen Klopp would be having serious words with whoever led the pre-match exercises!

The Hole in One Gang

We turn to a very famous golf bet to illustrate the difference between a genuine pricing error, when the bookmaker has incorrectly assessed the market and a palpable error where they have made an “obvious” mistake. As said, a bookmaker cannot refuse to pay out when “errors of judgement” have led to the odds being wrong, and in 1991 (admittedly before debts were legally enforceable but the point still stands!) Paul Simmons and John Carter took advantage of this.

As reported in the Guardian newspaper, these two experienced punters calculated the odds of a hole in one in a professional golf tournament. They strongly suspected that the average independent bookmaker would expect aces to be far less common than they actually were. They were proved right to the tune of more than £500,000.

The pair toured the country checking what odds a range of bookies would give them on various hole in one bets covering five big tournaments. It is thought they placed a number of wagers at odds of up to 100/1, on an outcome now estimated to be more like 30/1 (on there being at least one hole in one in all five events).

The bookies made a big mistake and to some it may even have seemed obvious, at least in hindsight. However, it was a fair bet and a genuine error of judgement and so most of the bookies paid up.

Do Bookies Ever Pay Out for Palpable Errors?

Whilst betting sites do not need to pay out on such occasions, there have been times when they have. One of the most famous such instances was in the US and involved another potential cause of such errors, a technical glitch.

Back in 2018, FanDuel decided they would honour a bet they could have “palped” and paid out a very tidy sum of $82,000 after initially saying they wouldn’t. For 18 seconds they offered odds of 750/1 on the Denver Broncos to beat the Oakland Raiders, despite the true odds being 1/6. One lucky/clever/sharp punter managed to get $110 on the Broncos but was initially told he would not be paid as the odds were “an erroneous price over an 18-second period.”

Whether they did this due to pressure from the US regulator, out of a sense of fairness, or because they believed the publicity would be worth more than the liability of the bet is unclear. Newark-based punter Anthony Prince, and 11 other FanDuel punters who backed the Denver side probably don’t much care about the reason!

With FanDuel a relatively young company with cash to burn, most suspect they paid up to make the most of good publicity and avoid the bad publicity that would have come had they not. However, other bookies are concerned this may have set something of a precedent and may encourage punters to try and seek out such errors in the hope of still getting paid.

Right now any change in the UK approach to palps seems unlikely but if bookies ever were compelled to pay out for such errors they would simply have to recover those losses in another way. More than likely that would mean lower odds and fewer offers, so for the average recreational punter the current rules may actually work best.

From time to time though you may find that a bookie will still pay up even though the bet could have been voided (or paid at the “correct”, reduced odds). This might happen for a number of reasons. The bookmaker may decide the bad publicity or customer sentiment isn’t worth it in the case of a small amount, they may feel it was a borderline case or they may not even have spotted the error.

In relation to this last point, if you do ever see odds you think are definitely and obviously wrong you have two choices. You could place a bet and hope the bookie pays out or, if you are more honest, or simply want to play it safer, you can let the site’s customer service team know. If you ask nicely they’ll often give you a free bet for pointing this out and it’s definitely worth a try asking for one!

Bets Accepted in Error

Another example of a bet that a punter believes should be paid but that might not be is when a bookmaker or betting site accepts a bet in error. Once again, this does have many grey areas but also once again, does not include an error of judgement or bookmakers being slow to change their odds in the light of new information or a big market move.

Two examples of such errors, that could take place both in a bricks and mortar betting shop and also online are:

1. Bets accepted after an event has finished
2. Bets on related contingencies

The former is fairly self-explanatory. If a match or event has finished but, for whatever reason, the bookie still shows odds and confirms a bet, they will usually void the wager and return your stake. Perhaps a little confusingly, when it comes to bookmakers leaving in-play markets running longer than they should (for example on a correct score after a goal has been scored) bets will usually stand.

Related Contingencies

The second example, related contingencies, is one that some bettors will have heard of but many won’t. Related contingencies usually relate to accumulator bets and describe selections where the outcome of one leg, or contingency, is related to the outcome of another.

Example 1

An example might make that easier to understand in betting terms, so let us look at a hypothetical game of football and a hypothetical punter. Mrs Noob decides she wants to place a double on Dinamo Minsk to win and Dinamo Minsk to be winning at half time (yes, this was written during the dark days of the coronavirus when the Belarus premier League was one of the few things available for us to bet on!). She checks the odds and sees that:

• Dinamo Minsk to be ahead at half time is 15/8
• Dinamo Minsk to win is 11/10

She’s confident, being an expert on Belarusian football (like most of us rapidly became!) and so bets £100 on this double. She expects this to return a very tidy £603.75 including her stake, equating to handsome odds of just over 5/1.

She wins and goes to check her account, only to see a somewhat meagre, in comparison at least, balance of £360. This is because the two selections within the double were related. If Dinamo Minsk are ahead at half time and the first leg wins, they are then a lot more likely to go on and win the game, meaning that the odds for the second leg of the acca would be much lower than the 11/10 quoted.

As most football betting fans would know, the bet that Mrs Noob wanted to place would not be an acca but a single bet on the more specific half time/full time market. Here she would have found odds of 13/5, much lower than the 5/1 she was, wrongly, expecting.

Example 2

In theory, the bookies’ systems should not allow such a bet to be placed and should spot that the selected legs are related. However, sometimes such wagers do slip through and one famous example where the bookies refused to pay concerned a punt on it being a white Christmas back in 2009.

Southampton punter Cliff Bryant was expecting to be paid more than £7m but, as you might imagine, was somewhat miffed when Ladbrokes offered him just £31.78! He placed two £5 “accumulators” on there being snow in a number of UK post codes on Christmas Day 2009. The first bet included the following selections:

• Darlington
• Bradford
• Newcastle
• Leeds
• Durham
• Harrogate
• Huddersfield
• Halifax
• Wakefield

However, anyone with the slightest grasp of northern geography and the weather would know that if it snows in Leeds there is a strong chance it will also snow in Bradford. Indeed, snow in any one of these towns or cities makes the chances of snow in the others far better.

Ladbrokes said that the rules for this particular market stated that only single bets were accepted, not accas. The reason for this was that these were related contingencies. Each single was probably priced at around the 5/1 or 6/1 mark and that is what Ladbrokes paid out.

Had the wager been referred to Ladbrokes’ trading room they may have priced the selection as a single bet, covering snow in all nine areas. However, the odds this would have been far, far lower than the nine-fold accumulator, with 10/1 or 15/1 perhaps being a fair price.

What About Free Bets & Offers?

Another example of when the technology a bookmaker uses should prevent an error but sometimes doesn’t is free bets, bonuses or offers. With all free bets, it is really important to read the terms and conditions carefully. These days the most important terms are made very obvious but sometimes in the more detailed explanation there may be something crucial.

For example, some free bets might only be valid for use on a certain specific game or a particular sport. Alternatively others might only be usable in-play, or pre-match. On the other hand, the offer may not be available to all customers, and only to recipients of a particular email. Or it may be open to all, apart from those previously excluded from such offers (and if you are a punter that uses many different sites it is easy to lose track).

In theory, it should be impossible to use, for example, a football free bet, on a horse race. Equally, you would hope that bookies would not allow banned customers to claim an offer they weren’t eligible for.

However, in practice sometimes a site might allow this initially before something flags it up. Ideally this would happen before the event has started and the bookie can simply return your free bet. However, it is possible that they may only notice when it comes to paying winnings and if this is the case they may not pay out.

Breaching Ts & Cs

Whilst using a bonus offer on the wrong sport would probably be an innocent mistake, breaching some of the more serious terms and conditions a bookie puts in place is another reason why you might find they don’t, and indeed don’t have to, pay a winning bet.

Such terms are usually in place to try and stop people taking advantage of free bets and offers in an unfair way. They are not there to catch out normal punters betting for fun, even if they do land winners. We want to make that clear because more often than not bookies do act fairly and above board, especially the biggest and best of them.

That said, it is possible that you could accidentally come a cropper even when you were just an innocent recreational punter. Few people like to read every bit of small print and whilst sites make the most important bits very clear, it is still far from hard to miss something.

Ways Bookmakers Terms Could Be Breached

Inadvertently or not, the following are just some of the ways that you might breach a bookmaker’s terms and, possibly, see them refuse to pay out on a winning bet:

• Most sites allow one customer per address, household or shared IP address
• All sites only allow you to hold one account
• Most free bets include a term prohibiting strategies that guarantee a profit (for example backing under 2.5 goals and over)
• Some sites do not allow Courtsiding

Maximum Payout

Another part of a bookie’s small print that many punters are not aware of concerns maximum pay outs. All betting sites have a cap on the amount you can win and this varies between sports and events. Whilst the biggest games, for example the World Cup final in football, or a big Premier League game, might have a maximum win of £1m or even more, for more niche sports and events it might be as little as £50,000, or even less.

Perhaps unfairly, a bookmaker will still accept a stake knowing that it would produce a win above their threshold. This is morally dubious but it is an example of knowledge being a powerful thing.

Returning to our disgruntled White Christmas punter, even if the accumulator had been legitimate, Ladbrokes would not have paid out the £7m+ that was quoted in newspaper reports. Let us assume the maximum payout on this novelty market was at the lower end, for example £200,000. Let us also assume for the sake of simplicity that it was a single £10 bet, rather than two bets of £5 each.

The Southampton-based punter risked £10 but could only stand to win £200,000. He could have achieved that same £200,000 win by staking just 29p! In other words, he risked an unnecessary additional £9.71 with no potential upside.

When a Winner Isn’t a Winner

Yet another example of forewarned being forearmed relates, once again, to the terms and conditions of the bookmaker. In this case we are talking about the rules that govern a bet. Experienced punters will be well aware of common potential pitfalls but our previous punter Mrs Noob, and indeed many less knowledgeable bettors might not.

We’ve already said that a bookmaker might not pay on a winning bet so you can be sure they won’t pay on a losing one, no matter how convinced you were it was a winner. The following are just a few of the ways in which a bet you thought had won might not have, or at least it had returned lower odds than you expected. Note that some of these we cover in great depth in dedicated articles on that topic so if you aren’t sure what we mean, check out that specific feature.

• Rule 4 – In racing, a late withdrawal may mean a reduced payout
• Dead Heat – Where a number of horses, teams or players tie, dead heat rules will usually apply
• 90 Minutes Only – In football, the vast majority of bets apply to 90 minutes (plus added time) only, so extra time goals will not count. Note the same applies in other sports such as rugby
• Draws & Ties – Some sports differentiate between a draw and a tie and equally some markets offer the draw as a bet whilst others don’t (in this instance, if the game ends level, for example with a handicap of +1, it is a push and your stake will be returned)
• Own Goals – In football, own goals do not count for many goalscorer markets
• Postponements & Abandonments – If a game is postponed, curtailed or abandoned some bets will stand, some will move forward to the rescheduled date (usually if it is replayed without much delay) and others will be voided

What Can I Do If a Bookie Doesn’t Pay?

Do Bookies Have To Pay Out By Law School

No matter what the reason a bookmaker is refusing to pay what you believe to be a winning bet, the first place to start is always the bookmaker themselves. Get in touch with their customer support team and you may well find a valid explanation.

This may be that it was simply an error on their part and they’ll pay up, if you’re lucky. If you are less fortunate they may explain that it was an error on your part and you may well see why they are right not to pay up.

If neither of those things happen and you continue to believe you should be paid whilst the customer service representative doesn’t, the next option would be to escalate the issue within the business. It might not be easy but try to speak to a manager who may understand your issue better or may even be able to credit your account “as a gesture of goodwill”, depending on the circumstances.

Independent Betting Adjudication Service (IBAS)

If you are still not getting anywhere then the aforementioned Independent Betting Adjudication Service (IBAS) is a good next port of call. They state the following stats on their site for 2019, which shows they are far from powerless.

• Total Value of Payments Awarded or Conceded to Customers: £634,426
• Total Requests for Adjudication: 6,282

Their site is easy to use and the process is simple enough, although it can often move at the pace of a tortoise with three bad legs. That said, if you get the end result you were after, it will probably be worth the wait.

If IBAS do not find in your favour their process does allow for you to request they review their decision. If you are still unsuccessful then another route to explore is the Gambling Commission. They usually advise using IBAS or a similar body so they may not offer much help, however, depending on the nature of the issue they may be able to advise. It is worth noting that IBAS state that:

The Gambling Commission does not conduct an investigation in the same way as IBAS (i.e. with a published final decision) nor does it ever make financial awards to customers. However, on some occasions the outcome of a regulatory investigation may either persuade an operator to make a payment to the complainant or provide grounds for the complainant to take the matter to court.

So, whilst the Commission cannot compel a bookmaker to pay your bet, their opinion may make them change their mind. If they won’t, it could at least help with your next option: court.

Taking a Bookie to Court

Taking a bookmaker to court is a last resort and history suggests that if neither IBAS nor the Gambling Commission can help, you may be fighting a losing battle. None the less, if you feel strongly about your case and feel you have wrongly been denied your winnings then you can go down this avenue.

There are some legal firms who specialise in such matters can advise, although of course this is never a cheap option. Depending on the value of the claim the small claims court may be a good idea. Indeed, starting proceedings in this way may encourage the bookie to pay up as for a small amount they may decide it is not worth their time and effort (although if that was the case one might argue they would have paid up sooner).

Whatever legal process you opt for, as said, the stats don’t indicate your odds of success will be good. There are many examples of punters losing cases in court against betting sites, including one in which a former bookmaker sued Coral. In contrast there are far fewer reports of bookmakers being the losing party in the courts.

One bookie did settle out of court in a £1m case, although they are believed to have paid out around £200,000. In addition, there have been cases where bookmakers have lost in court but these have involved failing to properly protect problem gamblers or other similar issues.

Sadly, however, when it comes to forcing a bookie to pay a bet they don’t want to, it is almost unheard of for a punter to win. They don’t want bad publicity so more often than not will pay up. If your decent, honest request has been rebuffed, and the Gambling Commission and IBAS have all failed to get you a result, perhaps you should accept defeat.