How to Avoid Getting Banned or Limited By Sports Books
By JV Miller | Professional Sports Bettor & Publisher, ProfessionalGambler.org
For most sports bettors, getting banned or limited by a sports book for winning too much is something they will never need to worry about. Some recreational sports bettors may actually believe it sounds glamorous and appealing.
But for professional-level sports bettors, getting banned or limited for excessive winnings is a serious problem that is incredibly frustrating and usually not reversible.
A growing number of industry experts believe sports books may face legal challenges banning or limiting bettors for no other reason than winnings. In an op-ed written for USA Today Network, professional sports handicapper JV Miller, an industry leader who pushes back against sports books banning or limiting winning bettors, asserts: "When word gets out that winning sports bettors are not welcome at licensed sports books, sports bettors will simply do business with sports books licensed in other countries or unlicensed local bookies."
The good news is, getting banned or limited from a sports book for taking too much of their money is avoidable. In this article we will cover some of the things you can do to consistently place winning bets at sports books without ruffling their feathers.
Avoid betting "player props."
This will sting. Player props have exploded in popularity. But unfortunately, player props are a lose-lose for the sports bettor. This is because you are only welcome to make these wagers if you are losing. If you acquire the ability to beat the sports books at player props (which can be done), you will be banned. There is no future in betting player props.
Player-prop-style wagers are descendants of the fantasy sports business and a terrible fit for sports betting. This is because these wagers are capitalized differently than traditional wagers. In With traditional wagers, winning bettors are paid by losing bettors. With player props, bettors' winnings come right off the sports book's bottom line.
To learn more about how player props get you banned and limited, read our free article Player Prop Bets and Parlays.
Avoid arbitrage bets.
An occasional arbitrage wager should be okay, but if arbing is the majority of your action, don't expect to be around that sports book for long. Arbing is like counting cards in a casino. There's nothing illegal about it, but you will be shown the door if they catch you doing it.
Avoid chasing slow line moves or "steam betting."
This form of sports betting is essentially capitalizing on the sports book's sloppiness. When a major sports book moves a line following some kind of pertinent information such as an injury to a key player, other sports books will immediately move their line as well. Sometimes, good old-fashioned human error can cause a delay in a sports book getting the line moved. Opportunist sports bettors watch for these sluggish line moves and put a bet down on the bad line. Profiting off the human error of the sports books' employees does not sit too well with the sports books. This will get you banned.
Open accounts at prediction markets and betting exchanges.
The future of sports betting lies in prediction markets. Sports betting is a market, and the prediction market model nails it. Prediction markets have everything a professional sports bettor needs to be successful and more besides. While they don't have all the bells and whistles, that stuff usually isn't good for sports bettors anyway.
Prediction markets do not care if you arbitrage, as they have no dog in the fight. They may not have comparable player props, but remember from earlier in this article: player props are not real sports bets; they're fantasy sports products.
Bet with as many sports books as possible so you are betting at each one as little as possible.
Spread out your bets instead of betting with the same shop every day. It only takes opening accounts at three sports books to bet with only one every three days. Why not have accounts at five sports books? Or more?
When you open accounts at additional sports books, make sure they are "additional."
Make sure you don't open up two (or more) account with the same outfit. Sports books owners are notorious for creating multiple "concepts" under one roof. Oftentimes sports bettors believe they are diversified with accounts spread over numerous sports books, only to find they have opened multiple accounts with the same company.
This is a sneaky way for sports books to trick you into depositing more money in their operation.
TIP: To ensure you are truly working with different owners, open accounts with sports books in different countries. The best sports books in the world are located in these countries: Costa Rica, Gibraltar, USA, the Bahamas, Antigua, Canada and Panama.
Throw off the algorithms by betting in increments that appear "recreational" not "professional."
For instance, place bets for $1000 (or $100) or $500 (or $50), etc. Do not bet in increments of $910 (or $91) or $1100 (or $110.)
Spend (lose) a few bucks every now and then playing your sports books' online casino games -- such as slots, keno, roulette or any other kind of sucker bet that recreational bettors play.
Video poker is a good game at which to lose twenty bucks or so every now and then to keep you off the algorithm's hot sheet.
Unlike previous advice from us over the years, we now advise that you take the sports books up on their bonus offers (to an extent, read the fine print).
While these bonuses can sometimes complicate getting your winnings out in the future, we have found that when you decline the bonuses, you are put on a watch list from the very beginning.
Whenever you speak to someone at the sports book (customer service, account manager, etc.), do not use pro-level lingo.
Play dumb. Ask a stupid question or talk about how good the Cowboys are going to be next season.
No ads, no kickbacks
We have no affiliate relationships with any sportsbook. We are not paid to send you anywhere, and we don't. That's worth stating up front, because most of what's written on this subject is published by sites that earn a commission on every account they refer — which makes candor about how those books treat winners structurally difficult.
We win when the sportsbooks win
We focus and specialize on selections that are not contrary to the sportsbooks’ position. Our winning selections are paid by the losing recreational bettors on the other side of the transaction, not from the sportsbooks' bottom line.
We specifically seek out those wagers in well-funded markets wherein the sportsbooks have opted to take a position rather than balance the action. The sportsbooks stand to profit handsomely from these wagers, which typically exploit popular public opinion. In these scenarios, the sportsbooks are—for all intents and purposes—"gambling" against their own customers. This occurs when they believe the public is willing to lay an unreasonable number of points or odds.
When we spot such a scenario, we bet against the public opinion as well—which means we are down on the same side as the sportsbook.
Because recreational action today—post legalization—dwarfs the size of sharp action, our winnings only slightly lessen the take for the sportsbooks. We’re not a disruption to their cashflow and not a blip on their radar screen.
The result is we only win when the sportsbooks win. When they lose, we lose.
The vast majority of banned sports bettors are banned for cheating—not winning.
That distinction matters, because bettors who try to cheat the system rarely admit this is the reason they are banned. Claiming excessive winnings sounds better to friends and peers than admitting they were caught doing something nefarious.
J.R. Miller and brother R.J., Las Vegas, 1979
JV Miller (J.R.'s son, R.J.'s nephew), Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas, 2024
Watch JV Miller on Fox Business
Watch JV Miller on CBS Sports
Is it legal? Probably not.
No, you don't have the right to have a sports book account.
However, mutual inherent risk is what traditionally separates a casino from a sportsbook. We have expressed concern that banning winning bettors could mean that sportsbooks operate too much like a casino—and that’s a no-no.
Casinos are not legal in some places.
In Tennessee, for example, casinos and all forms of gambling are illegal, except for explicit carveouts in the law for the lottery and sports betting. When sportsbooks start operating like a casino, it causes friction with the lottery and state laws.
The question of just how far sportsbooks can go to limit winning bettors will eventually be answered in our courts and legislatures. We've argued publicly that this is bad for the industry and bad for the customer — in an op-ed published in the USA TODAY Network(opens in new tab). Arguing it and living with it are different things, and the rest of this page is about living with it.
J.R. Miller and Howard Schwartz, Legendary Proprietor of Gamblers Book Club, Las Vegas, 1985
J.R. Miller interviewed by KLAS-TV About Success of His Blockbuster Hit Book, 1990
If you are facing a sportsbook ban or limitation, do not get discouraged. Getting banned or limited is less of a problem today than any time since sports betting was legalized in 2018. This is thanks to the competition among sportsbooks and the arrival of prediction markets and betting exchanges.
While we can never know the future, if the past is any indication of what’s to come, our clients have a very bright future of limitation-free action due to placing the right style of bets at the right establishments. Again, nobody knows what the future holds, but I am in the prediction business. Good luck.
Sportsbooks have a lot more up their sleeve than just banning winning bettors
We advise a small number of professional-level bettors on exactly this — navigating the sportsbooks, prediction markets, betting exchanges and more.
Unmasking the inner workings of the sports book industry is an invaluable focus of our team.
Sportsbooks today are run differently than they were just a decade ago. It is a highly insulated and private industry.
JV Miller is one of the few people who knows the sportsbook industry inside and out, and he shares this information with his clients. This is must-know information for every serious-minded sports bettor.
JV Miller