Summary
- Whistleblowers reveal tricks betting operators are using
- Stake factoring common practice in the betting market
- Successful punters limited from betting while losers given more freedom
The betting market in countries like the United States and the United Kingdom continues to flourish as more punters sign-up with online sportsbooks and place bets on a regular basis. Gambling regulators have expressed concerns over the increase in problem gambling numbers and have asked betting operators to do more to protect their players.
A number of whistleblowers who have asked to remain anonymous have shared inside strategies that betting operators in the UK use to maximize their profits. They share details of stake factoring that a lot of UK bookmakers such as William Hill and Paddy Power user with their players.
Stake Factoring Common Industry Practice
Stake factoring is where bookmakers assign a number to each player as soon as they create an account. When they start out, they all start out with the same number which allows them to bet 100 percent on any games they like. However, once they start betting, that stake factoring number gets adjusted based on their win/loss percentages.
A player who ends up betting and losing a lot, tends to get a higher number while a bettor who ends up winning against the house, gets a lower number. An example of this would be: when you create your account, you are given 1 as a stake factoring number. If you end up betting and losing, that number will climb higher but if you end up betting and winning, you will fall below 1.
Bookmakers do this to make sure that successful bettors do not get the opportunity to bet on everything as it causes a loss to the house while unsuccessful bettors get the opportunity to bet on everything and lose more money as it makes the house profitable. This clearly shows that bookmakers are using data to manipulate their unsuspecting players.
Data Used To Protect Players
Bookmakers justify the use of this industry practice called stake factoring as they say these use it to identify players who are spending too much and caution them about going overboard or offer them help to deal with problem gambling. Betting operators also have a secret team of analysts who continuously analyse betting data to get rid of players who could be a problem due to their location, betting habits or source of funds!
