Mybookie, is this standard in sports betting land?

[PROFRBcom]

I don't do a ton of sports betting work. Hardly any in fact. So when it comes to pure sportsbooks, I have no experience.

I just came across this image, shared online, of MyBookie informing a customer they would begin taking $5, or 5% of the account balance each month (the larger of the two) for inactivity.

Is this normal??

[WBM]

I have that issue with some Forex brokers I promote

[chaumi]

Unheard of for me..Betfair, B3, WillHill, BetVictor, Corals, Ladbrokes, Skybet, PaddyP, 888bet, BetFred, (and a few more can't even remember). Some of those not used for years (hence not even sure the accounts would still be open but would be surprised if not), couple maybe twice a year at most, first 4 regularly.

Have a vague memory of maybe getting something from someone like bet-at-home a couple of years ago but ignored it if I did...was nowt in the account anyway!!

[Sherlock]

It is something that happened at skrill/neterller, where it is most alarming, because they are defacto a bank. Than it happened at BetDSI (where they supposedly even offer interest). Happened at bets10.

I think (not sure) it happened at Pinnacle and Bet365 too (pardon me if I am confusing something).

I think if I leave money for 5+ years at random bookies, I will find them at less than 50%. The rule is sometimes "because you did not log to account for X months/years".

Just a nature of our scammy reality.

Where this did not happen was 5dimes RIP. They kept my forgotten balance for 10+ years.

[TheGooner]

It's not "standard" but I've seen a few places (maybe 20%) do this both Euro facing and US facing - not just sportbooks.

Gamebookers, Betsson and BetCris have all done it in the past.

I do not know why they think this is a good idea - although I suspect that the programs rent the customer software on a per-user basis and so may be paying a monthly fee per registered user.

[Sherlock]

Even if the software is not rented, there are costs of maintaining the database and clients. This is why some bookies and institutions close the accounts. I think that is the Bet365 and Bwin case after a very short period (so I was wrong) and I am not sure what they do with balances, but I guess after a while they seize it.

In case of Bet365 they do as much software in house as possible, and they still close the dormant accounts.

[Mattbar]

Many operators simply make an account dormant but you can reactivate by contacting them and they don't take fees. Some, including many big brands like Paddy Power (see below) do start to charge fees after 12 months, it is common practice:

If you hold an active account on our Paddy Power website, you face no charges. If your account stays inactive for 13 consecutive months and has a positive balance, a monthly charge will apply, called a dormant account charge. A dormant account charge is required to compensate Paddy Power for the costs incurred in maintaining dormant accounts.

Save for customers registered in the United Kingdom, Inactive Account Fees apply to all Paddy Power customers.
The monthly charge is £/€5. Your balance will never be negative. Once the balance is 0, no further charges will apply.

In the UK the UKGC stipulates 12 months needs to have passed before an account can be classed as dormant and fees can be charged (https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.u...t-your-account) but they need to try to return money to the customer and give 30 days notice before they do.

I wrote an article about this recently (https://www.newbettingsites.co/artic...ccounts-funds/)

[tufty]

I am sure the Coral scumbags threatened this on my betting account.