Suspicious Betting Patterns?

**Justin7** · 09-14-09, 03:27 PM

I've never heard of that from BoDog. If a book lowers your limits, that's fair even without a raeson. If they hold your money up, they need something more than foggy allegations.

**brandonsvsu** · 09-14-09, 03:33 PM

yeah I know they can legitimately lower your limits for no reason given, I was just curious as to the meaning of "suspicious betting patterns." They even offered to pay me the remainder of my balance, via Fed Ex, free of charge (would have been my second withdraw of the month so there would have been a fee) if I would close my account.

But with a bet limit of $1, its pretty pointless for me to play there anymore anyways.

**DukeJohn** · 09-14-09, 03:41 PM

Originally posted by brandonsvsu

When a sportsbook accuses you of "suspicious betting patterns," what exactly does that mean?

I was accused of this by bodog last year. Through a lot of back and forth emailing I never really got a direct answer from them.

In the end, they paid me my money but reduced my betting limit to $1.

Sounds like steam betting... or maybe you bet and then the lines would move, meaning you are part of a syndicate or something... those are the "suspicious betting patterns" that 1st come to mind...

**RickySteve** · 09-14-09, 04:31 PM

That's just Bodog's term for them taking the worst of it. They told me the same thing.

**Rich Boy** · 09-14-09, 04:34 PM

Play at Pinny or Matchbook and you wont have this problem.

**GoodOldTed** · 09-14-09, 04:44 PM

betting steam, betting on a match where the result is suspicious (bent tennis match, football match where everybody seems to know that team A won't be trying too hard today etc), betting the maximum across several accts they believe to be linked, or maybe coincidentally, you happen to be betting on the same team/player as some guys they know are dodgy (wouldn't be hard if you bet steam from time to time), but keep their accts open to get the info first...

or it's just their stock standard line because you're winning and they want to cut you back.

**brandonsvsu** · 09-14-09, 06:21 PM

In my case it was using their LIVE betting (specifically, play-by-play football betting). I had what they probably considered an unfair advantage - I was watching the game on over-the-air tv which turned out to be about 2-3 seconds ahead of the satellite signal. So quite often I was able to see the teams' formation on the field while the lines were still up, and I bet primarily on complete and incomplete passes when no running back was in the backfield. This proved to give me about a +10 percent expected payout (I was making $110 for every $100 bet).

I can see where they would consider this an unfair advantage, but the way I saw it, I was one of probably thousands of bettors relying on an OTA tv signal, many of whom had the same advantage as me. Plus, I saw nothing in their terms of service that required me to be watching the game via a satellite feed.

But this year, that advantage no longer exists post-digital transition.

**rm18** · 09-14-09, 06:44 PM

i got the same thing, i got cut to 500 and 200 on props then phone online for $500, they both said suspicious betting patterns

**rm18** · 09-14-09, 06:44 PM

both times they say if this is an inconvenience we are sorry and will close your account or something like that

**andywend** · 09-15-09, 04:53 AM

"Suspicious betting patterns" is Bodog's standard line when they cut your limits for the sole reason you're winning too much.

It has nothing to do with betting steam or anything else.

For years, BoDog put up tons of obscure prop bets that were poorly handicapped and their bettors crushed them. Instead of doing better handicapping, they would simply send all of their winning bettors the "suspicious betting pattern" email with a limit reduction.

BoDog also loves to use the term, "we are a recreational sportsbook" which means they prefer to only deal with people who have no clue what they're doing (AKA losing bettors).

5 Dimes operates exactly the same way.