It is also an extremely common practice, not least because shrewd punters, the actual or potential winners whose bets eat into the bookies’ profit margin, often cannot get a bet accepted any other way. Third-party betting is a breach of the T&Cs of all online gambling firms. He used the bank details of around a dozen friends, acquaintances and family members – with their knowledge – to sign up for accounts with Bet365 and take advantage of the bonuses and offers that all firms dangle – for new customers only – as carrots to keep their client lists growing. That, however, may no longer be the case.ĭavid (not his real name) is a former Bet365 customer and his breach of the T&Cs was “third-party betting”. The gambling business, in other words, generally holds all the aces, with another up their sleeve just in case, but until quite recently, the worst that a punter could expect for a breach of the T&Cs was account closure, with any balance (including their initial stake) retained by the bookmaker. And when all else fails, there may well be something in the extensive terms and conditions (T&Cs) that 99% of punters sign up to without reading that will come to the bookie’s aid.
