*General Notes on Rules Differences

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Man of Mystery

I opened my Betfair account on 22nd April 2003. I was one of the first subscribers to Adam Todd's BetTrader and was a founding partner of JuiceStorm.com on 17th February 2007.

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Trawling through reams of rules and t&cs when you sign up to a bookie is extremely tedious, and most people don’t bother. Much of it is the same for all bookies anyway, although there can be important differences (some bookies charge for “dormant” accounts for instance). However, the sports rules section is important, as it can cost you a lot of money if you back and lay with different rules. Before arbing at an unfamiliar bookie I always look up the rules for the sport I am arbing, just in case there are any hidden “nasties” lurking in there.

When compiling the Bookie pages I have usually checked the rules on Tennis, Cricket and Baseball as these are the most common source of problems. The rules on these can be found in the top part of the page under “Sports Rules” and if there is no information there and you cannot find it yourself it is safest not to bet on these sports with that bookmaker. Remember that bookies can change their rules without warning, and often the first you know about it is when they don’t pay out when you expect them to. All you can do is keep checking.

The most popular sports are listed below. There are several other sports with markets available at Betfair although liquidity is often very low. My experience with arbing these is not good – I once took an arb on a handball match because I was desperate to get through a time limited wager requirement. There was nothing wrong with the arb, but the bookie (Gamebookers) immediately limited my account to zero and I had to forfeit the whole bonus in order to get my money out. It cost me £25. My advice is to leave obscure sports alone.

Remember the most important rule : If in doubt, don’t bet.

There are a huge number of different markets on various sports, many of which I know absolutely nothing about. If I haven’t mentioned a particular market, you should always check the rules for that market carefully at both Betfair and the bookie before you bet. If you discover any rules differences which might be dangerous, please let us know – thanks!