Ladbrokes is a joke Yes, it’s becoming harder to get a bet on with all of them these days, like most people I do most of my bets online now but even online they can monitor you and if you start winning consistently they will restrict you, it hasn’t happened to me yet (obviously I am not winning consistently enough) but I know people who have.
This £400 rule in Ladbrokes/Coral shops really takes the biscuit though, as far as I know others like Paddy Power and Betfred don’t have this. So basically, even if you stick £200 on an even money shot or £300 on a 1/3 for example, it is investigated because the payout is £400 or over. I am assuming what they are investigating is that similar bets on same horse have not been placed in other shops in area, so what if they were? Would they have the right to refuse to pay out? And you can’t get around it by placing a number of smaller bets on same horse in one shop as that is flagged up straightaway. So basically, what they are saying is don’t have a proper bet with us. The thing is, 20 years ago (in pre-FOBT era) you could easily put similar or even bigger bets on in these shops and get paid without any hassle if you won. They have obviously got so used to the risk-free profits they make from FOBTs, that they are now too scared to take proper bets on racing as it involves risk of making a loss for them.
