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If you’ve been researching how to make money from football betting then it’s quite feasible that you’ve come across the term ‘gubbing’. Here we explain what it is and how you can stop it happening.
What is Gubbing?
Gubbing is a term bettors use. It essentially means that your account with an online bookmaker has been deactivated or limited. The severity of the restrictions can vary quite dramatically.
You will get a notification advising you if such an action is taken against your account but you won’t get any warnings that it’s coming. The only other thing to note is that the bookie is unlikely to use the term ‘gubbed’ when notifying you.
What Does it Mean for my Account?
Quite simply, if your intention is to make money from football betting, you do not want to be gubbed.
The deactivation of an account is exactly what it sounds like. You had an account. Now you don’t. You will not be able to place any further wagers with the bookmaker behind your gubbing. You will, however, you won’t lose any balance in your account. If a bookie decides to limit you things work a little bit differently.
Being limited means that a bookmaker will restrict how much money you can stake on your bets. How tight these limits are can flex an awful lot. For example, some bookies will place a blanket restriction on your account i.e. you’ll only be able to place a maximum of X on any bet you place whilst others might tighten their controls on certain bet types – particularly around free bet offers.
The amount you’re limited to staking can also vary wildly. There have been instances of people being limited to a maximum of £10 per bet whilst it’s not uncommon for accounts to be tied down to a maximum of 10p.
Why do Bookies Gub Accounts?
Generally speaking, when an account is gubbed it’s because they’re making too much money from the bookie. The typical strategies that fall foul of gubbing are things like matched betting and arbitrage betting.
The reason for this is because you’re guaranteed to pull in more winnings than your average punter. That stands out to the bookies systems and a winning customer that constantly finds value is not what bookmakers want.
How to Avoid Being Gubbed?
The first thing to stress here is not to stop with your chosen strategy be it matched betting or arbitrage opportunities. That’s where you will build your income. It’s imperative to your long term bank roll that you continue working on that if you’re serious about making money from football betting.
That said, regardless of the method you use, you should follow certain rules when placing your bets.
Firstly, try not to stray into obscure leagues. If you’re regularly winning bets from the top tiers of the English pyramid or the top European leagues then it’s completely feasible you’ve got decent knowledge and done research (this is something plenty of punters do), however, scooping wins on a consistent basis from other leagues that don’t have the same coverage stands out like a sore thumb.
The other thing you should be doing is placing an upper limit on the odds you’ll back at. It seems counterintuitive when your goal is making as much money as possible but longevity is the key. The occasional win at odds of 8.00, 9.00 or 10.00 is fine now and then but, again, if you keep taking that sort of cash off a bookie and they’ll know about it. A decent guide is to try and stick to odds of 5.00 or less.
Beyond that, another good way to avoid gubbing is to practice some common behaviours of the average punter. This is known as mug betting. If you’re rigidly sticking to one of the strategies we’ve mentioned then you’ll be pulling in a reasonable profit each month. Allow yourself to spend some of it on normal bets. By this we mean things like placing a weekly accumulator (small stakes circa £1 should be enough), throwing the occasional stake on a random market e.g. if you always work on match results for your strategy then stake in the BTTS market and, every now and then, don’t be afraid to dip your toes into the casino section and have a couple of spins.
If you lose that cash it’s no problem. It’s just supporting your longer term ability to win from the overarching strategy you use. If you do win the occasional return then happy days.
There you have it, a guide to gubbing and how to avoid being gubbed.
Good luck and, as always, bet safe.
