Top Tips To Avoid Being Gubbed
Justin Legg
2 Aug 2019
Updated: 24 Apr 2023
Unfortunately being gubbed is part and parcel of the matched betting journey, at some point along the way you will receive the dreaded gubbing email from a bookmaker. At times when you are gubbed, you can kind of know why then other times you may place only a handful of bets and also be gubbed for no apparent reason. Whilst we cannot 100% prevent a gubbing, there are steps that we can take that can help us to preserve our account health.
What Does Being Gubbed Mean?
In a nutshell, being gubbed, or a gubbing means that your account has been limited by a bookmaker and you will no longer be able to take advantage of the special offers or promotions. Some bookmakers will go a step further and implement a stake restriction on your bets. If you are stake restricted by a bookie it means that you will not be able to place large value stakes with them. There are certain bookies that take this to the extreme and restrict you to 1p bets, yes 1p bets!
What Can You Do If You Are Gubbed?
Well, in all honesty, nothing really! You just need to take it on the chin and move on to the next opportunity at the next bookie. The important thing is to not take it personally and stew on it. Just move on, it’s not the end of the world and you can still continue Matched Betting. Our Platinum and Diamond members can take a look at this great guide on how to use gubbed accounts.
Ways To Avoid Being Gubbed
As mentioned earlier, sometimes bookies will just gub you but you can try some things to keep your account healthy.
Rather than making the smallest qualifying loss every time on a 99% match, try taking a 90-93% match instead. Yes, you will make slightly less profit, but as long as your still making good profit from the overall offer then this is the best thing to do.
If you see one particular bookie with a much worse price than others, do a Mug Bet on it (a pointless Matched Bet that doesn't unlock an offer and incurs a small loss like a Qualifying Bet does). This will hopefully mark you down as both a loyal and also a mug punter to that bookie. Punters always taking value prices we wouldn’t, for example, Liverpool at 1.91 with them when you can readily get 2.0 elsewhere.
Bookies are increasingly offering in-play reload promotions. As a result of this, it might be a good idea to do at least a few in-play mug bets every now and again.
Bookies like punters who place accumulator or acca bets due to the fact that bookies have a much higher over-round on accas, therefore they make more profit. Platinum members can find a full guide on how to Matched Bet accumulators here.
When you place your bets try and avoid betting on the really obscure events, aim for popular events like the Premier League or Champions League. Normal punters are unlikely to be placing bets on the Peruvian u19 League so you should not bet on this either, even if there is a great oddsmatch!
Don’t do every £25 promotion with a £25 bet or you will look like you are just hitting it for the bonus. If the offer is “up to £25” then you can do less. Even doing £20 with Matched Betting will give you in profit and not look like your just there just for the bonus. Also, you can bet more than the minimum too, this will also look better on your account.
Don’t do Mug Matched Bets with small stakes then normal Matched Bets and Free Bets always with larger stakes. Betting £25 on every offer then only mug betting £5 will not only look odd but will also mark you out as someone mainly interested in the offers. Mug bet at around your normal stake level.
You need to consider your account if you're going to seem like a mug punter. Don’t just jump on every offer regardless of the sport. Build up a profile of betting on certain sports and do the offers on those. If you do see a great offer on say Basketball, then, by all means, do the offer but make sure to place some Basketball mug bets too.
Browse the bookie! Mug punters don’t just log in and place their bets and leave. They peruse the site for a while and check out odds on other events, promotions etc.
More bets are placed by mug punters on their phones these days, than on any other device. Try to do this too if you can.
The main takeaway from this is do not be afraid of being gubbed. If it happens it happens, there are plenty of bookies out there for us to take advantage of.
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