A List of the Reasons Why Sports Books May Deny Action

Published on September 29th, 2019 6:45 pm EST
Written By: Dave Manuel


When a sportsbook says No Thank You.  Illustration. Sports books are adamant that they never deny action from gamblers, though this is certainly not the case.

Sports books are entitled to take or deny bets from anybody that they choose for any reason that they want - they are not obligated to take a bet and don't have to give a reason for denying you action.

If you go up to a betting window in Las Vegas or try to place a bet online, the sports book can simply say "no thanks" and there is absolutely nothing that you can do about it.

With that being said, what are the most common reasons that a sports book would deny action to somebody? Here is a list:

1) You win too much. Sports books will claim that they never close accounts or reduce maximum bets due to somebody being a winner, though this is not the case. Even the most reputable sports books in the world will reduce the size of your maximum bets (or even close your account) if you win too much - this is just the reality.

If you are a winning sports bettor, you have almost certainly had an account closed at some point.

2) The wager is just too big. Sports books need to manage their liability. While the odds are priced in such a way so that there is theoretically a similar amount of liabilities on both sides of the wager (minus vig, of course), a very large bet will create a very large potential liability for the book.

If you walk into Las Vegas and want to put down a $5 million wager on the Super Bowl, you will likely have a very hard time finding a book that is willing to accept that level of action.

People with very, very large bet amounts will usually have a hard time finding a book that is willing to let them bet.

3) You are banned for some reason. Casinos can ban you for all sorts of different reasons. Maybe you were verbally abusive to an employee. Maybe you were caught doing something that you shouldn't have been (card counting, for instance). Maybe you have an outstanding bill. Maybe you were banned from another casino.

There are a number of reasons as to why a casino could ban you, and this is certainly a reason why your action would be declined.

4) The game is Off The Board. If something has happened - say, a superstar player get injured at practice - the sports book will take a game "off the board" until they can post revised odds.

If this is the case, be patient, as the sports book will likely have a new line (that reflects the changed circumstances) up shortly.

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These are the four major reasons why a sports book could deny you action.

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