Account Closed with Position on US Election

[rwtig123]

I currently have a £65k position on Biden to win the US election and will win around £12k (I have never bet anywhere near this amount of money before) on Betfair Exchange. I have had a Betfair account for 12 years and really felt I could trust the exchange.

However I have just tried to log into my account and I have been informed it has been closed. I am obviously very worried.

I wasn't informed that my account was going to be closed but had been completing some quite thorough KYC the past month.

I just called the contact number for Betfair and they informed me all my current open bets are still there and that I need to speak to customer service over the messaging service.

Are there any advice or pointers that can help me out, I'm currently incredibly worried.

Thank you very much

[Dallas]

There are a few threads similar appeared in the last few months (slightly different reasons to yours) but there's been plenty of advice and links posted on them which you could try
viewtopic.php?f=15&t=22382
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=22258
viewtopic.php?f=15&t=21503
viewtopic.php?f=15&t=20934

Frustrating/stressful as it may be if you've done nothing wrong and had the account that length of time then once the checks they'd already started are complete they'll release the money.

Hope you get it sorted soon

[rwtig123]

Thanks Dallas. A quick update, it took a while but I was able to get through to a member of staff on the help chat who confirmed my exposure on the election. Having this in writing has eased a lot of my worries and I'll be able to actually sleep tonight.

I imagine I will now have to wait until Betfair settle the market and then speak with the compliance team to get the money out my account.

I'm not sure if they will continue to allow me to use the account (I see no reason why it should be closed) but must admit I will be a bit wary of making any large bets in future.

[Dallas]

Thanks Dallas. A quick update, it took a while but I was able to get through to a member of staff on the help chat who confirmed my exposure on the election. Having this in writing has eased a lot of my worries and I'll be able to actually sleep tonight.

I imagine I will now have to wait until Betfair settle the market and then speak with the compliance team to get the money out my account.

I'm not sure if they will continue to allow me to use the account (I see no reason why it should be closed) but must admit I will be a bit wary of making any large bets in future.

If it was an oversized exposure compared to normal it sounds like they were just being cautious, and are just ensuring its you placing the bet and there is nothing untoward with regards to money laundering etc.

Glad your a step nearer getting it sorted though

[wearthefoxhat]

Thanks Dallas. A quick update, it took a while but I was able to get through to a member of staff on the help chat who confirmed my exposure on the election. Having this in writing has eased a lot of my worries and I'll be able to actually sleep tonight.

I imagine I will now have to wait until Betfair settle the market and then speak with the compliance team to get the money out my account.

I'm not sure if they will continue to allow me to use the account (I see no reason why it should be closed) but must admit I will be a bit wary of making any large bets in future.

If it was an oversized exposure compared to normal it sounds like they were just being cautious, and are just ensuring its you placing the bet and there is nothing untoward with regards to money laundering etc.

Glad your a step nearer getting it sorted though

I think that's probably the reason.

If your normal bet/trade is £100-£200 on the nags/greys and then suddenly you stick a wodge of £££/$$$ on a totally new market and have to make a new deposit to do it, I'm sure it will flag up in their system.

1. Gamcare reasons - protecting customer
2. Money Laundering - customer moving money around accounts

As Dallas said you did nothing wrong as I was about to do something similar if Biden had gone back out to 1.10. (currently 1.04 from 1.03) and would have likely gotten the same treatment despite being around since flutter.com days.

Not many people realise that casinos operate in a similar way with identity checks. Even if they know the customer, they have to follow strict rules and be sure the customer is legit, even to the point of trying to know their background. ie: Business owner, lottery winner, inheritance...crime syndicate member...

[Derek27]

It's quite worrying to know that if you see an outstanding opportunity on the exchange and go in big, you may not be able to close your position for a week until Betfair have completed their checks!

[ANGELS15]

This account closure business is really stepping up. Caan Berry recently posted a youtube video on the subject.

[verance]

Thanks Dallas. A quick update, it took a while but I was able to get through to a member of staff on the help chat who confirmed my exposure on the election. Having this in writing has eased a lot of my worries and I'll be able to actually sleep tonight.

I imagine I will now have to wait until Betfair settle the market and then speak with the compliance team to get the money out my account.

I'm not sure if they will continue to allow me to use the account (I see no reason why it should be closed) but must admit I will be a bit wary of making any large bets in future.

When they say "closed", they mean suspended.

This has happened my account ~10 times in the last 18 months due to various AML, KYC, etc. checks. Most recently for 6 weeks starting in March this year (despite me talking to them every day and providing all necessary info).

The customer care people are really really awful and it will be frustrating but once you complete the checks your account will be back up and running and all bets will stand.

[Euler]

A few customers of ours who have reached out have had all their accounts reinstated after checks.

Not sure what is behind the increase in suspensions. Perhaps a need to be seen to be fully compliant.

[manimal1]

i tried logging in to my bf today and am in the exact same situation

[rwtig123]

I managed to get the account reactivated once the US election bets had settled. It wasn't completely seamless as it was reactivated this morning and then closed a few hours later. I just managed to get it reactivated after speaking to the help chat.

For now it is a positive outcome, hopefully I don't wake up to a nasty surprise tomorrow with it being closed again.

Thanks for the help and advice.

[manimal1]

That's great, gives me hope for my account

I was asked for further source of wealth documentation. Still waiting for a response after 1 week

[Derek27]

I'm glad I made a loss on the election or I'd have the stress of trying to get my profits out of my old and now closed account. There might be I few pence change from my liability, but they can have that.

[JCIK77]

I managed to get the account reactivated once the US election bets had settled. It wasn't completely seamless as it was reactivated this morning and then closed a few hours later. I just managed to get it reactivated after speaking to the help chat.

For now it is a positive outcome, hopefully I don't wake up to a nasty surprise tomorrow with it being closed again.

Thanks for the help and advice.

How did you manage to speak to them?

I'm locked out of my account for pretty much the same reason.

But I can't use live chat for customer service, as I have to log in to use it...