Do Online Betting Accounts have any Fees?

What would be the best advice you can give to a bettor who is thinking about opening an account with an online betting operator?

Have you ever given it a thought?

Of course, you need to take several accounts into consideration – starting from the reliability, reputation, market width, value of odds and ultimately promotions and special offers – but there are some technical details that some – and we mean majority – of us simply take too lightly.

Deposit options are one of the crucial aspects, withdrawal methods even more so from a bettor’s point of view.

Still, the best advice you can give to a bettor prior to opening an online account is to carefully read the section regarding the terms and conditions. It is not that betting operators have anything to hide, but not all technical details can be revealed on the front page of a bookmaker, which ultimately can make you feel like you haven’t been introduced to the tiniest of details regarding to how most of the operators, well, operate.

General terms and conditions would be usually quite common and known to most of the bettors, even at the very beginning of their betting careers. Most of the rules are dealing with regulations while using your accounts for betting, but did you know that you can be punished for not using your account?

Dormant Account Charges is what some operators call it, the others refer to it as Inactive Account Fees, but they are basically a same thing – an Administration Fee to all accounts that have been inactive for a consecutive period which can be different with different operators.

Which operators do have fees?

Bet365 and Paddy Power will charge dormant fees to all accounts that have been kept quiet for at least 365 days or 12 months, whereas Betfair has the limit of 13 months. Coral seem to have got the lengthiest margin of them all as Dormant Account Fee is charged to accounts which remain inactive for the full total of 400 days.

Bookmakers will try to reach you and notify you that your dormant account fees are approaching, upon which time you have two choices:

You can either start betting again, or at least make a single deposit using the money you have on your account, before remaining quiet for another year (or more) or… You can withdraw all of your remaining funds after you made sure your withdrawal method is still active, and that your card hasn’t expired.

In case your card has expired, there is still a way to withdraw money from your account. Simply make a minimum deposit via a new card and then make a withdrawal request for the full balance on the two accounts connected to your name.

An important note to remember is the actual volume of the fee involved.

The dormancy fee is usually calculated as 5% of your total balance on the day your account falls dormant, or £5 if that amount is greater. The fee is monthly which means that the same amount will be reduced from your account on the first day of each calendar month thereafter.