SMARKETS Review

I spoke to Michelle who was very helpful and patient with me when I contacted to help me open an account and explained how it works. Thank you gx

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Perennial 0% commission offers, no messing about with withdrawals, exactly what you’d want in an exchange.The one drawback is that they’ve been known to take weeks to sort out KYC stuff and lock accounts while they do so, but as long as you answer the questions it’s fine.

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I find smarkets app easy to use and navigate on my phone, I find it easier to use than matchbook and better value than Betfair.I also find there customer service and live chat facilities very efficient in dealing with any queries and problems on the odd occasion I’ve had reason to contact them .Finally when I withdraw money back to my bank it either happens instantly or overnight depending on the time and day I make the withdrawal.

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Great exchange, very easy to use and pleasant customer service team.

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Smarkets used to be a great platform. Previously my betting was approx 50% Betfair, 45% Smarkets, 5% others.Unfortunately, some changes on Smarkets a few years ago have made it a very unfriendly place for serious bettors to spend a lot of time, and nowadays my betting is more like 80% Betfair, 15% Smarkets, 5% others.The ethos of a betting exchange should be encouraging bets, so that there is competition, therefore good prices, hence more activity, which is good for everyone and increases commission. Other platforms reward rather than penalise customers for betting.Unfortunately, a while back, Smarkets decided to introduce many highly punitive measures on regular customers, which strongly discourage betting: limiting customers to 1500 bets (whether setting or taking lines, including cancelled bets, sometimes for no good reason, like in a football match, a foul that didn’t result in even a yellow card, so a similar repeat bet is counted against me twice), and moving customers to highly punitive levels of commission for unexceptional profit levels for anyone betting regularly. This has made it a difficult place for serious bettors. Smarkets are shooting themselves in the foot as these measures discourage customers from setting lines, reduce liquidity and worsen available prices.If Smarkets want to keep customers, it’s advisable to maintain trading conditions at least as good as standard Betfair conditions of unlimited bets and 2% commission on profits. Else there is no reason to choose Smarkets over Betfair.Examples of the restrictions causing problems.A football match on Betfair might have odds say back 1.1 or lay 1.11, while Smarkets typically has back 1.09 or lay 1.12 – obviously unfavourable prices. This is the sort of situation where I would often happily create lines at 1.1 and 1.11. Clearly, as time elapses, the odds move, meaning I need to cancel and reset my lines. Doing this throughout the course of a football match would mean making several hundred bets. Clearly, this strategy, which would be great for everyone (improves liquidity, improves available prices for other customers and my own potential to get more positions matched, increases overall activity and therefore total commission) is impossible with the current restrictions – it could only be done on a tiny number of matches, thanks to the 1500 bets limit; the alternative commission tiers that allow more bets are too punitive to be worth considering.Despite using Smarkets very sparingly for the first half of June, trying to trade the 2024 Euros football, just a few days in, my monthly limit of 1500 bets is already rapidly approaching. ☹️ It is incredibly frustrating to have to carefully consider before placing any bet, due to a bet limit, and literally sit on your hands, rather than placing routine bets. This is an event where I would like to place hundreds of bets per game, yet even placing 30 bets per game is an issue with the tiny betting limit. ☹️ I find it baffling that Smarkets are so keen to stop people from making frequent bets. Smarkets feels like a place for casual punters, less suitable for anyone who likes to bet regularly.Another issue is that I sometimes make cross-platform trades. An example is that I won c £500 at Smarkets on a recent Euros 2024 football match, but lost c £480 elsewhere. This should be good for everyone. I made £20, and Smarkets got £10 commission – note this is a very high percentage of my total profit. However, Smarkets policy to limit winnings at £25k a year or else face extremely punitive commission levels makes this sort of strategy highly problematic, as just a handful of wins this size at Smarkets could in only a few days quickly send me rocketing towards the annual profit limit. 🙈 My £20 profit almost feels like a loss, due to going £500 closer to the looming Smarkets profit limit, whereupon Smarkets is not a good place to bet, under the severe conditions imposed at £25k annual profit. Smarkets are actively discouraging me from a strategy that gives them more commission.It is really disappointing to feel so constrained on a betting exchange. Before the draconian restrictions, betting at Smarkets was a far more enjoyable experience as I could bet freely, rather than feel every betting decision was dictated by concerns about falling foul of restrictions.Other issues include unable to adjust bets, betslip wastes space on multiples, important live unmatched bets hidden, needing to press “show all”, confusing fiddly two scroll bars on right. Previous extensive issues with football bets going from pending to matched well after goals. Cancelling pending bets at kickoff after goal scored is absurd as ko is the status quo; it is a lottery whether a bet placed when the market reopens after a goal will stand.

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Can never cash out on tennis very frustrating

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The platform is easy to use and runs smoothly for the most part. I am pleased to see recently that many other markets have been introduced in horse racing, showcasing a wider variety of tracks.

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Why do you not have betting on photos and enquires

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I really enjoy this platform, firstly their customer service is the best out there in the market . Secondly they are there to provide a platform where players play against each-other and they take their commission as it should be . They are not there to be a bookmaker as well as some exchange markets tend to do . And they are not there to push people out by charging 20% and 40% revenue share .They are growing and their liquidity is gaining and I would definitely recommend them !

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Ive just downloaded this app last week and so far its been great. ive made multiple bets and i havent had any problems

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I’ve seen a lot of the reviews and I don’t think 1 star is fair. I had an awful experience where someone managed to hack my account and steal my funds. Smarkets managed to get my funds back. Thank you so much! In terms of everything else live chat respond very quickly and I rarely have issues with it.

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I’ve been using them for years along with the other exchanges and I think the reviews are a little harsh on here so I will try and offer my balanced opinion.Pros-Attractive UI and site layout. This is the easiest/fastest exchange to navigate in my opinion but that’s subjective. Speed is important for a heavy user. I don’t use the app so I’ve no opinion on that.-Excellent liquidity and prices on football markets which is what I usually bet on. Never an issue getting a bet matched.-Withdrawals are processed instantly.-Markets are usually settled quicker than the other exchanges.-Better odds on multiples vs bookies.-The only exchange without stupid bloated “casino games” or other crap on the page.-Customer team have always been pleasant to deal with and are quick to respond via live chat.-Trustworthy unlike many others in the industry.Cons-Why is there no ability to update stake size? Having to cancel and resubmit a bet is quite cumborsome if I only want to update my stake size on an unmatched bet.-£25k yearly win limit before you get put on a much worse commission tier is a bit of a joke. Any big matched bettor/ arber knows a few streaky wins on one side can push you over the limit. Always a worry of hitting it.-They went a bit nuts on the responsible gambling/AML stuff a while back but that seems to have calmed down.-Statements have trouble loading sometimes?Overall, room for improvement but nowhere near as bad as some of these reviews would have you believe (especially compared to one other similar sized exchange whose reviews are clearly bought, have a guess which one).

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your money can be exploited at first it can appear that your bet is matched as it disappears from your credit. But what you don’t know it’s been frozen so if your horse is doing badly the bookmaker will match it and take your money. If it’s doing well it will get cancelled and returned to your account. Advice keep a careful check that’s its fully matched or your open to be manipulated. Happened to me 3 times so I closed my account , I complained did they care no! expect no interest from them. A bet was placed i thought it was matched in running ( not kept for them to take at there digression) it jumped the last hurdle in front who ever took my bet cancelled it because they could see it was going to win! seriously bad experience . Use Bet Fair or someone Smarkets it’s not reputable and is open to fraud. If its not matched completely they will hold the bet and take it or cancelled it at there digression< fraud

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Great product, easy to use and they give the best odds on the market.

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Once again they have settled my bet wrong. In the match between Fatih Karagumruk v Fenerbahce/ Full-Time Result On 14/04/2024 18:59:04 i won £0.37 as a result my balance should be at least £8.43,but it was only £0.00. I have never come across a fraudulent company like this.

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Closed my account because wouldn’t send them my life history via bank statements and suchlike, as if their business Don’t care, never have I been with such a company that is so poorly runDaily issues, live video doesn’t work, odds totally messed up. Free bets not given. Tiny bet limits. Traders on the sportsbook who don’t have a clueAll I got was apology after apology It’s an embarrassment. I’m better off out

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Unfortunately trust pilot does not allow for negative amount of stars and Smarkets definitely deserve a minus infinite star rating, one star is already too much but since this is the lowest possible today this is what they score. The reasons are numerous and all the previous reviews reflect the appalling and quite often childish behavior of the staff all while they deliver a terrible product. The main reason to stay away though is their ridiculous SOW procedures, their demands are not in line with a legit business but rather a social profiling organization of course their failed attempts to hide behind their finger are not successful and this shows in their non existent liquidity. Unless you are a pure submissive masochist or frustration is your way of fun you better take your business to the other exchanges.

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Tried to close my account on March 20, still not received the balance.

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Awful company. Stole my money. Tried to raise a dispute with my bank but they said there was nothing they could do. Smarkets is a completely illegitimate company and I have proof regarding this. Go literally anywhere else, if you want to be able to actually use your money. My deposit was just sucked from me instantly and all Smarkets said was that there was an error. Utterly ridiculous.

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Where do I start , firstly there has to be a bug in the system because at least 5/6 times when I have placed a bet ,say £20 , it only matches it for £19.70 , and only takes £19.70 from my account even though the race is 30minutes away, then place a £20 bet and my account is debited £20.01(so infuriating)Then there are the greyhound races , no trap numbers , so no idea with a 5 dog race which trap(s) are vacant,making it easy to make a mistake.Then there is the US markets particularly Philadelphiait says the horses are going down when actually the race is off , leading to have a bet unaware the race is off , as there is not a live video covering the meeting.No matter how many times you point things out it does not seem to make any difference , no matter how many times they want your feed back , you are just wasting your time and effort , because nothing will change.

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Go to bet something on the sportsbook at 2.66 and it immediately offers me 2.56. I cancel and it goes to 2.76. I try to get that and it offers me 2.56 again. This isn’t a bot is it, its going against their team which seed the markets and is not on. Not once have I ever been offered the higher priceCustomer service don’t give me any answers apart from “it’s a volatile market” lolIt’s taking the **** out of customers

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Absolute worst of the worst! It takes about 10 seconds to recognise what you’ve pressed. I can’t access my free bets. It’s the slowest most cumbersome app I have ever used! I genuinely don’t know how people gamble using this site. What the hell is wrong with it! Just the worst ever. I didn’t even want to give it 1.

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Smarkets went down, resulting in bets not matching when placed in play. So placed another bet only to find out they original bet was accepted (even though Smarkets crashed and was rejected!!)No one available on line, quoted some ridiculous “Smarkets is not to be held responsible for the consequences caused by the breakdown of any device or software….”Cost me money, as admitted my Smarkets. Will avoid

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Been asked to provide bank details, level of savings, proof of income etc etc. Trying to place a bet not take out a mortgage, nightmare

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How can it be so bad? Consistently removing races before they’ve started. How difficult is it to wait until they’re off before you take it down? It’s unacceptable. When you tell them this they just waffle Consistently having error with markets and streaming is enough to make you want to pull your hair outConsistently costing me money by being inept and being unable to run an app that works. Of course when you tell them they’ve cost you money they don’t want to know. I’ve never come across such a company before that refuses to reimburse you for their faults. They don’t seem to care when it costs you money. They just tell you they won’t be entering into any more communication . I’m surprised they have any customers left tbh. It’s mistake after mistake

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They are lucky that i could only rate 1 instead they deserve a zero rating. Worst betting exchange ever

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I created an account and they took my deposit, but then immediately suspended the account. I can’t use the live chat as it won’t allow me to log in, so now have to wait for an email response.

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Smarkets are a very unreliable and untrustworthy company. I highly recommend avoiding this company at all costs. After several months of using the service my account suddenly came under account review. This marked the start of a 7-month back and forth conversation with the support team as they attempted to get hold of absolutely every piece of information under the sun. (Bank statements, questioning individual transactions, asking for my father’s bank details, records and more). In addition to this they would rather slyly ask for information knowing full well no matter what I responded with they would ask for additional information. Instead of asking for the information in 1 email they deliberately ask in seperate emails which often take over a week to receive a response for. And after all this information was supplied they decided to keep my account suspended without providing any reason for it. My suspicion is the company do not like users who use the 0% commission offer with OddsMonkey. And given the large amounts I was staking on liabilities to cover matched betting outcomes, my account was providing no benefit to them. They only want users who are paying commission. Instead of having integrity they deliberately make the account review so ridiculously in depth and almost intrusive that people will either a) get fed up and give up or b) when they don’t give up just don’t unlock your account without providing a proper reason.I wasted several hours of my time screenshotting information for them which they clearly didn’t need. They’re a very sly and untrustworthy company and would avoid like the plague.

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Markets disappearing and being priced up incorrectly is ridiculous. when I questioned why a market was being offered at 1.67 verses 1.72 (118 Mark up) in a live superbowl market I got the response it’s price discovery! On a live market with 7 minutes left?? First to 15 points was 1.57 verses 1.87. I mean are you freaking serious?Also only offering odds on one team and not the other is terrible 6 minutes left and you go 2.12 Kansas but nothing on SF. You can offer odds on SF but not KC on a live line in superbowl. Frankly your traders should be ashamed.

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Just a shambles. Again at least 10/15 ticks lower than Betfair on the exchange sportsbook and if you go to take a price it’ll be 10 ticks below what’s on offer when you click place bet. This is bang out of order and needs looking at. It’s obviously done on purpose. Go to bet at 2.5 and get odds of 2.36??? Totally unacceptable Not to mention lots of grief with errors on the app and trying to get more than a few pounds on. I’m surprised they’re still in business. It’s amateur hourBack to Betfair and Mb.

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Struggling to get my bet matched on a Saturday afternoon. Only want a ton at even money. Max bet on sportsbook is 42€. I mean come on When I finally got my bet matched It was 1.90. dropping 10 ticks on a horse that is drifting isn’t good business. Especially as straight away after it went back to 2.00Email I received after trying to get clarification on the odds didn’t make any sense2.5 stars. Need to sort the liquidity out

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Very basic Really low stakes allowed Can’t do horse multies more than 5 Then when u get some together 9/10 it says they can’t be combined , eg few favs for Cheltenham Last resort bookies

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Tried to set up an account and it was immediately suspended as being a duplicate account. I have never had a Smarkets account before

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Terrible security. Allowed a hacker to add a payment card, remove my payment card info, and within minutes withdraw the entire balance to the new card, absolutely no checks could have been done. The closed loop system they claim to have was clearly ineffective. Took a day to “investigate” and determine their security and processes are not at fault. Please avoid.

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Not worth the hassleI genuinely forgot to opt in for my free bet, bet 50 get 10 free. When I contacted customer service they refused to add on manually claiming I would have to opt in and then bet the 50 again. What an embarrassing bunch of misers just for the sake of a tenner.Then when I bet the 50 again and got the free bet it’s changed again. Gone from on whatever you want to 10 only on an acca now it’s 5 acca 5 bet builder. I’ve never known a company so mean

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Tin pot operation, completely understaffed even the responses here are automated, waiting days between emails but will close your account in an instant

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Based review after 10 years of use.systems / staff they have in place for source of funds, AML and verification has become awful. This is a complinace issue mainly and they have had their hand forced by the UK gambling commission to pretty much enforce every aspect of their social responsibility contract. I deposited 3k in a weekend and their system shut me out of my account with open positions (this has never happened in 10years), and cost me several hundred £££ and when I quizzed them on it they couldn’t care less (who suspends account access, when they could of shut off deposits? Said enough was enough to myself and I wasn’t jumping through hoops and sending personal documentation to have limits on my account. When i advised i wouldn’t be giving them any more evidence to support my account, they immediately shut it down and returned funds. I gave them 3 stars, due to the past customer service and experiences. Apart from my recent poor experience, in the 10 years i used them i only encountered minor problems.Also If anyone has major issues with Smarkets, contact their CEO Jason Trust on twitter he’s pretty active and will response and sort most issues. twitter.comjasontrost

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Bizarre lack of security and checks for a company handling payments in this day and age.Didn’t blink when a device/IP address not associated with my account fraudulently added a new payment card and immediately withdrew the entire balance to it. Were more than happy to approve the withdrawal despite all the red flags. They then took an age to look into it and didn’t ask any questions about the situation before concluding they don’t have any process/security issues.

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Omg. This source of funds verification is nightmare. If you want to bet here you have to work somewhere from 9-17 getting regular income. They not even assume that there are so many self employers who get money from third parties for their job,so many full time bettors and traders who using winning money to fund their account. there are so many ways to get money to start trading.you can sell your old staff or a car,lend money from from parents and friends to fund their account. But they not accept anything except payslips to verify account. They asked tons of documents for 600 depositNot everyone is working from 9 till 5. There are plenty places where to get money. Betting,poker, casino , crypto, friends or parents.

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What a shambles It’s just one thing after another with this lot and I’ve have had a gut full I’m sick and tired of their inability to maintain a working app . One time fair enough but every other day there is an issue and this has gone on for months. I’ve never seen anything like it and I’m bored of it now. All Customer service do is just give you an apology and that’s all. God forbid they reimburse you for any costs they’ve caused or actually fix the faults.Good riddance, I’ve done with you now. I’ll vote with my feet

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Really strange logic. I received a source of wealth e-mail, asking how I fund my account. I explained I retail bet, I was asked for proof of this and I showed proof of the bets & the funds entering my bank/To Smarkets. I explained I only use funds from retail betting and not from any other source (e.g. work). Customer service then gets back to me and says thanks but retail betting and it’s trail isn’t proof of source of wealth (even though they asked for the proof after I mentioned it), they then ask for my work and income along with proof (even after specifically saying I DON’T use my work funds to bet, I keep them separate). What’s interesting is a lot of people are being closed down in this situation, yet someone who has a Twitter following who’s in the same situation (Tom Brownlee) gets some traction on his tweet and all of a sudden his account is instantly verified without jumping through these impossible hoops.

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I’m done with sbk. The app is shambolic, now uninstalled and I won’t be using againError after error after error. Nothing ever changesWhen you tell them all you get is an apology, that’s not going to pay the bills is it?

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I signed up, wish i hadn’t bothered and listened to the 74% of 1 star reviews.I placed a multiple, 1 of the matches was voided because they displayed the event with the wrong odds, asked them to void the multiple as a consequence. Said they would, checked this morning and they hadn’t voided it.Emailed them (didn’t respond). Waited for live chat at 9am, asked why, said they would escalate, got a response hours later saying that the multiple will stand and won’t return my £15.Disgrace of a company, as many others say, stick to betfair etc. Also they have 0 promotions, really poor company.

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I’m getting a bit tired of seeing odds on the sports book you can never actually get. for example you see 2.10 and bet it and it goes to 1.87 which you get, then after you’ve had to take that it goes back to 2.10 so you never can actually get the odds on offer. They can’t blame other people as they set the markets and you’re betting against themThey are also well below betfair too, example2.86 on betfair and only 2.62 on sbk.

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Out of the blue account suspended. Talked to live chat and they could not guarantee that I could place a bet later that evening so I withdrew my funds immediately(approx.2000euros). I’ll admit I did deposit and withdraw on a regular bases as I will never keep funds in my account as I don’t trust any of these sites. My profit for the previous month on smarkets was approx 1500 euros and the previous 9 months on smarkets profit was over 9000 euros. The next time I go into the smarkets app. I will be closing my account after reading all these negative reviews.

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All the negative reviews here are true – this company is an absolute joke. The verification team are non existent, I think it may be one single person working there. Waiting to get some feedback on the documents that I have submitted over 3 weeks ago (and counting) – zero correspondence I have read through all the negative reviews here and I can relate to them all.For God’s sake – use Matchbook, Betdaq or Betfair and avoid this joke of a company.

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Below is a list of requests for documents requested for account verification. I am of the opinion that once they decide they don’t want you as a customer, no amount of proof will be enough.Avoid at all costs.Firstly, we’d like to understand a little more about how you fund your Smarkets account. For example, are you employed or self-employed? And if so, what’s your occupation?If you are not currently employed, what is your main source of income and used to fund your Smarkets deposits?Do you have any other income streams or extra savings/investments that you’d like us to consider for the purpose of this review?-A copy of the most recent bank statement in PDF format, displaying your incoming pension.-A copy of the matching pension slip.-A PDF copy of the most recent savings/ investment account statement (if applicable).-A copy of the most recent bank statement in PDF format, displaying your incoming pension.Most recent bank statement for the account that receives your pension payments Most recent statement for any savings that you would like to be taken into account when setting any necessary deposit limits A copy of the 3 months’ worth of bank statements in PDF format covering 18 December 2021- 18 March 2022, displaying deposits to Smarkets A PDF copy of the January- March 22 bank statement from ****** ****** to verify the origin of incoming funds. A PDF copy of the March bank statement from the account where the transaction of £***** received on 3 March originated (They should be able to provide a bank statement even after the account has been closed) Additionally, if your savings were accumulated via matched betting, we would like to request screenshots showing your other bookmakers’ profits (2-3 most profitable bookmakers) as follows: One screenshot showing the P/L page on your other bookmakers’ accounts, displaying profits for the last 12 months and your current balance. Another screenshot from your other bookmakers’ accounts displaying your username/email and your current balance. A recent PDF statement for your Santander savings account. If you are unable to provide a full statement for this account then could you please provide a screenshot that shows your account ownership (name and address) alongside the dated balance so that we can verify your savings.

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Terrible service invasion of privacy on kyc checks, devision to close even though proven legit. Clowns. Support staff are terrible useless and the verification team are even worse. No wonder only 1.5 stars here joke

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Literally impossible for me to pass proof of wealth. I’ve sent them 2 types of copies of bank statements, directly downloaded from my bank and they are not accepting them

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You need either more bandwidth or an IT team that can actually operate and maintain an app because it’s not good enough and it really is poor. Other bookies seem to manage it fine so why is this app still a mess? Why not use a Web page instead? NUMEROUS Errors include timeout problems . Telling me you I’m not online when obviously am, markets being taken down early and markets disappearing, live video not working and crashesIf you complain you’ll never get a free bet ever regardless of how much their silly app has cost you financially. All you get is a useless apology, what use is that?, they’re obviously told not to give free bets out regardless what happens. That’s fine but don’t expect me to stay about

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