Essentially a bookmaker will charge your account an inactivity fee (usually £4/£5 a month – varies by bookmaker) if you have a balance and haven’t used the account for a period of time (12 months+ – again varies by bookmaker). They will keep taking money each month from the account until the balance is zero. They say they will try and contact you to remind you have money in your account. They also say they will refund the money if requested by the individual.
This is justified as the cost they incur managing the account. What those costs are who knows as we know its not ongoing AML or verification checks. They wait for those until you withdraw. Another pure money grab. Plain and simple. I shudder to think how many accounts they have taken money from where the person is unaware they had some balance left in the account. If they go and check the account at a later date the balance will be zero and they will think oh there’s nothing in there.
Or worse something has happened to the person (died) and relatives are unaware that they have money in the account. There are no depths to which bookmakers will sink to add a few extra pounds to the coffers. The interest on those balances just wasn’t enough.
As a general rule just don’t leave money in any bookmaker account you are not regularly using. Even then keep it to a minimum these days. You have to be aware of potential deposit limit/fees though.
ProPunting 