You don’t have to be a high stakes professional gambler to fall foul of payout maximums. Every year you read stories from punters and players who have had their payouts capped at a lower level than they expected to receive.
Payout maximums vary between betting sites, with the bigger companies tending to have the resources to allow them to offer higher payouts. However, even then, once you get away from the biggest sports payout maximums can drop significantly, within sports limits can also be highly variable.
If you place a big accumulator you could quite easily start to hit payout limits, especially if you mix events as the payment will be capped based on the sport with the lowest maximum. If you also bet on things like novelty events, politics, tv shows, etc., you may find payout limits can be as low as a few hundred pounds.
On this page we break down the major betting sites limits by sport to help you find the bookies with the right payouts to suit you. We also look in detail at instances when limits could apply to you, along with advice on how to not get caught out by them.
Maximum Payout Limits By Sport
Football
Football is the benchmark for the biggest payout a site will offer. This is generally, although not always, restricted to the top leagues and tournaments such as the Premier League, foreign elite leagues such as La Liga and top events such as the Champions League.
If you bet more widely than top level football check the payout limit for the leagues you want to bet on, these will often be a lot lower. The markets you bet on are also important, often the big payouts can be restricted to match result, btts, and some other lines, if you place special bets, handicaps, over/under, etc., the maximum may be lower.
Horse Racing
The top limits for horse racing will generally apply to all major UK and Irish racing and is in line with football as a sport that attracts the biggest payouts in the region of £1,000,000 for the big brands.
If you bet on foreign racing or variants such as harness racing, etc., it is important to check the limits as these will likely be lower. Higher limits may also only apply to certain bets like ‘to win’, ‘to place’, etc., specials bets may have lower limits.
Tennis
Top level tennis will usually have a high maximum as the bookies are confident in their odds and the reliability of the markets. Tennis in particular though is open to match fixing and abuse, which has been widely publicised in the past. Therefore, when betting on lower level tennis (e.g. Non-Grand Slam, ATP or WTA) the limits can drop sharply.
Again the high limits will usually apply to the main match result bets, if backing more obscure markets do not assume the maximum is the same.
Golf
Golf is one of those sports that attracts big bets and therefore bookmakers usually have high limits to accommodate this, most have at least a six figure top payout.
This will apply to all major PGA and European Tour events as well as the Ryder Cup, but may be lower for other golf events. The biggest maximums may also be restricted to outright win wagers so if backing another market it is worth checking.
Rugby
Rugby is middle of the road when it comes to top pay-out rates. Many of the big bookies will offer up to half a million for major tournaments and matches, but the range is big and some operators are as low as the 10’s of thousands.
Often the headline maximum is for Rugby Union, if you are betting on Rugby League it is worth looking to see if the limit is the same. As with the other sports the market is also important as many lines will have lower rates.
Darts
Most of the sites we list are big UK bookies with a long history in the market and so they value traditional sports like darts, this means payouts are pretty high in general.
While not a lot of people bet on darts those that do bet like to bet a lot and so it is easy to find brands with good maximums. Many of these limits will be restircted to PDC events however, do not assume the same applies to BDO and other events. Markets are also important as the top level may only apply to match result bets.
Snooker
Similar to darts, snooker is also much loved in the UK so it is straight forward to find bookies with six-figure high end limits for winning bets. This may however be restricted to the bigger ranking events and the Masters and the bet type itself may affect the limit.
Cricket
Cricket has a good top level limit for all the major international events but it is worth checking if this applies to the county game and foreign leagues before you place any wagers. Special bets will almost certainly have lower than the advertised limits but if you are betting on the winner, top batsman, bowler, etc., then the high end is pretty decent.
We only list good established sites on here, if you choose to bet with smaller operators we don’t list the Cricket is one example where limits can be very low, especially with non-UK focused brands.
Formula 1
F1 is a little like golf, not that many people will have a punt on the sport but those that do often bet bigger and so most maximums are again in the low six-figures. This will certainly be available for outright championship and individual race result bets but may drop off sharply for more minor markets, such as a driver to retire, etc.
Lowest Overall Max Payout
The overall lowest payout table below above reflects the lowest maximum payout offered by the site. This may be a specific sport or bet type but it gives you an idea of how low payout limits can be for certain lines and events.
Payout Limits are Different to Stake Limits
Some betting sites are helpful in that they won’t let you stake more than you could potentially win. Many companies have stake limits that would mean in general you would be unlikely to approach maximum payment restrictions.
In most cases, for bets in a normal odds range, you will not be able to wager an amount that would result in a payout above the top threshold as most bookies will only allow players with pre-existing arrangements, VIP players and those that seek prior approval direct, to place very large bets.
If you are someone who bets very big you will likely have a relationship with a betting company. However if you are not someone who places large wagers but is going to do so as a one off it is critical you pick the right site and essential you get in touch in advance to ensure your wager will be accepted and the payout honoured.
Of course, that doesn’t necessarily cover someone who stakes at a fairly low level but at very high odds, and this is the scenario that catches out most normal punters. If you regularly place massive accas or punt on huge outsiders you might want to familiarise yourself with the payment T&C’s at your bookie, otherwise when you do win you might have a nasty shock if you do win big.
Overall Payout Limit
No matter what the given payout for a sport or event some betting companies implement an overall pay-out cap. This means you cannot win above that limit within a certain time period (day, week, month).
This is therefore worth considering if you place several bets in parallel, especially if these are big wagers or at high odds as you could quite easily hit the overall limit if you had several bets come in at once.
One way this can happen is when placing full cover bets, such as Lucky 15’s. These bet types are a package of bets that cover all possible combinations from a given number of selections. A lucky 15, for example, is made up of 15 different bets. If you were to win each of those 15 lines is in effect treated as a separate wager, and if cumulatively all those payouts exceed a payment limit then you could find yourself with less winnings than you thought.
Payout caps are more common for casinos than traditional bookies, but they still apply. The example below is from 10bet:
“The maximum total winnings to any customer on any calendar day for bets placed with 10bet is £100,000.00 or equivalent (hereafter the “Maximum Daily Payout”).”
Multiples and Accumulators
Multiples do what they say on the tin, they multiply the odds of a bet by stringing together several scenarios. On most occasions we place multiple bets that have odds from single digits up to 100’s to one, however if you start to add many different events those odds can easily get into four, five or even six figures.
This is the most common issue for typical punters. You are highly unlikely to win a massive multiple bet, and accumulators themselves are some of the poorest value bets you can place, but people of course do occasionally win and when they do some fall foul of max payouts.
If you are betting with a big reputable betting site for something like Premier League football then in 99.9% of cases you are not going to hit the max limits, even with smaller brands, who tend to all provide at least £100,000 guarantee.
The issue generally comes when you start to bet on more obscure markets. If you choose to wager on the Egyptian third football division (as an example), then you may find the payment limit for these events can be significantly lower compared to higher profile leagues and competitions.
If you place an acca on less popular sports you will also find the pay-out maximums will be lower. The issue for most however is when they start to mix up their multiples by combining something like a Premier League football match result with the winner of X-factor.
With most gambling companies they will stipulate that maximum payouts will be defined by the selection with the lowest limit in any multiple. Therefore, if you do this regularly it is worth your while knowing what the lowest limit is for your given multiple bet, before you place it.
Novelty Bets, Specials and Obscure Sports
Even if you are placing a single bet you can still easily start to hit the top limits with many sites.
Novelty bets and specials are those that tend to come with the lowest limits, these are things like the winners of TV competitions, who the next pope will be, the winner of sports personality of the year, etc.
You will commonly find even the bigger bookies will have low limits (relative to their overall maximums), and small betting brands can have limits as low as £500 in some instances.
The reason behind this is largely due to the fact these markets are harder to price for the bookie, so they don’t want to overexpose themselves, and also because there is more opportunity for fixing and inside information to be used.
Even things like politics can have lower limits, which can catch people out when big elections come around.
Outside of football and horse racing it is also sensible to not take any chances if betting big. Fine if you were to bet on Chess, Futsal, Trotting, alpine skiing, or something like that I’m sure you wouldn’t expect limits to be very high, and it’s true they probably won’t be. However, many sports you might consider mainstream also have low limits, the likes of athletics and the Olympics, formula one, rugby, snooker, darts and American sports.
Minor Markets and Events
The next thing to look at is the actual market you are backing, just because the maximum payout for football is say £1 million doesn’t mean all markets within a match will payout to that level.
You tend to find the highest payout levels are restricted to match result, both teams to score and a few other headline grabbing lines. If, however, you bet on specials associated with the game, handicap bets, bet builder wagers, etc., you may find the limits are significantly lower. This is again also important when mixing markets within multiples.
Minor events within bigger sports are also limited to a lower level. You might think that because you are backing Liverpool or Barcelona then the payout level must be maximum, but that might not be the case if you are backing them in some pre-season competition.
It is important to not only read the overall maximum payout for a sport but to go deeper and look for the limits for the specific competition you are looking at. This doesn’t just apply to football, but to all sports. Even horse racing will have significantly lower payouts for some non UK and Irish racing.
Foreign Leagues and Tournaments
If you are betting on the Champions League, La Liga, Serie A, Premier League, etc., (or equivalent for other sports) then you will be covered should you win big.
Problems can however arise when you back teams or contestants in other foreign leagues.
If you choose to back teams in more obscure leagues and tournaments with a big decent bookie you will still be covered up to a significant amount, but this won’t be as high as the major leagues.
If you back these types of selections with some smaller operators however you could find the maximum payout is seriously limited.
This can become a problem if you place a big bet or bet at high odds.
It is again also worth considering when adding these picks to multiple bets as the payment cap will be limited based on the selection with the lowest payout level.
Withdrawal limits
It is not just the payout level that is worth considering, you should also think about how long it might take you to withdraw any winnings if you did win big.
Most of the bigger bookies will payout usually up to around £100,000 in a single day, this may not apply to all payment methods but will generally be available for bank cards and bank transfers. They will also usually let you request multiple withdrawals up to that level.
Some operators, especially smaller ones, will however have withdrawal limit set by time, either daily, weekly or monthly. These stipulate a maximum you can withdraw in that period irrespective of how much you win or how big your account balance is.
Again most of us would not consider this until we faced the prospect. It has been reported in the past punters and players winnings big jackpots or bets and then taking years to withdraw the sums.
Void Bets
Betting companies are private businesses and they can, if they like, void your bet prior to or during an event for a multitude of reasons.
When you place a bet there is no ultimate guarantee that bet will complete, and if that is a particularly big bet or payout you could find yourself with nothing but your stake back.
What can you do about it? Well nothing really, you can complain to IBAS and other bodies who will make an independent judgement.
Don’t hold out to much hope though.
If a company accepts your bet and it goes ahead but they then do not pay you out and give you your stake back then you might have a case as long as it was not a palpable error or other reason they have listed in their terms.
Cash Out
If you’ve got a big bet on and you intend to cash out then sometimes the cash out level may be capped at a level below the overall maximum payout level if you were to allow the bet to complete.
For example, bookie X has a payout maximum of £500,000 for the football match you are backing, you’ve got a big bet on and it is winning and you decide to cash out. The cash-in terms at the site however will only let you cash out up to £50,000.
You could partial cash out to that amount and let the rest ride, but if your plan all along was to cash out it would be sensible to know these terms in advance.
Cash out is in effect a concession or feature and therefore they can withdraw the facility at any time too so do not rely on getting paid out anything through cash out, any bets you place you should be prepared to let them run.
Limited Accounts
Betting companies limit accounts of players they suspect may be professionals, arbing, hedging or customers who simply win more than they lose.
This is a big negative of the gambling industry, but again these are private companies and there is no law to force them to accept your bets.
What often happens in these situations is the bookie will limit your account rather than close it. This means you will have restricted access to promotions and that your stakes will be severely restricted.
When this happens the brand is in effect setting a very low payout limit on your account, to the point where you will probably not want to bet with them anymore.
You can message them if you think this is in error but in reality once limited it is highly unlikely you will be unlimited.
You can read more about why bookmakers limit accounts in our dedicated guide.
Arbing and Hedging
People who arb or hedge their bets often need large stakes to make significant money.
Betting sites are wise to this and anyone placing a series of big bets on specific markets are now easily caught with software.
There are many tell tale signs, such as not betting round figure amounts, logging on and navigating straight to a specific bet and then logging out, etc.
If it is discovered you are using a site to do these things they will limit your stakes and payouts immediately an there is little you can do other than move on to a new brand or bet with an exchange.
Fraud and Suspicious Betting Activity
Big bets or bets that win at high odds naturally attract attention and you can find that your payout is often withheld longer as operators occasionally investigate market to ensure there is no suspicious activity.
If you have genuinely placed the bet then all should be fine, but these things are worth bearing in mind especially when someone else suggests you place a wager.
If you’ve ‘heard’ about a specific bet ‘on the grape vine’ and have been told to bet big then it could be because there is something fraudulent going on.
Bookmakers are very good at spotting this type of activity and employ people and software to detect it. They are also over-cautious meaning it does happen quite often that payouts are suspended for investigation, but will be paid out in due course.
You can read more about fraud and suspicious betting on our dedicated page.
VIP Players
Note: VIP schemes are mostly gone now after reports of VIP managers abusing their positions and encouraging irresponsible gambling. There are still a few about though, so I will keep this section up in case it is useful for somebody.
If you are a VIP player with a betting site they will often give you higher payout and withdrawal limits, you will also generally have a dedicated account manager you can talk to to make sure you don’t hit any existing limits.
What you shouldn’t do is become a VIP player just to get access to higher limits. Being a VIP customer can be a vicious cycle as you usually need to maintain a certain level of bets/deposits to stay in the club. This means you could end up betting more than you want to.
If you are someone who places big bets anyway and you are not in a VIP scheme it is certainly worth looking into as you can get more favourable terms and better offers.
If, however, you are a low stakes bettor but you place wagers at high odds (e.g. big accas) you are not going to be eligible for a VIP program in any case and it would just be better to choose a bookie with higher payout limits as standard for the sports you want to back.
Contact Them In Advance
It is always worth asking the question if you are unsure if a bet you are about to place will hit limits.
Live chat makes this easy and pretty much all sites now have it as a support option.
Even if you want to place a bet that will hit the limits it is worth asking if the bookie will give you special dispensation.
Some will and if you have it in writing that they will pay out to a higher level for a specific bet and it wins they will then be obliged to pay this out.
This commonly happens for special bets where it is difficult to know how payout limits will apply, for example betting on your kid to play for England or something like that.
As they say in life if you don’t ask you don’t get.
Beware Of Payout Amounts Shown On Bet Slips
There are many bookies out there who don’t explain their payout limits very well when you place a bet. Sky Bet are notoriously sneaky in this regard.
For example, Sky Bet have a maximum football payout of £250k, however, if you can build a big footy acca with them say, and the odds are 300,000/1, they won’t tell you you’ve hit the limit they will simply say the payout is £250,000 instead.
What many bookies will do if you hit a max limit is either warn you or reduce your stake amount so that the payout is below that limit. This cannot be assumed though as is the case with the Sky Bet example above.
The only thing you can do to be certain is look at the odds of the bet and your stake and then see if this will be below the top limit if you do win.
It is better to half your stake and place the same bet with two different sites than stick with one site and get paid less than the odds would dictate.
Terms Changes
Betting companies change terms all the time and this can be an issue if you place ante-post bets a long time in advance. The issue here is you could place a bet where the payout maximum is say £500,000 but by the time your bet settles they have changed the terms and set that limit at say £100,000.
If you placed a viable bet but the terms change before it settles and you’ve now hit a payout limit the company will likely try to not pay you the full amount.
They may claim you accepted the new terms when you signed in at some point but the argument here is that the terms and conditions at the time of bet placement should apply, you would have also have been forced to accept any new terms to keep your account open and so this is unfair.
If you are experiencing issues here and the operator is non-compliant then complain to IBAS, they have a lot of experience in this regard and will be able to help mediate the dispute.
Why Do Betting Companies Need Payout Limits
Payout limits are effectively insurance for betting companies. By limiting the amount you can win they are guaranteeing they won’t get stung for millions. If, for example, you placed a massive accumulator with silly odds of say a million to one and you bet £20 on it it is highly unlikely to win but given the amount of bets bookies take over time somebody would win and basically they don’t want to lay out on bets like this.
Many people would buy that argument for smaller brands where cash-flow can be an issue and they need to protect themselves from going bankrupt but for larger betting brands its really just a way to control profits given they could easily afford a big one-off payout.
Part of the limits are also to prevent fraud, this is especially true for smaller sports, leagues and events where the payout maximums tend to be lot lower. If a payout limit is say £10,000 then it reduces the chance of match fixing as the fixer would need to pay off the team/contestant and it wouldn’t be worthwhile.
Finally limits also reflect risk, bookies price markets based on form and history and for some more minor sports and events this can be lacking, meaning the traders are less confident in their odds. When this happens payout limits are lower to avoid exploitation of weak lines. This is a common reason why it is hard to bet on amateur sports for example.
Casino, Slots and Game Limits
Casino games don’t have maximum payouts in the same way that sports bets do. Games are pre-defined and run on software and so the payout limits are already known within games, therefore you shouldn’t be restricted to the amount you can win (although this is not true necessarily when using bonus funds).
Where casinos can catch you out in this regard is with withdrawal limits. Some sites have very low withdrawal limits, especially white label and smaller brands, that can be very low compared to what you might win. There are all sorts of different withdrawal limits, some are daily, weekly, monthly or yearly.
Taking the example of a brand that has a £50,000 a month withdrawal limit, that doesn’t sound too bad on the face of it but what happens if you win a big progressive jackpot worth millions, it would take literally years to withdraw your winnings.
Withdrawal limits like payout limits protect brands cash-flow but just like with sports if you plan to bet big seek out a good operator with high or no withdrawal limits, this tends to be the bigger companies. It is also worth pointing out that payment method withdrawal limits are not necessarily the same a the overall limit. If, for example, you see the maximum withdrawal by card is £5000 this is simply per transaction, so you can make multiple transactions in this scenario and withdraw more.