1. General
StarSpreads Ltd. are licensed bookmakers in the Republic of Ireland. These Rules, together with the Individual Sports Rules listed below shall govern all your bets or trades with Star Spreads Ltd. These Rules and the Individual Sports Rules may be changed by us at any time. References to ‘we’ and ‘us’ are references to Star Spreads Ltd., while ‘you’ refers to all clients of ours who hold an account with us. Please note that “us” does NOT refer to accounts held with Star Sports.
2. These rules – including the individual sports rules – will govern all your spread bet dealings with StarSpreads. You should take time to read and understand them. If you do not agree with them, or to be bound by them, then you should not bet with StarSpreads. They are published on our website www.starspreads.ie and may be updated from time to time.
3. Clients must assume full responsibility for performing any duties contained in these rules. This is in no way affected by any instructions you, or any agent acting for you, gives to Star Spreads.
4. Star Spreads operate strictly on an ‘execution-only’ basis. We owe you no duty of care in respect to your betting in any way. You are entirely responsible for all aspects of your bets including – but not limited to – their outcome, size, suitability, probability or perspicacity.
5. Star Spreads reserve the right to wholly or partially refuse, reject or limit any bet, at any time, for any reason whatsoever.
6. Clients must realize that many markets offered by Star Spreads have potentially unlimited losses.
6.1 Star Spreads do not offer “Stop Loss” accounts. Both losses and winnings are potentially unlimited – except where winnings are subject to the over-riding rule 16 on maximum payouts.
6.2 Star Spreads generally offer credit accounts. Any account recorded by us as ‘credit account’ will have an agreed ‘credit limit’. This credit is not a loan agreement, nor can it be used to offset any realised losses on your account. It is solely a measure of how much risk StarSpreads is willing to allow you on your trading account. Clients are welcome to ask for a higher or lower credit ‘credit limit’ at any time, but any final decision on your credit limit is solely at the discretion of StarSpreads. We reserve the right to adjust your credit limit or indeed remove it altogether. We will confirm any credit limits, or adjustments thereof in writing.
7. Volatility
All spread bets have what is known as a volatility requirement. This is defined here as the volatility of any given market multiplied by the stake on that given market. The volatility of any market varies widely, on a market to market basis. It is decided by StarSpreads and it may be changed without notice by StarSpreads. We will make every effort to make clients aware of the various volatility factors, but understanding that sudden changes may occur in volatile markets is the client’s responsibility.
7.1 Volatility Payments
Star Spreads may insist on a cash deposit into any given client account, if the account balance is insufficient to cover the volatility for any bet. Account balance is defined as any realised winnings, plus any cash deposits, plus any credit limit provided by Star Spreads. This may also affect open bets. Open bets may move against you, such that Star Spreads require an immediate ‘volatility payment’ if the movement of any underlying market causes open bets to go over the client’s account balance. Failure to make any such required volatility payment will be deemed an ‘event of default’, and may result in any or all of your open positions with Star Spreads being closed.
8. Fraudulent Activity
Star Spreads reserve the right to suspend any account if we believe that fraudulent activity has been committed, or is likely to be committed. If we have reason to believe that an account is in use by a third party and not the named account holder, we are entitled – but not obliged – to suspend that account, withhold any cash payments due and close any open bets on that account.
9. Account Statements – You are able to access your statements of account at the end of your statement period – depending on your particular account arrangement with Star Spreads Ltd. Paper or email statements are available on request from our Customer Services department. You should notify us immediately if your statement is inaccurate in any way. Please note that any inaccuracies in the statement will not affect the validity of the relevant bet, or any other bets, in any way.
10. Operation & Settlement of Accounts
Accounts are settled on your given statement day dependent on your account particulars with Star Spreads Ltd. We settle a maximum of fifteen thousand pounds (€15,000) or sterling equivalent per statement period, whether paying winnings due to you, or collecting monies due to us. We reserve the right to demand more than fifteen thousand pounds (€15,000) or sterling equivalent for clients with a prior arrangement with Star Spreads Ltd. for a monthly accounting period. If you owe us money you may pay by cheque, direct bank transfer, credit or debit cards (see paragraph 12 below) or any other electronic payment methods that we currently accept. StarSpreads are entitled, but not obliged, to levy an administrative charge equivalent to 1.5% of the value of the payment. Cheques should be crossed and made payable to StarSpreads Ltd. and the number of your account with us should be marked clearly on the back.
11. Payment requests.
Star Spreads will request payment within one week, where a client’s account is in negative cash balance. This applies to a negative cash balance of any cause, including but not limited to, moving markets on open positions, unpaid cheques, debit/credit cards chargebacks and closing trades. StarSpreads are entitled, but not obliged to, charge interest of 1% per month on any such negative cash balances. Failure to pay within one week may be considered an event of default. In the unfortunate event that a negative cash balance is not paid, StarSpreads reserve the right to add two hundred and fifty pounds to that balance by way of a contribution to our administrative and legal costs in seeking to recover that balance. Withdrawal requests for debit accounts will be confirmed within 6 working hours. It may take 3-5 working days for funds to be available to you.
12. Event of Default
Star Spreads may offer you an opportunity to remedy any event of default, but we are under no obligation to do so. Any such opportunity does in no way affect the rights of StarSpreads in relation to any such event of default.
In the event of any ‘event of default’ Star Spreads may, but are not obliged to…
1) Close any accounts held by a client trading under any name.
2) Refuse any bets from that client trading under any name.
3) Close any or all open positions held – whether at a profit or a loss – at the prevailing market price or a reasonable price where no trading price is offered.
13. Data Protection and Credit Referencing.
Star Spreads use a number of different credit referencing methods to asses any credit limit you may be given. We may disclose this in good faith to other bookmakers we have a reciprocal relationship with. We will also disclose it where is requested by any person or body with the legal right to demand it. Star Spreads comply fully with the Data Protection Act 1988 – clients have the right to see any personal data we hold on them and to know to what use this data is put.
It is the client’s responsibility to inform Star Spreads immediately of any changes to their contact details. Star Spreads will not accept responsibility for any correspondence whatsoever at obsolete addresses, email addresses telephone numbers or similar.
14. Complaints and Queries
Star Spreads Ltd. endeavour to provide excellent standards of service to our clients at all times, however, complaints and disputes, though unlikely, may arise from time to time. All complaints and queries regarding statements, contract notes or accounts should either be made in writing or by telephone to Star Spreads Ltd.
14.1 Complaints and time limits
Any complaint or query should be communicated to us immediately after it comes to your attention. Any delay in communication may prejudice our ability to investigate. Please provide us with as much information as possible to enable us to settle any dispute as quickly and fairly as possible.
14.2 We may close any open bet on your account at our prevailing closing price if we are in dispute with you over that bet and we reasonably consider that this is necessary in order to minimize the amount in dispute.
We are under no obligation to accept an offer by you to close a bet outside of those trading hours. This will apply to any bets accepted on any future trading platforms, such as, but not limited to, any mobile or internet trading facilities offered by Star Spreads Ltd.
15. Telephone Betting
Star Spreads operate a telephone betting service. No bet will be considered struck unless and until our trader gives you confirmation to that effect. Please note that we do not levy any additional costs on telephone calls made to our designated trading lines and that standard network charges apply. We may, from time to time, offer clients betting opportunities by other media, including but not limited to, email and text message. Again no bet will be considered struck unless and until the trader gives confirmation to that effect by reply in that or any other acceptable media.
16.1 Maximum Payouts
The maximum payout per individual per event is set at one hundred thousand pounds (£100,000), or currency equivalent. Please note, due to the volatile nature of spread betting it is possible that bets will be accepted where the maximum payout might be more than one hundred thousand pounds. This in no way means that Star Spreads Ltd. will be liable to payout more than the stipulated maximum win of one hundred thousand pounds (£100,000), or euro equivalent per event. Please note losing bets will still be liable for any losses above one hundred thousand pounds (£100,000), or euro equivalent.
18. Margin Calls
A margin call is a request by StarSpreads to our clients for money to be paid into your account to support your open bets. The following rules apply to margin calls:
18.1 Margin is defined as a sum of money that we are entitled to demand from you if your account moves into a negative cash balance. Whether your account is in deficit, and if so to what extent, is calculated by reference to the following formula: Your account will be in deficit to the extent that the aggregate of the net losses on your open bets (i.e. the result of offsetting the profits against losses) plus the total volatility requirement for all your open bets exceeds cash held plus your credit limit. We will be entitled to demand margin from you up to the sum of the deficit standing to your account. If we ask you for a lesser sum then this is the sum that will be due from you under that margin call. Please note again, that you can in no way offset any credit balances with Star Sports with any negative balances with Star Spreads Ltd. You should note that the fact that we call for a sum in a margin call does not mean that your losses are or will be limited to that sum or that we will not call for further margin subsequently, perhaps on the same day.
19. Late Bets
From time to time, because of technical failure or human error, we may erroneously accept a bet on a market that: (a) is not an ‘In-Running’ market and has already started or (b) is an ‘In- Running’ market, but is not available to bet on because one of the for one reason or another. These examples are considered ‘Late Bets’. If we accept a Late Bet in error, that bet shall be void. StarSpreads will void that bet and inform you of the error as soon as reasonably possible.
20. Palpable Error
A palpable error is defined as a quote by us to you, where by reason of an error on our part the price we quote differs from our true market price. For example a price of 0.5 inadvertently being quoted at 5.0 If we accept an offer from you to open or close a bet based upon a Pricing Error that bet shall be void and we shall: (a) void that bet in our records as soon as we become aware of the error; (b) inform you as soon as reasonably practicable thereafter; and (c) return any money attaching to that bet to you.
21. Market Accuracy
Star Spreads Ltd. endeavour to keep you informed of statistics, team news, jockey changes and other such relevant to such events or markets. While we offer such information in good faith, we do so without any responsibility and make no claim as to the accuracy or otherwise of any such information. Please be aware that any information given to you by us may be inaccurate. All trading decisions that relate to your betting with us must rely solely on your knowledge and judgement and not from any information from StarSpreads.