JimmyMac has been a player offshore for several years. He first found OSGA over a year ago when Sportsbook.com was having so many problems playing players. He also informed us at the time that he had been a payer at BETonSPORTS that was caught in the crossfire for a sizeable sum of money when the DOJ stepped in and arrested CEO David Carruthers.

In May, JimmyMac got an email from OddsMaker for a Free $500 account and took advantage of it. This player got into trouble rather quickly after he took advantage of the promotion.

JimmyMac is a pretty serious player and he started winning right off the bat. No problem, OddsMaker pays winners. But, this player engaged in shenanigans followed by missteps in his effort to resolve the issues he created and turned what should have been a good experience with a free offer into a nightmare.

JimmyMac sent the same offer that he received for the free $500 to his father. It just so happens that his father, who really does exist (I guess we all have that in common), has the same exact name and lives in the same area code. So immediately, a red flag goes up at OddsMaker. Then, a second flag – "How did he get this offer?" It did not come from OddsMaker.

While this is going on JimmyMac turns the free $500 into over eight dimes.

OddsMaker confronted the player about his father and the fact that he was given a bonus offer that he was not entitled to. At this point, I believe that they were leaning towards coming to a resolution with this player. This is where JimmyMac ran into what became a big part of his problem. He got heated and denied trying to circumvent their bonus rules for his father. You see, JimmyMac had a VIP clerk and he had his old man email regular customer service/sales clerks saying that he has received the offer. The player continued to dig his own grave as he got so heated with OddsMaker that he told them to close his account. He did not tell them to keep his winnings, but there is a clear recording of a heated conversation in which he makes the request.

The hole was dug even deeper for JimmyMac as he went into a popular gambling posting forum and posted his plight with a thread title of "I got Scammed by Oddsmaker.com".. The thread continued with players chiming in that because of the post, they would never send funds to OddsMaker.

We did get involved as OddsMaker, though not at the Elite or Premier levels, does pay winners and has been extremely helpful when a problem with a player is present to us. I actually thought that this was a very resolvable situation, so much so, that I thought it was an ‘easy one’.

I was dead wrong.

OddsMaker decided to draw a line in the sand on this one.  We went back and forth for nearly two weeks with them trying to have upper management see this in a different light. You cannot deny somebody’s winnings because he was rude or lied (thousands of players would be stiffed every day). You cannot keep a player’s money when he tells you to close his account, after all the money is still his. But OddsMaker is standing by the fact that JimmyMac’s father tried to bypass VIP (on his sons’ suggestion) and email support that he was sent a free $500 offer. According to the OddsMaker rules page, this is a case of bonus abuse. They have the right to forfeit a player's winnings when "a player tries to or has someone else try" to take advantage of bonuses.

OddsMaker’s decision here has made it so that nobody wins. OddsMaker loses due to the bad publicity, JimmyMac loses by not collecting and the entire industry suffers another black eye.

We even spoke with The Shrink, the original found of The Prescription and current owner of EOG, where OddsMaker is an advertiser. JimmyMac contacted him as he has a solid relationship as well with OddsMaker. However, his hands were tied as the damage had already been done in a public forum.

Did OddsMaker handle this poorly, certainly. Did Jimmy Mac handle this poorly, absolutely. But does the make OddsMaker a 'scam' sportsbook?

No - OddsMaker was within its rights citing bonus abuse to void JimmyMac’s winnings. Still, I cannot emphasize enough that I think this should have come to some kind of settlement. I must admit being quite frustrated that we could not achieve a positive resolution for JimmyMac.

Here are some general tips that can be used when a problem arises at a sportsbook:

1) Do Not get heated or use terms like stealing or scam when on the phone trying to solve your own problem – most offshore outfits have pretty big egos and take this as a direct personal attack – “Are you talking to me?”
2) Do Not post on any public forums until all efforts by groups like OSGA have failed. Everyone knows that 1000 people read something bad and only 10 read something good. Once the “cat is out of the bag” a retraction really doesn’t have the same impact.
3) DO NOT tell them to close your account. This opens the door to the sportsbook keeping your funds
4) The actual truth is always the best  - not a version of the truth

I actually believe that OddsMaker would have made this right for the player had he not violated all four of the above points. In fact, this sportsbook is most likely seeing this now as a type of deterrent. If you want to take a shot at grabbing bonus cash that you are not entitled to, don’t try it at OddsMaker.