Recent Payout Problems are Related



This past week we received a slew of complaints on several different, reputable sportsbooks and all are, in a way, connected. Check the 4.24 update.

From time to time a ripple goes through the online gambling industry and it affects almost every sportsbook, casino and poker room, from the lowest rated to the most reputable. This past week we received a slew of complaints on several different, reputable sportsbooks. Every complaint revolved around payouts and all are, in a way, connected.

So far we have had this complaint registered on four of the top sportsbooks in Costa Rica:

"What have you heard about (XX) sportsbook? I requested a payout weeks ago and they won't pay or give me any information as to when I will get paid. They always paid me before, but now, I think they are going to stiff me." On the surface this is quite alarming, especially when you are talking about trustworthy outfits that usually have zero payout problems.

But once we started to dig into these issues, we found that almost all of them revolved around payments being sent to credit cards in the form of a credit. This is known as a Pay-to-Card solution and is offered by many of the larger websites that take bets online. But, this method is not as simple as just crediting a card back that was used or issuing a refund. P2C, as it is commonly referred to, involves several parties who are all part of the process used to deliver funds to a VISA or MasterCard. These parties include banks, intermediary banks, processing companies and the credit cards themselves.

As this is a VISA/Mastercard process, of course all i's have to be dotted and t's crossed, including compliance checks and a certain amount of due diligence. Unfortunately, right now, with P2C being a relatively new process, the financial institutions involved are scrutinizing many transactions . . . randomly. Luckily, this is not happening with every P2C processor and these random compliance checks are not occurring at every bank. But, this does appear to be widespread and it is affecting many of the top businesses online.

So, where does this all leave us and the players who are right now in limbo?

At the top of the list is the one thing that should be paramount for anyone who plays online, "Is the place I am playing with reputable?". Any place that is listed Elite on our Complete Sportsbook list is a place that pays. So if this problem is occurring at an Elite-rated book, the good news is that players will be paid – this is not a stiff situation. The next thing then is "When?" Unfortunately, as of this writing, that is still up in the air. However, we have been told that all payments will reach customers but some will encounter longer delays.

One sportsbook that we spoke to expects to have an update shortly. And another told us that they are compensating players with Free Plays until this gets sorted out. And ultimately, we believe if this rages on too long, many players will be able to get paid out in other ways. Unfortunately, right now the actually payout is sitting with another company and until that is resolved, either by sending the money to the player or back to the sportsbook, they will not 'double pay'. Affected players are asked to hang in there for another week or so and if there is still no resolution to the problem then contact us for more information or use our complaint form.

Additionally, we want to caution players about using this method in the short run. Players must be willing to expect a delay, knowing that they will be paid eventually. The good news is that we don't expect these delays to last forever. And the fact is that eventually the banks and the credit cards will back off or at the very least, stop holding funds in limbo.

We expect to have an update on this situation soon.

4.23 UPDATE:  We got in a report that one of the Pay2Card providers has released funds to players. Hopefully we will have more to report this week.


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