Off Shore Gaming Association

Today industry giant Sportsbook.com announced that they will no longer be taking any new U.S. players. However, they are not leaving the U.S. market entirely. Of course, this comes on the heels of “Black Friday” and now we know that the recent indictments of the largest poker companies in the world are going to have far reaching consequences for the current Internet gambling landscape. As one industry insider told us, “The industry has been shaken with this last play by the DoJ.”

The sudden move by Sportsbook.com could be seen as a knee-jerk reaction to the Poker indictments. But perhaps they are just being pro-active. As was mentioned in this space previously, the biggest worry that we had was the affect this may have on all processing companies that both take in and send money to U.S. players. Sportsbook may just be trying to protect what they already have. Or perhaps they just do not want all of the hassles that come with the ever growing group of scammers and disgruntled customers that have been flocking to offshore outfits. Or maybe, just maybe, they wanted to prevent Preet Bharara and his cohorts from the U.S. Attorney’s office from signing up to bet on the Jets.

Whatever their ultimate reason, Sportsbook.com and all of its affiliated brands will not be taking another new customer from the U.S. after May 1. This new policy affects their in-house brands PlayersOnly.com and SuperBook.com as well as books that use their platforms, services and customer service center, including Hollywood Sports and Linesmaker. This new direction affects all of their different gaming divisions too, including poker, casino, sports and horses.

Still, current and past U.S. players are still permitted to play using their current accounts. This is not an issue where players should run and current players really do not have to worry about their funds and customers living outside the US are still welcome to join. There is really no reason to close accounts and withdrawal from Sportsbook.com or any of their affiliated companies. They are still one of the largest, most financially stable groups on the ‘net.

This is a very similar path that VIP.com took shortly after the UIGEA was passed in 2006 and they are still going strong, perhaps even better for the loyal customers that remain with them. And, it may work out that way for Sportsbook customers as well.

Keep your eyes here for the latest updates on this breaking story.

No Comments »

At the end of this week are two non-sporting events that are both getting action at Internet bookies. The Royal Wedding of Kate and William is a favorite amongst British players with prop bets galore. And U.S. players are being given the opportunity for some NFL wagering in April, betting on the NFL draft.

British bookmakers have a overabundance of Royal Wedding bets. William Hill has them listed under Major Betting Events section and PaddyPower has 35 different props (!) located at the top of their overall betting menu. There are bets available at almost every EU shop for the color of Kate’s dress, the color of the Queen’s hat and  the length of the train in the wedding dress. We put together a quick glance at some Royal Wedding betting odds for the most popular bets.  In additiona, there are also some fun and quirky bets that punters are taking a shot at. How about the first to be shown on the BBC crying. With such plays as Elton John at 8-1 and the Queen at 16-1, Kate’s mother at 5-2 looks like a safe play. Or how about the main course at the wedding reception? Roast Beef and Yorksire pudding or Salmon are joint ‘favorites’ at 3-1. How about taking a shot with Shepherds’ Pie at 20-1 or Swan  at 100-1. Swan, Really!

British bookmakers expect to see over 1.5 million dollars wagered on the Royal Wedding. In the UK that is a large amount of handle for a non-sports event. Typically the largest TV show in the UK, the X-Factor, gets $100,000 in total handle. But this is still a big event and may be a boon for UK bookmakers. “As a nonsports event that will be second to only our pope-betting in 2005,” Paddy Power spokesman Darren Haines told the Associated Press.

While Royal Wedding betting is most prominent with UK bookmakers, Bookmaker and Bodog also have some wagering available. Bookmaker, however, has a $25 limit per bet, obviously these wagers are just for fun at the Costa Rica bookmaking giant. But Bodog is participating to the fullest, with nearly 20 props on the board. Since the Roayl Wedding is not as big an event for U.S. players, the books servicing mainly U.S. customers and many Caribbean and Central America books are giving their players something to look forward to at the end of the week – the NFL Draft.

As silly as betting the NFL draft may seem, there is actually a little handicapping that can be done on these wagers. Bodog is featuring nearly 40 different bets and Sportsbook.com has 20 in their current betting menu. Players can wager on whether Cam Newton will go in the #1 slot or if a lineman will be taken first. At Bodog players can pit the Big 12  agsint the SEC or the Big Ten vs. the ACC for the  most players drafted form their respective confrerence.  At Sportsbook.com players can wager on the ‘total’ for number of players from each  conference that will be drafted.

Unlike the Royal Wedding, players can do a bit of handicapping research for the NFL draft. We used the NFL website for some insights and found it pretty easy to come to some conclusions. In addition, there are mock drafts galore around the web. With the Carolina Panthers picking first and in need of a top flight QB, Cam Newton is a pretty good play for the #1 pick.  

Enjoy your spring wagering and have fun with these prop bets.

No Comments »

Shortly after last week’s announcement that the  U.S. Attorney in New York had managed to take down the three largest  U.S.-facing poker sites on the Internet, the day was dubbed ‘Black Friday’ by poker players and operators alike. Within a matter of days, the affected websites issued updates to  U.S. players who were up in arms about their rights being violated and more importantly, their funds being frozen. Players’ minds were set at ease a bit by the announcement that funds would be returned. But now the lingering question is when?  When will PokerStars and Full Tilt pay back their players?

The two biggest government cases that involved player funds happened within 6 months of each other. First BETonSPORTS was taken down by the DoJ in July of 2006, then in January of 2007 payment processing giant (at the time) NeTeller was indicted by the feds. These two cases literally went in opposite directions. BETonSPORTS players are still waiting for a refund, while NeTeller did sort out their mess and got funds back to players later that same year. The situation with these poker rooms looks like it will mirror, in some form, the NeTeller resolution. We do not forsee a BETonSPORTS situation here as all of the affected poker companies operate globally, like NeTeller, while BOS had over 90% of their players in the  U.S., and went bankrupt within weeks of thier indictment.

While tens of thousands of players had funds at NeTeller it took the company nearly a month to issue a statement regarding payback. “As a result of the restrictions placed by third parties, court-ordered seizures, and related legal concerns, the group is currently unable to make payments to US customers.” PokerStars and Full Tilt only took a couple of days to come to an agreement with the DoJ to return funds to players. On Wednesday they realeased the following in a statement, “PokerStars has reached an agreement with the US Department of Justice that will allow players to cash out as soon as a suitable processor is found.”

The problem here is that right now these poker rooms, no matter how much they want to get funds back to players, simply can’t. The DoJ shut down their money processors and now they most assuredly will have to get ‘permission’ from the DoJ on who to use, and how to get the funds repaid. In February 2007, NeTeller said, “As a result of the restrictions placed by third parties, court-ordered seizures and related legal concerns, (Neteller) is unable to make payments to U.S. customers”. This is the same scenario that poker players will face in the coming weeks with PokerStars, Full Tilt and hopefully, Absolute Poker/Ultimate Bet.

The NeTeller case seemed to drag on forever and it was a lengthy process, but in July of 2007, six months after the indictments and account seizures, NeTeller agreed to forfeit $136 million and admit wrongdoing for violating U.S. laws. Later that month NeTeller announced that it had come to a ‘Distribution Agreement’ with the DoJ and on July 30 stated, “US customers will be able to access their NeTeller accounts online until 26 January 2008 and make a request for their funds.”

This process took six and a half months. And, it was not until after NeTeller admitted wrongdoing and PAID that they were able to send funds to US players. The DoJ accepted millions from Neteller and its founders but they are seeking $3 billion from the poker companies. 

The poker companies will most likely have to go through a similar dance with the  U.S. Attorneys. Basically these sites will have to plead guilty before the DoJ is going to let them refund players. More pain for the players who use offshore sites is certainly a nice by-product of the arrests for a government that does not want you playing anyway.  The DoJ does not care that players are out money. Testimony by the DoJ in Congress has stated that Internet gambling is illegal as far as they are concerned. Thus, all of the affected players were gambling illegally in their eyes and their funds are deemed illegal proceeds. So far, all of the affected poker companies have proclaimed their innocence. And, as of this writing Absolute/UB had not come to any agreement with the US Attorney. They stated today, “Given the far-reaching consequences of the US Attorney’s actions for Absolute Poker and for the entire poker community, Absolute Poker believes that the responsible course of action is to review with its attorneys the relevant court filings before taking any action.”

Now, NeTeller did refund players’ money and once the agreement with the  U.S. was in place, it did happen rather quickly. However there are three different companies all in the same boat here. Most likely we will see three different scenarios for players getting refunds with the potential for varying times that payouts will be available from each company. Though we are highly confident that players at PokerStars, Full Tilt and Absolute Poker/Ultimate bet will get all of their money back out of these operations, we doubt that the statement from Poker Stars will come to fruition, “Cashouts for US residents are expected to be available within several weeks.” Perhaps they should amend that statement to say several months.

Players are urged to hang in there as the funds are expected to be paid back and follow both the sites they play at and the OSGA BLOG for updated information on payments as they unfold.

1 Comment »

Last week we made mention in our BLOG of a couple of things that have gotten players into trouble with their gambling houses.  And one player, who admitted that he read the BLOG, did not heed our advice and now has a bigger problem. So, we thought it might be useful to outline the top thing NOT to say to an online sportsbook, Internet casino or poker room should a payout problem arise.

Quite often players in the U.S. have trouble getting their money sent in a timely fashion once a request has been put in and accepted. This can happen at just about any outfit offshore, and usually is a just a one-time issue. However, too many players get frustrated and starting popping off at the next available clerk once a payout does not arrive as planned.

The #1 thing NOT to say is that you are thinking of making a charge back on your credit card deposits. Do not even mention the words ‘charge’ and ‘back’ in the same sentence. The word (or words) ‘chargeback’ instantly will get a player into trouble. Even if you are not planning to do the dirty deed, DO NOT mention a charge back. Unfortunately, this week’s case proves this point.

A player called us because he had not received a bank wire from Bodog, who in the past had been very reliable for him with payouts. The player claimed that the wire did not arrive in his account, while Bodog said it had been delivered. This player went round and round with the sportsbook giant and finally resorted to calling OSGA. Once we got involved the wheels started moving. But unfortunately, these types of problems do take some time to sort out. The player got more and more frustrated. Bodog insisted that it was sent. The player got bank records and letters saying it was not sent to his account. Bodog still insisted it was sent to him. Finally, through our involvement, Bodog’s processing company began to make an extra effort to find the wire.

Meanwhile, the player got more furious and more steamed with each passing day. This week he decided to make the ‘chargeback’ threat. And it was a veiled threat at that. He said, “A lawyer friend suggested that I charge back my deposit,” when he was inquiring if there were any updates with the clerk who was handling his issue. The warning bells went off and within a few hours the players’ account was closed.

Credit card charge backs are such a big problem that the mere utterance of the words makes an offshore outfit react or overreact, and not in a positive way. The problem is that too many chargebacks will cause VISA or MasterCard to drop the processing company and thus the gambling house has to find a new credit card processor. This not only affects the book or casino, it affects all of the players at that place and the industry itself. Many new books are not even taking credit cards and most places have lost the ability to accept credit cards at one time during the last few years. We spoke with one operator who recently launched a new shop in Costa Rica. “I am not taking credit cards at this time, it’s just too much of a headache. Credit cards cause nothing but problems,” we were told.

In addition, the sportsbook or casino has a further problem if a chargeback is made – they never collect that player’s deposit money. Years ago when these problems began to surface regularly we, of course, got involved with many disputes. At the time one operator told us that he could NOT pay the player in question because of the threat of a chargeback. Why? “Because, if I pay the guy and then he charges back, I lose twice.” Puzzled, we inquired further. “I lose twice because (one) the player beat me and got paid and then I lose again because I can’t collect his deposit money.”

In recent years, frustrated players have made charging back on a deposit part of their modus opperandi. As soon as a problem occurs, the easiest thing for a player to do to recoup his money is to charge back. However, players need to be aware that this behavior is now being tracked. There is a list, a big list. And the list is being shared amongst all of the major players in the gambling community. One player was recently shut down within hours after depositing at one of the franchises of Sportsbook.com. Of course, we inquired as to why this player was shut down, with bets pending. Here Sportsbook ran him through the list and found a chargeback from 7 years ago!  According to the management at Sportsbook.com, “We caught his account within 2 hours of being created and no actioned all wagers, then credited back the initial deposit.”

This is what all of the sportsbooks, casinos and poker rooms are doing now once a player utters ‘charge back’. If a player threatens to reverse his deposits, the gambling house will cut the alleged offender off at the pass and refund all cards used to deposit, closing the account and keeping all monies. This is the knee-jerk reaction that operators have been forced into in the face of mounting losses and repeat offenders. And once a player says ‘charge back’ our hands are pretty much tied in trying to achieve any type of positive resolution.

Players should remember that if they are playing a reputable house (rated Elite or Premier) they should not sweat whether or not they are going to be paid; maybe ‘when’, but not ‘if’. Quite often complaint resolution takes far longer than anyone wants and due to the murky world of money processing, missing wires and delayed checks are particularly frustrating. Players should use the chargeback only as a last resort, as a virtual ace-in-the-hole to use after all other means of resolution have been exhausted.

Saying chargeback is like going ‘all in’. It’s a last ditch effort to get the money sitting in the pot. And who goes all in announcing what is in their hand? You would get creamed doing that. And most players who utter the word charge and back together end up getting screwed too.

No Comments »

Over the last few weeks we have gotten complaints on many different sportsbooks regarding payout delays. Unfortunately, in today’s world of offshore wagering, slow payout complaints have become quite commonplace.

The large number of recent complaints has run the gamut of payout methods. Reports of problems with bank wires, checks and even ACH payments have filled our inbox and caused our phones to ring off the hook for days on end. Many of these problems were reported at very legitimate outfits, place that we have rated highly, like YouWager, BetUS and industry giant Bodog. The problems are not isolated to just sportsbooks. We have heard of the exact same problem with online poker rooms, like Full Tilt.

One of the biggest problems is player expectations. Players who have been online for years can remember just a few years back when money moved seamlessly with same day payouts offered at almost every outlet. Players could deposit or withdraw with a simple mouse click via NeTeller, MoneyBookers and other online payment processors. However, since the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) in 2006, payments have gotten tougher and tougher to send back to US players.

The UIGEA was not written to make US players internet betting illegal, instead it makes it illegal for any company to move money for the purpose of internet gambling. This caused initial problems  in ’06 and ’07 that have come and gone sporadically for the last few years. And yet players still don’t seem to understand the difficulties that the UIGEA has presented.

Reputable houses like all of the ones mentioned above want nothing more than to pay players quickly.  To do this, online operators will work with just about any establishment that will move the money for them back to the US. These companies quite often are less scrupulous than anyone running a mutli-million dollar operation would want to do business with, but online gambling houses that service US players are left with few options. And quite often, player complaints really lie with these third-party processing companies.

As we have stated in this space before, the biggest complaint is that players feel like they are getting the runaround when they inquire about a late payment. We have seen some of the correspondence and this is a legitimate gripe. But unfortunately, many books are at the mercy of their processor. The check or bank wire do not come from Bodog or BetUS; they can’t simply walk to another department in the building and find out where a payment is. Operators must  contact their processors, who will then look into the issue, when they have time,  and get back to the operator. Regrettably, there is a bit of a delay in this process and some books can take up to a week or more to find a lost payment. 

We have gotten involved in several of these slow pay complaints over the last few weeks. What we have found is very angry players and very frustrated operators. Many of the operators that we have spoken with regarding the recent rash of slow pay reports have told us that quite often, they do not even know that there is a problem until it gets to be a BIG problem. “With wires, we can’t even tell for a week what was sent and what was held up, and check are worse,” reported one operator. OSGA involvement has expedited a handful of claims and players did receive their payouts much more timely once OSGA got involved. But, the anger from players is still significant and does not appear to be going away any time soon.

Threats will not help to get a payout sent any faster. Thought it may be difficult, a player (or an operator) losing their temper does no good in helping to resolve the situation. The #1 thing NOT TO DO is to threaten a charge back. Credit card charge backs are the scourge of the online gaming industry and the mere mention of one will often turn a give-and-take relationship between player and operator into an adversarial one. In addition, threats of posts or reports to local law enforcement will not get a payout sent more quickly. Instead, they make operators very wary of the customer. Another thing not to do is to scream and yell, especially profanities. Good players can easily become ‘problem players’ by venting frustration using four letter words and ethnic slurs.

Players also need to know that it is not necessarily a particular dollar figure that slows down a payment. Commonly we hear “well it’s only $1500 bucks” coupled with “that’s nothing to these guys (offshore).” Volume can be a problem and five or ten $1500 check payouts may become an issue with certain processing companies.

Players who feel that they have exhausted every conventional means of resolution are urged to contact us, BEFORE doing something foolish to further jeopardize a late payout.

We urge players to have a bit of patience. Any place that is rated Premier or Elite by OSGA certainly has the money and the motivation to pay. But, due to the fallout from the UIGEA, now over four years old, paying out and, more importantly, rectifying payout problems, continues to become increasingly difficult for offshore operators.

4 Comments »

No Comments »