Off Shore Gaming Association

It’s been known for some time that World Sports Exchange was having payment issues but they always seemed to find a way to get financing to keep the company in business. Since its inception, the website was always stock full of betting options, particular in game markets for major games and tournaments but lately that changed. Starting about 2010, long term markets were discontinued for many sports and in game markets were becoming less available. Still major events always had markets open. It thus seemed quite odd when there was no Masters market last week. Looking into it I also determined that there were other issues as well. The live support is no longer functional and upon calling the company on the 1-888 numbers I received a message “your call is now first in line and will be answered by the next available representative.” After 20 minutes it became quite clear that no one was going to pick up the phone. Emails also went unanswered. I spoke to numerous other WSEX customers who have had the same experience lately and by all accounts no payouts are being sent. As a result the only logical conclusion is that the company is probably in the process of closing shop.

WSEX began operation in 1997 when three members of the Pacific Stock Exchange joined forces and decided that a sports betting website could offer the same type of day trading and long term markets that a traditional stock market could. Setting up shop on the island of Antigua, World Sports Exchange became an immediate favorite for remote bettors who loved to bet on long term markets for events like the NFL and NCAA championship or live betting on events like football games and golf tournaments. Traditional betting options were also available with competitive lines. Moreover, the company offered betting on the next at bat for select baseball games. I recall one of the owners telling me that someone had bet $100 on Brett Boone to hit a triple at 100/1 odds for a Sunday night game and they probably soiled themselves when Boone hit the ball to the wall in his first at bat and despite considering going for 3rd decided to hold up at second base. WSEX advertised at all the big U.S. based posting forums and in newspapers and was a favorite of almost all bettors who had an account with them. Their customer service was among the best and payouts were immediate. The company made headlines in the late 1990s when the company’s CEO, Jay Cohen, returned to the U.S. to face charges that he was violating the Wire Act. Cohen hired the best attorneys and made the case that as a company licensed in Antigua, WSEX was not violating the law since bets were received and processed on the small island so the laws of Antigua should apply. By all accounts the jury was prepared to side with Cohen but instead found him guilty after the judge told the jury that the evidence he presented was without foundation. Cohen spent 3 years in prison and returned to Antigua after his release.

WSEX continued to operate successfully but was under the watchful eye of the DoJ as a result of Cohen’s decision to challenge them as well as the company’s involvement in the WTO case where Antigua took the USTR to the WTO courts and won. It was a major victory for the country but it also clearly upset the U.S. government who put the country’s banking system on its rogue list.

WSEX first found itself in financial trouble after the passing of the UIGEA. It’s not quite certain what precipitated the cash flow issues although there is no question that the shutting down of NETeller to American customers was a major reason. After NETeller cut off American and Canadians, customers found it difficult to get payments to the company and more importantly found it very difficult to get payments from the company. Almost all of WSEX’s clients were located in North America so NETeller was the preferred method for payments in and out. But after NETeller no longer became an option, U.S. customers were essentially left with checks as the only option for withdrawals. WSEX’s real financial woes started in 2009 when Antiguan banks were targeted by many U.S. institutions for various reasons (the Stanford Bank scandal and the UIGEA implementation being the main ones). So U.S. banks started to refuse checks and bank wires from Antiguan banks leaving WSEX to rely on 3rd party processors to process the payments. And many in the industry told me that some of those processors were less than reputable likely stealing money from the company before they disappeared. As well, WSEX’s ventures into a fantasy sports exchange, their no commission poker room, and their partnership in a P2P betting exchange all cost the company dearly. As a result the company ended up with cash flow issues and a backlog of payment requests since processors couldn’t keep up with the payment requests. WSEX was quickly downgraded by sports betting rating companies precipitating more clients to request payouts and the cycle continued. By many accounts WSEX still owes somewhere north of $250,000 to clients.

At some point WSEX was saved from bankruptcy by investors who changed the structure of the company somewhat but it never fully got WSEX out of debt. The company gave up its Antiguan betting license (likely due to the $100,000 annual licensing fee) and got a license in Cyprus instead although their physical location is still in Antigua. According to the website the company is incorporated in Nicosia, Cyprus and is owned and operated by Euro Sports Exchange Limited in London England.

OSGA continues to contact owners of WSEX and we hope that this once proud and reputable sportsbook can still provide proof that the company is a going concern. But for us to believe that we need some proof, like actually picking up the phone and offering markets on major events . . . and paying customers.

—- UPDATE —-

About four hours after this was posted, WSEX updated their website. It now has a statement where their home page had been for over 15 years.

Dear WSEX customer,
We have been forced to halt business activities at this time due to inadequate capitol resources.   The financial position of the company is currently under review and we will keep you informed as to the future plans for WSEX and the repayment or transfer of your balances.

We sincerly apologize for this unfortunate situation and will be doing everything we can to rectify it as soon as possible.

-WSEX Management
———————

Contact Hartley via email at Hartley[at]osga[dot]com.

Read insights from Hartley Henderson every week here at OSGA and check out more from Hartley’s RUMOR MILL!

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The Off Shore Gaming Association (OSGA) is pleased to announce the winners of our Annual Progressive Pick ‘Em Contest and Last Man Standing Contest.  The 2012 OSGA Progressive Pick ‘Em winner is ‘’sirduke542’ who beat out over 190 contestants to win the grand prize of $900 in betting money at industry-giant Bookmaker. The 2012 OSGA Last Man Standing Contest went for 15 weeks until ‘piper3545’ was the only player left standing and he collected $1000 betting account at Elite-rated Ucabet.

The OSGA sponsors several football contests that run for the full football season. This year OSGA’s popular Progressive Pick ‘Em saw the Progressive part of the contest hit for the first time ever. In fact, it was hit two times. The last time a player hit the pool and picked every game on the board correctly was in week 11. A correct card for this past weekend’s games would have paid $1800 in betting money at Bookmaker. But 14 wins was the most that any player could muster, thus the Progressive prize was split amongst the top finalists. ‘sirduke542 collected 50% of the pool for going 174-81 over 17 weeks. ‘PD’ and ‘piper3545’ split the next prizes as they tied for second place and collected $315 each. PD also finished as a runner up in last year’s contest! ‘player’ came in fourth collecting $180 and ‘touchdowntexans’ finished in 5th this year with a prize of $90.

The OSGA Progressive Pick ‘Em was two contests in one! Each week there was also a prize winner of a $500 free betting account at Bookmaker for the player with the most wins straight-up for that week. While the Progressive Pick ‘Em is a contest that features a large progressive pool ($5100), it also is a tough grind where just one bad week can knock a player out of the money. In fact, sirduke542 never captured any single week’s prize, yet finished atop the standings to become the overall winner.

The 2012 OSGA Last Man Standing contest was also a huge success with nearly 150 players participating. This was the third time OSGA offered the Last Man Standing Contest, and this year the contest went deeper into the season than ever before. Each week players had to pick just one single winner – again, straight up. But, throughout the course of the entire NFL season, no team could be selected twice. This “one-and-done” event was co-sponsored by Ucabet who offered up huge Free betting accounts for the top four finishers including a $1000 free gambling account for the Last Man Standing. In all, Ucabet offered up a $2500 prize pool.

Last year’s contest finished up early with 5 players all going out in week 10 of the NFL season. This year the contest lasted with several players still alive in December. The Last Man standing was ‘piper3545’ who won a FREE $1000 betting account at Elite-rated Ucabet with Miami over Jacksonville in week 15. ‘bulubulu’ came in second place losing with Giants as they slid downhill, yet still got a $750 betting account.  ‘ddsmj’ and  ‘Doc728’ both went out in week 13 and thus split the remaining prizes, each get a $375 betting account at Elite-rated Ucabet.

As the contest wore on players busted out in droves, with more than half of the players eligible for the consolation prize – a $25 Free Play at Ucabet – for players who were out in the first four weeks.

“This year we were very happy to see the OSGA Last Man Standing Contest get so deep into the season. We handed out many free accounts and the Last Man Standing was great for us and the players.” said a Ucabet spokesperson.

This has been another great year for the OSGA Progressive Pick ‘Em and Last Man Standing Contests. OSGA is looking forward to crowning a winner in the 10th Annual Bowl Challenge next week and their annual NCAA Tourney Contest in March.

“Our contests were both bigger and better than ever in 2012 ,” stated Jim Quinn from OSGA. “We are fortunate to be able to work with some great sportsbooks to be able to offer  these contests for our fans, visitors and members and hope to do it for years to come,” added Quinn.

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For the month of December Elite-rated WagerWeb offered OSGA visitors the chance to win a brand new iPad mini. To get entered for the drawing players who had visited WagerWeb from osga.com or mentioned OSGA were given the opportunity to participate. OSGA.com had a “Big Deal Coupon” that players used to get involved.

The “12 Bets of Christmas” promotion was a huge success. Players got into the drawing by placing simply placing at least 12 wagers throughout December 1- 25, 2012. This was the only qualifier for a random drawing to Win one out of 3 iPad minis!

We are happy to announce that WagerWeb has selected the winners. Congratulations to Leland R., Erik W., and Michael O! These three winners have the choice of getting the iPad mini sent to them with the WagerWeb logo or $350 will be placed in a betting account for the winner to withdraw it and purchase the ipad mini at his/her place of choice.

“It was great to work with OSGA on this promotion,” said Marty D, head of player development at WagerWeb. “The iPad minis are so cool and we are glad that three loyal players were able to grab them.”

“Christmas is a time of giving and it was great to see WagerWeb come up with such a unique promotion to give back to their players,” said OSGA President Jim Quinn. “We are big fans of WagerWeb and hope to do more of this kind of thing for their players in the future.”

Leland R., Erik W., and Michael O have already been notified by WagerWeb of their great new tech prizes. “We are guessing that they will come loaded with the WagerWeb mobile betting platform in addition to Angry Birds and Facetime,” added Quinn.

OSGA visitors should keep on the lookout for more “Big Deal Coupons” from OSGA Elite-rated sportsbooks, casinos and poker rooms in 2013.

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The ink had not even dried on the recent blockbuster trade between the Miami Marlins and the Toronto Blue Jays when oddsmakers took notice and reacted – immediately. The blockbuster trade between the Miami Marlins and the Toronto Blue Jays affected future MLB World Series betting odds. Prior to the trade that sent Josh Johnson, Mark Buehrle and Jose Reyes from Miami to Toronto, the Blue Jays were at 35-1 to win the World Series. Today they sit at 14-1 at Bovada.lv, down from 16-1 right after the linesmakers reacted to the trade.

People are betting the Blue Jays to win it all now and the deal hasn’t even been approved by Major League Baseball yet. And the hapless Marlins, their MLB World Series future bet odds were at a whopping 40-1 even with those players. They now sit at the bottom of the pool (or the top of the longshots) at 100-1.

Bettors are again wagering that these stars have transformed a mediocre team with a mediocre chance of winning the World Series into a good betting value. Unfortunately, these trades rarely consummate with the World Series or championship trophy. These particular players make this one very interesting.

Last year prior to the free agent signing of the Marlins, the odds for them to win it all were about the same as they were last week, roughly 40-1. They picked up Buehrle and Reyes and their odds went down to 20-1 to win it all and in the first weeks of the 2012 season even dropped to 18-1 or less at some outlets – despite a poor record. The blockbuster deal could make the Blue Jays a serious threat in the AL East, but 3 players do not make a team as Marlins bettors found out last year. The Blue Jays still have to beat out the defending AL champions, the Detroit Tigers, who are the favorites to win the World Series at 7.5 to 1.

Bovada has one prop up that may be worthwhile for bettors who want to take early advantage of this huge trade. Will the Toronto Blue Jays make the Playoffs? Yes is an underdog at +150 and No is currently at 2-1. With the aging Yankees and the expanded format, the three newly acquired players make the Jays an attractive bet to make the playoffs, especially getting $150 back on every $100 bet. Finally, another prop that changed because of this trade is the total wins for both of these teams in the 2013 season. The Best Bet here: Miami Marlins Under 69.5 Wins. They only won 69 last year with these players!

Right now, may online sportsbooks do not have the future odds up for the World Series. You can get the above prices and the exclusive props right now at Bovada.

UPDATE: The Blue Jays just picked up Melky Cabrera in another huge move. The disgraced former Giant and All-Star MVP moved the line even further for the Jays. They now sit at 11-1 to win the 2013 MLB World Series.

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As the ‘busy’ season for sportsbooks worldwide opens this weekend, we have some books that have had a rough time with payouts over the summer. It seems that every year reputable online sportsbooks that service U.S. customers run into some type of problem with their ability to move money back to the States. There are two usual suspects – Bovada and Sportsbook.com. These two very reputable places have a huge amount of customers and thus have to process a large amount of daily payouts. Both have had issues for the last several summers.

However, as we approach the football season, where a U.S. facing sportsbooks’ customer base will swell by over 50%, Bovada is righting the payout ship. For starters, over the summer Bovada reactively and proactively communicated to players in regards to the delays, kept the estimated timeframes up-to-date on the Bovada website, and compensated players where it was warranted and in circumstances of extreme delays. This is more than most books do when there is a payout delay problem. Keeping players well informed was the key and we will applaud Bovada for their efforts, which after an initial rush in complaints here at OSGA, was instrumental in keeping players up-to-date as to the whereabouts of their payouts.

Keep in mind we are talking about reputable sportsbooks where it is not the money that is an issue or a lack of funds available to be sent, but instead a volume or related problem with a particular money-processing company. Bovada told us that the main source of the issue over the summer was “a necessary restructuring due to processor changes.” It appears that their efforts worked as payout times that ran into weeks over the summer are now down and Bovada is currently processing player payouts within 8 business days.

Processor changes/nightmares are something that we hear over and over again from online gambling houses. Sportsbooks offshore are constantly losing processors (who either run with their funds or go out of business as a matter of course) and getting new ones. The best and most trusted processing companies are starting to charge much higher fees than the customer has come to expect and the best paying outfits with the most solid funding, are beginning to raise costs.

We have had several players contact us regarding new fees on bank wires at industry-giant, Bookmaker. Over the summer Bookmaker began to charge bank wire fees in the hundreds of dollars, based on the amount of the wire. We were told simply that the new fee structure is due to the rising costs of banking. Apparently, the costs involved for large wires and the security that is provided by Bookmaker has their processors charging huge fees. Unfortunately, this cost is passed onto the customer. Still Bookmaker is one of very few places that takes large bets, where you don’t have to worry, at all, about your funds. So, larger players will just have to bite the bullet, until the laws in the U.S. change.

We have also had a large number of complaints on the payouts at BetOnline and their recent acquisition, Sportsbetting. This is another case of a place having plenty of money, but being held captive with processing problems. BetOnline also had the double-whammy because many Sportsbetting customers had been lined up for payouts when the company was purchased. Then, as we mentioned above can happen, they lost their ability to do bank wires when one of their wire and check processors closed up shop. Unfortunately, money processing companies are getting harder to replace and certainly to trust in today’s post-UIGEA climate. Thus, players are left in limbo for their requests and for many, BetOnline/Sportsbetting cannot give them a timeline for when their payouts will arrive, until they increase their payout capacity.

Though this is a mess right now, we were told that they are working diligently to get additional processing and expect to have their ship righted within a few weeks. Unfortunately, this does not do much for players right now. We did receive reports of timely payouts via person-to-person transactions and we will continue to help players get their payouts expedited from BetOnline and Sportsbetting.

Players do have to keep in mind that delays can happen at any time, at any book. With the onslaught of football season, payouts may become even more strained, though we generally see an improvement during the football season. The bottom line with payouts from online sportsbooks in today’s market is to make sure you are with a reputable company. The top-rated sportsbooks are places that have the funds and the backing to withstand the constant bumps in the road that occur currently in the online gambling world.

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It only happens once every four years and is the biggest sporting event spectacle of the year and of course, there is betting on it. The Summer Olympics are just around the corner and there are Olympic betting odds posted for a variety of events, the gold medal count and Olympic props that are specific to each sportsbook that offers betting on the Olympics.

Since the games are still a week or so away, many of the event specific wagers have not yet been posted. But almost every online sportsbook has Olympic betting odds for ‘Total Gold Medals’ and also ‘Gold Medal Matches’, where the bet is based on how many times two countries will meet in the gold medal round. As expected, the United States Olympic team has the most medals listed with a total of 38.5 and that is pretty much a global number, where books from Europe to Costa Rica to Australia all have the same number of medals won. But bookmakers in their respective countries (or the countries they service) have different numbers for their ‘home teams’. For example Bovada, which caters mainly to U.S. players has Great Britian’s medal total at 21.5, while British bookmaker William Hill has their team listed at 23.5 (with odds) and Irish bookmaker Paddy Power having a figure of 22.5. Paddy Power lists Ireland’s total gold medals at 1.5, yet no other bookmaker is even offering odds on the Irish team’s quest for gold.

However, almost every book has odds on China (35.5-36.5), Russia (24.5-25.5) and Germany (15.5). Still each book has offerings for their countries’ team and different Olympic props for their home town squads. DOG ALERT: This is definitely a reason to shop for the best Olympic betting lines as the home town team is usually a bigger favorite at a book in the home country.

We have been told before that the summer Olympic games are much a bigger wagering event than the winter games. One of the reasons is the number of high profile summer athletes and the populatiry of summer team sports including basketball and soccer. U.S.-facing Bovada told us that “when there is a big name American in it we take a lot of money on him, her, or the team. The best example would be guys like Michael Phelps or the USA Men’s Basketball team. The Men’s 100 meters aside from those also takes quite a bit.” Bovada spokesman Kevin Bradley told us that “considering Usain Bolt lost in his qualifier, he is not as big a favorite at only 5/6 right now, and this will definitely draw a lot of attention as the men’s hundred always does.” Still most sportsbooks do not have offerings up yet for individual events. Bovada has over 20 events on the board already and 5Dimes expects to have “a full board of wagering options for every sport that will be awarding medals.” However, for events not yet available for betting, they are expected to be up within 72-48 hours before the events, especially at the larger, opinionated books, like 5Dimes and Pinnacle. In fact Pinnacle has a ton of betting markets available right now. But how do these places handicap who wins the gold medal in the Men’s 3000m Steeplechase, let alone configuring a favorite for Mixed Doubles Badminton?

According to Bovada, “It is definitely not as easy to set solid lines like the NFL but is a challenge and a fun one at that.” They have been preparing for all of these events for “awhile” using world championship results, world cup results, Olympic qualifying results and stats to set their lines. Most books will keep their limits quite low as these are man-made odds, not established by Las Vegas, and can vary from book-to-book. Then as bets come in on an event, the sportsbook can move accordingly. In addition, by keeping limits low it reduces the overall exposure that perhaps a linesmaker missed a huge favorite in Mens 10m Diving, like Qiu Bo from China

If you do choose to wager on the Olympics, shop around for the number that works out best for your wager at a top online sportsbook. Most of the Olympic athletes are for the most part, amateurs and train their whole lives for this one shot . . . not too much pressure. Remember these two things for next week, the host country usually exceeds expectations and amateurs can sometimes be . . . well . . . amateurish. Enjoy the Games!

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