SPORTSBOOK REVIEW NEWSWIRE
Oddsmaker cancels winning bets; cites bonus terms
6/14/2008 10:56:15 PM
Oddsmaker (SBR rating D-) cancels winning bets; cites bonus terms
A new player accepted a free $200 account offer from
Oddsmaker. He also deposited $500 in order to increase the amount of money he could risk at once. The sportsbook confiscated all winnings including money won from the player's deposit. Oddsmaker states that the player made a parlay which is against the bonus terms and the reason for management's decision.
Player: I got the letter offering a $200 bonus for signing up. $200 is too little to play so I added $500 cash at the same time. That gave me $700 to play with. I ran it to $3600 winnings that weekend when I inquired how much of it was available for withdrawal they told me none that I had broke the rules by betting a parlay. I made a good 20 straight bets before any parlay and then another 20 bets after that.
All those bets were in the $100-$300 range. When they refused to pay I asked if they were going to refund my $500 if I had lost. Of course not, so what they were saying is I risked $500 cash with no chance of winning and they weren't going to let me know I broke the rules or was playing for nothing until 1) I went broke 2) I tried to make a withdrawal.
In my mind the bet I broke the rules on (which I was unaware of) should have voided the $200 and either 1) they notify me 2) All bets from then on were good. In reality considering I never lost the $200 all bets should have counted. They continued to let me make numerous bets and run up the figure and if I hadn't inquired can you imagine if I had ran it to 10 or 15 large how much more pissed I had been. You know in this business you go hot and cold I got hot at the wrong time with the wrong book. I probably lose $30,000 to $40,000 a year. To win back 3,000-4,000- is a good weekend. What really pissed me off is I had bets pending. When I called and those bets weren't honored after all was said and done I was really irked. They told me my figure would be reset to $500 after ALL pending bets were graded.Go figure. Thanks for your help.