Part 1
How the "Bonus" scam works for the Sportsbook
Take the example of a very large International Sportsbook now listed in The
Sportbook Review Avoid List. They offered players a $25 free wager bonus for signing up
with their Sportsbook with "no strings attached". A player
would then sign-up and find $25 in their account, life is good so far.
The player wagers the $25 and wins. The player now has $50 right, wrong,
the player has $25. The Sportsbook has un expectantly removed the
original bonus with absolutely nothing in writing explaining this would
be the case. Now the player wagers his $25 and again wins and decides to
take his $50 and move on. The Sportsbook refuses to send the player any
money claiming "deceitful player practices", and then
terminates the account.
This actually happened in February 2000 during a review by Sportsbook
Review.
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A more recent example involved a player who deposited $10,000 in a
Sportsbook and received a $2000 bonus. The player followed all the
stated bonus rules putting his entire deposit and bonus at risk through
a series of bets that added up to over $14000. The player then requested
his balance which now stood at $11,000. Not a bad deal, he gambled, lost
a $1,000 but still gets to pull out more than his initial deposit.
Imagine his surprised when his check arrived for $9,000. The Sportsbook, which is
also now proudly listed in "The Avoid List", claimed the player had
"simply joined the Sportsbook with the intent to defraud" pointing
to a recorded conversation which the player was inquiring about the
bonus. Whenever a Sportsbook is beaten they always fall back on "We
were cheated".
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