07.07.2010 (04:47 PM CST)
Neteller is investigating the Bestake (SBR rating F) merchant account after complaints against the alleged scam sportsbook were reported. 50 Bestake players contacted SBR saying their balances were zeroed out after clicking a 'Show Me The Money' button which was curiously placed next to a new Express 4 Hour Withdrawal ad on its homepage. In reality, once players clicked the message, their entire balances were divided into six World Cup soccer wagers -— with the condition being all six wagers must be recorded as wins in order for the bettors to receive their funds plus 15%. Neteller was unable to comment directly on any action it could take against Bestake, but did state that they would be unable to accept claim requests for funds lost at the hands of a third-party site. | Readers discuss Bestake scam
06.23.2010 (08:34 AM CST)
New Bestake (SBR rating F) complaints have been reported from players who were victimized by the unrated sportsbook's scam which was initially reported by SportsBookReview on June 20th. The Bestake homepage displayed a logo of "Show me the money" next to a new '4 hour express withdrawal' option that was never before placed on its site. After clicking the image and believing that they were going to be initiating withdrawal requests, players entire balances were placed on six World Cup soccer games. Bestake's hidden condition which was obscurely written inside of its terms of service for this 'promotion' was that all six wagers must win in order for a player to receive a 15% profit on their balances. Had the terms been clear and apparent once this radical and unprecedented promotion was launched, no players would accept what amounts to drastically worse six-team parlay odds for their entire account balances. Bestake management justified the absurd clause by stating that it was printed on the site, albeit not front and center next to the misleading promotion. SBR considers the action theft and is recommending Bestake cancel all wagers which resulted in players losing their balances on account of the promotion. | Bestake player comments
| Read more 06.21.2010 (01:02 PM CST)
Update to 6/20 Bestake fraud report - SBR has received 30 complaints from Bestake players on the sportsbook's new "Show me the money" feature. Bestake placed a link for the promotion next to an inaccurate description: "New Feature: Express 4 hours withdraw. Start now.".
Players clicked on the link believing they were withdrawing money, and saw their entire account balance disappear. Players balances were divided up into 6 ''matched'' bets in equal; amounts on the following games:
Slovenia/England Draw at 4.50
Ghana (vs Germany) at 5.4
USA/Algeria Draw at 3.8
Japan (vs Denmark) at 3.55
Italy (vs Slovakia) at 1.7
Korea/Ivory Coast Draw at 5.4
SBR contacted Tom Walsh of Bestake, who stated the following:
Bestake management: [quote]I
saw the claims at SBR, the rules was very clear and apparently the users
that
made those claims did not read our rules about that feature (New Feature - Show Me The Money).
When you are choosing this option the system will automatically choose 6 events
to win, all your found in the account will be split between those events. you
must win all the games ( all the games are considered as one event), if you
lose one game your will lose the whole event. The winner will get a withdraw
after 4 hours guaranteed of the last event + 15% bonus of the winning
amount.[/quote]Bestakes
promotion violates contract law and common sense. Players attempting to withdraw instead were given six World Cup bets
they did not want. Additionally, the prices given on the matches were
unreasonably low. For example, Slovenia was matched at a price of 4.5 (+350),
while Pinnacle was offering Slovenia at 7.99 (+699). Finally, the rules for the
promotion are unclear at best, and unconscionable at worst. One reading of the
rules could treat the 6 wagers as a parlay paying very poor odds. Bestake was
asked about this, but offered no clarification.
SBR has
recommended that Bestake void all the wagers created from the misleading link,
and pay the players their balances. | Bestake fraud forum discussion
06.20.2010 (06:36 PM CST)
Bestake (unrated) players have reported fraud. Twenty five Bestake complaints were filed with SBR this morning. When players logged into their accounts a popup window appeared called "Express Withdrawal - Show me the money in 4 hours'. After clicking the option, players reported that their account balances changed to 0, and that exactly six unauthorized bets were recorded to their accounts zeroing their balances.
SBR is investigating the alleged fraud.
Bestake player: [quote]I would like to call your attention to an obvious
cheat of
Bestake.com bet office that is in progress right now. I wanted to make a
withdrawal from my Bestake account. I had
EUR 6186.77 on my account, I show this fact to you through my
printscreened copy as a proof -
see photo Bestake 1. Under my account details there was a new feature
for withdrawal called
Express 4 hours withdrawal as you can see on the printscreened copy.
After some minutes I wanted to check the status of the
withdrawal but I was confused to see that the office my all money
6186.77 EUR put on
different events as bets![/quote]
[quote]A line appeared on my account page: "express withdraw -
show me the money". After pressing the button, al the money in the account
has been automatically divided into 6 bets, of the same amount, really unlikely
to win bets. Obviously, I've never made these bets, and I don't want to make
them. I also would like my money back, but it's a fraud for sure. Is there something
that I and all those that experiences this scam can do?
[/quote]
| Read more