7/21/2008 11:43 PM
Player files $500,000 complaint against BetRoyal (SBR rating D-)
SBR Justin investigated the available facts of the complaint. In 2004 a group of players were invited by
BetRoyal management to trade prices and
betting odds at
BetRoyal against other
sportsbooks . The manager who had made the arrangement had taken a position with
BetUS (SBR rating D+) before this issue emerged.
BetRoyal management would often solicit sharp players to bet off action they did not want while offering them special low juice, or even no juice lines, to increase liquidity. For example, if the sportsbook felt it had too much exposure on one play or wanted to gamble on the other team, it would make the applicable vig pricing appealing for their players that were known to trade on the
sports betting market. The
sportsbook was aware that at least two individuals were placing wagers on this account. The deposited funds initially lost but the invested $85,000 in deposits eventually earned a balance of $586,000. Several days before
SBGglobal (SBR rating D-) completed its buyout of BetRoyal last year, the Royal website was taken off of the servers. When the site returned on the SBG platform, all winnings were removed from the account.
During the investigation, Royal, which was known for odd player arrangements and high risk bookmaking models, claimed that it had an agreement with the account holder that he would never take out winnings – only deposits. Royal claimed that the players were using some sort of hedging strategy where they would guarantee that they lost money at Royal, and won at other books. Royal offered no solid proof of this, often referring to the deal as something arranged independently by the manager that had moved on. The account holder denies there was any such agreement to “not withdraw winnings.” He rightfully points out that such an arrangement is not logical and describes a scenario where the account could only lose money. SBR told Royal that their explanation was not believable. The account holder believes BetRoyal erased the winnings in order to take $500,000 in liabilities off the books before selling to
SBG Global.
3/17/2008 01:48 PM
BigJuicyOdds (SBR rating F) ownership tells management "the tap has been turned off." BJO off-line
It appears the sportsbook's ownership is refusing to fund the operation and player balances will be stolen. The sportsbook built good will with players after bailing out a group of SBGglobal (SBR rating D-) victims late last year and continued with overly generous offers and incentives. BigJuicyOdds poker players will likely lose over $12,000 as well. SBR will communicate with BJO management as more information is know about the situation.
Update 3:35 PM: BJO poker players previously credited through new third party poker network. Debt to players figured to be much less than amount in free money accounts credited to SBG victims.
SBR was included on and email from BJO management to ownership.
"How many times were you told and asked again and again? We kept on saying to you that you are giving away too much. You can’t give away 100k and expect to get that back in a few weeks. You went from -105 to -103 to even money then back to -103 then bailing out all these players, then onto crazy bonuses. Now you finally have players depositing, we finally convinced you to start setting some limits to bonuses etc, we were gaining the players trust that we worked our *** off to achieve and you pull the plug!!! Did you finally realize the liability of this venture? Did you finally fully understand what it is you are doing? This was asked countless times, always with a reply from you “no worries, I want BJO to be the biggest sportsbook out there.” We had to shut the site down Richard, we simply couldn’t take the chance and allow players to deposit money and not be able to pay them their winnings"
12/18/2007 11:33 AM
BetRoyal (SBR rating D-) website down; reportedly under denial-of-service attack.
An
SBR poster is told "
Our internet provide is under DDOS attack so we recommend that you place you wagers with ample amount of time via call center." Others have been told the sportsbook is
"performing server maintenance." BetRoyal is an
SBGglobal-owned sportsbook now known for
winnings confiscations that took place in October.
11/29/2007 10:13 PM
New sportsbook, BigJuicyOdds (SBR rating D+) processes payouts to SBGglobal (SBR rating D-) victims. BJO has sent the first player to meet a 20 time rollover requirement on bailout funds $9,000 and states he will have withdrawn $25,000 over the course of four days. A second player was paid $2,000 via Western Union. BJO credited over $95,000 to former
SBGglobal and
BetRoyal (SBR rating D-) bettors one month ago.
11/5/2007 11:46 PM
BetCSL (SBR rating F) and DragonWager (SBR rating F) victims asked to contact SBR
BigJuicyOdds (SBR rating D+) has stated that it intends to cover the balances of stiffed players from these two small sportsbooks. Balance credits are expected to be received next week and, like the
SBGglobal (SBR rating D-) relief offer, will carry a twenty time roll-over requirement without a deposit. BetCSL and DragonWager were both serviced by the same hosting and software company chosen by BigJuicyOdds. BJO is currently under the microscope as victims from SBG try the new book after accepting a bailout offer.
10/29/2007 07:51 PM
BigJuicyOdds (SBR rating D+) credits players scammed by SBGglobal (SBR rating D-) and BetRoyal (SBR rating D-). Players who have yet to be credited with "bailout" money must
contact SBR to verify or correct SBG/
BetRoyal balance and account information. Confiscated winnings are expected to total slightly below $100,000.
7/3/2007 03:38 PM
BetRoyal (SBR rating D+) migration to
SBGglobal (SBR rating D-) platform completed. Players have complained of wrong account balances and bounced emails. Royal management tells SBR they are currently addressing technical errors and expect these issues to be resolved today.
6/29/2007 03:36 PM
BetRoyal (SBR rating D+) purchased by SBG Global (SBR rating D-)
SBG will move BetRoyal from its Oficentro office and players to its Mercedes software platform on Monday. Royal has been lowered from C- to D+ and will remain under review. Royal Sports has improved its service in 2007 and support management, which is expected to stay with the book, has been attentive to player matters over the course of the past year.
SBGglobal has been on the SBR Blacklist since 2001 with most complaints coming from big players who were cheated out of large winnings. |
Royal Sports/SBG Statement
11/15/2006 02:16 AM
SBGglobal (SBR rating D-) steals $25,000 from playerThe bettor was credited with a $7,500 "bailout" after
PlayersTime (SBR rating F) closed. A three time roll-over (wagering a total of $22,500) was required. The player wagered his funds for two months surpassing the rollover requirement and winning his balance, which then should have been his free and clear, up to $25,000.
SBG confiscated this money, again citing "sharp action" as a reason for deleting player balances. SBG also tells SBR that the player was able to wager $2,000 per parlay and should have been limited to $1,000 despite what the software allowed him to risk. This same operation also stiffed players whose accounts were purchased from
SunsetSports (SBR rating F), claiming the players violated rules by being sharp and having "inside info". The total amount reported stolen by SBG Global in the past year exceeds $80,000.
Player to SBG: The rules were that SBG posted I had to roll over the $7500.00 (3) times and that was it, so I did. Now I am having to deal with this again. I thought you guys were a good book in taking the account and honoring some of the funds owed to me. I log onto my account and I was not able to see any of my bets and or balance. I called up and I called 5 different times and got the same story “account is under review” and so forth. I finally get to speak to you Randall and your telling me I didn’t obey the rules on my account. Well at the time of the $7500.00 being credited to my account no one stated any limits and there were no limits on my account. I know with other books you are able to put certain limits on the account and a huge company like you having 3k more active customers are telling me you have no way to limit a customers limits on there account. Come on now that is not true where these small mom and pop shops do know how to do that. I kept up my end of things and roll it over more then 3 times as that is all WHAT WAS TOLD TO ME. I didn’t even ask for a cash-out and your telling me “I probably wont get nothing” now I have to deal with this again.
11/8/2006 10:58 PM
SBG Global (SBR rating D-) confiscates $56,660 before paying a take-it-or-leave-it "settlement" in the amount of $21,000. The account was opened with $800 by a woman who won $50,000 in the casino then withdrew $15,000. The woman’s husband verified with
SBG Global that he was eligible to place wagers on the account before losing bets on sporting events bringing the balance down to $15,000. The following weekend he won wagers on college football and week 4 of the NFL, bringing the balance from $15,000 to $56,660. SBG zeroed out the account the following Monday morning, claiming the husband was not allowed to wager under the account. After the account holder filed the complaint with SBR, SBG altered the wording of the rules regarding third party account access.
Original text:In the event that a third party places a bet or is thought to have placed a bet, said bet shall be valid, whether or not the alleged third party had the prior consent or knowledge of the customer. Under no circumstances will any bet be cancelled for that reason.Post-confiscation text:
(iii) You shall not allow any third party to use your account, password or identity to access or use the Service or the Software and you shall be responsible for any activities undertaken on your account by a third party. You will not reveal your user name or password to any person or use any other person’s account, password, identity or means of payment to access or use the Service or the Software.
Notes: SBGglobal collected a copy of the couple’s marriage certificate and identification documents, originally stating that once proof of identity was provided the full balance would be paid. Management admits to knowing both husband and wife were using the account before the balance peaked at $56,660. The husband also held a losing account at SBG which has been dormant for months, with a zero balance and is in good standing. SBG allows for multiple users per household.
8/30/2006 06:59 PM
Sports-Gambling and
SBGglobal downgraded from D to D-
12/25/2005 10:35 PM
SBR Bill Dozer reports: SunsetSports(SBR rating F) players left with more questions. Last week SBR confirmed with
Sports-Gambling(SBR rating D+) management that the book, which is part of
SBGglobal Group, would be taking over all Sunset player accounts at the start of this week. SBR has since spoken with
SBGglobal’s General Manager who said the deal is not finalized and all accounts may not be migrated to Sports-Gambling. SunsetSports.com is now back online, claiming they are under a new company under different ownership. Sunset, which redirects to SunsetWager.com, tells SBR that customer accounts were divided according to "player packages" and some accounts will be moved to Sports-gambling. Sunset is telling account holders they must roll-over their balances 6 times before they can have access to their funds. Players are rightfully concerned that Sunset’s latest promises will not be fulfilled. It is more probable that this wagering requirement is the latest stall tactic for unmovable accounts than it is that a new owner chose to take over a no-pay sportsbook, service its frustrated bettors, and build the tainted brand.
12/11/2004 06:47 PM
Robbie McPhail, who stiffed players as the owner of the defunct Apex Sportsbook, is using the Apex website to promote his sportsbook affiliates. ApexSportsbook.com features ads for Pinnacle Sports, Hollywood107, Sportingbet,
SBGglobal, Cybersportsbook and Mybookie. SBR is asking these sportsbooks to withhold any commission payment to Robbie or to work out an arrangement where the stiffed players can begin to receive payment. SBR will be able to provide a list of players owed. Robbie’s new sportsbook,
PlatinumSportsbets (SBR rating F) is also promoted on this site as well as his other sites which include Askthebookie.com.
10/14/2004 05:38 PM
SBR Bill Dozer reports: SBGglobal (SBR rating D+) slow-paying player in order to "audit casino play". Payment was to be executed yesterday but management tells SBR they do not know when the withdrawal will be processed. SBG claims all casino play must be audited in order to "make sure there was not a glitch". This player’s pervious payout was also delayed.
UPDATE 10/15/04 Player receives payment.