Originally posted on 02/05/2013:

Quote Originally Posted by mlansky View Post
Caramba,

Thank you for your reply. It is greatly appreciated. It is extremely extremely extremely frustrating since this was my first arb ever. I had been researching and looking into sports arbitrage for months prior to this occurring. Even for this arb, I made sure and quadruple-checked everyting to make sure what I was looking at was correct and accurate.

I know that I should have had or used an alternate sportsbook to make the hedge, but I have never had a problem with Pinnacle going down or anything like this. I mean if the site had ever been down since I was a member, it was for 5 minutes at the most and that's VERY overstating it already.

You're right, it wasn't easy thinking clearly in that situation since I was just scrambling to at least get half of my wager back by wagering +3 (-108) on the Ravens. I had wanted to go into the game knowing that I didn't have $2500 hanging out to dry on the 49ers. I knew it was going to be a close Super Bowl and any team could have won which is why I arbed this wager in the first place. It's not like I waited until the last minute to try and get the best price on Pinnacle. I tried to make the wager on the Ravens at around 4:15 pm CST. So like an hour and 15 minutes before kickoff. I thought that the site was just slow because of all the traffic due to everyone wagering on the Super Bowl. I thought for sure Pinnacle would be up and running before kickoff because like I said as long as I have been with them, the longest the site has ever been down for me was maybe 5 minutes at most. So out of all of those times and all the wagers that I have placed using Pinnacle, out of all those countless time, this has to happen to me as I'm making my first arb wager where I just need Pinnacle to just be up for 30 seconds..if that. I know that I should have gotten a friend or someone to open a sportsbook account at another sportsbook to place the wager for me, but I thought Pinnacle would be back up before game time. I had made some NBA wagers earlier in the day on Super Bowl Sunday and everything was fine.

I just don't understand how could/can one of the largest sportsbooks online not be prepared for something like this? Doesn't the company take precautions and measures against something like this from happening..especially on the day of the Super Bowl? Aren’t there safeguards in place that could have prevented (something as common as) a DoS attack from occuring? These are just some of the questions that were running through my mind during the Super Bowl when I couldn't log in or access my account during one of the biggest if not the biggest sporting event in the world.

Regards,

mlansky
Instead of complaining incessantly, you should be somewhat grateful. Why, you might ask, would I say something that seems so illogical? Because you just got a lesson and $2500 is fairly cheap in the larger scope of things. If you want to be a gambler (and that includes any investment/profit or loss scenario like stocks, currency, property, etc), you need to understand variance and variables. This includes analyzing every what if scenario, it's probabilities, and what your plan is if that particular scenario unfolds. Sometimes, the smart decision is to do nothing in regards to a scenario that is low percentage, but you still must be smart enough to understand that the chance of it occurring is possible, and are you prepared to deal with the consequences? A simplified example would be a millionaire that keeps all $1 million in one bank account. Although the chances of his bank suddenly failing is remote, he's only Federally insured for up to $200,000 if that bank fails, so either he is willing to accept an $800,000 loss on that scenario, or he can spread his million out at other places to prevent that bank failing from costing him $800,000.

Not only was Pinnacle going down a possibility, your internet going down, your electricity provider having a problem and shutting off, your mouse breaking, your computer freezing, etc, these were also very small likelihood but possible events. Were you prepared for any of them? Did you have a plan if any occurred, or were you willing to forgo anything in regards to a .003% chance? Maybe one day in the future, you'll have a $25,000 arb, and this time, you'll be better prepared to insure yourself against a similar problem.

As far as Pinnacle being prepared for a DOS attack, I'm sure they were prepared. But criminal hackers are ALWAYS inventing new ways of attack, and it's a cat and mouse game that all companies are suspect to. Annonymous can hack into Federal Government databases, so don't you think highly trained and funded Jewish mafia can invent a new way to deliver a DOS attack on a bookmaker? Pinnacle may be big in the gambling world, but they're still small potatoes in the business world in general, and if powerful governments with almost unlimited resources can be hacked with constantly new methods, you better believe Pinnacle can too. Once they threatened Pinnacle with a DOS attack looking for a payoff, and were refused, then Pinny going down was a likely event. Another small but possible scenario is that Pinnacle went down intentionally and blamed it on a DOS attack. While this possibility is remote, it cannot be discounted, as one never truly knows.

I keep money in many places, some of those being offshore. While I trust the places where they are, I'm experienced enough to know that ANY of these balances can go POOF at anytime for many reasons. It will piss me off it that happens, but I understand it can occur, and I'm not going to be wiped out if it happens at one place. Not only does this include offshore shops, this includes banks, coins, and other more "traditional" places that are all suspect to quick ruin.

Even the value of your Federal Reserve Notes are not completely immune from a fast devaluation, making your savings almost worthless. Sure, that possibility is remote, but not as remote as you might think. Do you have any protection if Federal Reserve Notes collapse?

In regards to your last sentence surprise at Pinny going down "on the biggest sporting event of the year", when analyzed properly, this is actually one of the most highly likely days of a DOS attack. SuperBowl, World Cup final, Champions League finals, are all mathmatically more likely to succumb to an attack that just a random day.