Has everyone given up hope on a Betislands bailout?

[orisbumplut]

I understand everyone's frustrations but if you look at it realistically, if a watchdog site takes money from what it is watchdogging, it is not possible to be squeaky clean. You gotta take these grades that with a grain of salt, play only at the A books and hope that none of the backers gets arrested.

[McFly86]

I understand everyone's frustrations but if you look at it realistically, if a watchdog site takes money from what it is watchdogging, it is not possible to be squeaky clean. You gotta take these grades that with a grain of salt, play only at the A books and hope that none of the backers gets arrested.

So, in summary:
1. Ratings are worthless
2. Following ratings

[McFly86]

There's no guarantees even with an A+ book. The Feds can take down any book on any given day, so it's a risk regardless of who you play with. When Betonsports.com got busted by the Feds and all 16 of their affiliate books got taken down; everyone lost their money. Betonsports and all their books were all A or A+ and was a publicly traded $70 stock on the London stock exchange; a company doing very well. I lost money from this but only $400 because I never allow balance to get too big. The American Feds came in and everyone lost all their money. People should be flooding their politicians and the White House with letters asking for legalized gambling and should understand the problem is the American legal system and not a forum that brings people together and provides a fun outlet.

What nonsense. The BI situation was just stone cold theft. Your "it could happen to anyone" rant is absurd.

[orisbumplut]

What I was trying to say is ratings don't matter for anything under an A-.

I am sure BI in their heart of hearts wanted to go on and be a good book and continue to pay people but when you give 1/2 points to sharps, offer generous bonuses and don't have enough funds to ride things out, you are going to eventually be eaten alive.

[Hankwins]

What I was trying to say is ratings don't matter for anything under an A-.

I am sure BI in their heart of hearts wanted to go on and be a good book and continue to pay people but when you give 1/2 points to sharps, offer generous bonuses and don't have enough funds to ride things out, you are going to eventually be eaten alive.

sign up to add this opinion?

[Patrick McIrish]

The only good thing about this (for SBR) is that about only 5% of the BS ever hits the forums. If Joe Poster had any idea what these forums have been up to I doubt anyone would visit. The BI "situation" is like seizing 10 tons of cocaine coming across the border. Yeah we got caught with a load but the other 90 tons made it across without a problem.

If you're SBR you hunker down in the trenches, pretend to be innocent and let people vent as much as they want. In 6 months there''ll be much bigger are more current issues to worry about. Seen it many times in the past, people have short memories. Nothing to see here boys, keep it moving. nothing to see here......

[James D]

I understand everyone's frustrations but if you look at it realistically, if a watchdog site takes money from what it is watchdogging, it is not possible to be squeaky clean. You gotta take these grades that with a grain of salt, play only at the A books and hope that none of the backers gets arrested.

What if the A ratings pay the site money?

[James D]

What I was trying to say is ratings don't matter for anything under an A-.

I am sure BI in their heart of hearts wanted to go on and be a good book and continue to pay people.

So A- is safe but a B+ which BI was can fold up tent at any second?

Oris, I see you joined SBR yesterday, did the BI fiasco get you here? Thats how I found the site, a friend lost small money on BI ( 1000ish)

[James D]

The only good thing about this (for SBR) is that about only 5% of the BS ever hits the forums. If Joe Poster had any idea what these forums have been up to I doubt anyone would visit. The BI "situation" is like seizing 10 tons of cocaine coming across the border. Yeah we got caught with a load but the other 90 tons made it across without a problem.

The BI situation to me is like when you read in the paper about some hedge fund manager who committed fraud and stole 800 million or 2 billion dollars. its a horrible story to read as an outsider, but its an absolute tragedy and disaster if you were one of his clients.

[orisbumplut]

I have lurked for awhile. It was the live dealer pumpers that got me to join. Also that guy who just out of the blue declared, "I LOVE TOPBETS". Give me a break. If you own topbets or you run a live dealer joint, be a little more creative when you pump.

I signed up with BI and made a few deposits but I never took them seriously enough to make it a primary book since they didn't have racing and the site looked like it was designed and maintained by an 8th grader.

[orisbumplut]

I never said anything was SAFE. Just that you have to be crazy to play at any place that is A- or less. An A++++ book offshore doesn't guarantee you anything. But it does help your odds of collecting.

Personally I think that books with a sustainable business model will make a lot more money staying open and paying than they would folding up shop and walking off with players funds.

[touchback]

Any B rated book that is a skin, sister or is associated with an A service is also a good choice...
Like Bookmaker is under the Chris family... I would never in a million years worry about having money with them these guys. A thread with these relations should be started so people know the difference... it is not always that obvious especially to knew guys around this sand box.. and no, you cannot play with my Tonka Truck.

[bettilimbroke999]

Most of the guys that got scammed are outright suckers....if you cant tell the difference between an A rated book like Bookmaker thats been in business without a payout complaint for 15 years and a dump scambook that's run by a 25 year old tattooed freak that opened last Monday its okay to blow your brain out...if you can find it that is and you will probably need a large magazine to hit such a small target

Yes SBR/BI ****** you backwards and made you their bitch but it was your own fault for ever believing any of their bullshit....USE SOME FUKIN COMMON SENSE!

[pjesnik24]

Most of the guys that got scammed are outright suckers....if you cant tell the difference between an A rated book like Bookmaker thats been in business without a payout complaint for 15 years and a dump scambook that's run by a 25 year old tattooed freak that opened last Monday its okay to blow your brain out...if you can find it that is and you will probably need a large magazine to hit such a small target

Yes SBR/BI ****** you backwards and made you their bitch but it was your own fault for ever believing any of their bullshit....USE SOME FUKIN COMMON SENSE!

you are so smart!

[Alltheway]

a book went belly up because the financial backer got arrested , cmon guys its the gambling business your sending money offshore to gamble and all of a sudden people act like they are dealing with Wall Street I personally know 3 people who lost money in BI and have invested some time in finding out what happened.

People talking like there was a bag with 1,5 in it that said PLAYER BALANCES IN CASE OF EMERGENCY STEAL are stupid.

NO sportsbook or at least 98% of them do not have player balances at hand.

[touchback]

what sane person would take on 1.5 mil of liability

None.... and the money is not considered legitmate by any book. Any interested is taking into account deposits vs withdrawals... period. The time of year is bad, not por... BAD. Most shops shut down when they can no longer sustain payout requests and funding is at its lowest in July more or less so it compounds this problem. If it had happened around July quite a few would steo up and have just enough withdrawal structure to run new conversions into NFL... this is impossible with this particular failure... or difficult. I could have gotten half a dozen guys to step up easily otherwise...

[McFly86]

NO sportsbook or at least 98% of them do not have player balances at hand.

what on earth is this based on?

[Alltheway]

Ask around you guys really think every single book has all the balances cash at hand. Open your eyes take into consideration processing fees , bonuses and win/loss.

Its all about cash flow possibly only 1 or 2 shops in the industry handle that type of financial power.

[5mike5]

what sane person would take on 1.5 mil of liability

none

[McFly86]

Ask around you guys really think every single book has all the balances cash at hand. Open your eyes take into consideration processing fees , bonuses and win/loss.

Its all about cash flow possibly only 1 or 2 shops in the industry handle that type of financial power.

So in summary you have no information about what reserves sportsbooks hold? If you do, please share

It's a fairly standard regulatory requirement in places like Australia, etc.

[McFly86]

I never said anything was SAFE. Just that you have to be crazy to play at any place that is A- or less. An A++++ book offshore doesn't guarantee you anything. But it does help your odds of collecting.

Personally I think that books with a sustainable business model will make a lot more money staying open and paying than they would folding up shop and walking off with players funds.

What is your relationship (e.g. former employee, affiliate, player) to BI? If you were a player, what was your balance? Are you Jon?

[Alltheway]

So McFly you think there is a Balance police in Costa Rica to make sure all sportsbooks have all the balances at cash?

What happens after they have a bad weekend and they give a bonus they run to the vault and stack up money in order to keep the cash in the player accounts at hand?

Sportsbooks are a business just like any other with financial promotions and incentives, and this business of all has a greater risk OFFSHORE GAMING.

I see it as a Nasdaq adventure with that much rush added on.

I agree with you that the industry is way more regulated in certain areas of the world but thanks to our govt americans are playing in an unregulated industry.

Gamblers will be gamblers

[Peregrine Stoop]

Who is touchback and what's his angle in all of this? My likely potential scammer radar is going off the charts.

[orisbumplut]

McFly, I am a former player. I hadn't played there in a few months so I didn't lose anything. (I did lose quite a bit at BOS though). I signed up because of the free half points and nice bonus along with SBRs good grade but I knew it was never going to be a primary book of mine because the site looked like it was developed and maintained by an amateur, they didn't have racing and they didn't accept CC deposits. The straw that broke the camel's back when I decided never to deposit another dime there was when they were hacked and the site was down for 2 or 3 days. I am surprised nobody brought that up. How could a decent book have that happen to them and be down for so long?

[touchback]

Who is touchback and what's his angle in all of this? My likely potential scammer radar is going off the charts.

Good... I am glad to see someone is more concerned about posters and content beyond the obvious. But I have stated basically who I am and what I do. My angle was only to help out a few guys that got stiffed and did not know any better... the sharps basically knew better. You may have scamar but it definitely needs to be recalibrated or dialed in or possibly upgraded, maybe scamar 2.0, if you think I have any ill intent or stand to gain from anything I post on this forum other than enlightening a few guys on how to manage their money... but again, I commend you on your potential scammer radar. Wondering though were it was when a zero infrastructure zero reserve book that gave out ridiculous bonuses to square and sharp not just initially but repeatedly with free half points on and off 7 as well as open leg round robins and the ability to leverage freeplay money at an insane level... just to point out a few. So if your radar is so good is it newly acquired or just selective... Curious. Rest assured, I do not need additional income and am at the point in my life where helping others is more important than financial gain. If I counted all of my volunteer service in days over the last 2 decades it would number in years... I like to do it and can afford to do it... Peace

[Alltheway]

Touch,

I respect your posting i have 3 friends that lost funds there and invested in research they found out the company was broke because of risk management or lack of for that matter. You seem to be in the know would this info be accurate?

Everyone laughed at the thought of theft since there was really no escrow once the main guy backed out they were homeless.

TRIED pming you BTW.. not working.

[touchback]

Touch,

I respect your posting i have 3 friends that lost funds there and invested in research they found out the company was broke because of risk management or lack of for that matter. You seem to be in the know would this info be accurate?

Everyone laughed at the thought of theft since there was really no escrow once the main guy backed out they were homeless.

TRIED pming you BTW.. not working.

ATW, you basically got it... sorry bout the PM thing, they have taken all my toys... what can I say. Incoming funds were used for a while at the end to continue the WE PAY slogan by processing just enough withdrawals to keep people spinning and the rest basically went to salaries most likely and overhead, you know... the service provider and any advertising and or affiliate fees that J could not get out of paying or stallling further. J probably had a pretty good salary but in this business it was probably not really that much by my associates standards but probably pretty good by his, he could basically party and whore it up every night and maybe walk away with a couple bucks... but as I mentioned before even if he walked with 50k or less that is what we call peanuts... BI was most likely a good or decent idea at the beginning with all intentions to be a good bookie skin but that does not happen by magic and can easily get sunk by rather simple and obvious mistakes to a guy like me and my friends...

[theblueprint]

Can't let this thread end.

[InsiderHer]

a book went belly up because the financial backer got arrested , cmon guys its the gambling business your sending money offshore to gamble and all of a sudden people act like they are dealing with Wall Street I personally know 3 people who lost money in BI and have invested some time in finding out what happened.

People talking like there was a bag with 1,5 in it that said PLAYER BALANCES IN CASE OF EMERGENCY STEAL are stupid.

NO sportsbook or at least 98% of them do not have player balances at hand.

The book NEVER failed because the owner went to jail. That was a lie. The book failed because it was run by a guy who didn't know what he was doing and a backer that didn't keep an eye on him. While its true most books do not hold players balances on hand, they have easy access to 10x's that amount for payouts and operating cost. I feel bad for your 3 friends that got stiffed, but you're right, its not a Fortune 500 company. BI looked and acted like a book that had no idea what it was doing. It reminded me of Betfirstclass (now playcr) a lot. Players should never bank big balances in any sportsbook including Bookmaker. Anything could happen for a multitude of reason at anytime. Be responsible for yourselves people.

[touchback]

They were insolvent since the previous February wikth 250k plus/minus in the red by March which just compounded as the low season hit and out of desperation started offering even more unsustainable bait for reloads to players that should not even be posted up with no bonus just to keep things running, then the terrible six weeks of NFL the following season broke their back... the END.

[lecubs28]

touchback, how do you know this? which book do you work for?

[combination lock]

Kinda surprised no one stepped up to bail the rec players out. Maybe none of the island books are stable?

[stevex]

LooseLines and EzStreetSports offered bailout options for former BetIslands customers.

[lecubs28]

LooseLines and EzStreetSports offered bailout options for former BetIslands customers.

LOL

[Peregrine Stoop]

LooseLines and EzStreetSports offered bailout options for former BetIslands customers.

you mean for former BetIslands losers

They didn't offer a real bailout. They just tried to get the suckers.