[sportsbetwin]

Email today:



188BET has a policy of continuously reviewing the jurisdictions from which our business is accepted.

As a result of online gambling regulatory issues specifically in Australia that are outside of our control, we have taken the decision to withdraw from accepting bets and wagers from Australia.

The action is taken with regret, but we will cease forthwith to accept bets from Australian territories. Your account will be closed on February 7th 2012. Prior to your account closing, you will still be able to place bets up to February 6th 2012. Prior to that date, if you have any funds in your 188BET account, pleaselogin and request a withdrawal prior to your account being closed.

We will continue to monitor this issue and if the circumstances change we will advise you accordingly.

We remain a fully licensed and strictly regulated business in the Isle of Man, British Isles and we continue to trade in other jurisdictions where permitted, as normal.

We thank you for your support and business and trust you found 188BET an enjoyable experience.

Yours truly,

The 188BET Team

[Hareeba!]

Ridiculous!

All they need do is block in-play betting as Betfair does.

[brettels]

Betfair has a community forum ya know, go there!

[Hareeba!]

Betfair has a community forum ya know, go there!

WTF?

Got nothing to do with BetFair

[brettels]

Yet you brought them up, again!

[Hareeba!]

Yet you brought them up, again!

And once again you are a total fail at comprehending a discussion conducted in the English language.

[brettels]

And once again you are a total fail at comprehending a discussion conducted in the English language.

Really great come back Hareeba!

[sharlataans]

Really great come back Hareeba!

[FourLengthsClear]

Is this out of the blue or have the Aussie authorities been trying to clamp down on in-play betting?

P.s. How does that law even exist? It just looks so out of place.

[MatI]

Is this out of the blue or have the Aussie authorities been trying to clamp down on in-play betting?

P.s. How does that law even exist? It just looks so out of place.

As far as im aware, live betting, outside of game breaks like half time, qtr time, are currently illegal for aussie books.

Makes no sense indeed. Let us play!

[brettels]

As far as im aware, live betting, outside of game breaks like half time, qtr time, are currently illegal for aussie books.

Makes no sense indeed. Let us play!

I haven't had a problem putting a bet on the phone during play, maybe it's just advertising laws your thinking of?

[FourLengthsClear]

I haven't had a problem putting a bet on the phone during play, maybe it's just advertising laws your thinking of?

That is what is so strange (ridiculous) about your law:

It is legal to bet in-play by telephone.
It is illegal to bet in-play online.

[MatI]

Sorry, should have clarified. Only online live betting is illegal. Over the phone is absolutely fine.

I hate phone betting though, it takes too long!

[brettels]

That is what is so strange (ridiculous) about your law:

It is legal to bet in-play by telephone.
It is illegal to bet in-play online.

Yes it is rediculous, the only flaw we have here.

[brettels]

Sorry, should have clarified. Only online live betting is illegal. Over the phone is absolutely fine.

I hate phone betting though, it takes too long!

Yeah, makes it difficult to get the odds you saw on offer at times! It's more a pain in the ass than anything else.

[MatI]

yeah, I have only done it a couple of times. Odds have usually changed by the time im locking it in on the phone. Plus, it makes me feel like even more of a degen calling up on the phone in front of the missus. She aint got a clue what im doing on the laptop!

[brettels]

Thankfully there are still plenty of options for those in aus wanting to live bet without having to phone in

[DitKent]

this is absolute bullshit, I got this email and I promptly emailed them back asking what happens to pending bets that haven't been settled after the 7th feb and they reply with this BS:


We acknowledge receipt of your email with regard to the closure of the website for Australian customers on the 7th of February 2012. Please be informed that any unsettled bet on the 7th of February will be cancelled or voided to give way for the withdrawal of your funds and the closure of your account.

Thank you for your understanding.


Kind Regards,

The 188BET Team


What the hell kind of practice is this? How shady is it that they happen to pick the 7th FEB when i have 3 GRAMMY BETS pending, all 3 bets i have bet a decent amount on, that I am 100% sure will win and what a coincidence that grammys are on the 12th of FEB 2012

I have already filed a complaint to SBR and demanded that I speak with a manager or another higher authoritive figure there, this is totally unfair practice.

[MatI]

What the hell kind of practice is this? How shady is it that they happen to pick the 7th FEB when i have 3 GRAMMY BETS pending, all 3 bets i have bet a decent amount on, that I am 100% sure will win and what a coincidence that grammys are on the 12th of FEB 2012

I have already filed a complaint to SBR and demanded that I speak with a manager or another higher authoritive figure there, this is totally unfair practice.

I really don't think they timed this to fuk you on your Grammy plays.

You get your wagers refunded. It could be worse.

[brettels]

Good luck DitKent , keep us informed it is interesting stuff! As long as your getting your stake back from those 3 bets I think you should count that as a win, in comparison to how other books have treated customers in similar situations that is.

[noyb]

How shady is it that they happen to pick the 7th FEB when i have 3 GRAMMY BETS pending, all 3 bets i have bet a decent amount on, that I am 100% sure will win and what a coincidence that grammys are on the 12th of FEB 2012

haha, this made me laugh. not the part about you getting ****** on your outrights, because you're definitely right there, but the part in which you think they are going to throw out all of their aussie customers because you bet a few quid on some stupid side-bet 188bet doesn't even take a decent amount on in the first place.

[DitKent]

then why don't they give another 5 measley days? how do we know that a few sharp bettors from australia didn't take similar bets and they looked at all that and decided to cancel everything RIGHT before the actual event happened, but they didn't want to make it look too obvious and cancel it on the 11th or 1 day before the event cause they wouldn't look good right?

So they choose 5 days instead, either way this is bs, they are not shutting down their entire operation, they are just merely disallowing people from a certain country to continue using the site.

What about those people not from australia who happened to bet on the same thing as I did, they get paid out and I don't? how is that even fair?

If they were shutting down completely, ala logans,beted etc then OK fair enough I will accept that, but they will continue to operate as per usual.

It dosen't make sense that people who have the same pending bets on the same even but happen to be from different countries get resulted in 2 different ways.


i have 3 400 dollar bets pending, placed over 6 weeks ago, all my money was tied up in this event. I could've easily used the money to bet on other things there, so now they're basically saying you had your money tied up for nearly 7 weeks for no reason?

[DitKent]

haha, this made me laugh. not the part about you getting ****** on your outrights, because you're definitely right there, but the part in which you think they are going to throw out all of their aussie customers because you bet few quid on some stupid side-bet 188bet doesn't even take a decent amount on in the first place.

I wouldn't be kicking up a fuss if it was a few quid buddy, more like 1100 USD, on odds paying over 2.30 and 2.50

yeah thats right, all on adele who will win.

[noyb]

wow 3 400 dollar bets.. you do know they take countless 4 digit bets routinely every single day on soccer?

stop the bullshit in you thinking your 1200 dollar bets matter to them; contact 188bet. you definitely have a case about them voiding

[MatI]

What about those people not from australia who happened to bet on the same thing as I did, they get paid out and I don't? how is that even fair?

It dosen't make sense that people who have the same pending bets on the same even but happen to be from different countries get resulted in 2 different ways.

It makes complete sense and is completely fair if that is what they want to do. Why do business within Australia if they have to jump through hoops?

As long as they don't keep your money and run, they are well within their rights.

I'm not sure what day you would like them to stop betting. Maybe you could let them know once your ready??

[DitKent]

well 3 x 400 on an entertainment props is alot to me, maybe not to you and what you consider a "decent" amount. Hopefully not to them either, as another 5 extra days and I'm more than happy to stop using them.

[DitKent]

It makes complete sense and is completely fair if that is what they want to do. Why do business within Australia if they have to jump through hoops?

As long as they don't keep your money and run, they are well within their rights.

I'm not sure what day you would like them to stop betting. Maybe you could let them know once your ready??

This is not like beted and asking about my pending bets to be paid out on a company that went down the toilet. That would be wasting everyone's time.

They could stop today for australians for all I care. I just believe pending bets should be honoured, I don't think that's unreasonable is it?

188bet is not going out of business or have gone into insolvency, they are not ceasing operations.
They are continuing to operate as per usual, that's what I'm getting at.

[MatI]

I do not think it's unreasonable.

What about if you had futures for the AFL or NRL in September, or US elections at the end of the year?

They need to set a cut off point, whenever it is. They are getting out of Aus.

They would be opening themselves to even more trouble by doing what you are asking. Im sure their legal advice would have been different!

[brettels]

you have a case, they have accepted the bet, all bets must stand. you can't cancel on them, they shouldn't just cancel on you!

[DitKent]

I do not think it's unreasonable.

What about if you had futures for the AFL or NRL in September, or US elections at the end of the year?

They need to set a cut off point, whenever it is. They are getting out of Aus.

They would be opening themselves to even more trouble by doing what you are asking. Im sure their legal advice would have been different!

people who were with sports alive such as myself got burnt with that, I accepted that I would not ever get anything back and moved on. Difference was that sportsalive went out of business and into liquidation and couldn't pay anyone.


Their email only came out today, yet my bets were placed 7 weeks ago. It's not like I placed bets today after the email came out and am trying to argue that everything I take from now up until the 7th of FEB should be honoured.
anyways sorry for carrying on a fair bit, just feel really hard done by, especially when it's literally within days of resulting.

[FourLengthsClear]

This is not like beted and asking about my pending bets to be paid out on a company that went down the toilet. That would be wasting everyone's time.

They could stop today for australians for all I care. I just believe pending bets should be honoured, I don't think that's unreasonable is it?

188bet is not going out of business or have gone into insolvency, they are not ceasing operations.
They are continuing to operate as per usual, that's what I'm getting at.

fwiw, I fully agree.

[Hareeba!]

It makes complete sense and is completely fair if that is what they want to do. Why do business within Australia if they have to jump through hoops?

As long as they don't keep your money and run, they are well within their rights.

I'm not sure what day you would like them to stop betting. Maybe you could let them know once your ready??

It most certainly is NOT fair to void pending wagers.

[Hareeba!]

Is this out of the blue or have the Aussie authorities been trying to clamp down on in-play betting?

P.s. How does that law even exist? It just looks so out of place.

Bet188's move is totally out of the blue.

There's been no recent change in Australian law on this issue. The ban on in-play betting on line on sports (racing is okay) has been in place for about a decade now as a result of weak politicians who just can't differentiate between wagering and gaming in their desire to be seen to be proactive in regard to "problem gambling", which as we all know is almost all through pokies, keno and lotteries.

I may be wrong but it looks to me as though Bet188 has just woken up to it and that is the reason for their decision. The odd thing is that they have allowed players another 2 weeks.

Even more odd is that they don't simply put in place a block on Australian customers placing on line bets as Betfair do.

[brettels]

Again, broken record

[Hareeba!]

Again, broken record

you seem to have a problem mate.

any chance that you can avoid responding to every post I make with something irrelevant or unintelligible?