[Murtle]

bit of background I deposited 245EUR and turned that into 2452EUR in 2 days. Then without warning BWin closed my account for 5 days for so called "security investigation". After numerous emails from me they reopened my account and said all was well. I increased by account to 2953EUR and logged in tonight to withdraw my account.

BWin have now disabled my account and NOT refunded my original deposit of 245EUR. It's not widely advertised but I've since learnt they should never have been offering "live" betting to Australian punters as it contravenes Australian law for a bookie company to do so. A fact they would well know. I should add, this was all done without any contact letting me know the situation. I'm in the dark and apart from some obscur terms & condittions about customer resposibility they appear to be keeping my money. Why did they reopen my account after intial investigation ? If I had been loosing I bet they would keep accepting my money. DO NOT TRUST THIS COMPANY

[Justin7]

Murtle,

Fill out a complaint form here:
http://sportsbookreview.com/Sportsbook+Complaint.aspx

We'll be happy to ensure this matter is handled fairly.

[rookie]

Bwin's systems should have automatically prevented access to live wagering.

I read somewhere (can't find the related web page) that such rules regarding live betting also exist for residents of Estonia, Israel and Antigua.

[Justin7]

We have the complaint, and I'm on it. Please give us a few days to develop this.

[TheBeautifulGame]

I hope the issue is resolved for you Murtle. I personally have not had a great experience with bwin. Their CS is horrible, it took 8 days for a small sign up bonus to be credited to my account. I doubled my very small deposit, withdrew and left. (Withdrawing funds is an absolute pain with bwin! They are so strict with ID docs) However, despite the ridicolously long withdrawal process, I did receive my funds.

[Murtle]

Well this is going to get interesting.

After another round of emails and informing bwin that I logged a complaint with Sportbook review (SBR) and am pursuing my options through the Gibraltar Regulatory Authority, they replied immediately and advised that if I supply my account details they will transfer the balance of my account.

I've given them 3-5 days to confirm transfer has been processed or the matter will continue. My bwin account is to remain closed as per my request which suits me just fine. The last I hear from this group the better.

Interestingly they posted this -
"Please note your query regarding the internet gambling in Australia has been forwarded to responsible department and we will inform you as son as we have received more information."

Lets see what their response is and whether they become more accountable for their actions

Speak soon

Murtle

[DIF]

in my opinion Bwin is one of the best out there.

I never had any big problem with them so far. I give them A+ and no worries for your money.

They are safe- for gurantee.

[GoodOldTed]

how long have you been working for them DIF?

[moonbeam]

In my opinion bwin is a very good or at least a fair european book.

They are much better than a lot of these A rated books here at SBR.

Victor Chandler or Bet365 are good examples for SBR "A" rated - but in fact only very poor typical european "D" books.

OK, SBR is focused on american books - but its amazing that SBR don´t want to learn anything about european books

[tachi]

how can u compare greek/cris with bwin.

you should go to a doctor.


p.s. bwin advertise in whole europe,on the streets,tv,,milan,real...
they pay this by stealing from the clients
and whole europe thinks bwin are the best
i thought u have a brain

[moonbeam]

tachi,

I have a brain and I´m a punter with a bit of experience.

I guess you are only a theoretical poster without any clue, sorry

[DIF]

I have 10years in punting too, and I absolute no way work for them. I just try to share my experience world wide web.

Thanks.

[tachi]

tachi,

I have a brain and I´m a punter with a bit of experience.

I guess you are only a theoretical poster without any clue, sorry

i'm not at all theoretical poster.
see the pm

[Murtle]

It's all well for people to applaud bwin but just hope in hell you never have to try and recover your money from them or deal with their customer service team. It's now nearly 2 weeks since this whole sorry saga began and they still have my money.

They have at least responded saying they will transfer the balance of my account but I have no idea how long it will take. There has been no response to my emails requesting confirmation of the transfer as I have no access to any transaction reciepts as my acccount is closed.

Having to endure 2 weeks of hell, just to have my account closed, reopened and closed again is not the sign of a professional operation.

Many professional sites I use have "live chat" with immediate responses or at least return emails within 24 hours, not days !!!

So to applaud bwin is fine but I'm making sure everyone knows that they are bottom of the list when it comes to customer service.

[DearDiarrhee]

Bwin's systems should have automatically prevented access to live wagering.

I read somewhere (can't find the related web page) that such rules regarding live betting also exist for residents of Estonia, Israel and Antigua.

these are some ****ing stupid rules.
What's wrong with livebetting?

They shouldn't accept customers from the start. Like customers from US

[MilfDriller]

Doesn't matter if you were betting on xyz .. BWIN is a bullshit scam book.

You win a little bit of money and then they turn into Sportsbook.Trash.***.

What a ****ing joke. Never deposit in their ripoff bullshit book. Go to Greek, to Pinnacle, or anyone else before BWIN.

Same old, same old. People never learn.

[Casi]

Bwin is a crap book, i wonder how many clueless small bettors they cheat with tricks like bad lines, "sorry something was wrong with this event" etc etc...

[MMM]

In my opinion bwin is a very good or at least a fair european book.

They are much better than a lot of these A rated books here at SBR.

Victor Chandler or Bet365 are good examples for SBR "A" rated - but in fact only very poor typical european "D" books.

OK, SBR is focused on american books - but its amazing that SBR don´t want to learn anything about european books

Well, we are surely not going to learn anything about European bookies from you... How on earth can you rate Bwin above Bet365?

[MMM]

I have 10years in punting too, and I absolute no way work for them. I just try to share my experience world wide web.

Thanks.

If you had browsed any betting forums in those 10 years, you would know that Bwin is a crap bookmaker.

I didnt have any significant problems with them myself but I have read enough to form an opinion.

[Witver]

used bwin for over 2 years now had no problem with withdrawals and have won alot of cash there only problem is that htye have limited my account now so stopped using it since 25$ is pathetic limit.

and btw, bwin have never voided a line i have played on.

and how can you say bet365 is better than bwin? they limited me after 2 bets lol and then was a hell to get the money out.

[MMM]

and how can you say bet365 is better than bwin? they limited me after 2 bets lol and then was a hell to get the money out.

Bet365 and Bwin are both crap when it comes to limits, I think it is a matter of coincidence where you get slashed first.

Apart from limits, Bet365 is way better than Bwin in every single aspect.

[Santo]

Limits is a pretty important factor, Bet365 will give me £1 on just about anything, from Horse Racing to Football. I'm still alive at BWin, though I only use them rarely.

[moonbeam]

Well, we are surely not going to learn anything about European bookies from you... How on earth can you rate Bwin above Bet365?

I just answer the second part, ok Sir?
And the answer is: Go and learn something.

But it´s ok when you like bet365, I have no problem with this

[juuso]

I have to agree with Moonbeam. BWIN may be slow to answer emails and take their time to check documents before first withdrawal, but other than that, they get way too much bad rep. Most people who bitch about them in the forums are in the fault themselves (multiple accounts etc).

If you are an advantage player, they will limit you eventually, sometimes even very fast, but they have lots of inefficiently priced special prop bets and smaller league markets. It's well worth it to take advantage of some of their markets, until they give you limit.

[Justin7]

I have to sound off here.

I have been involved with 100's of disputes with Bwin. Seriously, 100's of disputes. There are two groups of disputes:
1. Identity fraud. Bwin fights tough, and refunds the deposit.
2. Security issues where player is innocent. Their CS sucks, but they eventually get it right.

The one category you do NOT see here: Bwin cheating or screwing someone. They have a gazillion players, and if you look at their "legitimate complaint per player ratio, it is reasonable. I think this book is underrated, and would have no problem playing there myself if they took US players.

One minor issue. If you're smart, they will cut your limits. That's fair though.

[tomcowley]

Their "bad line" cancelling crap is cheating and screwing people, unless literally every complaint along those lines has been false.

[TheBeautifulGame]

I have to agree with MMM, BET365 is a good book (apart from their limits). As I said previously, I'm not a huge fan of BWIN. However, I wouldn't go as far to say that they are scam book. I always find it interesting to see different "sportsbook review" sites rate sportsbooks differently. SBR would rate a book C- and you would find the same book A++++++ on another site? Money exchanging hands......

[Hohol15]

Bwin is great! Just I don't like their CS and limits.
Btw, for Ukraine it is 100 Euro initially, what about other countries? I can hardly believe that they take not more then 100 euro initially from France for example.
And one more thing I don't like. I've got a friend and his account was closed for ever only because he misprinted year of birth. (1986 instead of 1988)
I know that he is a fool, but I see it more fair when the book shows you or requires from you confirmation of the date of birth while registering, like in marathonbet.com

[Hohol15]

I give Bwin firm B.

[Murtle]

I would like to make one thing clear in case people get the wrong idea. I did eveything bwin asked, I opened one account only, sent in copies of credit card and drivers licence and had nothing to hide. Imagine my shock and every other punter who has had the same problem when half way through a session your account is suddenly closed with no warning. To then spend 5 days trying to access a closed account with not even a single email to notify me off the situation is unforgivable.

At the time I was really enjoying their site and if their CS had been a professional as their slick looking website I would probably be singing their praises. Unfortunately I'm not and as this sorry saga draws to a close, I just hope bwin learn that CS is priority and will invest some of our money to improve their service, otherwise there's no hope.

[DearDiarrhee]

Bwin much better than Bet365 from all points of view.
Still Bwin is rated C and Bet365 B

[TheBeautifulGame]

Why would you say that DearDiarrhee? Bwins live betting is decent but better odds are offered on BET365s live betting. I would recommend you compare the two. It takes days for Bwins CS to reply. The only problem I have with BET365 is they limit you quickly but then again so do BWIN (admittedly, I haven't been limited by Bwin but then again, I wasn't there long).

I guess it really comes down to personal opinion/taste, we could be here all day arguing over whom is the BEST book. I wonder what the worst book is?

Cheers

[pjflynn]

Bwin have just scammed me. I cannot work out how to do a new post on this site so I am replying to this one, also commenting on Bwin fraud

I came across Bwin site today. I joined and tried to do a bet.

1. The told me I could deposit £600 max so I did. they charged me about £17 for this privilege.
2. They then told me I could only bet £82.50 per day ( i wanted to bet £1000) £82 per day?! Are you nuts??!! The fact that they wont take bigger money shows that they are up to something untoward. . .
3. They then told me they cant return the money to my card as they are not allowed to do so.

For any euro punters out there who doesn't realise this scam I will explain.
1. Bookies always win. The standard risk they take is when a customer like me puts on a large bet. If they force you to take a £3k deposit and divide it among approx 40 small bets they will win. Thats how they work.

I would be grateful if anyone can help.

My advice is to use paddypower or betfair, william hill, sean graham or ladbrokes- any UK online betting office that plays fair and doesnt steal from clients- it's the last thing you need when you are gambling.

Cheers,

Mark.

Belfast, Ireland

[moonbeam]

it's the last thing you need when you are gambling.

/

That´s really true

[GoodOldTed]

Bwin much better than Bet365 from all points of view.
Still Bwin is rated C and Bet365 B

They're both ordinary and should be very low on your list of outs, unless you are a complete mug and want to bet on everything you see on TV.

They cater for the recreational player, that is it. They spend plenty on advertising so they can keep pulling in the suckers. Once you are smart enough to understand there are more than just the bookies with the big advertising dollars and there are forums around such as this one to do research into how good/bad/other their competitors are and can actually do some research into your bets, then you should never go there again.

They are the McDonalds of betting - huge advertising budget, quality pretty average and if you're still spending money there regularly once you are old (and experienced) enough to know better, then don't come crying for Mommy.