I noticed it looks like Sportsbook.com is not very well liked here

[HedgeHog]

hedgehog- how specificly did they steal from you? i assume they didnt just put your account and 0 and say we decided to take your $

They basically stole my entire account except for a few hundred dollars because of same-game parlays (side to total pars). It was a theft of over 9 grand. I kept their email:

From:xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@hotmail.com Subject:
RE: Information regarding wagers placed on your account .ExternalClass .ecxhmmessage P{padding:0px;}.ExternalClass body.ecxhmmessage{font-size:10pt;font-family:Tahoma;}Hazel:

Bullshit! Your system has allowed these type of bets for years. You decide which lines and totals to put out and your system decides whether to accept parlays on them. You are thieves and will be reported as such.

xxxxxxxxxx

> Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2007 17:33:41 -0400
> From: support@sportsbook.com
> Subject: Information regarding wagers placed on your account
> xxxxxxxxxxxxx@hotmail.com
>
> Dear xxxxxxxxx,
>
> It has come to our attention you have been betting a large number of correlated parlay wagers on your account. Please be advised, this type of betting activity is not permitted. As per our house rules:
>
> “No parlay wagers can be accepted where individual wagers are 'connected' , 'dependant' or 'correlated'. For example, one wager in your parlay is for Sampras to beat Agassi in the 4th round of Wimbledon and the second or additional part of the parlay is for Sampras to win the overall Wimbledon title. The match forms part of the overall tournament and is therefore 'correlated'. In the same way, you cannot parlay the total of the first half of a football game with the total of the game line itself, as the two are 'dependent'.”
>
> As a result of this, we have removed the winnings from any correlated parlay wagers placed on your account since September 1st. The total amount of $9014.56 has been removed from your wagering account. The decision to remove these funds was taken by management and will not be reversed.
>
> Please note: If you continue to place correlated wagers, your account will be inactivated by our management team.
>
> Should you require any further information please don't hesitate to contact us.
>
> Kind regards,
>
> Hazel
>
> The www.sportsbook.com Team

[HedgeHog]

The type of bets I made were like betting a parlay on New England -14.5 and Over 45 in the same game. Are the two correlated, Sure. But most places accept them and the ones that don't have software that rejects the bet. They booked these legit bets and used "correlation" as an excuse to steal my account. Further, they wrote the correlated rules after their massive theft. This was well documented.

[miektheman]

hedgehog, i agree the new england -14 and over 45 should be honored. but the sampras one, even if allowed by the software, is defenitely taking a shot at a book and you knew this was wrong. how much of the 9000 was bets like the sampras one and how much of it was bets like the new england one? i find there to be a large difference between the 2...........

[coloradobuff]

I made sure they had all the required paperwork the day after I opened my acount and about a month after I opened my account I requested a bank wire for $1900 and got that in my account 4-5 business days later. I will take that. Love the selection of wagering opportunities they have.

[Peeig]

Just requested a withdrawal............awaiting the check...........great props...........if the check shows, I will definitely stay

[HedgeHog]

hedgehog, i agree the new england -14 and over 45 should be honored. but the sampras one, even if allowed by the software, is defenitely taking a shot at a book and you knew this was wrong. how much of the 9000 was bets like the sampras one and how much of it was bets like the new england one? i find there to be a large difference between the 2...........

I never made such a bet and I fully agree that would be taking a shot. This was just an example they used to explain correlation, not an actual wager by me. My bets were all Football parlay Bets: Full Game Side/Full Game Total, and 1st Half Side/1st Half Total (never 1st Half with Full Game as explained in another of SB correlation examples).

PS To further show that the SB.com Sampras example was purely hypothetical, it was Federer who won the 2007 Wimbledon (had to Google this as I don't follow tennis and very rarely bet on it).

[cinpls081]

Well I have to take my words back of a few weeks ago. I signed up for sportsbook.com to play poker and cashed out two times for a total of $3900, over two cheques, which took a little while to come but were fine. I sang their praises on this site. However, I have just requested two more withdrawals and have been told that due to payment processing problems, customers living outside the United States (I live in canada) can no longer be paid by cheque. They've requested that i open a Moneybookers account if I want to withdraw. For crying out loud, jumping through hoops to try to get paid is ridiculous. Play elsewhere if you have a choice.

I had the same thing happen last week they said I couldn't take out my money with a check more then once every 2 weeks. I put in for a withdrawal *** and had it in 12 hours. Problems happen to every book now with processing issues its part of the game if you don't like it find a local that pays you in cash.

[cinpls081]

Hedgehog if what you say is true then you have every right to think of them as thieves that is clearly not fair. For everyone out there today these sorts of bets are not possible to make anymore. Also when you see a game that is off the board or a line that should be -9 and its plus 9 don't bet it. Be smart play within ALL rules and you will be fine. If you know something is a little scetchy don't do it...its not worth it. Hedgehog knew what he was doing, he knew that he was taking a shot. I don't think they should have taken his balance but be smart and you want have this problem. I hope he gets his $$ back b/c eventhough he took a shot its not like he scammed them or something he should get his balance back and they should have stopped taking his action.

[HedgeHog]

Hedgehog if what you say is true then you have every right to think of them as thieves that is clearly not fair. For everyone out there today these sorts of bets are not possible to make anymore. Also when you see a game that is off the board or a line that should be -9 and its plus 9 don't bet it. Be smart play within ALL rules and you will be fine. If you know something is a little scetchy don't do it...its not worth it. Hedgehog knew what he was doing, he knew that he was taking a shot. I don't think they should have taken his balance but be smart and you want have this problem. I hope he gets his $$ back b/c eventhough he took a shot its not like he scammed them or something he should get his balance back and they should have stopped taking his action.

Thank you for that. I disagree that I took at shot at SB, but at least we agree that the $$$ shouldn't be confiscated. This week for example I parlayed Under 45 with STL +14 at DSI. Their softtware allowed this type of bet as does others. Legends, on the other hand, doesn't allow parlays on this game. Now, did I take a shot at DSI? I don't think so.

I think SB should fix their software to restrict the same-game wagers they don't want to allow--not put it on the player to decide what is fair or unfair. Anyway, we may just have to agree to disagree on SB.com and what constitutes shot taking. I'll also concede that I need to be more civil in stating my views on this touchy subject.

[miektheman]

did you do any college football games that were like -45 and over 51? unless it is something like that, if the software accepts it, it should be paid. and i could see either way on whether -45 and over 51 should be honored if the software accepts it.

[HedgeHog]

Miek: I don't recall any being that generous. Still, funds are at risk, and even the most correlated pars I made had far less than a 50% chance of winning. An A Book would have paid the bets and possibly restricted or booted me. A D Book simply steals the money and sends an email. Worse, SB took all winning wagers w/o giving any credit for the losing ones. Now that is what I call shot taking.

[miektheman]

if they refunded the losers they would save some face. what do they say when you ask for this?

[acarmelo1]

i had alot of great experiences with sportsbook.com.... till today i still use them, they were one of my first books. i know there USE to be probs with them, but not anymore.

Maybe you always loss

[HedgeHog]

if they refunded the losers they would save some face. what do they say when you ask for this?

They originally said their figure reflected losses as well, which it didn't. I asked for an accounting which I never got. I figure I had nearly 5 grand in offsets which were never taken into account.