Update by SBR:
YouWager's position is that the player used a robot on 20% of his wagers. During their review of his wagers, they identified patterns that they felt were consistent with robot use. What YouWager considered to be the most obvious example was after applying limits of $1, a wager was placed within 20 seconds of adjusting the line.
SBR spoke with senior YouWager staff during the course of the complaint. The rule in question prohibiting robot play is not a rule unique to YouWager's terms and conditions, it is a rule that some bookmakers have, but SBR's position is that the enforcement of the rule should be to close accounts and pay on accepted wagers. While in hindsight we think risk management could have acted sooner, ultimately a resolution considered fair to both parties was worked out concluding the matter.
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SUMMARY:
2017/2016 – Open account. Place hundreds or thousands of sports bets. Win a lot of money.
2018 May/June – Place 72 bets for $1 or $3.
2018 June to October – Place hundreds or thousands of bets for well over 6 figures.
2018 October – Put in a cashout request. YouWager tells me they are confiscating my money, claiming the $1 bets from half a year ago, and leaving too much money in the account, prove I used an automated robot bettor... I never used an automated robot bettor. I left money in the account because SBR has them A rated. Details below ->>>
I had an account on YouWager for a couple of years which I built up by sports betting various stuff including, college football, baseball, college basketball, nfl, full game and first half.
Around the beginning of October, 2018, my account had $77,721 in it, and I put in a cashout request. Their cashier confirmed the cashout. They sent me a validation code on email, I called them back up with the code, they confirmed the cashout and told me I’d have the $1,000 in bitcoins the next day. It never came.
I waited for days and nothing came. So I tried to put in another cashout. Once again their cashier confirmed it and told me I’d have it the next day. Nothing came. On October 7th, I sent their support an email asking what was going on. They didn’t respond. I sent another email on October 9th, asking when the cashout would go through. They didn’t respond. I tried one more cashout, and YouWager repeated the same process of confirming the cashout but not sending me the bitcoins.
I believe on October 20th I finally called in and got through to a manager at YouWager. He told me that he was going to confiscate my winnings (which should be virtually all of the account) because I was using a betting robot. I told him I never used a betting robot and that was ridiculous. He told me he was going to email me his alleged proof.
I waited for his email, but he never sent anything.
On October 24th I opened up a complaint with SBR. SBR told me my complaint was premature and I should make sure all my documents with YouWager were verified.
At this point, my YouWager account was still open. I could log in and place bets. I had been placing large college football bets throughout October, though stopped at some point when this cashout problem began. So I went ahead and sent in my ID to YouWager and they told me my account was verified. I asked them if I could make a cashout now. They told me yes. I put in another cashout request on October 25th, which their cashier confirmed, and told me I’d get the next day. It never came.
After some back and forth on email, they told me to call in to discuss the cashout with them. So I called in and YouWager told me there was no manager to talk to me. On email I let them know again about this problem.
The YouWager manager I had been talking with, on October 29th, then popped into this email chain and wrote that he had been “eagerlywaiting” for me to call him back and that he would “love to talk” with me about about “all the odd robot play.” He told me to call him early the next day. At this point, YouWager closed my account.
I called him at 10 AM the next day and YouWager told me he wasn’t in.
I called back in the evening and finally got in touch with him again.
He told me he had been waiting for me to call him and wondered where I had disappeared too. He reiterated YouWager’s claim about me using an automated bettor and how YouWager would take my account money. He told me that I was fortunate to be dealing with YouWager because any other book would have closed my account a while ago but YouWager hadn’t.
He said again that earlier in the year he had placed some small limits on some of my bet types and the fact that I put in some bets for $1, in May and June, despite the fact that I had so much money in my account, was proof of an automated bettor. I told him I never used a betting robot. I put some bets in at $1 because I liked the bets and wanted to see how they did. It’s much easier to have software grade bets than to write them out by hand, grade them, and tally them up.
He said that the fact that I hadn’t cashed out sooner was highly suspicious and also proof of an automated bettor. I told him that SBR rates YouWager an A, and I thought they were rock solid, and hadn’t been worrying about cashing out the money as fast as possible. Even though they now have a max cashout of $1,000 per cashout, which is a bit odd for a book that takes such large bets, I didn’t think they were another BetIslands.
Further, I was planning on cashing out in bitcoin, and already had enough bitcoin which had been at a really high price. I wanted to wait until the price of bitcoin came down instead of getting bitcoin at sky high prices.
The YouWager manager told me they had flagged my account back in May and June. I told them they never closed my account, or communicated any sort of problem with me. I had been betting on the account since then for many large bets.
YouWager’s own terms and services, on their webpage, says that for any alleged problem they have, they must immediately close an account. I asked the YouWager manager how they could possibly take my money for an alleged problem from half a year ago? He told me that the YouWager owners had decided in May/June that because they are such a good book they wouldn’t confiscate my money but would instead leave it open and see what happened.
He told me they were so sure of the automated bettor they put a captcha on my account. I pointed out that I kept betting through their captcha and that it showed I wasn’t using an automated bettor. YouWager’s own “evidence” disproved their position. He told me he didn’t know how I could use an automated bettor with their captcha.
The next day the YouWager manager emailed me 72 bets I had placed for $1 and $3 from May 23rd 2018 to June 14th 2018 which was his “proof” I used an automated bettor and the reason YouWager would confiscate $77k from me in October. Again, his own “proof” seems to undermine his position. The bets he emailed me took place during normal day time hours, when a person would be awake, and there was no rapid fire plays that maybe a fast computer could place.
So, once again, I went back to SBR and re-opened the claim. I told SBR that I completed the verification, Know Your Customer stuff, and YouWager had definitely confiscated my money as the YouWager manager had emailed me on October 31st “this is a robot account and we will be closing and confiscating the winnings.”
I corresponded with SBR for a while as they checked out my claim. They told me that if I did use a betting robot, I should just say so now, because it would strengthen my position to be truthful. I told them I never used a betting robot, and IMO, YouWager’s own so-called evidence actually lends more credence to my point than their own.
SBR said that YouWager’s claim was unusual. They wanted to just double check and make sure of the details. They asked me, if they lined up my bets with DonBest would they see me copying them. I said no. And I sent them over YouWager’s “proof” so they could see it themselves.
As of November 7th, SBR told me they were waiting to speak with YouWager’s management. SBR didn’t respond to me again until November 16th and told me that YouWager was now claiming that they had identified systematic bets within seconds of line movements, and emailed me a form which I could sign saying I used robot plays and then YouWager may release some funds.
I told SBR again, I never used an automated bettor. It had taken weeks for me to clarify what YouWager’s position even was and now YouWager had changed their story. First their proof was bets I put in at $1. Then it became these alleged bets chasing line movements. I told SBR that YouWager never even brought this claim up with me once. And that they couldn’t possibly have evidence of it because it didn’t happen and I never used an automated bettor.
I told SBR this was becoming stressful for me and drawing on forever and I would let this go and take a minor discount on the money but would not sign anything saying I used an automated bettor because I hadn’t.
I have put in thousands of bets on YouWager. If they have proof of automated betting it should be easy for them to show. But they can’t show it because there is no proof because I never used an automated bettor.
I pointed out to SBR again that I don’t understand how they can even try to take money away from me in October for something alleged to have happened in May and June.
SBR responded to me that I should get in touch with YouWager and may be able to work something out.
So I emailed the YouWager manager and said let’s try to resolve this. The YouWager manager wondered where I had disappeared to for the last few weeks and told me to call in. He said I needed to work something out with someone from the “YouWager legal department” who had been really “eager” to talk with me.
He couldn’t find this guy, so told me to call back in a few minutes. I did and he told me he couldn’t find him and to call back in a couple hours. So I called back in a couple hours and was told this guy at the YouWager legal department was sick, but he may try to feel better fast, and may call me in the evening, or if not, in a couple days.
He never called me.
So I called back the YouWager manager and let him know I never got a call back. He told me he was sorry and would have him call me back right away, and if not, he would personally call me back. So I waited for a phone call but nothing came.
A few hours later, I check my email and there is something in there from some guy at a “BetPop.eu” address. I have no idea what that means but presumably this was the YouWager legal team. He told me he really wanted to help me but first I’d have to sign his letter saying I made robot plays. That’s the same form I told SBR I absolutely cannot sign because I didn’t make robot plays. He said, after that, he may release some unknown amount of funds.
I’m not signing a form saying I made robot bets. I never did. Even if YouWager is holding my money hostage and dragged the situation out, I won’t sign a form saying I made robot bets.
I have no idea how an A rated book can act like this. Maybe there is some confusion inside of YouWager. I don’t know. I just want my money from this A rated book YouWager.