Sportingbet closed my account

[Utku]

Hi all,
I am a new member from Turkey. Like USA, there are many banned sportsbook websites in Turkey. Thats we don' t have many options; especially If we want to play backgammon. It is a traditional game in Turkey and I am very good at it. If you play in servers dedicated to backgammon like TMG, it is a pain to withdraw your money. It takes almost 2 weeks and you have pay considerable fees. Despite SportingBet.com (superbahis.com) is banned in Turkey you can still deposit money and withdraw it in 3 days. So, It was the only choice for me. There were a lot fishes in the server who has no idea about the game. So I made almost 2000 euro from them in 2 months. One day, when I tried to login I saw the message "Account blocked, please call customer service." I called them and told them about the situation. They told me that they will contact me later about the situation. 1 day later I received this message in Turkish. As a proof I copy it here. (translation in english at the bottom)

Bizim size paranizi gönderebilmemiz için sizden asagidaki belgeleri bize taratarak göndermenizi rica ediyoruz. Bu belgelerin herhangi birindeki eksiklik , paranizin gönderilmesini imkansizlastiracagindan lütfen bu belgeleri eksiksiz ve okunakli olarak taratarak e mail ile konu bolumune BELGE yazarak info@superbahis.com adresine gönderiniz.
Istenen belgeler:
1. T.C Kimliginizin onlu arkali okunakli kopyesi
2. Superbahis hesabinizda kayitli olan butun kredi karlarinizin onlu arkali okunakli kopyesi
3. Superbahis hesabinizda bulunan adresinizi ispat eden herhangi bir faturanin kopyesi
4- Ayrica tavlada iyi oldugunuzu kanitlayan tavla uyelinizi yada bu konuda basarili oldugunuzu gosteren belge seklinda kanit yollayiniz bilginize tskler
Not:Lutfen bu belgeleri renkli bir sekilde JPEG formati ile yollayiniz.
Lutfen sorulariniz icin bizle temasa gecmekten cekinmeyiniz.
Saygilarimizla,
Agent28

In short, they ask 4 things from me:
1) Scanned copy of my ID
2) Scanned copy of my credit card
3) Scanned copy of a bill proving my adress is correct
4) PROOF FOR BEİNG A GOOD BACKGAMMON PLAYER!

Yes, it is not a joke! I wish it was.... There is still 800 euros in my account and they asked all these when I tried to withdraw 200 euros from it. When those things happen, websites always claim that its "security concerns" but they are concerned about the security only when somebody is trying to withdraw his money. I sent them scanned copies of the certificates that I earned in backgammon tournaments when I placed 1st. Also a photo of my trophies. I don' t know what I can do else. If I win on football bets, they will probably ask proof for being a good football player or something... My accout is closed for for almost a week and Im still waiting. They told me that security check will take 5 days. It is also a big question that what they really do in those 5 days. Maybe they will visit my house for being sure that Im living in the registered adress. If there is one thing sure about this website, Its that they don' t like winners!

[jimbo747]

[jackkkk2009]

those sites were getting worst since they moved out of the U.S market..

[HeeeHAWWWW]

Edit: i see the translation now - did you ask why they want this proof of your skills? :-)

Edit2: maybe they think you are multiaccounting, and some other turk beat them already.

[jackkkk2009]

IF they close your account, they should return your money immediately without any additional documents..

[Santo]

IF they close your account, they should return your money immediately without any additional documents..

Absolutely not. That would be giving multi-accounters and similar scams a no-lose proposition.

[Utku]

When somebody makes profit, the system raises a red flag and the questioning starts. In servers like TMG, it is clearly stated that ID photocopy will be asked from the user if the profit is higher then 2000 euros. Sportingbet of course doesn' t waste his precious time by writing those things and If somebody makes money, then they deal with him by their own way.

[Utku]

I don' t have multi account or something? Why should I open a 2nd account? Some good players do it sometimes; its because after a few months of gameplay everbody understands that they are sharks and nobody wants to play against them. In order to change the nickname they open another account with a different nickname. But I never did such thing.

[Utku]

Here is a link for a similar situation: http://newsgroups.derkeiler.com/Arch.../msg00008.html
Both Sportingbet and Williamhill use Game Account as backgammon server.

[Ella600]

Good luck getting your money.

[chunnnn2010]

Good luck to you too

[sbrzol]

do not bet on sportingbet, they will not warn you, they will close your account when your balance is high enough, profit maximizing

bookmaker : sportingbet
Date of registering: 19 June 2010 ( more than 45 days)
Number of deposits (Neteller): 15 , value: 1555 EUR
Number of withdrawals : 3 , value: 700 EUR
Number of bets: 69
Current account balance: 847 EUR

so my profit/loss is about zero ( balance + withdrawal - deposited equal about zero)
i did not ask for bonus, so sportingbet has no/zero loss

The Neteller account belongs to my friend who lives in the same apartment as me. He allowed me to use his Vip neteller account, after 1 month he quits from betting.
(so they did not played on/with sportingbet more than 2-3 month, i asked sportingbet to check it. )
Sporintgbet has no such rule that this is forbidden. (That the e-wallet owners name must be the same as the sportingbet account owners name)

(I had a same issue with another bookmaker, but after i created my e-wallet, the site payed me out to my new e-wallet, and i am still playing on their site)

At my last (4th) withdrawal request they asked my and my frined documents , i sent them. After one day they answerd that they closed my account ,and denied to send back the money (847 EUR) to Neteller.

I sent them a new email, to explain my right, that i have only one account, etc. They answerd the same.
(They known everything before i sent all of the required documents, but they only closed my account after they received them. is it fair play? i placed my bets and sent all documentes in all good faith. )

http://www.sportingbet.com/t/info/rules/rules.aspx#General

4.7 "Sportingbet reserves the right to reclaim any winnings attained by these means."

I ask them to send me my betting history, beacuse in their rules they only "reserves the right to reclaim any winnings" but this means only winnings, and the money that did not take part in bets is
not winnings, only deposited money. (They did not send me the betting history, they did as i ask for nothing)
So if i have such money on my account that is not winnings sportingbet has no right to reclaim it.

Rule that they do not keep: "Sportingbet allows only one account per person and these details are stored and checked on our database daily. " "All new registrations are monitored to ensure that
duplicate accounts are not opened so please adhere to these conditions."

They claim that they check their customers daily. In my case they checked me only after 45 days, after 15 deposits , after 3 withdrawals , after 69 bets. (In this time i played on its page in good faith.)
I could image that they checked me earlier but they wait until now, to maximalize they profit with such account closing procedures.
They should check me at my first withdrawal when my balance was only about 300 EUR (not 847EUR) , but they do not keep their own rules.
And after all of that they made the worst possibility in its customers aspect.
i also offered them that i identify myself personally. (Appear in the flesh.)

i had another issue with sportingbet 1 month ago and i contacted to sbr,bookmakersreview.com and sbr, at that time everything was ok with me
sportingbet did not observe their own rules , did not warn me that something is against the rules, only after 45 days , when my balance is so high
perhaps they were waiting for the "appropriate" moment (higher balance) , and they know (at my first deposit) that they will close my account soon

i contacted to bookmakersreview.com , AGCC and sbr

bookmakersreview.com:
Like i said there is nothing I can nor I want to do in this case. You can
contact IBAS or the Gambling Commission. If like you said Sportingbet
doesn't have a rule against payment using other people accounts, I'm sure
they will be able to help.
AGCC : . I can confirm that we are in full support of the operator's decision to close your account. From the evidence we've been provided, it is clear that you have acted in breach of the terms and conditions that you agreed to adhere to when registering with Sportingbet and that they are within their rights to close your account and retain the balance. No further action will be taken on your complaint against Sportingbet.

SBR: no answer yet

i have not got my betting history yet, and AGCC thinks everything is OK , and will do nothing, like earlier every time i contacted to them.

This situation is not only my responsibility, I admit I made a mistake , but sportingbet made a mistake too (15 deposit, 3 withdrawal, 69 bet, 45 day, do not warn me in time, dont to this) why should i pay for everything and sportingbet nothing

[virtozo]

sportingbet is crap, they also closed my account after my first bet won around 250 pounds...they refunded my deposit but kept the winnings...thieves.

THEY HATE WINNING CUSTOMERS. AVOID THEM!

[peterd78]

Most of you are haven't a clue.
The reason accounts get checked at the withdrawal stage is not because bookmakers are trying to rip people off. It's becuase there are too many people who deposit to make it feasible to check all depositors (the majority don't withdraw) and the risk for the bookmaker is if the money leaves the system. Therefore they do checks on suspicious deposits only and should check all accounts before withdrawals are approved, although some do slip througn the net, particularly now with them being shortstaffed because of the economy.
The reason they want evidence that you can play bacgammon is to prove that you are not using a bot, which is fair enough becuase it protects the other players from being ripped off.
Utku you already admitted that you signed up knowing it was not allowed so you can't complain, that's the risk you took.

[moonbeam]

Yes, it is not a joke! I wish it was.... There is still 800 euros in my account and they asked all these when I tried to withdraw 200 euros from it. When those things happen, websites always claim that its "security concerns" but they are concerned about the security only when somebody is trying to withdraw his money. I sent them scanned copies of the certificates that I earned in backgammon tournaments when I placed 1st. Also a photo of my trophies. I don' t know what I can do else. If I win on football bets, they will probably ask proof for being a good football player or something... My accout is closed for for almost a week and Im still waiting. They told me that security check will take 5 days. It is also a big question that what they really do in those 5 days. Maybe they will visit my house for being sure that Im living in the registered adress. If there is one thing sure about this website, Its that they don' t like winners!

sportingbet is one of the worst european books.
Try to get your money and run away

[75_Percent]

How the shiz to you prove through documents you are good at backgammon lol!

[kostasgr]

Did they give you any large bonus?Maybe they suspect that you and one friend of you played together in live,so you could earn for sure the whole amount of bonus!