Christopher Costigan, www.sports911.com

This isn't rocket science; just make sure your licensees are paying people. Futurebet new acting CEO, Ron Katz, begged us to take down an article that appeared high ranked on search engines that was originally published two years ago. We agreed after Katz promised sweeping changes and granted us an interview.

Unfortunately, after concluding the interview, one industry "insider" who has done business with Katz in the past warned that he was still conducting business with "shady operators". There was also some question as to how an unscrupulous Argentinean software firm obtained Futurebet's source code. Katz told Sports911 the culprits used underhanded means to obtain the code. And then there were more Futurebet complaints.

Our own Brian Cullingworth, whose actually not our own so to speak since he writes a syndicated column that we are more than happy to feature on Sports911. Cullingworth wrote of a complaint involving a player owned money by a Futurebet licensee and Katz was quick to demand we remove the allegations.

Well, as we explained to Mr. Katz, Sports911 does not just remove items from its web site because someone tells us to do so. And we will never edit the work of a syndicated writer.

Katz refused to acknowledge the player gripe but rather insisted he did not want these complaints appearing in search engines in fear that prospective licensees might not want to conduct business with Futurebet.

This past week we received a complaint direct to our 1800 line from a poor guy who has been owed a mere $250 from Futurebet licensee Fox Gambling. At the time I had no idea that Fox Gambling, who claims to be licensed in Curacao, had any ties to Futurebet. With the player on the line, I attempted a three-way call to no avail. The number featured on the Fox Gambling web site just rang and rang. Great book!

"Sometimes they do answer," the player told us in a feeble attempt to justify this slow pay.

If the player was a regular Sports911 reader who played at some of our other sponsor books I probably would have paid this guy the $250 myself. Unfortunately this player found Fox Gambling through a search engine the same way he would later find Sports911 by typing in "Fox Gambling Sportsbook Complaint".

And the $250 was just the deposit, which he will now try to charge back. He actually won just over $700, which isn't difficult to do considering Futurebet lines are normally slow to move.

A concerned prospective licensee contacted Sports911 today and we were more than happy to offer our opinion of Futurebet based on recent circumstances. Needless-to-say, it was not a ringing endorsement.