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A member of the popular Bookmaker Review forum claims that offshore sportsbook BetNow confiscated close to $10,000 from his account.
He relayed his experience:
This was the most frightening experience I’ve ever had with a bookmaker, and people need to be aware of what can happen here.
I placed various live bets across different sports (NCAA, Tennis, Soccer etc.), including standard wagers and live bets and went on a run of about 9 or 10 in a row. Then out of nowhere, betnow hit my account with a manual adjustment of -$10,159.23, wiping out over $10k in winnings and pending bets.
Their excuse? “Past-posting.”
This is completely absurd. Their platform has a built-in delay/timer, and on top of that, it would be impossible for every bet to be a past-post. This was merely an excuse not to pay.
When I contacted support, this is what I got:
Them: “Live Betting and Prop Builder have been deactivated due to detected fraudulent activity related to past-posting.”
Me: “What?”
Them: “Decision is final.”
Me: “These are all different sports and wagers.”
Them: “Determined by risk analysis department.”
Me: “There’s a 10 second timer, and some weren’t even live bets.”
Them: “Decision is final. Upper management decision.”
Me: “This is theft. I’ll be posting about this.”
Them: “Adjustment stands.”
That’s it. No explanation, no evidence, no breakdown of which bets were supposedly “fraudulent.” Just repeated stonewalling and shutting down the conversation.
They let the bets go through, graded them as wins, and then confiscated everything after the fact under a blanket accusation that doesn’t even hold up.
Be very careful:
Over $10,000 removed without proof
Winning bets reversed after settlement
Accused of something that’s prevented by their own system
Support gives copy-paste answers and shuts you down
No real dispute process
This felt like outright confiscation of legitimate winnings. If this can happen to me, it can happen to anyone.
Other members were quick to chime in that this has reportedly happened to others on the forum.
But other members questioned if this had more to do with the live betting aspect of the site going awry.
Titan writes:
Only safe and feasible places to Live bet in the US are going to be Bookmaker, Exchanges and FanDuel (if you have at least 10% limits). Almost every other place has a timer or death, won't pay or $2 limits. BetOnline/SB's live interface is so much better these days and you don't have to worry about getting paid but they are getting smarter about limiting and the timer is an obstacle.
Bet105 is ok but another slower timer, Bovada is good but if you hit soft markets, expect peanut limits fast.
MyBookie is a mixed bag as of this moment, as long as you are giving them honest action, their interface and limits are good, you show any signs of advantage play and it's going to be trouble, maybe even the letter we've seen on this board warning of 'hedging'.
BetNow was indentified by the OddsScam Army late in the NBA Season last year and I don't think they really ever recovered from it. Still probably in a better spot than they were in September though when it looked like they might be insolvent. As far as I understand, they've been paying 'legit' players since.
BetNow has mostly had a solid reputation.
Gambling911.com will continue to monitor this situation.
- Gilbert Horowitz, Gambling911.com
