5Dimes tweeted out from their official Twitter account that there is a fraudulent set of e-mails circulating claiming to advertise a deposit bonus for users who use Bitcoin.
The e-mail does look “legit”, considering that it follows the basic theme of the website which is to look like it was designed in the early 2000s. They use a lot of the same fonts and colors.
The scammers claim that if you deposit today via Bitcoin, you will receive a bonus. The reason why they are targeting this payment method specifically is that one of the key features is that it is absolutely non-refundable. We know there are some buyer-safety methods incorporated with every other method such as PayPal, Skrill, and Western Union. None of that exists in the land of cryptocurrency – as soon as you send something, it is gone. And there is no way of knowing who it went to.
A quick look at the address on BlockChain indicates that they have already profited 1.5 bitcoin from this scam (which is $359.79 US). This was ten hours after the first official 5Dimes warning was released. Crime pays.
No funds were sent to the “+$1,000” Bitcoin address luckily enough.
A pricing error on SkyBet’s Australian football markets sent Twitter into a frenzy. This evening, Matt Findley posted an image of a ticket that appeared to show a 500/1 wager that was won. The 20 pound wager would have returned just over ten thousand equivalent units of currency.
As the tweet has been flagged for mature content (fuck the communists), here is a screenshot to ensure that everyone can see it:
The wager was on a -7 goal handicap in a match between Adelaide Victory, and the youth squad of Adelaide United. The wager was placed when the younger side was leading 7-3 at the 55′ mark. The final score of the match was 12-3, causing the market to cover, and the wager to win.
Here is a closer look of the betting slip from SkyBet:
After he appeared to have won 10,020.00 British pounds, SkyBet altered the wager to change the price from 500/1 to 20/1. This sent the British corner of Twitter into a frenzy. Threats were sent from multiple people claiming they would close their accounts if this individual was not properly compensated for this wager.
It turns out that there was a significant pricing error. Rather than having the market at 500/1, the youth squad should have been 5/1 to win with an applied handicap of -7. No pitchforks today.
In a sign of good faith, and given the fact that this person was the only human being to bet on a -7 spread in the most random Australian football game possible, SkyBet offered him a 20/1 payout in the end. Skybet have always been fair to their customers, which was witnessed just a few weeks ago when they paid out both Silva and Toure goalscorer markets when the scorekeeper made an error in City’s match against West Bromwich Albion.
One of the most controversial betting sites of all time, Sportsbook.ag have always been surrounded by payout disputes. This gained steam last month, when they refused to pay a large portion of their customers due to reasons that did not make much sense. But as a sportsbook that accepts American customers (who are not suppose to be gambling outside of Nevada or New Jersey), they hold the power of tyrants.
When I am on Twitter I am always monitoring certain keywords incase there is an incident that warrants reporting. Sure enough, I encountered a user (who will remain anonymous) sending complaints to Sportsbook’s official Twitter handle. I approached him via direct message to collect more information:
Anonymous claimed that he had $2,500 US tied up in a payout. This is a significantly large amount. We are not talking about a small withdrawal request, which any sportsbook would honor to keep the village people satisfied. He stated that he has received funds from them in the past, and that this was the first time that he was running into any issues. This is consistent with the recent scandal that Sportsbook.ag was involved in. They claimed that all withdrawals are processed in 6-8 weeks, and that the reason for his payout being delayed was due to their third-party handler being backed-up. Oh yeah, and my bookie ate my homework.
6-8 weeks for payouts is ridiculous in the first place. There is absolutely no reason for that to ever happen at an honest operation. The logic behind slow payments has nothing to do with whoever is handing the money. It is actually one of the most dirty moves a sportsbook could do. During the time that your withdrawal request is pending, there is a very high chance that you will lose the small amount of funds you have remaining in your account, developing the urge to gamble. Rather than making another small deposit, most betting sites will force you to cancel your pending withdrawal. Now you have yet another opportunity to lose money, and if you ever get the chance to request another payout, your timer has been reset to zero weeks passed.
It is a horrible thing to do, and any sportsbook that has the slightest ounce of respect for their customers would never do it. And even if your sportsbook had that policy, they should damn well stick to it. If I am going to beg my teacher for an extra week to complete the previously referenced homework, I am not going to tell her to fuck off after I refuse to hand it in one month later. If you demand extra time, do something with it.
But thats not the purpose of this article. I asked Anonymous if he could send me information regarding his situation so that I could include them in an article. I have noticed many users complaining about their payouts all of a sudden not being processed, which is very concerning as we are not far removed from their most recent incident. He sent me a picture of the payout request, which was dated June 26th.
It is currently August 27th. Sportsbook appears to be playing a one-sided game of chicken with Anonymous. They are daring him to cancel his withdrawal so that he can place a few bets. “C’mon, you know you want to!” sings the Devil.
Anonymous won’t give in. He sent me a copy of an e-mail exchange they had one week ago, after his payout request eclipsed the upper-limit of their projected time cap:
Anonymous states that they indicated in a prior e-mail that they have never missed a payment outside of the projected 6-8 week processing range. We already know this is false due to past incidents of Sportsbook.com withholding payments from customers for no reason. Their discussion continued throughout the week, with some notable responses from the betting site’s customer support department:
First of all they cannot count (this was seven days ago, which marked the middle of week eight). Secondly, they indicated that he would be receiving a payout confirmation soon. One week later, outside of the insanely slow projected processing range, still nothing. Except, you know, a ton of excuses…
Sportsbook.ag puts all of the blame on their third-party payment processor. In the next e-mail, they indicate that all of their withdrawals are processed in batches which vary in size. The support team tells Anonymous that he will be contacted as soon as his request has been sent to the third-party.
Still, one week after the last e-mail, nothing has happened. This means that not only is he potentially weeks away from getting his payout request included in the “batch”, but also weeks away from actually receiving his funds. I know Americans are limited in their options, but it is absolutely unacceptable to have to potentially wait four months to get your money.
Is it possible that there is some truth to Sportsbook.ag’s side of the story, where it actually is the third-party processor’s limitations? Perhaps. No one can doubt that it is suspicious that this comes immediately after their latest scandal. You would think that they would make an effort to up their processing outs to ease the angry mob from last time. However, it is more likely that this is just another case of an American sportsbook abusing their customers because they know they have no other options.
What is Anonymous to do… Call the police? And tell them what? That an illegal sportsbook stole the money he was illegally gambling with? These sites know that they have you by the balls, and they take full advantage. The goal of this blog is to give everyone a voice, in an effort to bring some form of honesty to this cancerous industry. If you would like Frostbet to write an article about a situation you are having with your sportsbook, please contact us via Twitter or E-mail.
This guy is so stupid that I had to write another article about him. I know I said I wouldn’t, but I had to break that promise. Sorry, maybe we should just see other people. It’s not you, it’s me.
Yesterday, I wrote an article about a clown who gave out two 10-unit plays on line errors. Bovada’s idiot line-maker put Justin Upton and Jason Heyward +195 and +185 respectively not to hit a home-run in the match between the St. Louis Cardinals and the San Diego Padres.
These lines should have been closer to -300, so obviously Bovada cancelled all wagers on these markets, which they should have. The fact that this idiot thought he was going to get away with this, and to even have the audacity to release two 10-unit plays on them, proves that he has no idea whats going on. As I discussed yesterday, this is on top of the fact that player props have very low limits. He either does not bet on the games that he releases, or is betting to small for him to consider himself “one of the best sports cappers around”. His words, not mine.
Bovada paid out the wager, and then voided it shortly after. Once again, this is something that they have a right to do. There is no rule that states that they are not allowed to retract a bad line after it has been paid out. This is a myth that is believed by some lesser minds, such as the subject of this article.
Can you make a more square card if you tried? Bet on the Cardinals, bet on the over, bet on two line-errors. Thats a noob-special. Who the hell needs to pay money for that? But based on his quiet reaction, we can assume that he does not have any clients to begin with. Which should come as a surprise to no one. After Bovada retracted the lines, he had some brilliant comments to make:
“I don’t think that’s allowed” – Guy who actually tried to steal 35 units from a sportsbook.
We did some more digging to see how much the best sports capper in the world bets on each game. As stated, considering that these props are normally locked at $250, and he was wagering ten-units on it, he probably is not risking more than $25 per game. Well he posted this picture where he tried to blur-out his account balance. To no one’s surprise, genius did not do a good job of this and we can easily tell how much is in his account.
Lets zoom in on that top portion. We are going to block off the bottom part that says his account number, and just focus on the very obvious numbers. We will even point to the dollar sign, so you know exactly where his account balance starts.
Nice. $0.00. Now you might be saying, what if he just went all-in on the soccer play in the ticket that he posted. Well, that is probably the case. But the play ended up losing, as Atletico Madrid only won by one-goal, failing to cover the spread.
So there goes all of his money. And if you needed any more proof that he had a zero account balance before making a fool of himself by releasing those error plays, here is a previous screenshot that he posted earlier this month, where he seemed to have no problem showing his account balance.
The only thing worse than a scammer tout, is a scammer tout who does not bet on the games he releases. Check-mate.
Our subject for today is going to be a Twitter random. Lets take a look at the jackass’ profile:
First of all, anyone with two first-names is automatically an asshole. Secondly, if you are not going to capitalize the first word in your sentence I am not going to read it. Thirdly, I do not want to talk about your package in my DMs. I have a wife.
Also, where the fuck is “Making Money”? Which state is that in anyways?
Regardless of all this, we know this type of person. They claim to have clients when they really don’t, and the photos that I am about to post will prove that. No one in the right mind would trust this guy with a dime.
The big announcement! Boy genius saw a bunch of people tweeting about this line error hours before, and decided to take all of the credit. Regardless, he is still an idiot for thinking that this line will hold up. But the best is where he gave both of these plays as 10-UNIT CLIENT PLAYS.
This is proof that this guy does not bet on the games he releases. The limits on these Bovada props are very low. Anyone claiming to make a 10-unit bet on it is lying.
Of course, he patted himself on the back for a great capping effort.
This guy is an idiot. I do not think I need to write any more about him.
Update
We have received confirmation that Bovada have marked all wagers as a push, as it should be.
A week ago Frostbet posted two articles regarding the incident where BetOnline fired one of their virtual casino dealers “Andy” for being too friendly. He used his Twitter account to interact with users outside of work. Nothing harmful was done, but the online sportsbook did not want to take any risks so they terminated his employment without providing any reason.
Andy gained popularity when many popular Twitch streamers began going into BetOnline’s video casinos for videos. Andy’s friendly personality quickly made him a fan favorite, which eventually lead to him losing his job. These streamers (who made a fuck-ton of money, for those of you who are not familiar with the field), most notably “Sodapoppin”, raised nearly $2000 for Andy.
He put it to good use.
New Career
Andy posted a picture from his Twitter account (@lukyandy), showing how he spent the $2,000.
Video games. Anyone older than 25 will probably think he spent that money irresponsibly, considering that he just lost his job. Given his connection to many popular streamers, he has the perfect opportunity to begin a career as a Twitch streamer. Remember when I said they earned a lot of money earlier? I was not lying. Since posting this picture, he has hosted two streaming sessions, amassing over 10,000 Twitch followers.
Here is a snapshot from his most recent stream, where he is playing World of Warcraft:
It remains to be seen if Andy can make a living through Twitch streaming. Its a very saturated field. He does have the advantage of having connections to popular streamers who want to help him, but that will only get him so far. He was very popular as a blackjack dealer, so there is no reason why he cannot translate that over to build an entertaining Twitch channel. But people will not pity-watch for long. Lets hope for the best.
Incase anyone is curious, Twitch users earn revenue via five methods:
(1) In-stream advertisements that play periodically (big-timers sometimes disable these)
(2) Donations (the big earner, I have never understood why some people donate massive amounts)
(3) Subscriptions (users can pay a small one-time fee to subscribe to a particular stream, gaining some new features)
(4) Sponsorships
(5) Shout-outs (rare)
This is not really a gambling story, but I figure it was worth a follow-up after the last two articles. Everyone at Frostbet wishes him the best of luck on his new journey. Click on the banner below if you want to check out his stream. If he is not currently online, the previous stream will play by default.
We all know Bovada sucks. From square-odds to visitor-throttling, they are the epitome for a terrible betting site. And don’t even get me started on their new user interface.
Every sportsbook is entitled to make a mistake every so often with an incorrect line. It happens, no one is perfect. But whoever has been in charge of Bovada’s MLB prop lines for the past two days needs to be fired. Yesterday, they set Indians’ strike-out pitcher Carlos Carrasco’s K-total at 3. Thats a serious problem. Even though he was facing the Yankees, this was at least half of what it should have opened at.
A few people tried to jump on to take advantage, hoping that Bovada would not catch on. Their plans were foiled when popular gambling Twitter personality (and thats probably where his credentials should end) Johnny Detroit tweeted about it.
That screenshot is hilarious. KellyInVegas, another so-called “Vegas Expert” who sells picks without a real record (and provides terrible gambling advice to prove that she has no clue what she is ever talking about) claiming that this would be a good middle opportunity. Are you fucking kidding me? First of all, even if Johnny Detroit does not tweet about it, there is a fairly high chance that Bovada realizes their error and voids the bet all together (I would say this scenario occurs at least 80% of the time). Then you would be stuck with a random bet on the under 6.5. But thats not even the start of all the stupidity, if you are given a 3.5 advantage on something as low as a strike-out total, WHY THE HELL ARE YOU MIDDLING IT? Take the damn money and run, for fucks sake.
With football season approaching, we will have plenty more opportunities to see Kelly’s lack of betting knowledge. But lets get back to the story. Bovada ended up pulling the line and voiding all bets.
They ended up re-opening it at 6. Carlos Carrasco ended the game with 11 strike-outs in his victory over the Yankees.
A lot of people were furious over Johnny Detroit’s tweet. It takes a very special situation for me to defend someone like that due to the documented evidence of him constantly selling picks with a losing record, but he did not do anything wrong here. Like I said, there is a very small chance that this would have gone through anyways. But for the fun of it, lets see some of the anger.
Snitches get stitches. Delete the fucking tweet!
Please sir, I want s’more.
This next guy must have been relying on the line-error to break even on the week. This kitty has claws.
If you ask nicely he will do it.
Heavy threats.
The money was finally refunded after Johnny kept the tweet up. The last guy still has not had enough.
Lol.
Like I said earlier, I am not one to defend Johnny Detroit for anything. I really cannot stand losing sports-bettors who sell picks, it bothers me. But he did not do anything wrong here. I do find it funny how the last guy was making fun of him for selling picks, yet he is losing his mind over a line-error. The only reason you would be that desperate for a guaranteed winner was if you dug yourself a hole so deep you would be better off heading to China. Pot meet kettle, I suppose.
Now Bovada did not just stop with the Carrasco mistake. Today they came back with two home-run props that had the lines severely messed up. Justin Upton was +195 to not hit one out of the part, and Jason Heyward was +185. On any night, these would likely be at least -325 or so. Here is a screenshot of it happening, sponsored by Bovada’s disgusting new interface.
Every time you cry yourself to sleep because of Bovada’s new interface, they murder three kittens in Africa. Its a lose-lose situation.
As with the strike-out prop, these will likely get voided as well (with or without a snitch). It is a problem that this has happened two days in a row. Clearly whoever is in charge of entering these lines onto the website is not paying enough attention. It prevents people who actually wanted to bet on these props from getting a fair line that will not get cancelled. Just another reason why you should not use Bovada.
But I guarantee no one will listen, and they will sign-on to fund their accounts right after closing this window. Bovada opened the line at +5000.
Popular online betting site BetVictor attracts many customers by offering them a 100% match free-bet on their first deposit (up to $50). Or so we thought.
In order to receive the free-bet, you must place a wager on a game with odds greater than 2.00 (thats +100 for you Americans). After you have done that, you must verify your account by sending a picture of your ID (such as a drivers license) in to the staff.
A user who would like to remain nameless completed both of these steps only to be denied multiple times. In the spirit of Frostbet’s Watchdog blog, we will break down the full story.
The Situation
This user contacted customer support when he realized that he was not credited with the 100% free-bet after he made a play on a +105 line. They notified him that as an international user outside of the United Kingdom, he was required to send proof to GlobalID@BetVictor.com. The following e-mail was sent two and a half days ago:
The user provided all of the necessary information including full-name, account user-name, account ID, and a JPEG photograph of their drivers license. We censored out their personal information just to be safe, but we can confirm that picture of their ID was clear, valid, and proved they were older than the minimum age in their region (which was 18).
After a long wait, they finally responded to the user with the following e-mail:
“It is with regret that we have been unable to verify your details from the information you provided”. Thats it. No explanation as to why they were unable to do it. Maybe that would slide if they didn’t take forever to verify your documents, but having someone wait over 60 hours to give them a half-assed response? That is careless.
The user did not stop there. They wanted a faster response, so they took to BetVictor’s live-chat system to see what was going on. They were immediately disconnected when inquiring about the issue:
This is very suspicious. An immediate disconnect following inquiry into the matter. They tried another chat, only for it to be even less helpful than before. The chat agent simply avoided the issue, and refused to provide the reasoning for not accepting the ID despite it having all of the necessary information on it.
We will keep you updated if there are any new developments sent to us. For the mean time, avoid using BetVictor until it becomes clear that they are going to be honouring their promotions.
Update
According to the user, they contacted customer support again and sent the link to this article. They were immediately redirected to a manager on duty who resolved the issue instantly, without them having to wait another 60 hours.
Frostbet’s Watchdog blog is here to give you a voice in a community that is always held silent. If you ever have any problems with sportsbooks and have proof to back it up, please contact us via e-mail or Twitter. We would be happy to write an article about your situation, giving you the attention necessary for resolving it. Although we were only talking about $50 in this one, its important that someone holds sportsbooks accountable.
Here is a picture of their bonus funds. It appears as though BetVictor gave them an uncapped bonus on their first wager, not limiting them to $50. The power of voice.
Popular US betting site BetOnline was taken offline multiple times yesterday after word got out that they fired one of their most popular video casino dealers, Andy, over being too friendly with customers. Being a fan-favorite on multiple Twitch streams that did a weekly gambling segment, it is to no one’s surprise that Andy’s suspicious termination did not slide by quietly.
BetOnline DDoSed.
For more information on what happened to Andy, please view the article that we published yesterday by clicking here.
After word got out of what happened, BetOnline’s website was hit offline multiple times yesterday during the late afternoon. Given that much of Andy’s popularity was due to popular Twitch streamers incorporating him into their show, you can be sure that there are quiet a few people in their audience who know a thing or two about taking out a website. BetOnline picked the wrong demographic to mess with.
BetOnline went up and back offline three times before establishing a stable connection about one hour after the initial attack. It is unsure whether or not the attackers will continue to take down the website at this time, but it would be correct to assume that they will not be satisfied until Andy is given more information regarding his termination. It is intriguing to see one of the gambling industry’s giants held accountable for something that would otherwise go without third-party resistance.
Twitter was in an uproar after popular American-friendly sportsbook BetOnline.ag fired one of their most popular blackjack dealers. Andy (found at @lukyandy on Twitter) was let go for allegedly committing the horrendous crime of being too friendly with customers. Many of the betting site’s regular customers spoke of their frustrations by using the hashtag #FreeAndy on Twitter this afternoon.
What might have happened.
I hate people who claim they know everything, so I will admit that I did not know who Andy was prior to this incident. However, I will attempt to determine as much as possible from some of the tweets that he sent out from his personal Twitter account. Here is what he had to say this afternoon:
At 11:48 AM eastern, Andy tweeted that he was looking forward to his shift.
While BetOnline did not give him an exact reason why he was let go, it is likely that it was connected to his outgoing personality. If this was the reason for his termination, management could view it as a problem for one of two ways: Substituting quantity for quality, or the dangers of out-of-office interaction.
I have never worked in an online video casino before, but I would imagine that the person who has the highest hands-per-minute rate would be the best employee. The sad truth of the matter is that the majority of customers who frequent BetOnline’s streaming service are doing it for the sake of gambling, and not for interacting with dealers. As long as they are not being rude, it is difficult to justify choosing someone who averages 1.9 hands per minute over the other leading brand, who averages 1.6. Especially during peak hours, these video casinos normally have all of their tables full. There is certainly no lack of interest, with or without Andy.
But, like I have stated before, I have never seen Andy deal before. I do not know if he sacrifices efficiency for entertainment, and anything that I would say on the matter would be purely speculation. Judging from his tweets, it appears as though the reason for his termination was more likely connected to the fact that he interacts with customers outside of the office. As BetOnline’s offices are in Costa Rica, and their clientele are in North America, this interaction could only be done through Twitter.
As of the time that I am writing this article, Andy has just under 10,000 followers on Twitter. A lot of Twitch streamers host video events such as “Blackjack Friday”, where I would imagine Andy has become a fan favorite. Scrolling through his timeline, it appears as though he is always friendly with those who spend their time at his table, carrying inside jokes away from the felt. If there is one thing to take away from Clive Owen in Croupier, is that if the casino employee were to recognize a customer outside of their station, they were to act as if they have never seen them before in their life. But, lets remember, its a fucking movie.
Its hard to draw a conclusion without knowing the information. BetOnline will never release a statement on something like this. The truth of the matter is that a video dealer is a competitive job. You earn tips from your customers, making it a lucrative alternative to other standard positions that may be offered in Costa Rica. And since this blog is about honesty, I will go ahead and say it: Male dealers are far more replaceable than female ones. A larger portion of a sportsbook’s customers will be male, and a high percentage of those individuals would be more inclined to sit-down at a table with a pretty female dealer, as opposed to a male. It is a fact; do not kid yourself.
BetOnline viewed Andy’s actions as either inefficient or dangerous. And when you are in a position that is very replaceable, you can understand why they did it. However, that does not make it right.
The Verdict
As stated many times in this article, its difficult to pick a side when you do not know the facts. Instead, we can examine both possible scenarios to determine who may be at fault. If Andy’s employer made it explicitly clear that he was to operate at a certain hands-per-minute rate minimum, and should not be interacting with customers outside of his workspace, then BetOnline had a right to do what they did. We all know that it is highly unlikely for someone to attempt to devise a plan to cheat the system with a customer outside of the workplace when there are so many cameras analyzing your every move, but the company does not know that for sure.
If he was never warned or educated on the proper form of conduct, then the events that happened today were not warranted. Unfortunately when you are expandable, not only do you rarely get to strike-three, but you next-to-never live to see the first one go over the heart of the plate.
Next Steps For Andy
Andy tweeted out that he will use some of the money that was donated to him by his fans and followers to begin his own streaming service. I will post an update when the specifics have been hashed out. If you would like to check out his Twitter account for more recent updates, click here.
If you are not happy with what happened to Andy, or would at least like BetOnline to release more information on what happened so we can stop speculating, then there are three things that you can do. The hashtag #FreeAndy has received a surprising amount of popularity, which can help get the sportsbook management’s attention on the matter (although they probably already know whats going on). The best person to contact on Twitter for any issues regarding BetOnline is Dave Mason (@DaveMasonBOL), perhaps in the coming days he will bring more light to the situation.
Your final option is to switch sportsbooks entirely. For my American readers, I would highly recommend 5Dimes as an alternative. They offer a great video casino service, as well as many of the same wagering services that BetOnline offers, surpassing them in multiple categories as well. For more information, feel free to check out Frostbet’s 5Dimes review. You can also use the button below to get a free $200 sign-up bonus when creating your account.
