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BetAfterBet.com troubles its clients

BetAfterBet.com, an online bookmaker licenced in Malta has been blown onto the media last week as they have encountered a lot of delayed payments claiming to amount up to €24,000. The company has blamed this backlog on a systems glitch that according to them ‘has been holding up payments and these said payments are now being made’.

Many complaints from various players and notifications about delayed payments reached the Lotteries and Gaming Regulation Authority in Malta who started off an investigation into the matter. Many have even categorized BetAfterBet as a “scam bookmaker” with sites giving off warnings to their existing clients and patrons.

The bookmaker was registered in Malta last July and now holds two LGA licences in Malta with its head office listed in Valletta and a mailing address in Sliema. The company officials say they do not employ staff in Malta but have one key official based on the island.

In the meantime BetAfterBet.com have raised many worries with their online customers for the past weeks as the concerned patrons found that the website offers no phone number for customer support and their live chat has been offline during office hours as of late.

When confronted, BetAfterBet has pretty much denied all these allegations and has said that the backlog is just due to a glitch in their online system. The LGA is currently monitoring the payments process towards the players and is keeping this company under observation and their scrutiny “without prejudice to any further action that the Lotteries and Gaming Authority may deem necessary.”

The LGA commented further; “As is normal procedure to investigate player complaints, the LGA initiated investigations on Bonobet Ltd to ascertain the nature of player complaints; the initial findings of the investigations confirmed that Bonobet Ltd encountered payment difficulties. Bonobet Ltd has assured that the payment process of players has already been initiated and that the process shall be concluded within the next few weeks.”

Betafterbet left a statement about their ongoings saying that; “Betafterbet is far from a scam. We are operators who had a glitch in our systems that has hurt us financially; our mistake and we have to pay for it. We are committed to our clients and to paying them what is due. We are in communication with the LGA on this, and can assure you and your readers that we are anything but a scam.”

The bookmaker has now been scrutinised by Sportsbookreview.com which downgraded its rating for the gaming site from D+ to D last month, now appearing in the “poor” sportsbooks category holding risk to players’ funds and poor customer service, whilst also being placed on their “Avoid List”.

Sportsbookreview commented; “As of today, BetAfterBet owes €23,924.60 to 14 players. BetAfterBet has blamed delays on having to manually process payments requested via their software, and on the number of payments which have been requested.”

Although BetAfterBet is known to have said that the players money is safe and the delay of the payout are not due to financial difficulties of the company, articles such as “BetAfterBet scam drags Malta’s Gaming Authority’s credibility to the ground” have started to appear with many players complaining payments had not been made. They even urged the angered clients to go ahead and contact the LGA by publishing the regulator’s telephone numbers and e-mail address. Meanwhile the LGA is doing everything they can to monitor the situation and protecting the online players, having also withdrawn tens of existing licences through the past years whilst monitoring these operations.

BetafterBet is now trying to make up for these recent problems by offering a bonus to their players on a first deposit which would then be converted to cash but this just led to this bonus being miscalculated by the systems with players being credited in their accounts with money they had not yet converted from bonus to ‘real money’.

BetafterBet said; “We have now had to analyse all bets placed to ensure players get what is due to them and have started to effect payments. While the delay to pay players is regrettable, we can assure you that all players will be paid what is due to them. There may be slight delays as we are still analysing all transactions. We have communicated to this to all our players.”

Breach of poker players’ privacy and identities

According to AustralianGambling.com.au a couple of online companies have breached the law when they crossed players’ privacy. Amongst these companies there are 888, William Hill and Full Tilt Poker. It seems that the player details that has been sold and traded like a commodity.

The above sites have refused to clarify whether their trading of personal details is a breach of law but many sources through the industry have advised that this is definitely a breach of privacy that will reach negative consequences for the companies and their compliance with relevant proper regulations.

It seems that the alleged information was obtained by AustralianGambling.com.au from Ryan Clegg who sells gambling operators’ data. He went on to reveal the full details of the operation, including the name of the person selling the data, who was helping him, the operators involved and what is claimed to be a sample 50 person excel sheet with full player details.

It seems like Ryan Clegg has been selling online gamblers’ identities and other confidential details to the highest bidder for quite some time. The latter commented about this data amounts “It varies to be honest, could be every two weeks, could be a month.” He even added that for $8,000 one could buy the personal details of over 40,000 people, this also including problem gamblers.

This data includes including full names, residential addresses, dates of birth, email addresses and other credit cards and financial information including amounts deposited and lost or won.

1. Name – This included both first and last name
2. Address – Both number and street
3. City
4. Country
5. Email address
6. Telephone number
7. Net loss – The amount the player had won or lost at the casino
8. Deposits – The total of the player’s real money deposits

This info is then sold for an agreed fee to whoever has enough money to purchase it such as the below:

Clegg also went on to reveal who these main offenders are such as “Casino Tropez, Eurogrand, Casinojoy, 888, Intercasino, Spin Palace, 32 Red, William Hill, Europa Casino, Vegas Red, PlatinumPlay, Roxy Palace, they are the main ones. As I mentioned I have Ladbrokes, Betfair and ToteSport but also got William Hill and Coral for betting. I also sell placements on some gambling related sites for a friend of mine. He owns these sites if you know who owns them:”

These include – onlinebingofriends.com; fruitybonus.com; onlinebingoroom.co.uk; comparebingosites.com; latestbingobonus.com; bingoteacher.co.uk; ukbingohall.co.uk; freecardsbingo.com; bingodating.co.uk; bingohoroscopes.com.

Below is Ryan’s email sales pitch indicating selling prices and the relevant offenders ——

Hi Nick, thanks for the chat on messenger earlier.

Ok, as I mentioned we have gambling data targeted to Casino, Poker, Sportsbetting and Bingo.

In the latest batch of casino data we have roughly 40k full records available which include Full name, address, email, telephone number, net loss and total deposits of each player.

All the data is European and comes from various online casinos like Casino Tropez, Eurogrand, Casinojoy, 888, Intercasino, Spin Palace, 32 red, Will Hill, Europa, Vegas Red, Platinumplay and Roxy Palace.

If you wanted to buy all the 40k casino data I would charge you $100 per 1,000 records so the total cost would be $4,000. If you just wanted to buy part of the database the cost per 1,000 would differ depending on how many you wanted to take.

Regarding poker data we have 37k full records available which again include Full name, address, email, telephone number, net loss and total deposits of each player.

All the data is European and comes from various online poker sites like Titan Poker, Poker Ocean, Pacific Poker and Full Tilt Poker.

If you wanted the whole 37k we would be looking at around $80 per 1,000 records so the total cost would be roughly $2,950. If you wanted to buy part of the database the cost per 1,000 would depend on total spend.

With regards to sports betting data, in the latest batch we have roughly 25k available which are mainly UK and are just email addresses.

The betting data as come from sites Ladbrokes, Betfair, Totesport, Will Hill and Coral.

If you wanted the whole 25k I can do you them at $50 per 1,000 as they are just email addresses so the total cost would be $1,250 or again if you just wanted part of the data the cost per 1,000 would all depend on how many you wanted.

Finally, as I mentioned we have around 500 records for bingo which are just Uk email addresses and they come from Foxy, Cheeky and Tombola Bingo.

I would be willing to chuck these in for free on any substantial order.

If you wanted to take all of the above Nick the total cost would be $8,200 but I would be willing to knock that down to $7,000 for you so you would save $1,200.

Let me know what you want to do.
Cheers Nick.

Many Regards
Ryan

At this point we wonder, what other data could be getting sold right now such as credit card details and worse..

BetOnline.com experiences indictments but business rolls on

BetOnLine.com; the Panama City-based online gambling shop has experienced thirty individuals being indicted over this past week for unlawfully operating a sports betting enterprise. The Queens District Attorney’s Office claims they took in more than $567 million over a 28-month period.

Now, the BetOnLine representatives are insisting that the customers and their money accounts are still safe even after the 38-month investigation that was known as “Operation Betting It All” which climaxed with the arrest of the alleged “kingpin”, Joseph Fafone of Rochester, New York and the other indictments. Among the other indictments there are also low level and low paid company clerks.

Many of these arrested individuals have already been released on bail whilst the Queens DA is attempting to connect Fafone (caught while trying to catch a flight from Rochester to Panama City, Panama with $23,000 in cash) with the Gambino crime family.

BetOnlin reps commented; “BetOnline.com is absolutely NOT a credit shop. BetOnline.com is a post up book, no different from BetUs.com or any other. The credit shop was a credit shop… completely separate business, completely separate ballgame, which does not affect the BetOnline.com brand. As you can imagine, this is turning out to be a PR nightmare for us and our brand, but what happened in the US yesterday was not at all about BetOnline.com – it was about the credit businesses. It’s a shame the news outlets had to spin it the way they did to make it the juiciest possible story for them. For us here at BetOnline.com, it’s business as usual – customers are still getting paid, bets are still being made.”

The ESPN Magazine is to display Hellmuth naked and more

The latest issue of “ESPN the Magazine”; the popular American sports magazine has just done it again …… it will now feature naked photographs of about 80 different male and female athletes.

This special edition of ESPN magazine will be called the “Body Issue” and it will feature athletes from a variety of sports on this latest issue, with poker being one of them. The reason why poker was also chosen as a sport in this case, could be due to the fact and personal interest behind the ESPN TV network which is also the one to televise the World Series of Poker.

Amongst these poker celeb personalities, we will also see the champion Phil ‘Poker Brat’ Hellmuth together with Jennifer Harman, Scotty Nguyen and Daniel “Kid Poker” Negreanu. These 4 poker stars will be pictured sitting naked around a poker table but with all the players’ private areas strategically hidden.

Gary Belsky, the magazine’s editor, “We’ve always been committed to showing fans a different side of the sports and athletes they love. This issue, from the amazing photos to the innovative journalism, is just our latest effort to do that. We’re very happy with the results.”

Harman and Negreanu were nervous about the naked shoot, thinking they would not fit in but both relaxed when they got to know who was chosen to accompany them during the shoot and that it would all be done in a classy and tasteful manner. Daniel Negreanu commented; “It’s not like they were going to have Patrik Antonius or Gus Hansen in there. I worked out. I had a nice tan going. I sucked my belly in and I was good to go.”

From the other sports realms we can look forward to see athletes such as race car drivers Mark Martin and Carl Edwards, jockey Alex Solis, boxer Manny Pacquiao, mixed martial arts fighter Randy Couture, tennis player Serena Williams, baseball players Ivan Rodriguez and Joba Chamberlain basketball player Dwight Howard, hockey player Zdeno Chara, , golfer Christina Kim, football players Torry Holt and Adrian Peterson.

Players Investment Company and Merge poker Network

Two big organizations, namely (PIC) Players Investment Company, the online poker payment processor and the Merge Poker Network have ended their existing business relationship with this maybe leading to further dispute and battles between the two.

The end of this partnership was announced last week by the PIC-Club chief executive, Chuck Kidd who sent an email to the players announcing the end of PIC’s connections with Merge Network. He also mentioned that some of the Merge skins may now want to enter into direct processing agreements with his company.

This email then led to a comment by Anthony Taylor, the Merge chief executive, who issued his own statement as follows: “It has been brought to my attention, via comments in a public forum, that there is some confusion regarding a relationship we have with a payments provider. To be clear, it was Merge Gaming, who served notice on our agreement with Pic Club.”

Neither PIC, nor Merge have mentioned the reasons for this dissolution of partnership and the speculation on internet poker message boards and forums continues.

However, the Merge executive did say that; “The reasoning behind this is a matter of private record. Merge Gaming attempted to resolve the issue brought on by PIC Club, one of its principals, and one of its members, and without resolution, felt it was in the best interest of our customers to end this relationship immediately. We’ve cancelled our agreement to protect our players, our network partners, and our reputation going forward.”

Poker rooms on the Merge Gaming Network includes PDC Poker, Carbon Poker Reefer Poker, PokerNordica, Iron Duke Poker, Spin32 Poker and Aced Poker.

No death penalty for Poker Player / Murderer

Online poker news this week has it that the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office has not inflicted the death penalty to Ernest Scherer III. The 31 year old poker player was accused of killing his parents; Ernest Scherer Jr. aged 60 / former San Ramon Valley schools trustee and Charlene Abendroth, aged 57 / a longtime Cal State East Bay accounting lecturer. Both the dead father and son were well known on the professional poker circuit.

Both parents were found last year in their Pleasanton home after they were brutally stabbed and beaten to death. During the first investigations, the Police involved had determined Ernest Scherer III as the prime suspect in his parents murder. At that time he also owed substantial amounts of money in gambling debts and many realised the murder was most probably done in order or him to inherit the $1 million at stake.

During the preliminary hearing Scherer was depicted as enjoying the Las Vegas lifestyle of gambling but also one of heavy debt, including a $616,000 short-term mortgage from his father.

The Authorities accused him of turning off his phone on the said day, driving from Las Vegas to Pleasanton, killing his parents and then driving south to the Brea house he shared with his now ex-wife and young son. The Police then followed to arrest Scherer III in Las Vegas last February, 11 months after the murder committed. Alameda County Superior Court Judge Morris Jacobson has said the trial date would be in late spring or summer.

The no-death penalty ruling was taken by Prosecutor David Stein who announced the decision last Friday in the Oakland courtroom.

Pitbull Poker Scandal Update

In the aftermath of the Pitbull Poker superuser scandal that resulted in the closing of the popular online poker room and the apparent evaporation of hundreds of thousands of dollars, a leading affiliate, known as “JC Hawk,” has made it his personal charge to seek justice and retrieve the losses of players and affiliates alike.

Hawk was initially in contact with Pitbull Poker and the Flash Poker Network, specifically, Dave Brenes, Flash Poker Network Manager, and Keving Baronowski, owner of Pitbull Poker. In regards to any indication that something might have been wrong prior to the termination of the site, Hawk states, “There were lots of red flags. When I told them [my lawyers and I] were coming down to Costa Rica in late September, they stopped talking to me.”

Hawk estimates that more than $100K is owed to him for NLPT.tv, his affiliate poker site, on top of the cash investments that he directly put into Pitbull Poker. He has furthermore compiled a list of people who claim losses against the online poker room and has brought the case before the Costa Rican government.

Hawk explains, “The government has been great to work with so far. They don’t want to see people from other countries scammed, as it hurts their trade market worldwide and scares investors away. The U.S. Embassy and the Costa Rican government are working hard to prosecute this and get any recovery they can.”

Brenes, now former Network Manager at Pitbull Poker, sticks to his story that he is no longer employed by Pitbull, was never responsible for handing player funds, and is not a principle in the ownership in any way. He declines any further comments.

All that remains is the Pitbull website message that the room is closed. It states, “To cash out your balance, please email support@pitbullpoker.com.” However, there haven’t been any reports of any contact actually made with the Pitbull Poker accounting department, nor has anyone received any funds back from their accounts.

Additionally, no statements have been made by former Pitbull employees or manager, and the online poker forums continue to buzz with anger towards this whole thing. Identifying the superuser accounts seems to be somewhat of an obsession and much speculation remains. Meanwhile in Costa Rica, Hawk and a number of high-stakes players are preparing for a fight as they attempt to recover their money.

Durrrr’s Million Dollar Swings

A lot of poker players are used to having big swings at the poker tables but the bankroll of the wonder child Tom “durrrr” Dwan is like something out of a story book.

Tom Dwan is playing at the highest limits at Full Tilt Poker and he is playing very often. A lot of the days he ends up winning over a million dollars but there are also days when he makes huge losses.

This year has been full of up and downswings for Durrrr’s bankroll. The start of the year was terrible but Dwan made an amazing comeback and made a profit of $6.4 million during 4 months of play at FullTilt which made up for his initial $4 million loss and gave him a nice yearly profit of $2.4 million.

After that upswing he started an uphill battle at the tables and is currently only up around $200.000 for the year. The game where he is making the biggest losses is Pot Limit Omaha where he is down $3.7 million for the year. At the 7-game tables and the Mixed HA tables (Hold’em/Omaha) he has been doing a lot better though and it’s those kind of games that makes up for the big losses at the PLO tables.

It will be interesting to see if Dwan will end the year in the red or in the green.

The Unabomber Takes PartyPoker’s World Open V

PartyPoker’s World Open V wrapped up last week in London, England, when Phil “The Unabomber” Laak won the event and took the $250K grand prize away from a star-studded final table that included Mike Sexton (2009 Poker Hall of Fame inductee), Andy Black, Luke “Full Flush” Scwartz, Jennifer Tilly, and others. The event took place for the first time at the Palm Beach Casino located in Mayfair, London.

This tournament featured a new deep triple stack tournament format that resulted in more than four hours of poker before the first elimination ever took place. Ultimately, though, the final heads-up came down to Laak and 26-year-old online qualifier from Austria, Jan Veit. Veit studies computer science in Salzburg, Austria, but his intelligence wasn’t enough to carry him through when Laak pushed in with A8 off-suit and then got an 8 on the flop, leaving Veit to lose the hand with A4. Then the last hand came down to Laak raising with Q9 against Veit’s J7 with nothing else on the board.

Laak said after his triumph, “This was a wild roller coaster ride, and I am proud to have shared it with this amazing cast of characters. They were a tough bunch. Wow – what an honor.”

Academy Award nominee, Tilly, who placed fifth, was the first of his opponents to congratulate him. “I’m so happy for Phil. People underestimate him because he is so entertaining. He really deserves this. I really enjoyed this tournament, it had a fantastic structure. You can see that by the amount of top players who made the final table.”

The first to go at the final table was Andy Black, chip leader. Black was followed by Sexton, who was already on cloud nine after receiving confirmation the previous night that he had made it into the Poker Hall of Fame. Sexton was given proper props from the champion, though, as Laak stated, “Mike Sexton, inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame today. The consummate player. Full stop.”

What a day to remember for all of these exemplary players.

New Record Set at the WSOP Circuit Chicagoland

The 2009/2010 WSOP Circuit began last week with a record-breaking turnout. The initial event registered 1,412 poker players for the $345 buy-in NLH tournament at the Horseshoe Casino just outside of downtown Chicago. Last year’s attendance at this event was a mere 1,187 players, which means times are getting better, at least for poker players.

Up until this new record player field, the standing record for a WSOP Circuit event was a January 2006 tourney in Mississippi, held at the Tunica Grand Resort & Casino with 1,345 registrants.

The 13-event Chicagoland is now one of the most popular WSOP Circuit events, which is running this year through October 25th and serves to kick off the 6th season of WSOP Circuits. Eleven Harrah’s casinos will host the following events, this year marking the 2nd year for the Horseshoe Casino. Last year, the Horseshoe Casino property, which is located off the Lake Michigan shore just 16 miles out of Chicago, underwent a $500 million renovation. Panoramic views of the downtown skyline is just one impressive facet of this hotel, which serves as a somewhat different feel being so close to a major city that isn’t a gambling town, like Vegas.

Actually, the Horseshoe Casino isn’t even located in Illinois, but rather in Hammond, Indiana, only a few miles from state line, and downtown Chicago is only a 20-minute ride, which really makes this venue even more unique. The largest poker room in the Midwest is located at this casino, which typically hosts 34 tables, but they were able to move some things around to accommodate the 112 tables needed for the WSOP Circuit event. Many of these tables are set up in The Venue, a state-of-the-art media and special events arena, which is regularly used to stage some of the biggest music and entertainment artists. Perhaps we’ll see more big-money tournament action at this location in the future.

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