I've been a customer of sportsbook.com for about 5 years now and have never had any problems until recently. Now they won't let me withdraw money without sending in a copy of my ID and a utility bill...and from what I've read here and other places, it won't matter if I send it in anyway! Usually I win a couple hundred throughout the season and I've not had any problems depositing that right back onto my credit card before- without all of this extra nonsense. I was withdrawing a whopping $1000 this time.
First of all, they state over and over in email that my ID number and expiration date must be clear and legible. I understand the expiration date to make sure it is valid, but what does my ID number have to do with verifying my identity? They have NOTHING to check it against. They're in another country!! The ONLY thing I can see a use for this is identity theft. Just my opinion and since they won't answer ANY of my questions about it or why it's needed, I'm left to assume. (They just keep sending me the same form mail stating that I have to send it in and everything has to be clear and legible.)
I will not use sportsbook.com from here on out and will switch to another site. There are enough legit sites out there that do good business to bother with this.
As far as getting the money, I will continue to pursue it. I will go ahead and send in a copy of my DL and utility bill and notify the credit bureaus right away that I want a fraud alert put on my account indefinitely. If you've given them your information, I wouldn't take a chance. It only takes a second at the credit sites and could save you some heartaches later on. I'd be willing to bet that they're selling personal information. Again, just my opinion.
If anyone knows of a way to get their money out of sportsbook without all the hassles, please let me know. Is it better to do multiple small amounts rather than one big one so that they think you're going to keep your account open and bet more? Although, they only allow ONE free withdrawal and charge fees after the first one.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Flynrider
Phoeix,Arizona,
U.S.A.
Sucker bet.
#2Consumer Suggestion
Wed, October 21, 2009
"I will not use sportsbook.com from here on out and will switch to another site. There are enough legit sites out there that do good business to bother with this."
Really? How do you know they are legitimate? For that matter, what constitutes legitimate? You yourself used this particular site for 5 years and didn't discover the deal until now.
Bottom line. No offshore gambling site has to pay you anything. They can take your money and there's nothing you can do about it but complain on sites like these. Since they are offshore and unregulated, you have zero recourse if they decide not to pay up. As you discovered, most of them will pay out small amounts, but good luck getting any serious money out of them.
Handing hard earned money over to an unregulated, offshore gambling site is for suckers. You know they don't have to pay if they don't want to and there's not a thing you can do about it. That applies to all offshore gambling sites. Don't be fooled that just because they're popular that they're legit. The same rules (or rather lack of rules) apply to all of them.