[sweetlou]

Well Hello everyone - Im new here to the forum... Ive been betting for about 10 years now... I joined because i wanted to inform people and make them aware of the so called "10% cash bonus" that skybook.com offers...

I sent in via ** 640.00 to bet on the Brewers in game 1 against SD... I just wanted to deposit my money playem and cash out... I called back in the confirmation \# number to skybook and told the clerk what the fees were etc.. at the end of the conversation the clerk politely offered me a 10% cash bonus, he said that he could "credit that right away to your account".. I was under the assumption that i could withdraw my winnings and that i would just forfeit the 64 dollar bonus AS IS STANDARD PRACTICE with virtually every sportsbook ive used....

I got my account balance up to 1800 dollars, and requested a payout the next day to withdraw 1500 and leave 300 in the account.

They told me that they wouldnt pay me because i accpeted the bonus THAT THEY OFFERED AND by accepting the 64 dollars they wont pay out ANY money until i wager another 2100 dollars...

I didnt want to bet big on any more games, i just wanted my money.. Its like going to vegas, placing a wager, and goin up to the window with your winning ticket & they say NOPE - NOT gonna pay ya... U didnt read the back of your ticket...

They say that you have to rollover your balance 4 times or they KEEP your money.. I guess my mistake for not going to a sportsbook with better reviews and endorsements... and i should have read the rules, but on the other hand they should have made it 100% clear to me that unless you roll over your bonus 4xs- EVEN IF YOU WIN WE WILL NOT PAY YOU A DIME...

I feel really pissed off and scammed but oh well i guess you learn the hard way...

Just remember DONT take their crappy bonus because they WILL HOSE you!!

[sweetlou]

One more thing... A bonus shouldnt be used as a tool by the Sportsbook to Keep you from getting some or all of your winnings- to me thats just wrong keeping 1800 dollars of my money all for 64 bucks...

[slash]

Of course you can't withdraw most of your funds after rolling them over only once when you have received a bonus. Some books allow you to withdraw winnings (which doesn't make sense at all if the book wants to make money and not only attract deposits).

So you have absolutely no case whatsoever.

[Chuck Sims]

Do not do anything rash. Just finish with the rollover requirement and get out. I feel if you allowed them to put the $64 bonus into your account, you then are obligated to fulfill the rollover requirement.

[slash]

Of course he must fullfil it.

Makes absolutely no sense for a book to let a player withdraw winnings and 50% of the deposit after rolling the funds once when a bonus is involved.

[sweetlou]

Slash - maybe you didnt understand what i was saying - I was saying that usually with EVERY book that ive gone to nine.com, GC, Bodog, Betjm, Betgameday, Betcris... They NEVER hold your money til u meet the rollover req's they just deduct the bonus - you forfeit the bonus... and you have to pay ** fees and you can still get paid some of your money.. I just think its unethical to use that bonus as a tool to keep you from withdrawing ANY of your money...

[gotsteam]

Going to have to side with Skybook on this one.

The player first accepted the bonus, and by extension the rollover terms associated with receiving it.

[sweetlou]

and gotsteam - yeah thats fine i said i made the mistake of accepting the bonus- but that doesnt make it right to hold 1800 of somebodies money bc some clerk offered a 10% cash bonus over the phone.. They push it on you and offer it as a way TO LOCK up your funds...

[sweetlou]

If they would have been clear and said "WE WILL NOT PAY YOU A DIME UNTIL YOU BET A TOTAL OF 2700 DOLLARS - DO YOU THINK I WOULD HAVE TAKEN THE 64 bucks? Just seems shady to me.. their bonus policies are what makes internet gambling look bad- wrong... imo someone should regulate them... if i wanted my initial 640 bucks back then yeah they should be REQUIRED to at least give me that because its MY MONEY..

[slash]

No matter if you forfeit the bonus you shouldn't be allowed to withdraw. If you are allowed to withdraw they should also take back the money you made with the bonus part.

[sweetlou]

What do you mean you shouldnt be able to withdraw.. its YOUR MONEY, NOT THERES YOURS! Sportsbooks usually offer the bonus to attract customers - Just because you accept their offer it should in NO WAY give them a right to KEEP YOUR MONEY from you...

What sportsbook do you work for? You sure seem really PROSPORTSBOOK... Me myself, Im pro-bettor, SCREW THE BOOKS!! (except for the honest ones)

Sportsbooks are there for ONE REASON plain and simple TO TAKE YOUR MONEY!!! SKYBOOK just now has another avenue to TAKE YOUR MONEY AND KEEP FROM PAYING YOU as well...

[pags11]

while I don't agree with the policy, it is clearly stated on skybook's site...

[sweetlou]

To me it does make sense to let people withdraw... because most players LOSE thats the point... Thats why they offer the bonus to get you in probably 9 out of 10 people lose their initial deposits and bonus..... so if they are gonna KEEP YOUR MONEY then they shouldnt offer that bonus in the first place..

[sweetlou]

yeah pags - i know that if you read my original post i said

"I guess my mistake for not going to a sportsbook with better reviews and endorsements... and i should have read the rules."

[sweetlou]

i wouldnt say clearly either, its in the fine print...

[slash]

To me it does make sense to let people withdraw... because most players LOSE thats the point... Thats why they offer the bonus to get you in probably 9 out of 10 people lose their initial deposits and bonus..... so if they are gonna KEEP YOUR MONEY then they shouldnt offer that bonus in the first place..

Ok, I am done replying here. OMG, you are stupid!

[sweetlou]

name calling... real mature - who is stupid? did you learn to call people that from your 5 year old?

[sweetlou]

So what book is it slash? You swing pretty hard from their nutsacks... haha Im just wondering...

[JT16]

Ok, I am done replying here. OMG, you are stupid!

You are stupid. I think the guy has a case. They can stick their bonus up their ass. If the guy wants to withdrawal HIS money he should beable to. BOTTOMLINE. He can give the bonus back and pay the fees. If anything he should beable withdrawal his original deposit. The bonus is strictly a marketing tool used to get business. You can't use it as a way to keep from paying out a winner.

[slash]

JT, I commented on his assumption that 9 out of 10 players lose.

And he has absolutely no case at all. End of story. IF he is allowed to withdraw (which he shouldn't be) he should forfeit the bonus and the part of the winnings related to the bonus.

[David]

Call them up and ask to speak to a supervisor. Maybe they can work something out for you. If that doesn't work to your satisfaction send an e-mail to Bill and maybe he can help.

[Ganchrow]

I do undertsand your frustrations Lou, but the situation you're describing is not atypical.

Many books handle bonuses in this manner and do so for good reason, namely that it nets them higher expected profits. They're certainly not trying to abuse players by doing this, it's just a business decision fundamentally no different from whether a book chooses to offer a 10% or a 50% bonus. An X% bonus that doesn't lock in your initial deposit and derived profits is of more value to a player than one that and it is fair for a book to structure its promotioons in any manner it chooses.

That said, as bonuses go the Skybook bonus you describe really is pretty crappy. If you weren't made aware of the T&C's when you first agreed to the bonus (having only been informed of it verbally) then I think you could have a case. My suggestion would be do call Skybook, ask to speak with a manager, and then calmly and politely explain your case. Explain that you weren't told how the bonus worked and that your experiences at other books has always been different. Invite the manager to listen to tape and have him verify that what you're saying is accurate.

I suspect that as long as you're reasonable about it and you didn't miss something the sales rep had originally said, Skybook will ultimately be reasonable, too.

[sweetlou]

I tried asking politely when i requested my payout - its got pretty ugly now... Ive already played and lost because they said "The only way you can have your money is if you bet another 2100 dollars " Ive learned my lesson... Skybooks Bonus program is a SCAM!!

[tacomax]

Welcome to the forums, sweetlou, and don't pay too much attention to the people who have to resort to name-calling.

Like ganchrow said, you still may (and quite probably do) have a case here. It's all fine and dandy saying that you should have checked the site's T&Cs before you took the bonus but if you deposited on the phone and accepted the bonus on the phone it should really be on the onus of the CS person to advise you of any T&Cs of any bonus you agreed to take.

As has been said, ask to speak to a manager and, if necessary, get him to listen to the tapes if they have them to see how well (or otherwise) you were informed about the bonus. There are a lot of sportsbooks out there that will gladly screw you but Skybook ain't one of them.

[natrass]

Yep, dont pay too much attention to old slash .. we dont.

I do think the problem you have really revolves not so much that they have terms attached to the bonus but that the term is very harsh.

To have to rollover your winnings!! That cant be right. You earned the bonus on your deposit ... that is a very harsh way to do business.

Any WR should be relative to your deposit. Winnings simply reflect the risk you have undertaken.

Seems skybook want to win both ways.

[Duke]

unfortunately sweetlou cant post anymore because he has been busted at therx ghost posting to support his argument. also, skybook does explain their bonuses over the phone, and asks the customer if they still want the bonus. sweetlou has also received a bonus previously from them. for a man who has supposedly played "10 years" offshore he is all of the sudden naive about sportbooks offshore. skybook is not the only book that has this rule, and after reading all the posts, this is a poster who is complaining after losing all his money. pretty pathetic......

[sweetlou]

Duke - I thnk your crazy "Ghost posting" is that a way for you to bring sympathy for ur cause? I dont know what ur talkin bout there.. But the bottom line is that SKYBOOKS BONUS PROGRAM IS A SCAM!! im sure skybook since they are in cahoots with the RX sent you over here to cause trouble...

Yeah and i guess i was Naive a little bit because all of the OTHER BOOKS THAT I HAVE USED IN MY 10 YEARS OF GAMBLING HAVE ALWAYS PAID ME OUT!!!

[sweetlou]

unfortunately sweetlou cant post anymore because he has been busted at therx ghost posting to support his argument. also, skybook does explain their bonuses over the phone, and asks the customer if they still want the bonus. sweetlou has also received a bonus previously from them. for a man who has supposedly played "10 years" offshore he is all of the sudden naive about sportbooks offshore. skybook is not the only book that has this rule, and after reading all the posts, this is a poster who is complaining after losing all his money. pretty pathetic......

How can Skybook explain their bonuses "Over the phone" when half of them barely speak english???

[tony27]

Quote:
Originally Posted by wilheim
bhb 72.24.24x.xxx
Sweetlou 72.24.24x.xxx



Go Figure.




wil.



nice-site/nicelayout

[TLD]

So he accepts a bonus which includes the condition that he has to meet the rollover before he can make a withdrawal. There’s nothing whatsoever in the rules saying he can change his mind later and give back the bonus and not have to meet the conditions, but now he insists it’s just common sense and fairness that they’re obligated to allow that.

They disagree (as do I) and tell him the original conditions that he agreed to will stand, and he can make a withdrawal if and only if he meets those conditions.

The conditions are not unusual or onerous in the slightest—just the usual sportsbook rollover. In fact, their sticking to the rules is actually saving him from himself. If they accepted his demand that he should be able to withdraw immediately if he relinquishes his bonus, relinquishes the portion of his profits that came from that bonus, and pays ** fees, he’d be out a much greater amount of money than his expected return if he simply made enough bets to meet the rollover, even if he was just making bets at random.

But he insists that they have to make an exception to the rules he agreed to, so that he can be stupid and throw away money.

Now in retaliation for their absolutely correct decision to stick to their rules, he has berated their employees in the most vulgar and abusive manner, started threads at multiple sites with absurd and inflammatory titles and containing wildly misleading claims (for instance about their “stealing” or “confiscating” his money—the money is sitting in his account where it belongs and will be withdrawable as soon as he meets the rollover), ghost posted in the threads to support himself, written to anti-gambling politicians urging them to pass precisely the legislation virtually everyone on these boards opposes (and dishonestly cited his own case as an example of how the offshore books “cheat” their customers), and in general done everything in his power to bully and blackmail Skybook into doing something for him that he is in no way, shape, or form entitled to.

If he simply spent the same time and effort betting, he would have long since met the rollover and been able to withdraw his money. But no, he prefers this.

His case has zero merit, his way of pursuing his case is offensive, and his feeble attempt to be a rat is damaging to the industry.

I only rate Skybook as an average to above average book, but as long as they stick to their guns and continue to tell this guy to go **** himself I will certainly bump them up a notch.

This is absolutely one of the most pathetic tools I’ve seen stumble into these forums.

[sweetlou]

U GUYS AR funny

TLD ASSHOLE 1 777.726.XXX

Tony27 ASSHOLE 2 777.726.XXX


hahahaha

[sweetlou]

Their BONUS PROGRAM IS SHIT!! AND THEY WOULD KEEP EVERY PENNY OF YOUR MONEY IF YOU SENT IT IN!! THEY USE THE BONUS AS A WAY TO SCAM PEOPLE INTO LOCKING UP THEIR MONEY!!!

JUST REMEMBER ALL YOU BITCHES AT THE RX.. WHO PAYS THE RX <-- Skybook???

[sweetlou]

just posted it on tbdsf too

[Mudcat]

Calling it a scam is entirely out of line IMO. This is no more a scam than charging the exact withdrawal fees posted on the website when someone withdraws.

Skybook has set out some rules and are following them. They have a right to do that.


On an aside: Skybook is probably the best in the business at making sure players understand and agree to bonus conditions. It's not just in the T & C's. In my experience they have been adamant that players agree to the conditions before adding a bonus - whether the request be made by phone, e-mail or Live Chat. The only thing I would accuse them of is overkill.

But, hey, maybe someone in CS forgot to overkill this time. Then again maybe sweetlou is forgetting part of the conversation.


In any case, since it's in the T & C's it's academic. There is no case here.

If it happened to me, I'd be a little mad at myself and take it as a very inexpensive lesson to do my homework.

[sweetlou]

I Never said for anyone NOT TO BET THERE... I Just think that them offering that Bonus, (when most bonuses you have to call back and ask for) and then using it as a TOOL TO KEEP FROM PAYING OUT WINNING PLAYERS.. I should have been able to withraw something... anything.. at least MY original deposit...
I amitted that i should have read the rules, but by ME making this mistake DOESNT MAKE SKYBOOKS POLICY RIGHT!!! TRICKING PEOPLE INTO TAKING the 10% Cash bonus - IT IS A SCAM!