[nli07]

Hello everyone,

I would like to share my problem and see if there is any solution available to it.

I have been a very loyal and long term customer with Pinnaclesports for a couple of years. I had bet over $1,000,000 in wagers with Pinny. Now, here is my situation. Last night at around 10pm EST, I placed an in-game wager with their baseball game, I do not recall the last time I had played in game basball betting. Nonetheless, i had trouble getting the wagers processed because the odds kept on changing and I had just gotten a new password, so the wagers could not be processed because of odd changes and me messing up my password. Now, frustrated, I tried it again for prob the 6th time that inning and received an odd. Now, it was -410 for the mets, i wanted to place a $350 base wager on the mets would be a $1300 wager risked. Now, I could not have forecasted the end result then. However, given the rush, the inning break was about to end, I panicked and submitted my password. Only after submitting the password did i realize that it was not $350 base amount like I thought, but rather it was $3350 or something... and the wager amount was $13775. I simply wanted to bet on the game because it was on TV, so as soon as I realized my mistakes, I panicked. I was not sure what to do, I re-read the FAQ section on the wagers and I panicked even more. At this time, I wrote to customer service for Pinnacle to amend my wager from $3350 base amount to $350.. I explained them my situation and anxiously waited for their reply.

They denied my request for the wager amendment for a couple reasons:

1. FAQ section ---> I have read the FAQ section and understood their rules, but the in-game betting for baseball for pinny was extremely hard to bet because of very limited time - 2 min in between inning - and I had made an honest mistake. I felt rushed to get my wager in and did not fully check my numbers properly. I did not feel that it was a wager setting that allowed me enough time to double check my numbers, unlike a regular wager

2. The event had started --> I did not wait until the end of the event or anything, I wrote to customer service as soon as I realized my mistake - minutes after I made the wager, at the time, the Mets were still winning 4-0 or 4-1 and my chances of winning the bets were much greater than that of losing the bet. Also, I feel that the fact that the event started is not my fault since it was an in game bet.

3. There is nothing they can do --> I fully understand the rules and regulations. As a long term customer for Pinnacle, I have lost a number of large bets in my life, $30,000 one time on one bet. Now, I have never complained or asked for my wager money back. This is different too however, I am asking for an amendment, not a refund/cancellation. Two, I have been such a loyal customer for so long and hoped for a mercy ruling.

4. I had even offered up to $5000 as transaction fees for the processing of my request.

Now, they have refused my request and refused to let me know who else I can contact for further dispute resolution. Now, I am not the smartest gambler so I have made max bets in my life before, won some and lost some, and I do not mind losing big money if my bet happens to be a bad bet. But this is a case where the circumstances caused me to make an honest mistake. I am a poor student who is not in a position to make that kind of mistake.

I have turned to you guys for help. Now, here is my dilemma:

1. I made my request immediately after realizing my mistake - I understand that they cannot do it everytime someone makes a mistake - but it was my first time playing baseball in-game and I just changed my password. At the time of my request, it was probably that I would WIN my wager.

2. Whether the amendment was possible? I would never have made a max bet for an in game bet.

3. Now that the wager is graded, and customer service have denied my request, is there any portion of the money I can get back? I am willing to pay a large transaction fees if needed.

Please help guys. Pinnacle has been great to me these couple past of years, but this mistake has broke my heart. I cannot eat/sleep... I know it was a dumb wager looking back but it was a $1300 wager, not an $13000 wager.

Please, any advice or suggestions would be much appreciated.

[tacomax]

Welcome to the forum, nli07.

First of all, you're best off to send all details to Bill Dozer at assistance@SportsbookReview.com to see if he can assist you. A refusal to give you a contact name of someone to dispute this simply isn't on, with any book let alone one like Pinnacle. You should include detailed timings on all aspects of this case since it's very important for a live betting situation such as this.

[nli07]

thank you so much tacomax for your quick reply,

I have not been able to sleep/eat, and I am not sure how I can go to work tomorrow either.

I have sent the details to Bill, but what are my chances of getting anything back from Pinnacle?

I would not even be asking this question if I hadnt been such a loyal customer with Pinny, I have wagered over $1M with them and have never complained when I lost $30K bets with them... I am just a poor student who cannot afford such kind of losses by honest mistake.

Thank you all in advance for your help on this matter

[slash]

Unfortunately, you don't have a case and you won't get anything back.

Btw, funny that a poor student has lost $30,000 bets in the past. Another scalper...

[nli07]

what do you mean by scalper slash?

All max bets i have made were stupid in nature but i have won my good share of them... and yes, i am a poor student now, wasnt a couple months back when I was winning more regularly...

Not getting anything back would devastate me... If I lost on a legitimate wager, I have absolutely nothing to complain about, but I feel that this is different.

Thank you for your help...

[marc]

Once you realized your mistake, why didn't you just bet the other side

[nli07]

i wish i couldve bet the other side and just lose juice

my account balance was $15,000 and if the $1300 wager had gone thru, i wouldve done that, however, my mistake made it a $13,000 wager, close to $14000, so there wasnt anything i couldve done other than sitting back to watch the hours on TV and on email inbox as pinny reps refused to discuss the matter.

[Mudcat]

Welcome to the forum nli07.

Your situation makes me feel nauseous. I have made betting mistakes over the years - maybe not that exact one but similar - and ended up losing my share.

Unfortunately, I don't see that Pinnacle has any responsibility to do anything for you. I'm sure they would have paid you if you won. It would be immensely nice of them to help you out but this industry does not tend to run on niceness.

I don't blame you for trying though.

[nli07]

i just find it frustrating that the customer service reps refused to let me talk to anyone higher up about it, it might not have changed anything, but their refusal to help was frustrating.

i have been so loyal to them, and have referred many friends to them, but in the end, even if the bet was a winner, i would have felt bad because i asked for the amendment right away. Watching the game end last night was heartbreaking. It is one thing to lose a large bet when you have made careful capping, it is another altogether to lose on an honest mistake like this... i cannot live with myself right now

[MrX]

I sympathize with your plight, however, I really would lay off the 'poor student' angle. You're making the real poor students puke reading about your $15000 Pinnacle balance and your intended $1300 bet.

That said, I've made a couple wagering mistakes in my time, and they are emotionally brutal. All I can say is you have to find a way to put a positive spin on them (someday when your bankroll is bigger, you'll avoid a huge mistake because of the vigilance you've developed from this mistake). In a week or two, you'll barely think about it.

[Mudcat]

I can just imagine the feeling of living through that game (because I've been through similar things). Awful.

All I can suggest is contacting Bill at assistance@sportsbookreview.com. If anyone would have access to good live contacts at Pinnacle it would be him.

But I honestly would not get my hopes up if I were you. They're going to say they would have paid if you won. They're going to say you had a chance at the confirmation screen to double-check your figures. They're going to say that if you felt hurried, you should have just bailed.

I'd love to see it work out in your favor but I have my doubts.

[chano]

that sucks. They should have done something for you considering, the Mets were still winning. But I can see why they didnt. There are rules. PERIOD.

[bigboydan]

first off, welcome to the sbrforum nli07

as i said in the PM i sent back to you this morning. i feel your should probly contact assistance@sportsbookreview.com for further assistance with this matter.

[Doug]

Pinny is not flexible with this stuff, you have a situation that unfortunately will not be resolved in your favor. CS is not Pinny's strength. The bet would have been paid if it had won.

[nli07]

are there good books out there that would have amended my bet given the same situation (long term customer, honest mistake)? I thought Pinny's CS was the best

[Mudcat]

are there good books out there that would have amended my bet given the same situation (long term customer, honest mistake)? I thought Pinny's CS was the best

Possibly. It's hard to say for sure. It helps when you can speak to someone on the phone (which isn't Pinnacle's game).

I remember a couple of cases where CRIS has bent rules for me in the past, but it wasn't this exact situation by any means.

[xxx]

it has happen with me at bowmans were i placed the risk amont into the win amont or vice versa and they cancel my bet upon calling them right away. am more carefull these days double checking my wagers before processing them. i can understand your situation the fact that you had little time to place your wager and odds changing.

[nli07]

Thank you all for your insightful response on my dilemma. I have learned a valuable lesson. Regardless of the outcome of my case, which I must agree with most here is quite helpless, I will not do in game betting for the next little while.

Perhaps if I tried to phone them instead (didnt know they had a phone number until today), maybe the whole situation might have different, but you never know, this is one heartbreaking case which I would not wish upon anyone.

Thank you all once again.

[Doug]

are there good books out there that would have amended my bet given the same situation (long term customer, honest mistake)? I thought Pinny's CS was the best

Pinny CS is not the best, they prefer to answer stuff by e-mail, and send generic answers that don't answer your question quite frequently. Even if you got thru on the phone, they wouldn't have voided or reduced this bet, IMO. Maybe once if it was an hour before the game started, but not live.

Pinny can be downright arrogant in their CS.

[Chuck Sims]

Its a terribly unfortunate situation in which you have no case for reinbursement.

Pinnacle does force the player to click "submit" after the bettor types in the wager amount. After the betting ticket is shown to the player, Pinnacle then makes you type in your password and the player has to "confirm" the wager with a click of the mouse. That gives the player 2 chances to realize the mistake he has made.

[tacomax]

Chuck - if the book in question had been BetonSports or BetRoyal, would your reply have been any different?

[nli07]

hi guys,

i have just received an update that is truly disturbing... I called Pinnaclesports and the customer rep I spoke me told me that in my case, had I emailed right away to csd@pinnaclesports.com and told me about the situation, they would have cancelled the bet for a first time offence kind of thing. This is totally nonstated on the policy. If they are allowed to give out "breaks" from time to time, then it hurts even to see that they would not give out a break to a longtime and loyal customer, especially when I emailed right away...

The way I see it is this and it is totally understandable from their point of view:

when i emailed them, the Mets were leading 4-0 or 4-1, by the time they received the email, and gave their generic response. And I had to respond back, the score, much to my dismay was Yankees on top, that whole process took over 30 minutes... Like I said, this is gonna be a tough one to swallow even though I am clearly aware it is I who must live with my mistake.

[Mudcat]

I don't understand. I was under the impression that you did e-mail the request for a cancellation immediately after placing the unwanted bet. Are you saying that the score changed before you requested the cancellation?

[durito]

That really sucks. I thought you did email right away?


I did a similar thing at pinnacle in february, though for less money. Bet $2,250 instead of $225 on a basketball game. Thankfully I checked my wagers and noticed it. Only had about $1,700 left in my account, so I put it all on the other side.

[nli07]

i would like to clarify this:

When I placed my wager for in game wager, it was 4-0 Mets, when I emailed them the request for cancellation/amendment, it was 4-0 or 4-1 Mets,

when they emailed me back saying they could not do it, it was that dreaded 3rd inning... before arod hit that grand slam however, so the Mets were still leading... 4-1 still i believe but the bases were getting loaded or almost loaded and i was scared like never before.

When I responded again telling them it was truly an honest mistake and would really love a change, and they replied back (so 2nd reply), the score I believe was at the end of the 3rd inning, 9-4 Yankees already much to my dismay. the game was essentially over by that time. it was a dreadful wager yes, but it would have been a $1300 dreadful wager, not $13000...

Who knows, maybe if the Mets were still leading 4-0 when that second reply came back, maybe they would have granted my request? maybe, maybe not...

[JoshW]

Sorry to hear, but unfortunately, not that much can be done. I have done similar things at Mansion and Pinnacle before, but with in game wagering there is generally no room for error.

Is certainly a good lesson for everyone, but I know that doesn't help you at all.

[marc]

The only way to get this kind of wager adjusted is by getting the line manager on the phone right away. And in Pinn's case, most people don't know their phone number.

In retrospect the only thing you could have done was wager your remainng balance on the yankees, and then quickly reload your account with anohter 2k and bet that in the yankees, or call one of your friends and beg them to bet on the yankees.

THe most important peice of advice i can give you is not to lose focus. It may take acouple of weeks or a month maybe longer to make back the money you lost, but you will make it back. But if you let it eat you up inside, and then not only will you be out the 12k but you will aslo be out all the money you aren't making. So get back to work