[Justin7]

We have received 3 complaints in the last week against Betway (Rated C). In all 3, the players made a deposit, and won their first bet. Betway wrote each player claiming they were "abusing bonuses", and seized the winnings from the bonus.

Betway has not responded in any meaningful way to this to the players, and has declined to discuss this matter with SBR.

[tomcowley]

In cases like this, assuming they're not obvious multiaccounts bonus whoring, what is a book even thinking? How does somebody other than an outright criminal and thief even have such a thought cross his mind?

[fiveteamer]

Thanks for the heads up. I was going to deposit 4000 euros to these guys and make some huge parlays... You lose Betway!

[bigboydan]

Originally Posted by tomcowley

In cases like this, assuming they're not obvious multiaccounts bonus whoring, what is a book even thinking? How does somebody other than an outright criminal and thief even have such a thought cross his mind?

It's probably just a natural reaction on there part due to the factors you mentioned above. I hope Justin can get them to revisit these cases in order to get these matters cleared up.

[Justin7]

I read one CS letter accusing the player of using a "money method" bonus abuse. I have no idea what this is, but there was nothing in the T&C to suggest the player was in the wrong. Without more, this looks like outright theft.

[fingas]

lol to betway.

They have really go that low?
"money method" is a method consisting on taking advantages of the bookies offers by backing on the bookie and laying at betfair at a lower price (arbitrage) or at least cutting the losses to a minimum with the bonus given by the bookie.

But in what way is that against their terms and conditions if a player only have a single account?
I believe that isn't bonus hunting, is it?

[espim]

hi, I'm one of those three that complained about Betway. i just wanted to confirm to you people that obviously i do not have multiple accounts, they even asked for my documents when they first cancelled my account, which I sent to them, but since then they haven't said anything and don't respond to my e-mails. this is a sportsbook to avoid.

[bigboydan]

First off, Welcome to the SBR forum sir

Sorry to hear that you were caught in there bonus abusers net, but it sometimes that seems to happen from time to time. However I must say it's disturbing to hear that they won't re-hash this situation at this time.

[Justin7]

Bigboy,

I'd remind people that the "bonus abuse net" was nonsensical in this barrage of disputes. Betway has made no effort to justify its confiscations- nothing the players did violated any T&C. At this point, I consider Betway's confiscations of player winnings as thefts. If they don't come forward with compelling evidence soon (or address and fix these disputes), I'll advocate for a substantial downgrade.

[bigboydan]

I'm just so use to those Euro books pulling those bonus abuse type stunts all the time. So naturally I just automatically assumed it was the case. Thanks for the clarification Justin.

[fingas]

I have an explanation (who might not be exactly correct but just my thoughts)

There are some sites that show people how to do matched betting in order to take advantage of the bookies bonuses.
Apart from teaching that, they also have their own affiliate links for several bookies sites and this way they generate some income.

Probably, one of those matched betting sites, used an affiliate link to betway.
Betway, probably found suspicious that many new sign ups came from that website and tried to understand what is the purpose of the site.

They found that the site teach people how to do matched betting and this way they assume that matched betting is something that hurts them and something that they don't want players to do.

My question is:
How illegal is this?

As long as a player only has a single account i can't see any reason why they call people of "bonus abusers" if they done everything right.
The purpose of matched bettors is to lose their own money at the bookies (and win at betfair), sometimes it doesn't work exactly as that but in the long term should work that way.

WHat i can think of, is that betway don't like that kind of people because once they have done the bonus, they won't probably come back (unless they give another bonus).

And probably that affiliate site generated a good income in new sign ups and betway is trying to use that "bonus abusers" thing to avoid payment to the site.

[espim]

yes, I registered through a matched betting site, but as far as I know I didn't do anything illegal, it's like arbitrage and sure bets, but with the bonus. That's not illegal, if I use only one account and send my documents in full as I did.

thak you bigboydan

[Justin7]

Betway is looking into these 5 disputes. I'm in communication with the head of operations, and hope to have an update in the next couple days.

[Justin7]

Betway responded. Their big beef was that these players came from a website that "taught players how to abuse bonuses". They also claimed there was a multiple account issue, but didn't give any proof on that.

Their response failed to justify the bonus theft. I hope a downgrade is pending.

[bigboydan]

Originally Posted by Justin7

Betway responded. Their big beef was that these players came from a website that "taught players how to abuse bonuses". They also claimed there was a multiple account issue, but didn't give any proof on that.

Their response failed to justify the bonus theft. I hope a downgrade is pending.

Ok, so what if they came from a site that taught players how to do that. Like you said Justin, no proof was there to validate there claims. So that means the player(s) got screwed and a downgrade is in order IMHO as well.

[tomcowley]

If they don't want bonuses bet on ML dogs or parlays (which is hardly abuse, rofl), put the freaking code in. Plenty of sites do that. This one is just pathetic.

Edit: SBR better take down the freeplay calculator, it's bonus abuse!

[Justin7]

For the record, we received 5 different complaints all on the same issue.