TimeForTheAce
Enthusiast
Silver Level
To Cardschat community:
I just wanted to reach out to the community and share my experience with BetOnline. I joined BetOnline a few weeks ago after my friend told me they got a new site/new software. I played years ago on their old software and eventually migrated to Bovada because their experience was much better in my opinion. I ended up depositing $100 into my account on 2/6/2017. I played for a few days until the craziest, most unexpected thing in my life had happened…I won the Bad Beat Jackpot for $137,000. To this day it was the most surreal thing that has even happened to me, I was in utter shock. I won $137,000, the guy who beat me won $65,000 and the rest of the table each won around $9k-10k. The chances of winning that…unbelievably low so needless to say I was in heaven, pure joy!
I emailed BetOnline customer service and basically told me them right away I wanted to share my winnings with the staff because I was so thankful. They said they wouldn’t be allowed to take any winnings, but they were working on some kind of event I could participate in and give back to the community/share my winnings. I never heard back on this.
I deposited $100 via visa debit card on 2/6/2017 and they have a policy in which you need to wait 7 business days before requesting a Payout per their credit/debit card rules. I waited the 7 days and then requested a Payout. That payout ended up being cancelled because I didn’t submit the required documents, my ID front and back and my Visa card front and back. First of all there was nowhere to place these documents so I’m assuming they wanted me to just send them proactively to documents@betonline.ag? Either way, I was fine with that and took the requested pictures and sent them exactly what they had requested, my driver’s license front/back and the Visa card front/back I used to deposit the $100.
Over 24 hours went by and my cashier was showing ‘restricted’ so after some emails to customer service and a call to their customer service line I finally had Brian with their Security Team to update my account. I then was able to request another Payout. I requested the payout and shortly after it was cancelled again and I got an email stating there was suspicious activity/play between me and another player, who I won’t mention. Player Services asked me to describe my relationship to this player. Obviously, I had no idea who it was nor did I know the person personally. I don’t know anyone on BetOnline, I just joined the site after 2+ years. I did recall the player they asked about because I won a huge hand against him. I actually took a screen shot of the hand because I won $3,500 with a A/4 flush vs. his Q/10 flush, forcing him all in. I explained the situation to Player Services and how I had no idea who it was and that it may look suspicious because I won a lot of money off of him – basically pure luck, I had a higher flush and position on him. Regardless, I have no problem with books trying to investigate for possible suspicious play between players. I didn’t take offense and told them everything I knew. One thing that concerned was that they were investigating poker play AFTER my bad beat jackpot winnings so it had nothing to do with my original winnings. I actually didn’t win anything playing poker days following my big day, I actually lost a few $1k. So needless to say I was upset they cancelled the Payout because the payout was only money from my Bad Beat Jackpot winnings. Each time I requested $7,500 via wire transfer. However, again, I’m fine with them investigating for possible issues…heck it could have been something that other player did. It bothered me but I explained myself the best I could.
I then waited over 17 hours for a response, still didn’t get a Payout through – status said “Under Review”, so I decided to contact Live Chat. I spoke with Juliet in Player Services and asked her if I could request another payout. She first stated she needed all of the documents but I told her I already submitted them a few days ago. She then came back and said I had ‘duplicate accounts’ and that the fraud team was investigating my account. I literally got sick to my stomach and was just in awe. I couldn’t believe it. I thought that account would have been deleted/wiped out or if anything have nothing to do with my current situation. For more clarity, I created my original account over 2 years ago and haven't signed into it in AT LEAST 1.5 years, probably more.
Anyways, I then responded back to Brian with the Security Team/Player Services via email and told him this whole story and how I had never used that account/played poker with it in over 2+ years, that I thought I needed to create another account, that I am an honest/hard working guy and this is just a crazy situation that I never intended on being in. I take responsibility for not trying my old account – wouldn’t even of known the email address because I changed email addresses over the years. I take responsibility for assuming I just needed to create a new account because of the new software/poker site. I get that, but I had the best intentions and never wanted to get into this situation.
I researched BetOnline and although there is a lot of bad stuff out there about them, just like there is with other sites, I also found a lot of good things/comments/reviews about the long standing site. Cardschat ranks them #1 and Sportsbook ranks them #2. I still think they are probably one of the best sites out there. I just hope they do the right thing here and forgive me for my mistake. I understand it’s only 1 account per person and account security is very important, but I literally did not try to avoid this problem nor purposely make another account. I assumed (which I shouldn’t have) that making a new account was the correct route.
I am currently awaiting a response back from BetOnline as to what they choose to do with my case. They are still reviewing it. I just pray that they treat me with respect and allow me to take my winnings or even just a chunk of my winnings I would be happy with. I gave them my phone number, all of the required documentation, my Facebook account URL and am willing to give them my employers information to validate who I am. I am a normal, honest, hardworking guy from the States who was just trying to play some poker on a US friendly website who happened to hit the Bad Beat Jackpot…who happened to experience the best thrill of his life and now it’s in the air as to if I’ll even receive my funds.
I hope you all notice that I never bashed BetOnline once because I’m not like that…I actually was sticking up for them throughout the various poker forum communities. I want people to be a part of this situation to really see what kind of people work at BetOnline. I know I technically didn’t follow the rules, but I have gave them all the information necessary to make things right - I 100% never meant to do something like this. I want nothing other than to show the online poker world that BetOnline is a great, honest and forgiving company. I don't think it's fair to take my winnings/confiscate $137,000. I say they might do that because after reading stories throughout the internet poker sites have been accused of taking winnings. Most of those stories were because players cheated to some extent or actually fraud-ed the sports book. I sure hope they cut me a break and pay me my winnings.
This has been the hardest day of my life. I have never been so worried/stressed out...
I will post all updates once I have them. Thanks all for reading and wish me luck. If anyone needs more proof of my situation please ask for it. I will post pictures of anything to validate the report/confirm my story because I understand I am a new member here (been lurking for years/reading forum just never joined).
Site Admin, if you need anything from me, please let me know. As long as this situation works out, I would love to host a large $$ Freeroll tournament at Cardschat and give back to this wonderful community.
Also, is there any other site/place I should share my story to gain more exposure? I was thinking about posting on SportsBookReview forums as well.
Regards.
I just wanted to reach out to the community and share my experience with BetOnline. I joined BetOnline a few weeks ago after my friend told me they got a new site/new software. I played years ago on their old software and eventually migrated to Bovada because their experience was much better in my opinion. I ended up depositing $100 into my account on 2/6/2017. I played for a few days until the craziest, most unexpected thing in my life had happened…I won the Bad Beat Jackpot for $137,000. To this day it was the most surreal thing that has even happened to me, I was in utter shock. I won $137,000, the guy who beat me won $65,000 and the rest of the table each won around $9k-10k. The chances of winning that…unbelievably low so needless to say I was in heaven, pure joy!
I emailed BetOnline customer service and basically told me them right away I wanted to share my winnings with the staff because I was so thankful. They said they wouldn’t be allowed to take any winnings, but they were working on some kind of event I could participate in and give back to the community/share my winnings. I never heard back on this.
I deposited $100 via visa debit card on 2/6/2017 and they have a policy in which you need to wait 7 business days before requesting a Payout per their credit/debit card rules. I waited the 7 days and then requested a Payout. That payout ended up being cancelled because I didn’t submit the required documents, my ID front and back and my Visa card front and back. First of all there was nowhere to place these documents so I’m assuming they wanted me to just send them proactively to documents@betonline.ag? Either way, I was fine with that and took the requested pictures and sent them exactly what they had requested, my driver’s license front/back and the Visa card front/back I used to deposit the $100.
Over 24 hours went by and my cashier was showing ‘restricted’ so after some emails to customer service and a call to their customer service line I finally had Brian with their Security Team to update my account. I then was able to request another Payout. I requested the payout and shortly after it was cancelled again and I got an email stating there was suspicious activity/play between me and another player, who I won’t mention. Player Services asked me to describe my relationship to this player. Obviously, I had no idea who it was nor did I know the person personally. I don’t know anyone on BetOnline, I just joined the site after 2+ years. I did recall the player they asked about because I won a huge hand against him. I actually took a screen shot of the hand because I won $3,500 with a A/4 flush vs. his Q/10 flush, forcing him all in. I explained the situation to Player Services and how I had no idea who it was and that it may look suspicious because I won a lot of money off of him – basically pure luck, I had a higher flush and position on him. Regardless, I have no problem with books trying to investigate for possible suspicious play between players. I didn’t take offense and told them everything I knew. One thing that concerned was that they were investigating poker play AFTER my bad beat jackpot winnings so it had nothing to do with my original winnings. I actually didn’t win anything playing poker days following my big day, I actually lost a few $1k. So needless to say I was upset they cancelled the Payout because the payout was only money from my Bad Beat Jackpot winnings. Each time I requested $7,500 via wire transfer. However, again, I’m fine with them investigating for possible issues…heck it could have been something that other player did. It bothered me but I explained myself the best I could.
I then waited over 17 hours for a response, still didn’t get a Payout through – status said “Under Review”, so I decided to contact Live Chat. I spoke with Juliet in Player Services and asked her if I could request another payout. She first stated she needed all of the documents but I told her I already submitted them a few days ago. She then came back and said I had ‘duplicate accounts’ and that the fraud team was investigating my account. I literally got sick to my stomach and was just in awe. I couldn’t believe it. I thought that account would have been deleted/wiped out or if anything have nothing to do with my current situation. For more clarity, I created my original account over 2 years ago and haven't signed into it in AT LEAST 1.5 years, probably more.
Anyways, I then responded back to Brian with the Security Team/Player Services via email and told him this whole story and how I had never used that account/played poker with it in over 2+ years, that I thought I needed to create another account, that I am an honest/hard working guy and this is just a crazy situation that I never intended on being in. I take responsibility for not trying my old account – wouldn’t even of known the email address because I changed email addresses over the years. I take responsibility for assuming I just needed to create a new account because of the new software/poker site. I get that, but I had the best intentions and never wanted to get into this situation.
I researched BetOnline and although there is a lot of bad stuff out there about them, just like there is with other sites, I also found a lot of good things/comments/reviews about the long standing site. Cardschat ranks them #1 and Sportsbook ranks them #2. I still think they are probably one of the best sites out there. I just hope they do the right thing here and forgive me for my mistake. I understand it’s only 1 account per person and account security is very important, but I literally did not try to avoid this problem nor purposely make another account. I assumed (which I shouldn’t have) that making a new account was the correct route.
I am currently awaiting a response back from BetOnline as to what they choose to do with my case. They are still reviewing it. I just pray that they treat me with respect and allow me to take my winnings or even just a chunk of my winnings I would be happy with. I gave them my phone number, all of the required documentation, my Facebook account URL and am willing to give them my employers information to validate who I am. I am a normal, honest, hardworking guy from the States who was just trying to play some poker on a US friendly website who happened to hit the Bad Beat Jackpot…who happened to experience the best thrill of his life and now it’s in the air as to if I’ll even receive my funds.
I hope you all notice that I never bashed BetOnline once because I’m not like that…I actually was sticking up for them throughout the various poker forum communities. I want people to be a part of this situation to really see what kind of people work at BetOnline. I know I technically didn’t follow the rules, but I have gave them all the information necessary to make things right - I 100% never meant to do something like this. I want nothing other than to show the online poker world that BetOnline is a great, honest and forgiving company. I don't think it's fair to take my winnings/confiscate $137,000. I say they might do that because after reading stories throughout the internet poker sites have been accused of taking winnings. Most of those stories were because players cheated to some extent or actually fraud-ed the sports book. I sure hope they cut me a break and pay me my winnings.
This has been the hardest day of my life. I have never been so worried/stressed out...
I will post all updates once I have them. Thanks all for reading and wish me luck. If anyone needs more proof of my situation please ask for it. I will post pictures of anything to validate the report/confirm my story because I understand I am a new member here (been lurking for years/reading forum just never joined).
Site Admin, if you need anything from me, please let me know. As long as this situation works out, I would love to host a large $$ Freeroll tournament at Cardschat and give back to this wonderful community.
Also, is there any other site/place I should share my story to gain more exposure? I was thinking about posting on SportsBookReview forums as well.
Regards.
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it's easy to see your an honest guy and you haven't used your other account so could not have cheated.
