Fun88 TLCbet 12Bet 138.com refusing to payout Cheltenham winnings citing bonus abuse

(08:36:44) Visitor 49412478: can you link me to the terms and conditions for the day 1 douvan 5/2 offer please
(08:37:44) Violet: We no longer have the terms of that particular promotion as it has been removed already.
(08:38:41) Visitor 49412478: you are joking? So you accuse me of violating the terms of an offer, but now refuse to show me the terms? You must have an archived copy somewhere I can see
(08:40:38) Violet: Regrettably, that has been removed already from our website.
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You couldn't make this up!
 
LUKE said:
I learned my lesson with SP racing in 1996-I swerved luvbet after carefully reading their rules.Years ago a wise head told me the number one rule of punting is make sure they can pay if you win.
Its only a matter of time before a medium firm goes wallop.
I hope everyone gets paid out but there are lessons to be learned.
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Could you imagine getting a getting up a multi for 50k+ with these muppet firms. They are not related to bookmakers. We needs Pinnacle type model. No bonuses, no money back, no guaranteed prices. Just lay a decent bet at a reasonable price. Sadly it will never happen, the game is near dead.
 
When PP diving offers they are full aware that the will get raped in retail by the bonus naggers but they suck it up. I remember hearing a story of one guy who got up about €20k on an insane double the odds first goalscorer special in a UEFA Cup final. I think Porto were playing. It was presented to the head man that it was clearly the same customer and he recommended we suspend augment. The head man said "Pay him" and it was swept under the carpet. In this day and age you need to be betting with reputable firms. All these **** new bookmakers on oddschecker can't be trusted.
 
There was an Irish firm not so long ago that advertised in a Sunday newspaper and offered crazy odds on GAA matches.
When a result went against them they would go biggest price on Man U for the league or Kilkenny for the All Ireland-trying to get cash in and playing for time.
In an all Ireland club semi final they went 9/1 the Ulster champions against the Munster champions -I had a few quid on for myself and twice as much for a friend but had to sweat it out for 6 weeks before I got a cheque.
If it looks too good to be true -It's too good to be true.
 
http://www.iomtoday.co.im/news/isle...l-activities-during-racing-festival-1-7830189
Today [Saturday] Garth Kimber , chief executive officer of TGP Holdings Ltd said: ‘In response to speculation and comments on forums and in the press about certain brands TGP Europe Ltd would like to clarify our actions.


‘Following unprecedented volumes and unusual activities during the Cheltenham racing festival the company has followed our regulator approved procedures and terms and conditions and reviewed activity deemed suspicious.
‘All payments were processed for accounts not deemed to be under investigation and additionally all payments have now been processed for those accounts reviewed and found not to have been in breach of our terms and conditions.
‘For those accounts where the terms and conditions have been breached, account holders have been informed, the company has processed a refund of deposits, voided all bets (winning and losing) and closed the accounts.
‘The relevant authorities were informed of our concerns and subsequent investigation and we are in the process of sharing full details of the activities found to have taken place.
‘The company regrets the time taken and effects on genuine players but is committed to upholding both our own and the industry’s integrity.’
Mr Kimber said he could not comment further at this stage.
The Isle of Man’s Gambling Supervision Commission issued a short statement at 5pm yesterday (Friday).
It read: ‘I can confirm that the Gambling Supervision Commission is aware of the matter, however it is standard policy for the Gambling Supervision Commission not to comment on regulatory or compliance matters relating to its licensed operators.’
It is also understood gambling authorities in the UK have been made aware of the situation.

it's funny, on this forum, and other places I have been keeping up to date with it from, I have yet to see a single customer telling people how they lost money but have had it refunded, like the statement says.
 
SlimChance said:
All these **** new bookmakers on oddschecker can't be trusted.
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But 138Bet is one of the largest and long-established Asian bookmakers. And 12Bet has been around for a long while; I had an account with them some years ago and never had any problems. They also have reasonable scores/reviews on SBR ( okay, okay, I know SBR is becoming a bit worthless with it's practice of taking advertisement money from bookies, but all the same......). So people can be excused for being a bit more trusting of them compared with the really blatantly scam outfits.

I have to agree with Luke; this fiasco has all the hallmarks of a serous cash-flow problem, or a case of simply running out of funds to honour the bets.
These four books under the one company umbrella offered advantageous Chelt sign-up deals that attracted thousands of matched-bettors in their droves. These sign-up "come-ons" were widely touted on matched-betting paysites like TGT and PA (the notorious PA has over 33,000 Likes on Facebook alone). The likes of PA promises easy-money income to students and housewifes who mostly have no clue of horseracing or the basic principles of betting. They are naive and incompetent, and they signed-up by the boatload because they were advised by PA to do so.
So, 12Bet et al were simply overwhelmed with new accounts. Then the results went against them -- 1st and 2nd favs winning disproportionately etc. The £25 free bets also won, and the die was cast.

The result is close to carnage out there. The majority of new sign-ups were definitely matched-bettors encouraged by PA and such like; these matched-bettors have not only been denied their wins on 12Bet but have also lost the Lay side on Betfair (so, broadly, people who say they have not been paid, say, £1,000 by 12Bet are, in effect, down twice that amount).

Where will all this lead to once the dust has settled? Hard to say,I guess. If Xela Holdings just refuse to pay and pull out of the UK market then it could spell the deathknell of "matched-betting for the clueless" and the demise of the likes of PA ( which would be a good thing, surely). Unfortunately, if 12Bet get away with it, it may encourage other mainstream books to follow a similar policy regarding bonus's and other offers that result in wins.
And, if the Gambling Commission don't get a grip on this particular issue fairly pronto, then whatever credibility they have will vanish.
 
There was no "bonus" to abuse.
All 4 companies attracted customers with offers to use your own money to bet on races, then you receive a free bet.
i had to bet £120 on 4 X £30 bets every day just to get a free £30 bet.
as Ice said, 12bet and 138 are established. Before I opened the new accounts (I already had 138 and 12Bet as I asked on here if they are ok) I asked on live chat if they are linked and can my wife open an account as we are both going to Cheltenham. I was told they are not linked and you can have accounts with them all. My wife is OK to have them too but won't be able to have the new account enhanced price(6/1 Limini)
They have stolen all our deposit and legitimate winnings.....no bonus at all.

They are on premier league shirts too, which adds to their credibility.
The offers were not too good to be true, you had to wager a lot of money on a lot of bets to receive a small free bet (£70 to get £10 with 138)
 
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It seems that having the cheek to win your bonus bet, amounts to bonus-abuse in the eyes of these charlatan firms.

Surely these operators - if they are with-holding winnings - must be compelled to present evidence of any "bonus abuse" they claim has taken place.......otherwise it's just straightforward theft/fraud? And if they don't need to provide any evidence, then they can pretty-much bump anyone , whenever they want, for spurious reasons.

The Regulator needs to show some muscle here.
 
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Shocked to read this story this morning; hope everyone gets paid. Smacks of cash flow/liquidity issues and greed; the punters, with the help of Mullins, won handsomely this year and this lot have clearly been caught trying to cash in on the turnover bonanza cheltenham provides.

Agree with Grassy, regulator should throw its weight around here.
 
dvds2000 said:
http://www.iomtoday.co.im/news/isle...l-activities-during-racing-festival-1-7830189
Today [Saturday] Garth Kimber , chief executive officer of TGP Holdings Ltd said: ‘In response to speculation and comments on forums and in the press about certain brands TGP Europe Ltd would like to clarify our actions.


‘Following unprecedented volumes and unusual activities during the Cheltenham racing festival the company has followed our regulator approved procedures and terms and conditions and reviewed activity deemed suspicious.
‘All payments were processed for accounts not deemed to be under investigation and additionally all payments have now been processed for those accounts reviewed and found not to have been in breach of our terms and conditions.
‘For those accounts where the terms and conditions have been breached, account holders have been informed, the company has processed a refund of deposits, voided all bets (winning and losing) and closed the accounts.
‘The relevant authorities were informed of our concerns and subsequent investigation and we are in the process of sharing full details of the activities found to have taken place.
‘The company regrets the time taken and effects on genuine players but is committed to upholding both our own and the industry’s integrity.’
Mr Kimber said he could not comment further at this stage.
The Isle of Man’s Gambling Supervision Commission issued a short statement at 5pm yesterday (Friday).
It read: ‘I can confirm that the Gambling Supervision Commission is aware of the matter, however it is standard policy for the Gambling Supervision Commission not to comment on regulatory or compliance matters relating to its licensed operators.’
It is also understood gambling authorities in the UK have been made aware of the situation.

it's funny, on this forum, and other places I have been keeping up to date with it from, I have yet to see a single customer telling people how they lost money but have had it refunded, like the statement says.
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Someone needs to be charged with fraud.
 
But as we know, the Gambling Commission can do no more than revoke the license of the Books if they refuse to pay out ............ which is of no consolation to the thousands of players who are out of pocket. Xela Holdings could, if they deem the liabilities too large, just walk away from Europe altogether.
It is incidents like this that makes one wonder if perhaps there should be an industry insurance scheme like the travel business or the motor-insurance game to compensate defrauded customers if a particular firm goes bust ?
 
Fun88 TLCbet 12Bet 138.com refusing to payout Cheltenham winnings citing bonu...

icebreaker said:
But as we know, the Gambling Commission can do no more than revoke the license of the Books if they refuse to pay out ............ which is of no consolation to the thousands of players who are out of pocket. Xela Holdings could, if they deem the liabilities too large, just walk away from Europe altogether.
It is incidents like this that makes one wonder if perhaps there should be an industry insurance scheme like the travel business or the motor-insurance game to compensate defrauded customers if a particular firm goes bust ?
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The problem with that sort of scheme is they penalise the big reputable firms by taking a huge turnover or profit based levy, only to allow idiot firms like the ones here to operate with impunity.

Better not to have it, then it's the punter's responsibility to choose a firm with adequate financial security to look after their money.

By having the compensation scheme you give people the confidence to bet with rogue firms, hence allowing them to exist. It's a classic case of 'moral hazard'. Intervention to protect people ends up being to the detriment and cost of the whole market.
 
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Don't Bookmakers pay a bond for a Gambling License?

Maybe that Bond should be used to recompense customers defrauded by shyster outfits?
 
LUKE said:
The Isle of Man Gambling Commission talks a very good game-lets see if they can back it up with action.
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They are helpless in situations like this.

The bookie states clearly they think the offer has been abused and until they are given enough time to sort it out no one gets paid.

Until the are convinced punter A is staright they won't pay so don't blame them blame those cheating bastids who thought they could rip the bookies off
 
Tanlic said:
They are helpless in situations like this.

The bookie states clearly they think the offer has been abused and until they are given enough time to sort it out no one gets paid.

Until the are convinced punter A is staright they won't pay so don't blame them blame those cheating bastids who thought they could rip the bookies off
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You are either naive or stupid if you believe that.
 
Tanlic said:
They are helpless in situations like this.

The bookie states clearly they think the offer has been abused and until they are given enough time to sort it out no one gets paid.

Until the are convinced punter A is staright they won't pay so don't blame them blame those cheating bastids who thought they could rip the bookies off
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I completely disagree with that.
The bookies, who apparently are not related to each other, yet manage to all send the exact same email out, and have one statement issued by another company for them all, have already sent out emails saying accounts are closed, and thats the matter closed as far as they are concerned. There is nothing else to sort out in their eyes.

They shouldn't need convincing anyone is innocent, they should be able to prove someone is guilty, and if they can't then they should pay. KYC should quite easily sort out the genuine customers, then a quick address search to check there isn't more than one account at any one address that took a bonus should get rid of the rest.

I will be surprised if we don't see action by the UKGC at some point, as hopefully people will complain to them aswell as the IOM one.
 
Was it the case that you could only place a bet with one company from the group? and those at the end of this placed the same bet with 2 or 3?
 
Nope, all the companies specifically denied having links with the others, and specifically said you could open accounts with them if you had accounts with the others.
 
Tanlic said:
Was it the case that you could only place a bet with one company from the group? and those at the end of this placed the same bet with 2 or 3?
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No.
All companies are supposed to be independent from each other. I confirmed on LiveChat (now removed) that I was free to open accounts with all of them.
I already had an account with 138 and 12Bet.
Bets were placed with own money. Terms were £10 on each of the 7 races to receive a £10 free bet next day. 138.com
4 X £30 of own money to receive a free bet of £30 next day. 3x £25 own money for Fun88.
It was "per customer", not per household.......something I also confirmed on livechat prior to using.
All my winnings and deposit money have been stolen.

I have screenshots of every deposit, bet, balance and history on all sites, something many others were not able to gather as all accounts were shut down, along with all evidence between 11-12 on April 01

There was no "Bonus" to abuse....just my own money stolen!
 
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