Betting websites

[Lensen]

Readbet, Flemington Sportsbet, UniTAB, TopSport, Sportsbetting, Tom Waterhouse are all still around

 

[asanque]

Readbet, Flemington Sportsbet, UniTAB, TopSport, Sportsbetting, Tom Waterhouse are all still around

I've got an account with Unitab but their website is pretty rudimentary.

Who do you recommend out of that crew above?

 

[Thedeftouch]

Gross, I have money on Sportsalive (only a small amount I think).

Lenny, do you have any info about their "systemic" issues? Sounds like they are just broke clowns.

 

[Lensen]

I've got an account with Unitab but their website is pretty rudimentary.

Who do you recommend out of that crew above?

Readbet - were very sharp for odds earlier in the year, that's dropped off. Promos are no good (the old IAS style of limited markets for free bets) but apparently have very high limits and will take winners on
Flem Sportsbet - very basic, customer service is pretty ordinary and don't appear to have anyone manning phones after 5pm.
UniTAB - seem to have seriously "different" odds earlier in the week for AFL which is a good thing (providing they are loose on the side you want to back!). Nowhere near as good overall as the Vic TAB though
Sportbetting/Topsport - haven't used, their odds don't go up until Wednesday/Thursday, apparently TopSport won't ever limit anyone though
Tom Waterhouse - terrible (for footy at least) but recently had one of those survey reviews where I told them exactly what i thought of them so hopefully that spurs them to improve

None of them would be in a core group if you wanted to keep to 4-5 bookies, but can be handy to have as part of your portfolio

 

[Lensen]

Gross, I have money on Sportsalive (only a small amount I think).

Lenny, do you have any info about their "systemic" issues? Sounds like they are just broke clowns.

Nah I have nothing other than what I've read on here/Whirlpool/PuntingAce

 

[asanque]

Nah I have nothing other than what I've read on here/Whirlpool/PuntingAce

Thread on BF with some more minor information.

http://community.betfair.com/australian/go/thread/view/93998/28229447/goneski?ts=1314327600917

 

[Lensen]

Readbet - were very sharp for odds earlier in the year, that's dropped off. Promos are no good (the old IAS style of limited markets for free bets) but apparently have very high limits and will take winners on
Flem Sportsbet - very basic, customer service is pretty ordinary and don't appear to have anyone manning phones after 5pm.
UniTAB - seem to have seriously "different" odds earlier in the week for AFL which is a good thing (providing they are loose on the side you want to back!). Nowhere near as good overall as the Vic TAB though
Sportbetting/Topsport - haven't used, their odds don't go up until Wednesday/Thursday, apparently TopSport won't ever limit anyone though
Tom Waterhouse - terrible (for footy at least) but recently had one of those survey reviews where I told them exactly what i thought of them so hopefully that spurs them to improve

None of them would be in a core group if you wanted to keep to 4-5 bookies, but can be handy to have as part of your portfolio

Probably should have added that I wouldn't have put Alive in the core group either so apart from my having money with them, it's not that great a loss to me personally

 

[asanque]

Probably should have added that I wouldn't have put Alive in the core group either so apart from my having money with them, it's not that great a loss to me personally

They were in my core group.

No limits and had the best DT markets by far.

 

[Lensen]

They were in my core group.

No limits and had the best DT markets by far.

Ahh, fair enough. I don't bet big enough to worry about limits and don't really bet DT markets that much so to me they were occasionally good H2H odds, terribly slow payouts and that's about it

 

[twarby]

pinnacle

 

[Thedeftouch]

More digging and I'm about 75% sure they are broke, and have been for a while. Rumours that they haven't been paying their employees lately, and I understand that Daffy was involved in a similar collapse of Lasseters. What a joke.

I bet with them last weekend (sadly I "won"). I will attempt to pursue the directors personally. No doubt they've breached s.558G by trading whilst insolvent.

 

[djboonie]

2k down the drain for me...

Didn't see this one coming at all!

 

[Thedeftouch]

A quick ASIC search confirms.....

26/08/2011 7E3907935 2 505J Notification of Appointment of Liquidator (Creditors'
26/08/2011 5E2794161 2 484E Change to Company Details Appointment or Cessation of A
04/05/2011 5E2692064 2 484E Change to Company Details Appointment or Cessation of A

http://www.search.asic.gov.au/cgi-bin/gns030c?juris=9&hdtext=ACN&srchsrc=1&acn=069087332

 

[asanque]

More digging and I'm about 75% sure they are broke, and have been for a while. Rumours that they haven't been paying their employees lately, and I understand that Daffy was involved in a similar collapse of Lasseters. What a joke.

I bet with them last weekend (sadly I "won"). I will attempt to pursue the directors personally. No doubt they've breached s.558G by trading whilst insolvent.

I was with Lasseters too, but at least they notified their customers they were closing down and paid out everything.

I'm more worried because Sportsalive has just gone dark.

 

[Thedeftouch]

They've officially rolled over guys

 

[asanque]

Interesting article on the British situation

http://www.bookiebusters.net/features/safe_money.html

Looking into Australia now

 

[Lensen]

Just spoke with the regulator, they're currently "monitoring" the situation and will be putting out a written statement "shortly". Wouldn't commit to any timeframe other than "shortly".

I've given them my email address to CC me into the statement when published - will pass on any info when I have it

 

[Lensen]

Interesting article on the British situation

http://www.bookiebusters.net/features/safe_money.html

Looking into Australia now

Australian bookmakers such as Centrebet are required by Australian law to keep their clients money separate and 'ring fenced' from the rest of the business. Should anything financially disastrous happen to the bookmaker you know you will get back all your money held on deposit.

Hope that's correct.

 

[Thedeftouch]

The ASIC extract above suggests that they entered bankruptcy due to a "creditors' petition". This means that someone went to a court and got an Order confirming Sports Alive's bankruptcy.

Pure scum all the way to the end.

I doubt it'll be online, but I'll do some digging for the judgment.

 

[asanque]

This might be a bit more promising:
http://www.legislation.act.gov.au/di/2005-261/current/pdf/2005-261.pdf

See bold below

[FONT=Arial,Bold]

4. Segregated Bank Accounts​

[/FONT]

4.1 A sports bookmaker must, for the purposes of the sports bookmaking
business, maintain a segregated sports betting bank account for the
purpose of betting monies received.
4.2 The segregated bank account for clause 4.1 must be recorded under a
title which includes the name of the sports bookmaker and the purpose
of the account such as a “Trust Account”.
4.3 When a sports bookmaker opens an account for clause 4.1 the sports
bookmaker must immediately advise the Commission in writing of:
(1) the name of the banking institution and address of the branch;
(2) the account title and account number.
4.4 If any changes occur to the account information stated in clause 4.3,
or the account is closed, the sports bookmaker must immediately
inform the Commission in writing of those changes.
4.5 Subject to clause 4.6 a sports bookmaker must deposit all betting
monies received:
(1) into the segregated bank account; or
(2) if there are 2 or more such accounts - into 1 of those accounts;
not later than the next banking day after the day on which the money
is received.
4.6 Where betting monies are paid by direct deposit or electronic transfer
into an account operated by the sports bookmaker, the sports
bookmaker must transfer that money into a segregated bank account
in accordance with clause 4.5.
4.7 A sports bookmaker must not withdraw money from a segregated
sports betting account until such time as the outcome of the bet is
determined and in accordance with the betting contract.
PAGE FIVE OF THE SCHEDULE TO THE INSTRUMENT MADE UNDER
THE RACE AND SPORTS BOOKMAKING ACT 2001 ON THE 15​

TH DAY OF
NOVEMBER 2005.​

Initial​

Authorised by the ACT Parliamentary Counsel—also accessible at www.legislation.act.gov.au​

4.8 Money in the segregated sports betting account must not be utilised
for the payment of debts of the sports bookmaker, (except as provided
by these Rules) and those monies are not to be attached or taken in
execution for satisfying a judgment against the sports bookmaker
other than a judgment for a debt so payable.
4.9 Clause 4.7 does not apply to monies in the segregated sports betting
account if those monies are as a result of interest earned on the
account.
4.10 Interest earned on a segregated sports betting account may accrue to​

the sports bookmaker.

 

[asanque]

I'm pretty sure my pending bets are screwed though.

Like Franklin E/W for Coleman at 5's and Gibbs E/W for highest DT points for a defender.

Edit:
http://www.legislation.act.gov.au/a/2001-49/current/pdf/2001-49.pdf

A security guarantee is required from each bookmaker - but who knows if this is sufficient

 

[Thedeftouch]

The transcript from the bankruptcy hearing is not yet online, but it will appear on the website of the Federal Magistrate Court of Australia. Keep your eyes on

http://www.fmc.gov.au/judge/html/new.html

 

[Thedeftouch]

Very curious who instituted the creditors' petition and how much that person is owed.

I have asked Betfair if they intend to honour SA balances. You would have to think Betfair are very concerned with their reputation given their partnership with SA.

 

[asanque]

ASIC Guide on Liquidation

http://www.asic.gov.au/asic/pdflib....pdf/$file/Liquidation_guide_for_creditors.pdf

 

[thetwooth]

Readbet - were very sharp for odds earlier in the year, that's dropped off. Promos are no good (the old IAS style of limited markets for free bets) but apparently have very high limits and will take winners on
Flem Sportsbet - very basic, customer service is pretty ordinary and don't appear to have anyone manning phones after 5pm.
UniTAB - seem to have seriously "different" odds earlier in the week for AFL which is a good thing (providing they are loose on the side you want to back!). Nowhere near as good overall as the Vic TAB though
Sportbetting/Topsport - haven't used, their odds don't go up until Wednesday/Thursday, apparently TopSport won't ever limit anyone though
Tom Waterhouse - terrible (for footy at least) but recently had one of those survey reviews where I told them exactly what i thought of them so hopefully that spurs them to improve

None of them would be in a core group if you wanted to keep to 4-5 bookies, but can be handy to have as part of your portfolio

Readbet will pay when you withdraw but i have had deposit issues with them before, still got the deposit in but for instant deposit sometimes you have to wait till the next day. not good in that department.

flemsportsbet no experience with them but they told me they are happy to take american residents as customers. surely not legal.

unitab, i'll take the other TABs thanks.

topsport- site looks expired and needs a major make over but i have spoken to the merlehans before and they are willing to take the big bets and really only want the big players. licenced in NSW. i have thought about having a punt with them but would like an experienced review if any have bet with them before.

sportsbetting- don't like flies on my screen

tom waterhouse site looks shit, so do his odds and markets.