This scam article is a classic example of why longevity in the offshore industry is not a reason to trust an offshore operator. While the Sportsbook.com enterprise of online betting sites, casinos and poker rooms have been a part of the US gambling industry for over a decade at this point, the company is better known for their complaints by customers rather than their stellar product.

Last updated: February 2021

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Slow-pays, incompetence and mistreatment of bettors by management are just scratching the surface for them and the Jazette Enterprises stable of online gambling sites.

Company History

Jazette Enterprises, Sportsbook.com’s parent company do not have a strong reputation in their own industry. The company gained ground in the early days of the online gambling explosion in the US and much of the world. However, even during the height of the boom, Sportsbook still resorted to dishonest tactics to defraud and mislead bettors.

Sportsbook.com (now Sportsbook.ag) has been the company’s flagship site for years, but they own more than two dozen online gambling sites most of which offer players poker, sports betting and casino action.

They were previously owned by Sportingbet, a large English bookmaker that trades publicly on the London Stock Exchange. The 2006 passage of the UIGEA forced many companies who operated in the US market to rethink their position, especially publicly traded companies such as Sportingbet. The company sold all of their US facing operations to a new company, Jazette Enterprises Limited for just $1.

The US Government has been trying to fry them and other online operators since 2001. In October of that year, the New Jersey Attorney General sued the company and its affiliated sites, but the lawsuit never made it to court.

Looks legit? Sportsbook.com have been trying to steal players money for more than a decade now

Poor Reputation from the Start

The Sportsbook.com site premiered on the blacklist (used for fraudulent books) at SBR in 2001 – not what those in the industry would call a strong start to their foray into online betting. Their early days were so fraught with poor customer service, slow-pays and other shady dealings that watchdog sites and sports betting forums were receiving complaints daily.

One of their tactics was to delay large withdrawals requests with so called “account audits.” These were usually “triggered” by four or five figure payout requests by customers. They would freeze a player’s account and launch an “investigation” into their betting history.

Of course, in the majority of cases there was nothing untoward with the bets the players were making; Sportsbook simply did not want to pay winning players. Any player who won or held a sizeable balance, would be forced to jump through hoops when trying to withdraw. Audits and frozen funds were standard, as was the need to wait extended periods of time for their withdrawal requests.

Many scambooks make a living off of this kind of outright thievery. They are happy to pay small players when they request a payout but will play games with players who happen to take them for big money or void their winnings altogether based on technicalities or predatory terms and conditions.

If a site slow-pays or no-pays their top 1-2% of winners, they will almost always be profitable. Unfortunately, Sportsbook.com is not the only online bookmaker out there to figure this out. There are offshore bookmakers who have done this for a decade plus are still in operation.

Bait and Switch Bonus Scam

Even before the company and their US player base were sold to Jazette in 2006, the company already had plenty of complaints and shady business deals while acting as part of the Sportingbet family.

One of their most infamous scam tactics wad voiding players winnings based on a dubious “bonus abuse” rule. Since the company ran a large number of sites, players often had multiple accounts at many of them, accepting the bonuses on offer when they signed up. This, of course, did not violate any rules and was not even listed in the fine print of the company’s terms and conditions.

Players were not warned of this issue beforehand and unsurprisingly, players who lost did not have any funds returned. However, if players ran up a balance, all of a sudden they were bonus abusers. Not only was the bonus amount voided, but all the winnings across any associated player accounts with the individual were voided too. Luckily, Sportsbook was still kind enough to return their original deposit.

There’s no justification for these types of tactics. What they did here was outright theft, plain and simple. Fortunately, Sportingbet decided to refund the players’ winnings after pressure from SBR and the sports betting industry. However, that does not make them innocent or absolve them of any blame. Without a community and watchdog sites, they would have gladly seized hundreds of thousands in player funds and would not have given it a second thought. In fact, they even tried doing it again two years later.^[1]

Cancelling Future Wagers

Sportsbetting Ag Complaints

After the 2006 sale of the website from SportingBet to Jazette, the two companies held a non-compete agreement in which Jazette agreed to not service non-US players and to refer international players to SportingBet’s non-US online sportsbooks. This seemed fair enough, but wait, there’s more!

It turns out that Jazette would be cancelling all pending future wagers that all US bettors place before the sale of the company. Yes, that’s right! Despite picking up their clients, referring them to sportsbooks and transferring their balances, they would void any pending futures wagers, regardless of the outcome of the bet.^[2]

This outraged players and when they all rushed to cash out, a new litany of payout complaints surfaced. Some players even alleged that the site was not even refunding the amount of the pending wagers on the future bets! They were literally holding on to funds that were deemed no action and now frozen by the book.

This type of practice is certainly not done by any reputable bookmaker and was one of the straws that broke the camel’s back in the relationship with sports bettors and industry experts. After all, it was not the first strike against Sportsbook – the company had a lousy reputation for years – but this egregious decision left everyone in the industry shocked.

The Saga Continues

Much of 2007 and 2008 were filled with more complaints from players and more incompetence on the part of Sportsbook.com.^[3] Players were waiting months for wires and checks, despite the site’s insistence that they would be paid out much faster. When players inquired regarding the withdrawal issues, management used vague terms, such as “were working on it” or “we’ll get it to you soon”, giving players little to no information about when they should receive their funds. Withdrawals in many cases were taking 2-3 months to process.

They also regularly graded games wrongly or were often late to settle wagers, which was part of their “we’ll find a way to not pay you if you win” mantra that the company stood behind strongly. Of course, they usually came around after months of harassment from the industry and players alike, but it was clear to everyone that this company was run by scumbags. Having to run down a professional bookmaker for withdrawals or to fix a grading error is pathetic, especially when it takes them weeks or months to finally fix the issue.

These stories above are just the tip of the iceberg. Sportsbook and their sister sites have stolen hundreds of thousands from players, seized balances for correlated parlays and voided live betting wagers and much more. Anyone who had followed this book since their inception knew they were a terrible option for not only US bettors, but any sports bettor on the planet.

Card Counters? Sportsbook Voids Winnings

Despite years of misleading players and giving them the run around with payout requests, they still operate today and get a lot of customers from players who simply just do not know any better.
In one incident in March, 2012, they confiscated $35,000 in casino blackjack winnings from a player they accused of card counting. And yes, you did read that correctly.

The player ran up his balance in one evening of betting $25 and $75 a hand playing online blackjack at the casino. He immediately wanted a withdrawal and sent the request after sending his identification details to management for verification. Management validated his documents and verified that the payout was being processed. After playing for another two days, the player ran up his balance to a whopping $30,000. A few hours later he received an email that his payout request was confirmed, and it would take 6-8 weeks to arrive by check.

The next time the player logged into his account he found his account disabled and his funds frozen. He called customer support and they told him that a manager reviewed his account, and his winnings were voided because he was “counting cards.” A ridiculous claim and no doubt another tactic to get out of paying someone who actually beat them out of money.

As this SBR Newswire story proves, a provision was added to their casino terms and conditions, days after the incident took place. This new provision prohibited card counting and deemed all winnings from such activity as void.^[4] Of course, that is not what they told the player or the independent arbitrators who were trying to help the player get the money owed to him. Using Google’s cache feature, it was clear that the terms were added after the alleged card counting had taken place; they were then retroactively enforced in order to void the player’s winnings.

This disgusting action proves how manipulative and scummy Sportsbook.com was to their players. Though they eventually caved and agreed to pay the player his winnings, one must wonder if they would have done so without the evidence that clearly showed they changed the t+cs after the fact.

Still Pays Players, are they Seriously that Bad?

Unequivocally, yes. Firstly, they do not pay players on time or even within a reasonable time frame. Sure all companies have delays, but when a site is taking 2+ months to pay players – even in today’s market – that is a cause for concern. Either that, or they are just lazy and greedy. They are certainly not broke and have the money to pay.

Instead of sending cashouts like any other reputable company, they force players to jump through hoops and look for any reason imaginable to void a player’s winnings. Many posters on internet forums claim they pay quickly and love the book, but we doubt they have won large sums of money at Sportsbook.com or their sister sites. If they had, we think they would be singing a different tune.

Even in the much less reputable and limited US online sports betting market, there are loads of better options for sports bettors. Yes, they have a long history and have been around forever, but unlike other bookmakers who have used their business acumen to succeed with their business, they instead honed their skills on misleading players and working on new ways to void the legitimate winnings of their customers. Steer clear of Sportsbook.ag and other Jazette properties.

Sportsbetting Ag Phone Number

References and Citations

[1]Sportsbook confiscates $10,000, cites free-play bonus abuse – SBR Forum
[2]Sportsbook.com Group stand firm on decision to void winning wagers – SBR Newswire
[3]Sportsbook.com – slow pay, unresponsive – Casinomeister
[4]Online Gambling News: SBR Industry Report – SBR Newswire

From time to time throughout your online sports betting journey, you’re going to need help. Maybe you’re having trouble getting a particular feature to work, or you’re interested in taking advantage of a promotion you don’t quite understand? Or maybe it’s something more serious like account security issues or technical glitches that are causing you problems?

Whatever the case may be, you’re going to want to get help as quickly and effectively as possible. When something is wrong, or you’re looking for important information, you don’t want to be sitting around for days waiting on a response. You also don’t want to get a response that doesn’t really help solve your problem or answer your question.

In the early days of online sportsbooks, the customer service quality and number of options were weak. Thankfully, over the years, the sportsbooks got with the program, and now many of the top sites have robust and effective customer service teams. Not only have we seen an increase in the quality of the help you receive, but we’ve also seen an increase in the number of options available. It used to be an “email-only” world, but now you’ll see things like phone support, live chat, and even social media help.

In this guide, we want to walk you through a few things that we feel are important to help you get the help you need when you’re having an issue with an online sportsbook. We’re going to talk about where you can generally find the customer service options, the most common types of service that are available (and what you need to know about them), and finally, some tips to help you get the most out of your customer service experience.

Where to Find Customer Support

As every sportsbook is laid out a little differently, it can be tough to give you blanket advice about where you can go to access their customer service options. Ideally, they’d be easy for you to find, but sometimes they just seem to be hidden enough that we struggle to locate them. That all being said, there are still some fairly common places that an online sportsbook puts the links to access their customer support. Below are some places to look and ways to go about finding the customer support for an online sportsbook.

Use Google

The easiest way to locate the customer support team for an online sportsbook is to use Google. All you need to do is type in the name of the site, and then something like “contact” or “help” or “support,” and the link you’re looking for will most likely be one of the top options.

For example, we tested this with SportsBetting.ag (even though their customer service is awesome and really easy to find). We Googled “sportsbetting.ag support,” and at the top of the page, this is what you see.

It’s that easy. Without even having to click on a link, you see their phone numbers and support emails. Google is your friend when you can’t find something online.

Check the Website Footer

If you don’t want to use Google for some reason, you can always look in the footer of a website, and you’ll usually find their support options. For those that aren’t familiar with the term “footer,” it’s the area at the bottom of a webpage that is usually the same no matter which page you are on. It will usually contain links to most everything that you need on the site.

Let’s take a look at SportsBetting.ag’s footer to show you what we mean. Here we’ve highlighted their support section in green.

As you can see, they even have a dedicated section of the footer for customer support. Here, you can get to their main help hub page, their live chat help, and their contact methods page.

Additional Options

Typically, an online sportsbook is going to have a lot of different places that you can access customer support. Sometimes this could be a link in the top-right corner of the website, a tab that follows you around on the right side or bottom of the screen that says “Live Chat,” or it could be a link from the site’s banking page. Online sportsbooks are notorious for having their help links easiest to find on the banking pages.

With one of these above options, you should be able to access the support options offered by a site.

The Most Common Methods of Help

Finding the customer support options is only the first step of the battle. The next step is figuring out which option is going to be best for you. Usually, you’ll have at least a couple of alternatives, if not a bunch. If you only have one choice, well, it looks like that’s the one you’ll be using! But if the sportsbook gives you several options, you’ll need to pick which one is the best for you.

Overall, if you’re able to communicate with a live person, you’re going to have quicker and better results. That way, if there is a misunderstanding of your question, you can correct it right away and continue on to get the information you’re looking for. If there is a misunderstanding with, say, an email, you’ll have to wait to get your response back to see the issue. Then, you’ll have to correct it, send in another email, and wait again for that one to be responded to.

Additionally, personal preference and time constraints may come into play. If you’re pressed for time and just want to know the issue is being taken care of, you might want to opt for the non-live options like an email or a contact form. While these are not the quickest options, they require the least amount of input from you. You don’t have to wait for an agent, explain the situation to them, and hang out online or on the phone while they try and fix it. You can rocket off a quick email and then check back later when you have more time.

Also, some people like to keep a paper trail record of all of their correspondence. If you’re using phone support, this isn’t going to be possible. But if you use email or a live chat function, you’ll have a paper trail of everything that is said and promised to you. This all depends on what you’re trying to get help with.

Let’s take a quick look at the most common means of customer service offered at online sportsbooks.

Contact Form

The earliest form of customer support that sportsbooks offered was the contact form. It’s a blank form hosted on the company’s website where you fill out your basic contact information, and then you put in your request. When the company responds to your issue, they will email you back, and then correspondence will take over there.

This is usually the quickest way (at least for you) to get your request out the door. It’s not the quickest for getting an answer or your issues resolved, but it requires the smallest time commitment from you. If you have documents that you need to attach to a request, you might not be able to do that through a contact form. You may have to use a different method (email) or use the contact form to figure out how they want you to submit any documents you’d like for them to see. The better sites that have contact forms usually will allow you to upload files as well in certain formats.

Email

One of the best ways to contact an online sportsbook if you aren’t looking to use a live option is through email. Email allows you to state your whole case and attach supporting documents (if necessary) very quickly. Additionally, it gives you a timestamp track record of when you contacted the site. This is important if it’s a serious matter that you’re dealing with. You don’t get that with a contact form unless the site sends you an automatic email that says they have received your request.

If you’re not looking to chat with someone and if having a paper trail is important, we would recommend using email support over a contact form if the option is available.

Live Chat

One of the easiest ways to get things taken care of is through the live chat function (if available). This is usually a little chat window that you can open on the bottom of the screen that will connect you with an agent to help solve your problems or answer your question. This is a great option because you’re able to fix any misunderstandings or answer any questions they have for you in real time.

With email, every question they have to ask you is another email back and forth. For each one you send, you usually have to wait another couple of hours or a day for a response. With live chat, though, you eliminate this wait time.

Also, most live chat support functions give you the ability to email yourself a copy of the chat transcript. This is great if you’re looking for a paper trail of what you and the sportsbook discussed.

Phone

Probably the most effective option you’ll get at some online sportsbooks is phone support. When you can call someone up and talk to them, you’re going to get the best service possible. Additionally, if the sportsbook is giving you the runaround, it’s really hard to do over the phone.

In our experience, if you have serious matters that just aren’t getting handled, the phone is a great way to go. Keep in mind, though, that there won’t be a track record of your discussion like there is with live chat or email. You can keep a journal log of who you talk to, when the call is, and what is discussed if it is important.

Probably 99% of the time you’re contacting them, it won’t be something that requires a long track record of the discussion. If you’re calling and asking them for details on a promotion, you aren’t going to ever have to prove that at all. But if you’re dealing with something more serious like a lost or delayed cash-out, you may want some sort of record of your conversations in case you need to elevate things to the next level.

Social Media

A new trend we see in the world of online sportsbooks is social media support options. Many sites will let you tweet your questions to them or contact their team via Facebook. This method is ideal for simple questions like the details of a promotion or where to find something on the site. For more serious inquiries, though, or things that involve your personal account, we would not recommend utilizing this option.

Tips for Getting the Most out of Customer Service

While we wish that every sportsbook had the best customer service under the sun, it’s just not the case. Even some pretty awesome sportsbooks struggle a little bit in the customer service department. Just because they aren’t completely on top of things, though, does not mean that your experience should suffer. You should still be able to get everything you want and need.

We put together a few tips to help you get the most out of your customer service experience.

Escalate the Issue If You’re Not Getting Adequate Help

Typically, the first person you’re going to talk to when you reach out for help is one of their lower-level customer service representatives. At some sportsbooks, this person is awesome. They’re intelligent, speak great English, and have the means and tools to get your issue resolved. But not every site is like this.

Some sites clearly take the “budget” route when it comes to their lower-level customer service representatives. Sadly, you get what you pay for. These representatives may have issues with a language barrier and might not be trained properly or equipped to get your issue resolved.

When you run into this problem, you may need to escalate your issue to someone who can actually help you. If you’re having trouble with the agent, ask to speak with a manager. Sometimes they will tell you this isn’t possible, but don’t take no for an answer. Kindly let them know that they are not adequately helping you resolve your issue and that you would like to speak to someone else higher up about it.

Hang Up and Get a New Agent

Another option that you could try prior to escalating your issue is working with a different agent. How do you do this? Simple. Just hang up the phone or close out the chat and reopen it. Probably nine times out of ten, you’re going to get a different customer service agent who may be of better help.

We’ve had a lot of experiences where there was a big difference between how helpful each different agent was. The first we talked to was pretty much worthless, and the next one was basically Superman. If you’re really struggling with the agent you are working with, say goodbye and reopen the chat or call back and hope to get someone else. If you get the same person, then you should look to escalate the issue up the chain.

The Squeaky Wheel Gets the Grease

If you’re having a problem with an online sportsbook, the chances that others are having the same issue are high. Typically, online sportsbooks will handle the problems in the order that they come in. Except we’ve found a little way around this to get to the front of the line. It doesn’t always work, but it works a lot.

Be persistent. Be the person who contacts them the most and is continually checking up on your issue. Don’t take no for an answer. We are not saying to be mean or rude because that is not going to get you anywhere. There’s a difference between mean and persistent. Persistence means you’re checking in with them daily to see the status of your issue. You can do this while still being polite. Remember, the agents are people, too, and from a purely selfish standpoint, you aren’t going to get your issue handled quickly if the agent hates you.

Be Firm When You Need To

Sometimes it does become necessary to let the sportsbook know that you mean business. Again, this can still be done respectfully. If you don’t feel like they are taking you seriously or if they aren’t getting your issue solved, you need to let them know that it’s unacceptable.

What does this entail? Well, it depends on a lot of different factors, mainly how serious the issue is. If they are messing with your money and are clearly in the wrong, then you may need to seriously escalate things. This might be threatening to take the issue to the regulatory board that oversees their site. Do keep in mind that once you play this card, though, it may be a rough road dealing with the site directly. But if the issue is that serious, this might be a road you take.

If your cash-out is a couple days late, this would be heavily overreacting. If your cash-out is two months late or if they’re refusing to pay you altogether, then this might be the course you need to take. For most issues, though, just being stern and letting them know you aren’t going away should be sufficient. We just wanted to be clear that we weren’t telling you not to get on their case when it’s necessary.

The key is doing everything in escalating steps. First, you give them a chance to fix things. If they don’t, you remind them how important it is to you and give them another chance to fix it. If the issue is still not fixed, you try escalating it to a higher-up within the company. If that still does not get it done, then you start looking into things like bringing the issue public in gaming forums or even contacting the regulatory board.

Just make sure that you don’t go 0 to 100 when it’s not necessary. You’ll end up having the reverse effect of what you’re trying to get accomplished. Remember, this isn’t about ego. It’s about getting done what you need.

Keep Good Records

This tip is as much about protecting yourself as it is about getting the best help you can from a sportsbook customer service agent. If you’re trying to get something accomplished, and you don’t have your ducks in a row, it’s going to be hard to get the help you’re looking for from the sportsbook. It will also be hard to press them if you don’t have the documentation that you need to back up your claims.

For example, let’s say you’re having an issue with a delayed cash-out. Which of the next two responses do you think is going to get the best help and be taken the most seriously?

Response #1

“Hey, yeah. My cash-out is late. I requested it a while ago, and it’s supposed to be here, and it’s not. I need you to help me get this fixed.”

Response #2

“Hi, I am having issues with a cash-out I requested on 9/24/18 at 7 am. It’s been 13 days since I requested the cash-out, and I was told by John G. in customer service that the cash-out would take a maximum of 4 business days. That means I should have received my money on 9/15/18. I contacted support on 9/16/18 and spoke with Angelo P. who told me that there was a delay and that I should have my money by 9/23/18. It is now 9/24/18, and I do not have my cash-out. I have documentation of all of this if you need it. Can you please look into this now for me and help get the situation fixed?”

I can guarantee you that response #2 is going to get a lot more help from customer service.

If you want to get better help, have your records in good order. This also is going to protect you if the sportsbook claims that what you’re saying isn’t correct. What if they claim you didn’t put your cash-out in that early? Or what if they claim you never talked to customer support and brought the issue to their attention?

Well, if you don’t have any documentation, it’s going to be your word against theirs. (This wouldn’t be an issue at a reputable sportsbook, but you should still keep records just in case.) But if you’re able to produce emails, screenshots, and chat transcripts with times and dates on them, it’s going to be really tough for them to claim anything different.

In Conclusion

In a perfect world, you’ll never need to contact a sportsbook’s customer support team. Everything will go as planned, and you’ll never have any issues or problems that you need help with. But in reality, you’re going to have things you need assistance with from time to time. Even with the best-run and most well-equipped online sportsbook (or any type of company), you’re occasionally going to run into times where you need a helping hand.

Hopefully, this guide has given you the tools and information to get the help you need. Feel free to check back if you ever are having some trouble getting help from a site.

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