<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by jip:
Being a plc. is no guarentee of safety. I have been stiffed by plc. bookmakers.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Exactly. An example is the company (whose name I forget) that had agreed to buy Bowmans. It was publically traded on OFEX and went
up and liquidated.
Being a plc. is no guarentee of safety. I have been stiffed by plc. bookmakers.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Exactly. An example is the company (whose name I forget) that had agreed to buy Bowmans. It was publically traded on OFEX and went
up and liquidated.
Hey Herz - i think you are refering to Firststake.com.
As I used to work for them, here's the low down. They set up in Bristol, UK and decided to offer tax Bonus Betting to the customer despite knowing they would have to pay approx 9% of turnover to the government - so it was guaranteed they would lose money. they were in the process of getting a liscence in malta which they achieved but when the money ran out (dotcom confidence ran dry).
They had no idea on marketing - all the directors were clueless on running a sportsbook and wasted huge sums on marketing in irrelevant areas - news providing (they had 3 news editors and a team of freelance journalists on the payroll).
I left 2 months before they went under - was very much on the cards - financial director left, no bills had been paid for months and when they went under the staff didn't get paid either.
Their share price fluctuated wildly on OFEX as they were very clever in generating rumours of buying out larger companies or being bought out buy a huge BINGO chain. These had no foundation as they didn't have a pot to piss in never mind buying out Bowmans. It was just a scam to boost the share price so that the people in the know could get their money out.
Sorry you lost money there.
As I used to work for them, here's the low down. They set up in Bristol, UK and decided to offer tax Bonus Betting to the customer despite knowing they would have to pay approx 9% of turnover to the government - so it was guaranteed they would lose money. they were in the process of getting a liscence in malta which they achieved but when the money ran out (dotcom confidence ran dry).
They had no idea on marketing - all the directors were clueless on running a sportsbook and wasted huge sums on marketing in irrelevant areas - news providing (they had 3 news editors and a team of freelance journalists on the payroll).
I left 2 months before they went under - was very much on the cards - financial director left, no bills had been paid for months and when they went under the staff didn't get paid either.
Their share price fluctuated wildly on OFEX as they were very clever in generating rumours of buying out larger companies or being bought out buy a huge BINGO chain. These had no foundation as they didn't have a pot to piss in never mind buying out Bowmans. It was just a scam to boost the share price so that the people in the know could get their money out.
Sorry you lost money there.
valueman,
Yes I did indeed lose money at firststake.com.
All accounts were supposed to be covered by Sportingbet. I had a pending withdrawal at the time they folded and my account balance was zero but my withdrawal funds never arrived.
All the transaction records of the accounts were conveniently wiped so only the account balances were passed to Sportingbet who consequently couldn't verify my pending withdrawal and I ended up being stiffed.
They certainly took (stole) every last penny they could.
I managed to get the home contact details of one of the directors (Simon Graves) and phoned him at his house. He was fuming I had tracked him down but made the usual bullsh*t excuses about lack of backing from investors etc.
The amount I lost was not massive but the way the money was stolen still makes be mad when I think about it. There is no way any of the creditors will ever see a penny of their money again.
Yes I did indeed lose money at firststake.com.
All accounts were supposed to be covered by Sportingbet. I had a pending withdrawal at the time they folded and my account balance was zero but my withdrawal funds never arrived.
All the transaction records of the accounts were conveniently wiped so only the account balances were passed to Sportingbet who consequently couldn't verify my pending withdrawal and I ended up being stiffed.
They certainly took (stole) every last penny they could.
I managed to get the home contact details of one of the directors (Simon Graves) and phoned him at his house. He was fuming I had tracked him down but made the usual bullsh*t excuses about lack of backing from investors etc.
The amount I lost was not massive but the way the money was stolen still makes be mad when I think about it. There is no way any of the creditors will ever see a penny of their money again.
yes - his name was simon greaves - marketing director - absolutely clueless when it came to managing a sportsbook - came from a traditional food product marketing background. Actually, he wasn't that bad a guy, just was out out of his depth in this industry - boss was karim ghaida or something like that - very sharp and shrewd cookie - knew it wasn't going anywhere - got his money out and ran.
They owed me over $10000 as i took them to court before they went bust on promised relocation package that was never paid - court verdict was in my favour but they never turned up or paid out.
They were a very cheap outfit that made themselves look good by having fancy offices and have ron atkinson (well known football pundit) speak well of them and promoting themselves as big shots.
It was very funny when one day I was told I had to refer bets of over $50. The following day they then had gary bowman come in and look round the offices as if everything was going sweetly - if anything bowmans were thinking of buying firststake as the software for the site was custom and relatively good - nothing else as he didn't have a website at the time.
They owed me over $10000 as i took them to court before they went bust on promised relocation package that was never paid - court verdict was in my favour but they never turned up or paid out.
They were a very cheap outfit that made themselves look good by having fancy offices and have ron atkinson (well known football pundit) speak well of them and promoting themselves as big shots.
It was very funny when one day I was told I had to refer bets of over $50. The following day they then had gary bowman come in and look round the offices as if everything was going sweetly - if anything bowmans were thinking of buying firststake as the software for the site was custom and relatively good - nothing else as he didn't have a website at the time.
