For what it's worth I had active accounts at both Legalbook/FCC and Fairdeal over the last few years. Legalbook was my first sportsbook and I was referred to them by a scamdicapper back in November 1997. They didn't even give me the 10% initial bonus until I specifically requested it a couple days after the account was opened. They funneled $6,000 in funds from my account at my request to the scamdicapper who I foolishly trusted. After I realized I'd been taken by the scamdicapper I asked Legalbook to provide a paper record of the missing 6 dimes and they refused.
I reloaded my account in order to make the sportsbook pay for their association with the
scamdicapper, and Legalbook didn't give me a reload bonus as promised. After I won several times what I deposited they sent me a check that was dated more than 1 year before (that appeared to be an accident, it was the first business day of 1998). I sent it back and they promised they would pay the cost for this. By then I decided to play some more, won some more, and requested a payout. They deducted the cost of a Fedex the second time even though they had promised not to do so.
I don't know if the management is the same (I've never heard of Mike Fine before), but it
sounds like they still make up the rules as it suits them in these situations.
Later I opened an account at Fairdeal and I just about broke even after maybe 6 months
of action. They knew of my success wagering at Legalbook/Five Card Charlie and other
sportsbooks in the Bon Bini Business Center and closed my account in mid 2000 after I
refused to accept their grading a no-action baseball wager as a loss. I got everything
they owed me. I also had accounts at Wallstreet Superbook (wssbsport.com), VIP Sports
and Gameday which were also closed after I won $. They all use the same or similar software as FCC/Fairdeal. One account (at VIP) was closed after a FiveCardCharlie employee (I believe he was a manager) that knew me answered their phone; he acted in an odd manner until I made a bet and he conferred with others in the room and I was informed that my account was being closed.
I remember that Fairdeal was listed as an approved sportsbook at this site probably as late as a year ago. I also recall that the writeup indicated that they had a separate fund that added up to the combined total of customer balances set up to handle payouts. So I was surprised when I heard what happened.
In a nutshell, these sportsbooks are located very close together and I would not be surprised if there is more to this than meets the eye. They all operate in a similar manner - remember VIP's initial non-payment of a credit customer about a year ago? The tone of the discussion in that thread seemed to change after I posted about VIP's odd practices - in one case they deleted a golf wager I made online at +120 and re-entered it at +110, without notifying me except thru an email stating the initial wager had been deleted. And there was a 20 cent line in both cases, so it was inexplicable.
If Fairdeal could fold, then I believe the same can happen to VIP, Gameday, Wallstreetsuperbook, or maybe even FiveCardCharlie. I believe that if FCC hadn't taken on the Fairdeal's debt, it would have hurt all of these books. I find it hard to believe that FCC/Legalbook acted all alone in the financing of paying these customers; I think they are the oldest and largest of the bunch and so their name is what we see. Don't give up Roo
