Sports Interaction has stiffed me for $2,500. What should I do?

Thrillseeker · Aug 1, 2003

Well, they should at least have the funds to be able to pay you by tomorrow

Just got the following email from them, and they are soliciting deposits for foots pretty hard...GL and hope they come through for you and do the right thing...

American Bowl & Hall of Fame Game Special

At Sports Interaction we know that you can never have too much money in your account once the season starts, so we're offering you this fantastic one-time only offer to fatten your bankroll.

If you deposit to your Sports Interaction account using SWIFTPAYÂ® ECHECK before midnight (EST) on Friday, August 1st - we'll bonus you an incredible 20% on your deposit!

So donâ€™t delay, deposit today by SWIFTPAYÂ® ECHECK and get a piece of the action!

cashingtheticket · Aug 1, 2003

How can anybody actually come to ANY forum and grip when they have problems with SIA. If you play at this book you know the risks and don't come in here and bitch.

If you want no problems with your bets, play at books like Olympic, Grande, Pinnacle....

Playing at SIA and then bitching is the same as drinking to much beer and then bitching about a hangover.

lakerfan · Aug 1, 2003

I have noticed that SIA is no longer advertising at Covers or Mad Jacks. In the past both of these forum owners have been able to help players out who had problems with SIA. I don't know if they still have the contacts to help you but it might be worth a try.

As it is SIA is starting to look more like the NASA books. I think they are better than that, but they have not shown it lately.

TheGeneral+ · Aug 1, 2003

Second message sent from me and not afforded the courtesy of a reply to say "hello".

ChuckSims · Aug 1, 2003

What is The Prescriptions opinion of this SHIT book SIA? SportsbookReview says "avoid" this dump. MajorWager has them in the Stockade.

The Guesser · Aug 2, 2003

I've defended them in the past, when warranted, but there is no defense for this. They out and out stole $$$, and I think what POB should do is Post this on every Forum that deals with with Offshore SportsBooks, get the word out as much as possible, and at least try and Force SIA to respond. The RX guys are trying, all the forum guys should try. I was surprised that as of a couple of days ago, there was no posting about this at MW. Post there, BW, MJ, Covers, all the biggest places, and at least get Dennis to come out of his hole. He HAS posted in the forums before regarding far less worthy claims(IMO) than this one. Just saying Shit Book, you should have expected it, or other such nonsense does no one any good, and lets SIA off the hook too easily. Good luck!

soapyj · Aug 3, 2003

Pob...where are you? Have you had any response after your original postings. I have money in with SIA but will be pulling it all out shortly if they don't pay on something as basic as this. Or at least respond saying you cheated them in some way...

TheOldBallgame · Aug 3, 2003

The odds at the other place were to WIN Wimbledon, not reach the finals, thus they were higher.

But they booked it, they pay it. Clerical error my ass. If he'd lost, nothing would have been said or done.

areeff · Aug 3, 2003

normally odds to place are 1/3 odds to win.

PatrickMcIrish · Aug 3, 2003

I am trying to get hold of POB for his name and account number, I am talking to SIA now. If you see this please send it to me....

patrickmcirish@therx.com

noamchom · Aug 3, 2003

I had this exchange with SIA about an hour and a half ago.

Dear SIA

I was considering opening up an account with you boys, but I just read through a long post at the RX that claims you screwed some folks out of serious money on a long-term tennis prop, that you payed out only 8/1 after offering 33/1. Is that a fact? They even say you have been too yellow bellied to respond. Is that a fact? I tell you one fact I do know: Credibility is everything in this business. You lose that and you will be yellow-belly up faster than a rooster reacts to sunrise.

Hi,

Thank you for contacting sports interaction.
North Americas first online sports book.

I believe you are referring to a wager that was void due to a wrong line posting. That wager was voided based on our rules and policy. Most people are angry because they do not read through the rules thoroughly before they place their wagers. Anything that we do is based on our policy and we do not go against it. It is entirely up to you whether you would like to join with us.

I would also like to mention that we do try our best to respond to each and every email that comes in, as soon as possible.

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Regards,
Sports Interaction Support Team

ChuckSims · Aug 3, 2003

"I would also like to mention that we do try our best to respond to each and every email that comes in, as soon as possible".

We all know SIA is lying through their ass on that comment. SIA is notorious for ignoring e-mails.

PatrickMcIrish · Aug 3, 2003

Well to be fair on this one guys they have gotten back with me and are at least talking to me on it. The guy who deals in this was away for 2 days but he returned my e-mails once he returned. I have concerns myself on some of this but let's be fair and see what happens here first. Thanks men and will keep you guys posted.

TTinCO · Aug 3, 2003

SIA is well known for crappy CS, but I've never heard of them to be a stiff book.

It's fairly well known that they offer some SERIOUSLY juicy dog lines & do not boot until you win $10-15K....which I can live with.

This book offers free money-period. Hopefully, they are not in any trouble.

vindaloo · Aug 4, 2003

I've been away for a few days so sorry I haven't been contributing to my own thread in the meantime. Patrick: I'm glad they've at least replied to your mail, although the last couple of e-mails I've sent them have remained unanswered for a good deal more than the two days he claims to have been away (I last tried e-mailing them two weeks ago today).

In SIA's reply to Noamchom (posted above), they claim that "most people are angry because they do not read through the rules thoroughly before they place their wages". So I repeat the invitation I have made in four separate e-mails to SIA: Show me where in your rules it says that you can change your mind about the odds after an event has finished.

I quote the following from SIA's Rules and Regulations:

"Sports InterAction cannot be held responsible for any typing or human errors in posting odds other than the odds intended. In the event that this occurs, Sports InterAction reserves the right..." etc. etc. (italics are mine).

In this case, SIA are therefore resorting to a rather risible claim that the 33/1 was a "misposting" rather than an error of judgement from their odds setter. To my mind, misposting means a typographical error when entering odds into the system (and a careful reading of the above rule yields no other interpretation that I can see). I don't think anyone can seriously believe that 33/1 could be a typing error when 8/1 was intended.

My e-mail address, if anyone wants to contact me, is alistair.flutter@betgenius.com. I'm happy to forward anyone who's interested a copy of the correspondence I had with SIA before they gave up replying to my e-mails.

Thanks for all the postings of support, and particularly Patrick who seems to have pursued this tirelessly in the face of SIA's surprising apathy.

Skyweasel · Aug 4, 2003

But if you trust these guys, I've got a bridge in Brooklyn I can let you have cheap too.

When they jobbed myself, Chuck and others on that boxing bet a couple of years ago, they went to the same line, "it's in our posted rules". But guess what, they didn't have a posted rule because I read the entire site the day it happened and didn't find anything.

So I wrote to complain and they copped out with a song and dance about how they used "Vegas" rules for this situation. Oh really, and what the fvck are "Vegas rules?" I asked, and of course, Vegas rules were whatever SIA said they were. So even though numerous posters here pointed out that in Vegas, there was no such thing as "ties lose" in boxing, SIA announced to me that that's how it was and my bet was a loss. In fact, all bets were a loss, how nice for them.

Of course they did have a three-way prop on it and apparently that was an implied "imaginary Vegas rule" on their part that justified the ripoff. I'm sure by now they've bothered to post rules on this on the site rather than just "imply" them, but these guys have constant stories floating about how they shaft people. Don't trust them, especially with your hard-earned $$$. Fvck SIA.

Igetp2s · Aug 4, 2003

Regarding Areef's statement that odds on place bets are normally 1/3 of win bets. I am not sure about elsewhere, but I am certain that at SIA the place odds on individuals were 1/2 of win bets, not 1/3, before the tournament began.

I dont think you guys are focusing on the right aspect of this problem. The fact whether the line is bad or not is not the main problem. The thing that to me is unacceptable is waiting more than 2 weeks to notify people about this, until after the bet won. They were obviously hoping it wouldnt and they could take a free shot at players.

I'll say it again. There is no justification for waiting 2 weeks to notice a bad line. That should be the main focus here.

peskypup · Aug 5, 2003

Right that's it for me. This bunch of crooks still haven't done the decent thing, still think it's OK to wait 2 weeks for an event to run then a further week plus to change the odds on a winning bet.

Well it is not OK. In any regulated country such as the UK they would not have a prayer of pulling this off, Kawaknackery are a bloody joke regime.

I am taking all my fund out, I am going to tell them why I have stopped playing there once my money has arrived.

Then I am going to post on every betting "newbie" site I post on what a crook bookie this is, and try to make sure as many people as possible know it.

Every time anyone posts up how great their dog lines are I will get right in there about how the great dog 33/1 line suddenly became 8/1.

Theft. Plain and simple theft.

noamchom · Aug 5, 2003

Vegas Rules? What a crock! In fact, the law in the state of Nevada holds that all wagers are "enforeceable contracts," meaning that the book cannot void the wager under almost any circumstances.

According to Phil Kaplan, who hosts a radio show about gambling in Miami, the test case occurred in the late 70s when a casino was taking action on an NBA final game that had already been completed (believe it or not, CBS showed most of these games via tape delay between 1979 and '81). The casino, quite understandably, maintained that they should not have to pay the winners since the wagers were foregone conclusions. The Nevada courts ruled against the casino, as it did not want to open the pandora's box of trying to separate errors, however obvious, from legitimate propositions.

I trust Kaplan, but, if anyone cares, I'll try to track down the legal citing. It would give me an excuse to do a little legal research. In any case, if SIA were located in Vegas, or Australia or England, what they did would be legally actionable and it would also result in a fine or harsher penalty.

ChuckSims · Aug 5, 2003

SIA is a STIFF book. It is well documented on this forum and others they have stolen money from bettors. They boot winners after you win 10-15 thousand. They got a pretty good scam going, boot winners and stiff the losers that they allow to play there. Terrible customer service and software that crashes on Saturday and Sunday during football season. Why people send them money is beyond me.