Having recently vacationed with my girlfriend in Curacao, I had the opportunity to visit the Royal Sports Group offices and thought I would share my experience and findings. I would also like to preface this by also stating that having spoken to The Major and The General on the phone as well as Peep in person and I am anything but not a shill and would think they agree.
I emailed and called Royal Sports to inquire about not only visiting their offices but getting the opportunity to speak to a few individuals and was given the go ahead. Upon dropping into the office I had the opportunity to meet and speak initially with Tim Johnson who I have dealt with in the past many times and came away with a greater understanding of what goes on behind the scenes at a sportsbook. I think anyone that has dealt with him will agree that he is an asset to that company. As luck would have it (well I don’t think they would agree) I dropped in while they were under DOS attack and got a first hand view courtesy of their tech guys on what happens during an attack and the amount of work that goes into fending it off, I don’t think Roy (one of the techies) ever clocked out.
Now having dealt as an in-between for some posters regarding payments, my next visit and sit-down was with Royal’s CFO to discuss such issues. I spoke with him and was given an overview of accounting procedures, he and the staff working for him oversee all payout being issued as well as monies coming in. Now having acted as a mediator in some pay disputes the thought arose of some possible financial issues with them but I don’t believe that to be an issue any longer after watching and witnessing payments being processed. One thing I can say is that fraud does exist and because of it player’s payments are delayed at times. I was shown just one of the many folders on fraud and you wouldn’t believe it if you saw it yourself. One player (California Area) had 34 Accounts, another one had several accounts with different names but the passport pictures for each were identical with the corresponding names being different. (Quintuplets I guess). Chargeback’s or forged checks, you name it I saw it.
Personally I believe that anytime a book offers bonuses greater 10% it invites bonus hunters and multiple account abusers to come in and take advantage of them, the original Gamblers Avenue was such a book and I think Royal believes in hindsight that bailing them out and taking over their players was the wrong move. Many of the players playing at the old GA were already playing at Royal so based just on customer acquisition there was no value there. Many of the players bailed out have either rolled the accounts over and withdrawn or failed to do so. I believe I was told that of all accounts at GA, only 20 still need to complete rollover requirements and after such Royal Sports may turn GA into a purely recreational book tailored to smaller players.
My final meeting(s) were with Kevin King CEO of Royal Sports. Kevin took over for Roberto Castiglioni and did so a little earlier then expected and I think he has been playing catch up ever since. I asked him about payment processing and what steps are being put in place to insure prompt quick payouts and service and he stated that guidelines are being put in place to ensure multiple accounts are eliminated and prevented from occurring, thus eliminating most levels of fraud. I would think that once their bonus structure is redefined and fraud prevention improved, those issues such as the ones above will cease to exist. I also inquired as to what other plans were in the works and was told that other improvements were being made. A new linesman now oversees the Royal lines and plans are being put in place to offer up lines in various other sports such as Soccer. Other plans include work being done with their horse dept. (Horse Royale) to cater to requests by their horse players. Unfortunately, here I am not at liberty to discuss it further.
I would like to thank the above named individuals for taking the time to answer my questions and to others not mentioned such as Karen, Kenneth, Richard, Scotty and Dominque for welcoming me in as well. I also had the pleasure of meeting Roberto’s wife who had dropped by the office the same day I was there and I got a chance to see a pix of there little boy Leonardo. I wish them all the best.
Finally I would hope that things continue to move ahead for this group. I think they have the right people in place now and given their plans for the future, they should become a favorite out again.
Cheers
HTRC
I emailed and called Royal Sports to inquire about not only visiting their offices but getting the opportunity to speak to a few individuals and was given the go ahead. Upon dropping into the office I had the opportunity to meet and speak initially with Tim Johnson who I have dealt with in the past many times and came away with a greater understanding of what goes on behind the scenes at a sportsbook. I think anyone that has dealt with him will agree that he is an asset to that company. As luck would have it (well I don’t think they would agree) I dropped in while they were under DOS attack and got a first hand view courtesy of their tech guys on what happens during an attack and the amount of work that goes into fending it off, I don’t think Roy (one of the techies) ever clocked out.
Now having dealt as an in-between for some posters regarding payments, my next visit and sit-down was with Royal’s CFO to discuss such issues. I spoke with him and was given an overview of accounting procedures, he and the staff working for him oversee all payout being issued as well as monies coming in. Now having acted as a mediator in some pay disputes the thought arose of some possible financial issues with them but I don’t believe that to be an issue any longer after watching and witnessing payments being processed. One thing I can say is that fraud does exist and because of it player’s payments are delayed at times. I was shown just one of the many folders on fraud and you wouldn’t believe it if you saw it yourself. One player (California Area) had 34 Accounts, another one had several accounts with different names but the passport pictures for each were identical with the corresponding names being different. (Quintuplets I guess). Chargeback’s or forged checks, you name it I saw it.
Personally I believe that anytime a book offers bonuses greater 10% it invites bonus hunters and multiple account abusers to come in and take advantage of them, the original Gamblers Avenue was such a book and I think Royal believes in hindsight that bailing them out and taking over their players was the wrong move. Many of the players playing at the old GA were already playing at Royal so based just on customer acquisition there was no value there. Many of the players bailed out have either rolled the accounts over and withdrawn or failed to do so. I believe I was told that of all accounts at GA, only 20 still need to complete rollover requirements and after such Royal Sports may turn GA into a purely recreational book tailored to smaller players.
My final meeting(s) were with Kevin King CEO of Royal Sports. Kevin took over for Roberto Castiglioni and did so a little earlier then expected and I think he has been playing catch up ever since. I asked him about payment processing and what steps are being put in place to insure prompt quick payouts and service and he stated that guidelines are being put in place to ensure multiple accounts are eliminated and prevented from occurring, thus eliminating most levels of fraud. I would think that once their bonus structure is redefined and fraud prevention improved, those issues such as the ones above will cease to exist. I also inquired as to what other plans were in the works and was told that other improvements were being made. A new linesman now oversees the Royal lines and plans are being put in place to offer up lines in various other sports such as Soccer. Other plans include work being done with their horse dept. (Horse Royale) to cater to requests by their horse players. Unfortunately, here I am not at liberty to discuss it further.
I would like to thank the above named individuals for taking the time to answer my questions and to others not mentioned such as Karen, Kenneth, Richard, Scotty and Dominque for welcoming me in as well. I also had the pleasure of meeting Roberto’s wife who had dropped by the office the same day I was there and I got a chance to see a pix of there little boy Leonardo. I wish them all the best.
Finally I would hope that things continue to move ahead for this group. I think they have the right people in place now and given their plans for the future, they should become a favorite out again.
Cheers
HTRC
