Mission146
Posted by Mission146
Oct 25, 2021

Introduction

The first thing that I want to do is give credit to MWalz9 for sharing his experiences with being backed off from bonuses, and potentially completely 86’ed from Fanduel online casino in West Virginia (and probably all of their sites) in this thread.

Savvy players, such as MWalz9, who haven’t necessarily opted to play online casinos much will often find themselves surprised when they have their accounts terminated---though they shouldn’t be. In fact, I’d already opined that there’s no real difference between state-regulated online casinos and those offshore in this article, in which I concluded:

After reading through all of this, my conclusion is that gambling online through this particular licensed and regulated (by a state) casino is almost no different than doing so with any other online casino. The only two major differences (one for and one against) I can see are the following:

IN FAVOR: This particular casino at least does not directly state that, “Professional,” play is not tolerated. However, given all of the various catch-alls, they could still accomplish the same thing in effect under some vague notion of, “Abuse.”

AGAINST: Credit checks, background checks, sharing information with third-parties anytime they want to.

Since that article was penned, I’ve had the opportunity to play many more state-regulated online casinos since that time...and the only other difference that I have found is that I think a player’s actual deposit might be slightly better protected in the state-regulated sites. Other than that, I find most of the Terms and Conditions for both types of casinos to accomplish roughly the same thing.

Of course, there are also some differences between the two that are NOT related to Terms & Conditions:

Advertising Bombardment

Generally speaking, most people wouldn’t run into advertisements for offshore online casinos unless they were either:

A.) Specifically looking for them.

OR:

B.) Reading a gambling website (such as this one) that advertises for them.

However, the state-regulated online casinos enjoy the benefit of being able to bombard people with advertising on any platform they like.

While that may vary from state-to-state, in Pennsylvania, I can say that I would be shocked to even watch a full news broadcast without seeing a handful of commercials advertising for online casinos. At this time, the commercials that I recall seeing most frequently are for DraftKings and Stardust Casino---with BetRivers coming in a close third.

In addition to the television advertising, online casinos are also buying up billboard space and sponsoring radio programs with commercials on there (or hosts directly talking about them), particularly on sports talk shows.

SIDE NOTE:

On a side note, I think it’s actually kind of amusing that I have been called a, “Shill,” for online casinos when writing for the sites...especially when I spend the better part of my time answering questions that people have directly asked, trying to identify positive EV opportunities and discouraging people from believing in betting systems.

Beyond that, you’re only going to find your way to our family of sites if you are already looking for gambling information anyway, so if you’re going to call anyone a shill, call the people who accept the advertising dollars from online casinos and advertise an unsought (as most people to watch the morning news are not looking for gambling information) product to people shills.

/SIDE NOTE

Anyway, at least in Pennsylvania, it’s an almost constant parade of online casino advertising. Obviously, that’s because the casinos in question are state-regulated and the Government gets a slice of the revenues.

Seriously, did anyone ever REALLY believe that the states care whether or not someone gambles online? Of course they didn’t. The main reason that you wouldn’t have this sort of advertising through those outlets before was simple---state Governments weren’t getting a rake from the pot!

Anyway, similar to some offshore online casinos (though not all) some of this advertising, in my opinion, is fairly deceptive.

The “Risk-Free” Bet

I would have to say that anything with the words, “Risk-Free,” is probably the most overtly deceptive advertising verbiage out there.

We will look at, “Risk-Free,” sports betting as an example.

Okay, so the way that a, “Risk Free,” sports bet works is pretty simple: If you have a $1,000 Risk-Free bet, then you can deposit $1,000, bet it, and if you lose you will receive a $1,000 site credit in order to make another bet.

Gambling savvy folks would instead refer to something like this as a, “Loss Rebate,” but the state-regulated online sites get to call it a, “Risk-Free Bet,” so, why not call it a loss rebate? The reason is twofold:

1.) Because you can do everything that you can with, “Risk Free Bet,” to imply that it is truly Risk-Free...such as calling it a Risk-Free bet in the first place.

Actually, when I first started hearing radio advertisements for it, the announcers were using verbiage such as, “They’ll refund your losses,” which isn’t true whatsoever. It’s not as if you could bet $1,000, lose, and have the site replace it with $1,000 that you could just immediately cash out...which, you know, WOULD BE risk-free.

However, they’ve come off of that verbiage lately...my assumption being due to complaints. I have to think that some people would go on, bet, lose and then find themselves surprised that they had to bet again.

Actually, a Risk-Free bet is not even a, “Low-Risk,” bet...assuming that you are playing it straight up---at least, not usually.

One low-risk way to play the promotion would be you could bet $1,000 (or whatever amount), lose, and then get $1,000 in sports betting site credits that you could bet however you wanted to. You could essentially break it up and bet $5 or $10 for each game bet and would almost certainly, “Grind back,” a substantial percentage of the $1,000...if not come out ahead. We will discuss more on that in a second.

2.) Most people probably aren’t going to understand what, “Loss Rebate,” means.

Getting back to the nature of, “Risk-Free,” I’ve only seen one website upon which you could lose the initial bet and then get site credit that you could bet anyway that you wanted.

Every other site that I have seen awards the Loss Rebate in the form of a single $1,000, “Free Bet,” so you can only use your Free Bet on one line, or parlay...whatever.

So...what makes it NOT Risk-Free?

  1. If you make a bet and lose, then make the Free Bet and lose again, you will have lost the entire amount of your deposit. If your initial bet was $1,000, then you will have lost $1,000 of actual cash...so I would love for someone to explain to me how you are not risking $1,000.
  2. If you lose your initial bet, but then use your Free Bet on a -(anything) line, and the Free Bet only pays the profits (as opposed to the profits AND the original bet amount)--which is how that works, then you will finish with less than the $1,000, even if you win the second bet.

In other words, having lost the initial bet, betting on the -(anything) line ensures that you CAN only lose money overall. Again, if the possibility of losing ANY amount of money exists, then I fail to see how it can be called Risk-Free.

Risk-Free v. Not Risk-Free

The way that a bet that is truly, “Risk-Free,” would work is that the player cannot possibly lose any money on the bet(s) that is the subject matter of the promotion. Even then, they’d still be counting on the site to pay them, but that’s generally not a problem.

Let’s look at the possible outcomes of an actual Risk-Free bet v. what they are doing to get some expected values:

Truly Risk-Free

For our examples, we are going to have our player betting on a -110 point spread line (doesn’t matter what the spread is, in this case) and assume a probability of winning of 50%. I guess we will call it a half point line since a whole point line automatically would have a non-zero probability of a push.

Win: 1000 *(100/110) = $909.09 + $1,000 = $1,909.09

Lose: $1,000 Straight Refund

In other words, the player either wins $909.09 or loses nothing as the player would be given a full refund. I can’t speak for anyone else, but the way that I use the English language, “Risk-Free,” means that you can’t possibly lose money on the transaction.

Because the player will win 50% of the time (implied and assumed here), the player has an Expected Profit of $454.55 (Rounded)

“Risk-Free,” But Not

With the, “Risk-Free,” advertising, there are actually three possible series of outcomes:

Win

Loss-Win

Loss-Loss

Okay, so what we are going to do here is always have the player bet on the -110 lines. We can borrow this:

Win: 1000 *(100/110) = $909.09 + $1,000 = $1,909.09

Lose: $1,000 Free Bet

And, we know that the player is still an (implied and assumed) 50% to win this first bet, so the positive Expected Value coming from that remains $454.55 (Rounded).

However, we must not get into the negative expected values.

If the player wins the second bet (on the Free Bet), then the return will be $909.09, because the original wager amount is not returned-only the profits. With that, the player has lost $90.91 overall, this has an assumed 25% probability of happening, so the Expected Value of this series of results is -$22.73 (Rounded).

If the player loses both, then the player has lost $1,000 and that also has an assumed 25% probability of occurrence, so the player will have an expected loss of $250. We will then take those and get our overall Expected Value:

454.55-250-22.73 = $181.82

As we can see, the player is still expected to profit $181.82 on a $1,000 initial outlay, for an expected return of 118.182%. That’s obviously very good and the player has an overall probability of profit of 50% betting this way...as winning the first game would be the only means to profit if the player sticks with -110 lines.

Two Notes

  1. Playing it straight up, what I discussed above is NOT the best way to do it, in terms of Expected Profits. I’m not going to discuss the best way because I didn’t think of it independently and that’s not the way I play these promotions anyway.
  2. The way that I do play these promotions is such that you can make it, “Risk-Free,” again---as in, you can’t possibly lose money unless the site doesn’t honor the promotion.

-I’m not going to spell it out perfectly, but you’ll want to look for two of these that are the same type of promotion (in which case you can do it alone) or you can have someone else look for basically the same promotion on a different site. If you can figure out where I’m going with this (you should be able to), then you will want to stick to half-point lines (think about it) and can work both sites in a way that guarantees an overall profit. You’ll lose a little bit of EV because you are going to end up making more total bets, but there’s no possible way to fail to profit.

Back to the Point

Anyway, the point is that people who might not usually seek out online casinos-or even casino information-are getting bombarded with advertising for online casinos in some of these states. More than that, some of the ads (in my opinion) are totally misleading.

And...BACK TO FANDUEL

Again, if someone isn’t familiar with online casinos, then it should come as a shock to them that a casino would flatly ban them from the site for, “Bonus abuse.”

Generally speaking, there’s usually going to be something in the Terms & Conditions that might give even state-regulated online casinos an out to not refund your deposit...but again, I think that sort of result is going to be more unlikely because I imagine these casinos won’t want reports made to the Gaming divisions.

For that reason, I tend to think deposits are slightly safer in state-regulated ones, but I don’t think anything else is that different about them. I guess it’s easier to find good promos with the state-regulated ones right now, but that’s because they are relatively new still, so I imagine that even that will change in the future and we will see some of them (as with offshore) start to have playthrough requirements such that players are still often expected to lose money on promos.

Anyway, I’d recommend reading MWalz’s thread, but here are some quick chronological points:

1.) Accounts suspended, no reason given, pending withdrawals...says he takes advantage of every promo.

---Obviously, this is going to be a ban due to, “Bonus Abuse,” but people who haven’t played online much before won’t really be expecting that.

2.) OnceDear says that his experience is the casino not giving out bonuses to him anymore if he has been profitable, which in Land Casinos, a player might call, “Being No-Mailed,” “Backed Off,” or, “Cut Off.” In other words, they’ll still let you play there if you really want to, but they have seen that you can identify advantages and exploit them, so they don’t want you to do that anymore.

3.) TomG says that his experience with FanDuel is that they are actually less likely to close accounts than some others, but are generally pretty quick to put limits (sports betting max wager limits against strong bettors) up.

4.) Redietz chimed in with some historical malfeasance with FanDuel and DraftKings that he can summarize better than I could, so I’m just going to quote what he said in the thread:

DraftKings shut me down because they said I had two accounts, one of which had about $10 in it from years ago which I had forgotten about. So they wanted all of this verification stuff sent to them to combine two accounts, one of which had ten dollars in it. I just told them to forget it. It's really hypocritical because the reason both sites offer single entry options these days is because they had to cut a non-prosecution deal with the feds. They got caught with workers at DraftKings setting up and coordinating many multiple accounts at FanDuel, and vice versa. So they themselves were operating mega-accounts. They want to disallow me because I had a second account with ten bucks in it!?!

5.) MWalz updates that he did get paid, but is not getting any answers as to why his accounts are all suspended. He also wonders why they would give out promotions (including some that were, ‘Exclusively,’ for him) if they didn’t want players to use them.

Axelwolf, who has been around the block a few times in both Land and Online Casinos points out:

I think it's pretty obvious that promotions are meant to draw people in who will degen out and lose their ass.

Sportsbooks and casinos on and online are notorious for bet limiting, cutting off promotions, and outright banning players who are of no real value after a while. Many places online have a predetermined formula that calculates your deposit, bonus, and win ratios.

We will discuss that more in a bit.

6.) Anyway, all efforts from MWalz to get a response on his accounts being suspended have failed, and FanDuel either does not answer the phone or maybe has his number blocked.

Once Again…

Once again, I linked to the full thread above and there are several good posts that I didn’t specifically touch on, so make sure to go to the introduction and click the link if you haven’t read it yet.

WHY DOES THIS HAPPEN?

As I said before, there is virtually zero difference between the offshore operators and the stateside ones, at least, from the standpoint of individual players.

  1. If offshore casinos decide that you have abused bonuses, they might refuse to pay out your winnings from the bonuses. State-regulated casinos also have that in their Terms and Conditions, generally.
  2. Offshore casinos reserve the right to Suspend or Terminate your account for a whole list of reasons, which state-regulated casinos ALSO have.
  3. Offshore casinos also give themselves the right to withhold returning your deposit on the grounds of bonus abuse. State-regulated online casinos typically have the same clause---and I don’t think it’s likely that either an offshore casino with a good reputation or a state-regulated casino would make a habit of doing this (terrible publicity and reviews), but it’s possible in both cases.

The biggest reason is because the casinos are in the business to make profits, not so the players can profit.

The reason that they advertise and offer these promotions (especially the new player ones) is because the positive value of them is often so clear that someone who has barely gambled can figure out that it’s a strong offer. They might not know one of the better ways to play it, but it doesn’t take a genius to know that having a deposit of $500 turned into $1,000 at least should be good. On the sports side, you basically get a second chance to make a $1,000 bet if you lose the first one...except they only pay the winnings on the risk-free bet.

Anyway, the sites will often give players follow-up bonuses, even if they have profited on bonuses previously. Just because a player made money on one bonus doesn’t mean that they don’t have the potential to be a profitable customer, even if they withdrew their funds, so the site wants to get them back and playing again.

After some time, the sites are going to figure out who is ONLY depositing when they are taking a bonus. Beyond that, they are going to figure out who is ONLY playing the bonuses in a way that yields an expected profit...and the biggest thing that they will notice is the fact that they are LOSING money...over the course of a month or more...to one particular player.

There’s no such thing as an, “Exclusive,” bonus, by the way. It just means that the computer has looked at the way that you play and you were given a promotion, via E-Mail, that happens to have the word, “Exclusive,” in it. It’s quite probable that no human being has even looked into your account yet, other than verifying your information, documents and withdrawals.

WHY OFFER THE PROMOTIONS?

They need players to participate on the site in the first place. They also have to differentiate between winning players and losing ones, because even if a player who is going to lose massively to them in the long-term happens to play one promotion correctly and with discipline...they still want that player back.

Eventually, the losing player will make deposits and play without any promotions, but even if he doesn’t, it’ll often not matter. The player might consistently lose when using promotions, or having won, will just go on to continue to lose whatever balance he happens to have on there after the promotion is over.

However, to get players like that as loyal players, you have to get them on the site to begin with...which is why New Player Promotions need to be generous and follow-up promotions need to at least be reasonably good.

Naturally, they know they are going to lose to strong and disciplined players during this time, but they really don’t mind, because getting rid of them (or cutting them off from bonuses) is just part of the process. They even fully realize that some players will come on there, ONLY play the strongest new player promotion, profit...and then never play again no matter what the website does.

That’s all part of doing business. Hell, some sports betting websites will give you the boot simply for winning too much/too frequently, even if you’re not taking promotions.

TIPS FOR LONGEVITY

DISCLAIMER: I want to preface this section by saying that you should do whatever you think it is best to do and that my, “Tips,” represent my opinions only and are not meant to be representative of WizardofVegas.com or any other website affiliated with the LCB network. Ultimately, you are responsible for not only how you play, but even whether or not you choose to play...so you can do that however you want. Again, these are just my opinions:

1.) Sprinkle-In Non-Bonus Deposits

  • Currently, there’s one state-regulated website where I have very regular recurring Bonuses that actually work on something of a schedule.
  • If I were only taking the bonuses, winning and cashing out, then I would be shocked if they wouldn’t have looked into me and decided to ban me by now. I’m very profitable overall, (my withdrawals are more than 200% of my total deposits) but any human looking at it for Bonus Abuse will notice that I sometimes make deposits while taking no bonus whatsoever.
  • While I am trying to stay away from having a clear pattern, basically what I do is make a deposit of roughly 20% of the total bonus +Expected Value for every two bonuses that I take. In other words, if I have two bonuses and, between the two, I am expected to profit $200...at some point (usually between the two bonuses---so I am never taking consecutive bonuses) I will do a straight deposit of $40 and just play.
  • I don’t know for sure that this has prevented me from being banned, but I know that they haven’t banned me yet. I was doing this at two websites as a recurring thing, but the second of the two has stopped giving me 100% Match Bonuses completely, (but did not suspend me and still offers me garbage promotions) so I think the second one is on to me.

2.) Sprinkle-In -EV Play

  • Listen, if you have something like a deposit match bonus that you’re only going to do on a one-time basis, never plan to play at the casino again, and want to do your playthrough requirements exactly to the penny...that’s fine.
  • However, if you are taking advantage of recurring bonuses, then that’s going to be something that it’s really easy for them to see that you are doing. If you take several promotions in a row, bet just enough to cover the Wagering Requirements, and quit...they will eventually notice that.
  • With that, what you want to do is play just a little bit after you have satisfied the Wagering Requirements. You can do that however you want to, but for me, what I will usually do is just play up or down to the next multiple of $50 from wherever my balance is. For example, if my balance is $368.50, then I’ll just play Video Poker at smallish bets until I am either at $350 or $400. If I go a bit over $400 (or anything that’s not a multiple of $50) by hitting a hand, then I’ll either play up or down to the next multiple of $50.
  • Granted, there’s going to be a bit of an EV cost doing it this way, but it’s not going to be very much and it shows a little bit of non-bonus action. Beyond that, if anyone looks at my account, I would think that something like a multiple of $50 looks like a, “Natural stopping point,” rather than me trying to wring literally every penny in value out of them.
  • Also, when I make my, “Between Bonuses Deposit,” I don’t just make it and let it sit there...I’ll just play it straight up on the same games that I would normally be playing when I take a Bonus. Basically, I’m not doing anything out of character in that regard.
  • Also, they just want to see the non-bonus deposit from time-to-time, you don’t have to actually lose that money, you just have to play it a bit and be willing to lose it. I usually play until I have lost it or quintupled it...don’t worry...the occasional win and what I am winning from promotions is going to more than make up for it!!!

3.) Withdraw Frequently

  • It might seem counterintuitive, (like, why would a casino want someone who withdraws all the time?) but you should probably withdraw your winnings and initial deposit after every bonus, at least, in my opinion.

There are a few reasons for this:

A.) Withdrawing frequently also means that you are depositing frequently, which is good. Some promotions that you will do will likely NOT be deposit match promotions, but having withdrawn, you will have to deposit again to do them. Seeing a long history of deposits and withdrawals just makes it look like you always withdraw when you are done and deposit when you want to play again...so there’s nothing about that pattern that (by itself) would warrant a closer look at your play.

B.) LARGE WITHDRAWALS (individually, or cumulatively) GET ATTENTION!!! You don’t want to make several deposits for each withdrawal that you are taking (especially if you are taking deposit bonuses at the same time) because that means you will eventually end up with a large balance and will eventually want to make a large withdrawal.

Large withdrawals are going to draw eyes to your account---and then when they see that you make several deposits and your withdrawal amount is larger than all of your deposits combined, they’re going to want to figure out why. At that point, they will take a closer look into your bonus history as well as the games you have been playing and amounts you have been betting.

Small withdrawals are generally not going to draw quite the same scrutiny. When someone is going through and looking at the withdrawal requests and tapping the, “Approve,” button...smaller withdrawals are not going to jump out as a reason to take a closer look into your account. If you get banned for bonus abuse while only making smaller withdrawals, then it will be because you were noticed for a different reason.***

***On that note, the systems probably have various, “Auto-triggers,” such as how many bonuses that you have taken, perhaps, or how many bonuses in a row without a non-bonus deposit...that will get them to automatically have a human being take a deep look at your account. I’m sure that sizable withdrawals are one of these triggers.

C.) Why do you want them holding your money?

-Their Terms and Conditions basically say that they can void your winnings if they suspect you of, “Bonus Abuse,” and, in some cases, can even refuse to refund your deposit. Again, I think them not refunding your deposit is a bit more unlikely for state-regulated casinos, but once you have the money in your balance...that’s YOUR money now. Don’t let them hold it.

If they do decide that they are not going to pay off on your bonus winnings, then that’s just more money in the account that they can refuse to pay out.

You never know when a website is going to drop that Terms & Conditions hammer, so make sure that you are withdrawing frequently, just in case they decide you have done something to void your winnings. They can’t refuse to pay you the money that you already have.

Speaking of Terms & Conditions

The subject site in question is FanDuel West Virginia, so with that, let’s take a deep look at some select Terms and Conditions, directly from their website, and what they mean:

Note that these are actually spread across multiple pages on their site, but I only linked to one.

2.3 By accessing, using or otherwise participating on the Services, you accept and agree to be legally bound by these Terms, whether or not you sign-up as a member of the Services. If you do not agree to accept and be bound by the Terms, please discontinue your use of the Services and the Website and Betting Apps. It is important that you review these Terms regularly. We may impose limits on certain features, activities, offers, promotions or services and may restrict, suspend, terminate your access to the Services or your ability to participate in activities, offers, promotions or Services, in whole or in part, at any time and for any or no reason, with or without prior notice and without liability.

Okay, so one of the first things that we get into here is that they can basically kill your account for no reason whatsoever, if they so choose---or for any reason they choose.

That covers that and it also basically says that they don’t have to give you a reason if they decide to kill your account---because they’re not even required to have a reason. This sort of Term is very typical for both offshore and state-regulated casinos.

4.3.1 You are at least twenty-one (21) years of age. It is an offense for anyone under the age of twenty-one (21) to open an Account or to gamble with FanDuel Sportsbook or FanDuel Casino. We reserve the right to request proof of age documentation from any applicant or customer at any time and to void any wagers made by or on behalf of minors;

There’s that and other possible exclusions, but most sites (offshore and domestic) are just going to believe whatever you say and not request anything until you attempt a withdrawal. Online gambling sites usually don’t mind free-rolling, when they can.

5.6.1 Your participation in sports wagering is personal and not professional;

Hey, look at that, there’s the, “No Professional bettors,” rule that we all expected to be there. Of course, Fanduel and DraftKings basically had the DFS market cornered at one point and used information gained from their own sites to make wagering decisions on the opposite site...but no professional bettors!!!

You know, it’s an integrity thing.

Of course, I don’t know what their standard is when it comes to what is or is not, “Professional,” mostly because later terms state that is basically at their own discretion.

7.2 Withdrawals - We have a number of controls and checks that take place before any withdrawal request is processed. These checks are part of our ongoing commitment to maintaining the security of our customers’ funds. Withdrawals from your Account can be requested via ACH, check, PayPal, or the FanDuel Prepaid Card. ACH, PayPal, and FanDuel Prepaid Card withdrawal requests will be processed within three (3) business days. Check withdrawals will be mailed within five (5) business days via the United States Postal Service to the account address. The availability of withdrawn funds is subject to standard banking restrictions.

Wait a minute, so where are the, “Controls and checks,” when it comes to players making a deposit? Oh, right, freerolling...almost forgot.

Much like offshore casinos, it sure takes longer for withdrawals to be approved than it does (virtually instantly) for deposits. I mean, come on, did you REALLY expect that to be any different?

8.5 You must exercise your own judgement in placing a Bet and you hereby confirm that you have not relied on the advice of any BIU employee relating to any Bet.

Unless you have really good judgment, in which event, they’ll probably declare you to be a, “Professional,” and either close or severely restrict your account.

8.10 Guaranteed prices and other special offers or promotions are available at the discretion of BIU and can be restricted on an individual Account basis at any time.

Yup. Just like all the other promotions. They might just not worry about that and simply kick you off the site completely, though.

8.13 FanDuel Sportsbook reserves the right to void any or all Bets made by, any group of people acting in conjunction with each other, or any individual acting alone, in an attempt to defraud FanDuel Sportsbook.

Of course, they don’t define how an individual acting alone might go about doing that.

8.15 BIU may, at its sole discretion and without any requirement to give reasons, exclude any customer from the Services generally or from receiving selected promotions (e.g., guaranteed best price; bonuses; free bets; enhanced prices; and money-back specials) and any other promotions and offers introduced by us from time to time.

Again, if they terminate your account, here they are saying that they don’t actually have to give you a reason why. As above, they can do it for literally no reason, if they want to.

Here’s the part where they can withhold your money, even if they do terminate your account:

Following termination or suspension of your Account, Following termination or suspension of your account, we may, in the normal course of business, return any funds in your account. Please contact Customer Service to request any funds held in suspended or closed accounts. However, we reserve the right to withhold the funds in your Account from you pending the determination of any investigation (including any relevant external investigation) where:

we suspect you have acted in breach of these Terms or any other agreement relevant to your activities on our site, including where we suspect the Account has been linked with fraudulent or ‘suspicious betting’ activity (explained in{' '} Section 9 ); and/or

we have to withhold the funds in your Account by law or to comply with any advice, request or instruction from any governmental, regulatory or enforcement authority.

In other words, if they decide that you have violated their Terms and suspend your account, then they do have the right to refuse to pay you on the grounds that you violated their Terms. In general, I think most players at state-regulated casinos will at least get their deposits back.

8.27 (In Part) If an internal or external investigation reasonably demonstrates that you have acted in breach of these Term, any other agreement relevant to your activities on the Website or Betting Apps, or that your Account has been linked with fraudulent and/or ‘suspicious betting’ activity, we reserve the right to seize some or all of the funds in your Account. The disposition of any funds obtained by us in this manner will be at our sole and absolute discretion and/or in accordance with any advice, request, or instruction from any governmental, regulatory or law enforcement authority.

What is, “Suspicious Betting?” Well, they never clearly define it, so it’s basically whatever the hell they want it to be. With that, while I would think it wouldn’t usually happen, they might also decide to seize your deposit.

And, they do have a few examples of, “Suspicious Betting,” which, by the way, aren’t particularly suspicious...such as:

9.1.1 where there is an inordinate frequency and/or highly unusual pattern of Bets (by comparison with betting norms) placed on the same selection(s) in a short space of time;

What the hell does that mean? Does that mean that playing line movement or trying to, “Middle,” is suspicious betting? I mean, I guess they might, “Suspect,” that someone knows what they are doing and want to ban them, but what else about that could possibly be suspicious?

Okay, so if you want to be really safe, I guess you’re not supposed to be on the same game twice.

9.1.2 where there is an inordinate frequency and/or highly unusual pattern of Bets placed on the same selection(s) and where the theoretical probability of said selection(s) winning at the time of Bet(s) placement, based on the odds offered on the selection(s) at the time of bet placement, is largely inconsistent with the theoretical probability of the same selection(s) winning calculated using their starting prices;

What in the hell does that even say!? It sounds to me like this is just more verbiage to prevent players from making multiple bets on the same game as a result of line movement or trying to, “Middle,” the game...but maybe someone more savvy on sports betting can tell me if this has other implications.

Okay, so you place a bet on a team...that team’s quarterback or the opposing quarterback gets hurt in practice, so you place an additional bet, or a bet on the opposite team accordingly...and that’s supposed to be a violation of something? The hell sense does this make?

9.1.3 where the integrity of an event (or events) has been called into question, including, for example, but not limited to where one (or more) of the participants in an event displays exceptional form which we reasonably believe was known to you or someone connected to you at the time of bet placement but was concealed from the public generally in order to gain an unfair advantage in any bets placed on that event (or those events);

I can’t imagine that this one will come up very often, but you’ll notice that they say that they just need to, “Reasonably believe,” that you knew about it...nothing about actually proving it.

Hell, even if it did come up, it’s not like they actually have to tell you why you were banned anyway.

9.1.6 where we reasonably suspect that you have opened duplicate Accounts or where we reasonably suspect that second or subsequent Accounts are under common control with your Account with a view to concealing the true worth, nature or pattern of Bets placed by you or on your behalf, even if second or subsequent Accounts are opened under different names;

9.1.7 where we otherwise believe, acting reasonably, that you are acting in concert with others or that you are acting other than on your own behalf; or

I could actually see this happening, or be by way of collusion, but again...nothing about them actually proving it. Just them believing it is sufficient enough. They could just say, “Man, this guy sure does win a lot...must be cheating, better ban him.”

9.2.3 suspend or withhold payment of any amounts (or any parts thereof), usually for no longer than thirty (30) days but where relevant for such longer period of time as may reasonably be required (for example, pending any investigations by BIU, any sports governing body, a gambling regulator, a law enforcement authority or any other third party);

Thirty days and maybe more? Jesus!

9.2.5 calculate any winnings based on the starting price of the event(s) the subject of the Bet(s). Where possible, we shall communicate to you in advance that any Bet(s) will be settled at the starting price; or

Okay, so they have the right to revert any bets you made to the starting line and payout based on that in the event of a line movement. I wonder if they would ever do the same thing when it would actually work in a player’s favor? I seriously doubt it.

THOSE ABOVE were just some selections from the Sportsbook Terms, which I got about 25% of the way through and am not reading the rest because it would take several hours. Let’s get into some terms from other areas of the site.

Well, taxes sure do suck...and if you play on FanDuel, they might have to report you:

Each year all winners who have won $600 or more over the previous year must provide updated address and social security details to FanDuel. These details will be used to allow FanDuel to comply with tax regulations and may be shared with appropriate tax authorities. You, not FanDuel, are responsible for filing and paying applicable state and federal taxes on any winnings. FanDuel does not provide tax advice, nor should any statements in this agreement or on the Service be construed as tax advice.

Of course, nothing like that for losing players. Seems like, in addition to taking their money, winning players also give them more work to do. Score one for offshore casinos who, for obvious reasons, have no reason to ever report you to the IRS.

That was from the Daily Fantasy section, which I’m not going to read any more of because I really don’t know and don’t care about DFS.

In fact, I’m not reading any more of it at all. If just the terms that I have quoted are insufficient to convince you that FanDuel can basically do whatever the hell it wants, then nothing is going to.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, I reiterate that there is no meaningful difference between the state-regulated and licensed online casinos than there is of the reputable offshore ones. There are only four advantages to playing at state-regulated online casinos:

  1. The deposit methods are usually more numerous and easier to do.
  2. You have the option of getting a cage withdrawal, if you are near the land casino that the online one is affiliated with. However, these deposits generally take as long to approve as any others do---sometimes longer.
  3. In general, I think players are slightly less likely to lose their deposits if their accounts are terminated for Bonus Abuse, or any other reason.
  4. The Promotions are currently generally better, but I’m sure that will change eventually.

However, there are a few disadvantages:

  1. They usually reserve the right to conduct background and credit checks into you.
  2. They will often report your winnings to the applicable tax authorities. (Offshore casinos have no reason to ever do that)
  3. They usually reserve the right to use your name and other information for promotional materials.

However, when it comes to player having their accounts terminated for, “Bonus Abuse,” or for other reasons, there’s absolutely no difference whatsoever.

That’s mostly due to the fact that many of these casinos only want (long-term) net losing players. They don’t want savvy winning players who know how to take advantage of and maximize the promotions. Hell, FanDuel is apparently scared of professional sports bettors playing straight up---not that such is any surprise.

With that, and depending on the bonuses available, you can either try to play for longevity (if you have recurring bonuses) by taking some steps that will likely get them to at least take longer about banning you...or you can just do every positive promotion that you can until they eventually ban you….which WILL happen sooner or later.

And, as always, if you’re truly a recreational player...while a few of you might get caught in the crossfire...most of you won’t have to worry about any of this.

So, would I rather play at a reputable offshore casino or a state-regulated one? It depends on which one has the most +EV on whatever promotion I’d be playing. No matter where I play, my expectation is they’ll terminate my account eventually.

Comments

odiousgambit
odiousgambit Oct 27, 2021

question #1, did David Green get paid for this article instead of you? It's credited to Green.


"I would have to say that anything with the words, “Risk-Free,” is probably the most overtly deceptive advertising verbiage out there."... yes, amazing that they can get away with this patently false designation. I don't care much for those who go on about how gambling corrupts, but in the case of state governments who go for this, the evidence is clear. They have been corrupted into mendacity.

In the case of ongoing offers from BetMGM, the various offers are repaid with the equivalent of promotional chips. You keep the winnings on your retry-after-loss but not the amount bet! I believe you are saying this is typically true of the initial $1000 bet offers for new customers? If so I'm really glad again I didn't go for that!

"Okay, so one of the first things that we get into here is that they can basically kill your account for no reason whatsoever, if they so choose---or for any reason they choose." ... a gamble to deny action to another, to walk away when you please; that is perfectly fine. Don't accept a bet if you don't think you have the edge. Fine. But for casinos, including online ones, the principle just doesnt go over well with me, and it shouldn't with legislators. What would be OK would be to stop the offers. Isn't this obvious?

"$600 or more over the previous year must provide updated address and social security details to FanDuel." Don't fail to note that they don't actually say they will deduct your losing bets before determining you won $600. Guess who doesn't trust them on that. Me. 

Might have more later, haven't finished

odiousgambit
odiousgambit Oct 27, 2021

I ca't edit the statement, "a gamble to deny action to another", which should be "for a gambler to deny action to another"

Mission146
Mission146 Oct 27, 2021

OG,

#1 He didn't. That is, unless he submits it as his own, which I obviously know he wouldn't do.

I went ahead and fixed that, anyway. I don't have backend access on WoO (some stuff I do is accidentally credited to Wizard once in a while), but I do here, so that's an easy fix.

#2 I agree. It's totally false advertising. If there's any possibility of losing money, then it's not risk-free.

That is typically true of such promotions, I've only seen one where (while the rebate must be bet) it is fully treated as a cash bet.

I think it's obvious, but they don't want sharp sports bettors, either. They figure that if you know the promotions angles, then you might know other angles. I can also say that land casinos can 86 you for basically any reason they wish, so it's the online equivalent---right or wrong.

I agree on that. I'd prefer not to have them reporting anything to the IRS, particularly not amounts that small. OTOH, it might have something to do with the Lottery Department just in that state, not sure.

Suited89
Suited89 Nov 09, 2021

CT has just allowed DraftKings, FanDuel and SugarHouse. Most of the action is Sports, but advertise Casino as well. There are even 30 minute 'info-mercials' on how to play. BTW, these gaming ventures rely upon Android or iOS. NO Windows or Linux. The former is a joke security-wise, the latter IS NOT. IMHO Apple iOS 14, or just don't bother with on-line.

I'm not holding my hand on my arse waiting for O/L poker tables/tournies.

Suited89

Mission146
Mission146 Nov 10, 2021

That might be true when it comes to security, but they probably just go with the most popular OS.

I don't know if the new player promotion at CT Sugarhouse is the same as elsewhere, but if so, you should look into it as it is a slam dunk.

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