Don't Play at BetOnline - Glitchy Software and Horrific Support

Immediately prior to the end of late registration, Freebuy #141 had over 2000 entrants and was set to payout approximately 330 places from a prize pool of $500. However, immediately after late registration, I noticed a glitch that caused only the winner to receive a payout of the entire prize pool.

After busting in 302nd place ("in the money" by pre-late registration standards), I noticed I didn't receive anything in my account. I contacted support via Live Chat and spoke with someone named Ron who, after a drawn-out back-and-forth conversation, confirmed that an error had occurred with the payout structure of the tournament, but stated I was ineligible for any part of the prize pool as conveniently only the top 300 spots are to be paid out within the next 24 hours.

After the chat support person showed themselves to be most unhelpful, I contacted phone support and spoke with someone named Dominic who had me wait on hold, only to tell me that he and his supervisor were unable to assist as they can only assist with sports betting inquiries. When I explained that the Live Chat support person was unhelpful, Dominic said I'd have to request a supervisor via Live Chat.

When I opened up another Live Chat window, I was reconnected to the same Live Chat support person who was unable or unwilling to help earlier. Playing dumb, he pretended not to know why I was asking for a supervisor and said that no supervisor was currently on duty (which is troubling whether he was lying or not). You can imagine where this got me...no where.

So now I'm on here to share my experience with all of you. I wouldn't want anyone to get burned, especially for a larger sum of money. I have linked to a screenshots showing the erroneous payout structure and my finishing position, as well as transcripts of my chat history (with some personal details redacted) for evidence.

Screenshot of Tournament Lobby w/ Erroneous Payout Structure:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/18hSjp2ox9HEmgrY6dB1A5VFA5YwreY6g/view?usp=sharing

Screenshot of Place Finished:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qAkxbZierLqORscpKYu3Ba-rICcfuPUC/view?usp=sharing

Live Chat Transcript 1:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ptCouBhwgoKXoFxN1CZ629xh2q5zdxrr/view?usp=sharing

Live Chat Transcript 2:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SWUS-0SLOle12DZVT9h6X8EGQWH3SW1a/view?usp=sharing

hugh blair said:

Issues with the freebuy payouts are probably with the Chico network itself maybe as the same thing occurred on several skins to be honest and Betonline is just one of them.
Since it is free would not worry about it just do not rebuy or add on as this happened in a few freebuy games maybe that is the way they want it unsure?

Click to expand...

An investment of time is still an investment, whether or not you choose to rebuy or add-on.

If it was intentional, it was an unethical decision to change the payout structure to winner-take-all immediately post-late reg, without clearly stating so at the time of initial registration.

I assume it was not intentional, but was rather a programming mistake. However, my main issue is with the service I received after encountering the issue, which was truly off-putting.

How anyone could justify risking larger sums on BetOnline (or other Chico sites, if they are all run by the same folks) by reasoning that such poor service is only provided to those playing freebuys is baffling.