To Cardschat community:

I just wanted to reach out to the community and share my experience with BetOnline. I joined BetOnline a few weeks ago after my friend told me they got a new site/new software. I played years ago on their old software and eventually migrated to Bovada because their experience was much better in my opinion. I ended up depositing $100 into my account on 2/6/2017. I played for a few days until the craziest, most unexpected thing in my life had happened…I won the Bad Beat Jackpot for $137,000. To this day it was the most surreal thing that has even happened to me, I was in utter shock. I won $137,000, the guy who beat me won $65,000 and the rest of the table each won around $9k-10k. The chances of winning that…unbelievably low so needless to say I was in heaven, pure joy!

I emailed BetOnline customer service and basically told me them right away I wanted to share my winnings with the staff because I was so thankful. They said they wouldn’t be allowed to take any winnings, but they were working on some kind of event I could participate in and give back to the community/share my winnings. I never heard back on this.

I deposited $100 via Visa debit card on 2/6/2017 and they have a policy in which you need to wait 7 business days before requesting a Payout per their credit/debit card rules. I waited the 7 days and then requested a Payout. That payout ended up being cancelled because I didn’t submit the required documents, my ID front and back and my Visa card front and back. First of all there was nowhere to place these documents so I’m assuming they wanted me to just send them proactively to [email protected]? Either way, I was fine with that and took the requested pictures and sent them exactly what they had requested, my driver’s license front/back and the Visa card front/back I used to deposit the $100.

Over 24 hours went by and my cashier was showing ‘restricted’ so after some emails to customer service and a call to their customer service line I finally had Brian with their Security Team to update my account. I then was able to request another Payout. I requested the payout and shortly after it was cancelled again and I got an email stating there was suspicious activity/play between me and another player, who I won’t mention. Player Services asked me to describe my relationship to this player. Obviously, I had no idea who it was nor did I know the person personally. I don’t know anyone on BetOnline, I just joined the site after 2+ years. I did recall the player they asked about because I won a huge hand against him. I actually took a screen shot of the hand because I won $3,500 with a A/4 flush vs. his Q/10 flush, forcing him all in. I explained the situation to Player Services and how I had no idea who it was and that it may look suspicious because I won a lot of money off of him – basically pure luck, I had a higher flush and position on him. Regardless, I have no problem with books trying to investigate for possible suspicious play between players. I didn’t take offense and told them everything I knew. One thing that concerned was that they were investigating poker play AFTER my bad beat jackpot winnings so it had nothing to do with my original winnings. I actually didn’t win anything playing poker days following my big day, I actually lost a few $1k. So needless to say I was upset they cancelled the Payout because the payout was only money from my Bad Beat Jackpot winnings. Each time I requested $7,500 via wire transfer. However, again, I’m fine with them investigating for possible issues…heck it could have been something that other player did. It bothered me but I explained myself the best I could.

I then waited over 17 hours for a response, still didn’t get a Payout through – status said “Under Review”, so I decided to contact Live Chat. I spoke with Juliet in Player Services and asked her if I could request another payout. She first stated she needed all of the documents but I told her I already submitted them a few days ago. She then came back and said I had ‘duplicate accounts’ and that the fraud team was investigating my account. I literally got sick to my stomach and was just in awe. I couldn’t believe it. I thought that account would have been deleted/wiped out or if anything have nothing to do with my current situation. For more clarity, I created my original account over 2 years ago and haven't signed into it in AT LEAST 1.5 years, probably more.

Anyways, I then responded back to Brian with the Security Team/Player Services via email and told him this whole story and how I had never used that account/played poker with it in over 2+ years, that I thought I needed to create another account, that I am an honest/hard working guy and this is just a crazy situation that I never intended on being in. I take responsibility for not trying my old account – wouldn’t even of known the email address because I changed email addresses over the years. I take responsibility for assuming I just needed to create a new account because of the new software/poker site. I get that, but I had the best intentions and never wanted to get into this situation.

I researched BetOnline and although there is a lot of bad stuff out there about them, just like there is with other sites, I also found a lot of good things/comments/reviews about the long standing site. Cardschat ranks them #1 and Sportsbook ranks them #2. I still think they are probably one of the best sites out there. I just hope they do the right thing here and forgive me for my mistake. I understand it’s only 1 account per person and account security is very important, but I literally did not try to avoid this problem nor purposely make another account. I assumed (which I shouldn’t have) that making a new account was the correct route.

I am currently awaiting a response back from BetOnline as to what they choose to do with my case. They are still reviewing it. I just pray that they treat me with respect and allow me to take my winnings or even just a chunk of my winnings I would be happy with. I gave them my phone number, all of the required documentation, my Facebook account URL and am willing to give them my employers information to validate who I am. I am a normal, honest, hardworking guy from the States who was just trying to play some poker on a US friendly website who happened to hit the Bad Beat Jackpot…who happened to experience the best thrill of his life and now it’s in the air as to if I’ll even receive my funds.

I hope you all notice that I never bashed BetOnline once because I’m not like that…I actually was sticking up for them throughout the various poker forum communities. I want people to be a part of this situation to really see what kind of people work at BetOnline. I know I technically didn’t follow the rules, but I have gave them all the information necessary to make things right - I 100% never meant to do something like this. I want nothing other than to show the online poker world that BetOnline is a great, honest and forgiving company. I don't think it's fair to take my winnings/confiscate $137,000. I say they might do that because after reading stories throughout the internet poker sites have been accused of taking winnings. Most of those stories were because players cheated to some extent or actually fraud-ed the sports book. I sure hope they cut me a break and pay me my winnings.

This has been the hardest day of my life. I have never been so worried/stressed out...

I will post all updates once I have them. Thanks all for reading and wish me luck. If anyone needs more proof of my situation please ask for it. I will post pictures of anything to validate the report/confirm my story because I understand I am a new member here (been lurking for years/reading forum just never joined).

Site Admin, if you need anything from me, please let me know. As long as this situation works out, I would love to host a large $$ Freeroll tournament at Cardschat and give back to this wonderful community.

Also, is there any other site/place I should share my story to gain more exposure? I was thinking about posting on SportsBookReview forums as well.

Regards.

Congrats...bad title for this tho.

I can relate sort of. Before BCP left Merge, I won big and started on a process that took several month to see any money at all. BCP had to move to WPN before things smoothed out.

I too like the software at BCP, but being a member here for a long time, have yet to see a good review of their withdrawal process. For a long time CC did not think BOL was so good. I am not privie to why CC changed stances.

I got thru what could have been much more stressful, by changing my attitude to where I only considered I had a lot of play money. I made no plans for any of the money I won. I lost any expectations I would ever see any of it.

It took several months for me to get the bulk of it, but eventually I did, fixed an eye, and life was easier for a while. That was at WPN, who already had a good financial reputation at that time (several years ago).

Be patient, and good luck.

OMG! I feel so bad for you. I really hope you get some money out of this, but if I had to guess, they will use your situation as an excuse to screw you out of your money.

Originally Posted by dj11

Congrats...bad title for this tho.

I can relate sort of. Before BCP left Merge, I won big and started on a process that took several month to see any money at all. BCP had to move to WPN before things smoothed out.

I too like the software at BCP, but being a member here for a long time, have yet to see a good review of their withdrawal process. For a long time CC did not think BOL was so good. I am not privie to why CC changed stances.

I got thru what could have been much more stressful, by changing my attitude to where I only considered I had a lot of play money. I made no plans for any of the money I won. I lost any expectations I would ever see any of it.

It took several months for me to get the bulk of it, but eventually I did, fixed an eye, and life was easier for a while. That was at WPN, who already had a good financial reputation at that time (several years ago).

Be patient, and good luck.

Thank you for sharing. I know my issue is security related but I will do WHATEVER it takes to prove I was not trying to take advantage of the system or whatever they may consider a problem when talking about accounts.

I guess my problem was I expected to be paid my winnings and although the process is still early I still have to at least hope the winnings will find my way. I will take a settlement or whatever, but they made a dream of mine come true, of any poker player and to just completely take that away would be probably the hardest thing ever to get over. I have plans to help my family, my community, my church and for them to not follow through because of one little account mistake it would be awful.

I am giving them the opportunity to follow through with the great Bad Beat Jackpot program they have and really make a poker players biggest day an actual possibility. I know they have strict rules about accounts, I know that, but if you look at the facts they will be able to clearly tell I did nothing suspicious nor nothing to make me not deserve my winnings. They can see in their database that I never played on my first account for years! They can see I am an honest person who proved everything he could when it comes to identity and integrity.

Like I said in the post, I'm not calling out BetOnline as bad people or a bad poker site. I'm just sharing my story and giving them the opportunity to make it known to the world they are above and beyond any other site in the world and with that bring them more business, a bigger customer base and a even better community because people who see this topic can trust BOL has the integrity that I speak of and follow through with helping a customer out who made an honest mistake.

Originally Posted by Pokerguy6666

OMG! I feel so bad for you. I really hope you get some money out of this, but if I had to guess, they will use your situation as an excuse to screw you out of your money.

They could very well do that, but I'm giving them the opportunity to make it right, make a decision not based upon money or security, but heart. I deserve this money man, I really do. I want to give them the chance to do something for their customer base and audience, that's why I made it public. I believe they will do the right thing.

Please update this when you get this resolved, one way or another. I'm thinking of switching to betonline for the multitabling opportunities but this post makes me hesitate.

Originally Posted by Picatrix

Please update this when you get this resolved, one way or another. I'm thinking of switching to betonline for the multitabling opportunities but this post makes me hesitate.

I will man. I wouldn't want to defer you from BetOnline so sorry if this ruined your plans. I hope to shed light ASAP.

Just got an email that my account is awaiting the Poker Team to clear it. We'll see what happens next. Will update accordingly.

That would be horrible and absurd if they screw you out of $100,000 for having a account from over 2 years ago... It's almost laughable to think they could do that, if I was you I wouldn't take any settlement and I'd make sure they know I was going to tell my story to the entire world. As far as gaining more exposure post it on 2+2 for sure.

Originally Posted by moola2

That would be horrible and absurd if they screw you out of $100,000 for having a account from over 2 years ago... It's almost laughable to think they could do that, if I was you I wouldn't take any settlement and I'd make sure they know I was going to tell my story to the entire world. As far as gaining more exposure post it on 2+2 for sure.

I'd honestly lawyer up if they did that.

Originally Posted by TimeForTheAce

I will man. I wouldn't want to defer you from BetOnline so sorry if this ruined your plans. I hope to shed light ASAP.

Just got an email that my account is awaiting the Poker Team to clear it. We'll see what happens next. Will update accordingly.

Thanks. We'll be waiting

I hope everything works out for you.

good luck for cashing out.
will keep an eye on your update.

Waiting to read the final outcome.

congrats on the win it's easy to see your an honest guy and you haven't used your other account so could not have cheated.
they would have to be complete crooks not to pay you and I don't think that is the case.
quick stressing over it and just have patience. pretty sure you will get your money. I completely understand the stress
but it can't help you and could hurt you.

Thank you all for the support and encouragement. Haven't been able to sleep much. I am being patient though and not trying to reach BetOnline.

Debi the Admin messaged me and is trying to help as well.

No updates yet. Will let you guys know.

First of all, your post is as professional, forthright and as sincere as is possible in my opinion. It is so easy to feel betrayed and begin by lashing out at BOL which you have not done at all! That alone adds even more credence to your words IMO. I hope you get this resolved, Seems like there is always risk with these sites regardless of their reputation.

Makes me wonder as well because you can put months into micro games build up a BR and have to deal with this if you hit it big?

Like you said, nothing wrong with a site being diligent about security, but the other side of the coin is they also used your win as a huge marketing enticement to the rest of us on BOL. And if they do not pay you out then they are acting the shill and none of us want to see that!

I was playing on BOL when you won and within minutes was met with a POP up that congratulated your for the bad beat jackpot win and outlined the amount of money you won. Which I can only assume every member of BOL saw as well. I am very happy to hear it was a cardschat member that won, as I feel a bit of a brethren(and sisterhood) like comaraderie (sp?) with the members here.

As for the dual accounts that is nothing more than a joke in my opinion. What matters is that the second account is not active. Period the end. Any other legal BS about it is just being used as a loophole and nothing more. I was a member on many sites prior to 2007 and quit during the FTP/Bodog fiasco's with an email address that is no longer in existence. Many member ID's from various sites that went under were moved to new sites as well. So when I sign up and it tells me my userid is in use this post would make me question whether or not its from an old email I can't even remember, or is it someone else? I never even considered this prior to today.

If the site is willing to take your deposit they should not be allowed to question you on the withdrawal. The due diligence should be done @ time of deposit in my opinion. Unless its about player collusion, not about duplicate accounts that should be on them as tehy have access to the backend info and can verify ID by a number of different ways during the setup process. But every site wants you to make a deposit as quickly as possible so they do not do this. Which is why I personally find this disturbing.

Look forward to hearing a positive outcome for you! GL!

Thank you for that, acemenow. Means a lot and you're absolutely right. Part of the reason I went public was to give them the opportunity to follow through with paying out the jackpot winner. I took pictures of everything, the notifications, the other players congratulating me, the home poker page where they gave me a banner...the whole nine yards. It was incredible.

I also brought it public to show people it's okay to admit your mistakes. Although I had no idea I was doing wrong originally I still, flash forward a few weeks, came out and realized I potentially broke a rule. I am human. I just think with the scope of things this situation needs to be treated differently. That old account was dormant for years with no activity!

I got an email from the Security Team and they informed me my account is still being reviewed. No action has been taken to my account, it's still the same. Nothing to report yet.

Thanks again for the support man...really is special.

Ace, sorry for your troubles. I know it's a difficult time for you, with that said, I'm 100% confident you'll get paid. AJJ10A.

Aren't they even actually using you in a popup window congratulating you on your $137k jackpot when the software is opened now? Pretty sad.

Thanks @ sumyunguy. I sure hope you're right!!

Yep, that's me smallfrie. Pretty crazy huh?

No updates yet. Probably won't hear anything until Monday.

Take screenshots of them saying you won it, thats like an admission of you winning.

I have tons of screenshots Zorba. The whole online poker community at BetOnline knows the name ONEnDONE because of my big day. They shared the fact that I won with thousands and they should follow through and pay me, despite the mistake I made. Nothing I did should contribute to me not seeing my funds. I believe that, hence the report going public.

Will update everyone Monday.

Pretty shady if you asked me. If you put up a bad beat jackpot promotion it's like hmmm let's find an excuse any excuse not to pay what's due. It is like let's drive a brand new Mercedes on a golf course to the par 3 hole for a single tournament and then let's do a hole in one you win the car and knowing that no one will make a hole in one that day. Oooops you just made the hole in one. No what do we do? Oh no!!!

I really hope you get what you deserve. I for one will not send them a single penny until I see this post clear with you saying you got your money. It's deserved.

There are courts and lawyers. If Your story is true, then refer to the above. And submit all the necessary documents.

With Respect.

@ Weee3eee - Indeed. It's hard to believe I'm in this situation right now. I don't deserve this man.

@ GRANDPAPA929 - I promise you everything is legit. I've said numerous times I can provide any screenshots to prove I am ONEnDONE. My story will be validated by BetOnline and they will see exactly what I've told the world. It's up to them to make the right choice. I haven't gotten a lawyer yet, I don't even want to go there yet because I believe this can be worked out.

His story is legit, someone I know was at the table when it got hit and got a piece of the jackpot. The "winner" made quad aces on the river using both hole cards. TimeForTheAce had flopped four jacks using both hole cards as well and "lost". I'm sure they'll pay him the money, they pay out 100K plus routinely. This is probably a routine review when a player has two accounts and not triggered because of the large win, but rather the request for any type of payout. TimeForTheAce, you may want to get in touch @DaveMasonBOL, send him a short note on twitter, he may be able to expedite your case. Hope this helps, AJJ10A.

TimeForTheAce - I would just give them some time to get this reviewed. I honestly believe they want to pay you the money. My guess is you'll have this cleared up in a week or less.

Thanks sumyunguy. Will be reaching out to BOL Monday afternoon if I don't hear anything. I think I've been pretty fair here with giving them time (5+ days) to investigate. Monday most likely also brings in management so I get that. I don't want to take anymore steps at this point. I hope this ends here and we can all move on.

**UPDATE**

I just wanted to let everyone know BetOnline just emailed me and have cleared my account, the KYC is finally over. Thank you, Security Team at BetOnline.

I requested a payout today promptly. As long as everything goes well, I will be hosting a tournament to give back to the great CardsChat members. Your support and kind words meant the world to me.

I will update if anything changes.

Originally Posted by TimeForTheAce

**UPDATE**

I just wanted to let everyone know BetOnline just emailed me and have cleared my account, the KYC is finally over. Thank you, Security Team at BetOnline.

I requested a payout today promptly. As long as everything goes well, I will be hosting a tournament to give back to the great CardsChat members. Your support and kind words meant the world to me.

I will update if anything changes.

Great! I had my doubts about this ending positively for you, but I am glad to hear all is well

Originally Posted by smallfrie

Great! I had my doubts about this ending positively for you, but I am glad to hear all is well

Just goes to show you honestly is a powerful tool. I was straight up with them, told them everything and they delivered. The payout was just now 'Authorized'.

I will confirm back here when I received my first payout. I reached out to Debi, site admin, to work on this freeroll for you members.

Originally Posted by TimeForTheAce

**UPDATE**

I just wanted to let everyone know BetOnline just emailed me and have cleared my account, the KYC is finally over. Thank you, Security Team at BetOnline.

I requested a payout today promptly. As long as everything goes well, I will be hosting a tournament to give back to the great CardsChat members. Your support and kind words meant the world to me.

I will update if anything changes.

So happy to hear this!!

For those that are not aware..KYC is Know Your Customer.

Congrats, and thank you for sharing the process. Looking forward to you posting you got some large chunk of it.

Awesome!!!! Great news and congrats! Now put it all on black at a roulette table ~ LOL jk!!!!

Originally Posted by TimeForTheAce

**UPDATE**

I just wanted to let everyone know BetOnline just emailed me and have cleared my account, the KYC is finally over. Thank you, Security Team at BetOnline.

I requested a payout today promptly. As long as everything goes well, I will be hosting a tournament to give back to the great CardsChat members. Your support and kind words meant the world to me.

I will update if anything changes.

ACE, you'd know me as hslhoff, is there any way I can get in touch with you?

this is very bad has happened to you bro
I will be very happy to pay you profit
surely you say that you are honest and hardworking you I trust you completely
they are not really 135 000 dollars but many of us the money
as said at least part of the money you pay but you won vischko must pay you good luck bro not despair everything will be fine Sigourney am

Wow, I am happy for you Sir. When I first read your situation, I was certain that they were going to screw you out of your winnings, I am so glad I was wrong.

Awesome outcome, and you are right, explaining truthfully will help a lot, it's no good starting to abuse them, all that will do is make them look for any minor reason not to payout.

Originally Posted by sumyunguy

ACE, you'd know me as hslhoff, is there any way I can get in touch with you?

You just did get in touch with him.

Congrats on the story with a happy end.
and for your cash out and win.

@TimeForTheAce I'm glad to see that you got your payout. I extremely dislike the BOL software, and I'm only on there to support Cards Chat.

Originally Posted by dj11

I got thru what could have been much more stressful, by changing my attitude to where I only considered I had a lot of play money. I made no plans for any of the money I won. I lost any expectations I would ever see any of it.

This is a good attitude to have in general, but weren't you worried about the tax liability from your winnings? You would still owe taxes on your winnings unless you are a Canadian citizen.

I knew (was hoping) I was right they would have to outright cheat you not to pay, they had no good reason not to. congrats sir

MAZEL TOV on your huge bad beat jackpot YAY!!!!
So happy the situation us resolved and you will get
your hard won money

Debby

Thanks everyone. Got a call from the Poker Room Manager last night (won't say his name) congratulating me and apologizing. He explained to me the process and answered any questions I had. He also said to ask for him personally next time if I have any concerns/need something.

Happy to report BetOnline is the real deal, a respectable and first class organization. My experience tells me that and I've proven that to the online poker community. I had to bring this report public to protect myself and that's the only reason I did it. If anything, this should show CardsChat forum members/guests that BOL is the leader in the industry and CardsChat rankings are legit, accurate and reliable.

Originally Posted by TimeForTheAce

Happy to report BetOnline is the real deal, a respectable and first class organization. My experience tells me that and I've proven that to the online poker community. I had to bring this report public to protect myself and that's the only reason I did it. If anything, this should show CardsChat forum members/guests that BOL is the leader in the industry and CardsChat rankings are legit, accurate and reliable.

Trust this, we are happy too!

Without getting into too much detail, if you could tell us how the withdrawal method works. We don't need to know how much you take, but if there are limits per event, that would be good info.

For instance, anything over $10K at any one time will raise all sorts of red flags at the banks.

Glad to hear the positive end to the debacle. BOL has been around for a long time. Congrats. Life changing money is always good.

Originally Posted by dj11

For instance, anything over $10K at any one time will raise all sorts of red flags at the banks.

I believe BOL allows for Bitcoin cash outs so this shouldn't impact your bank. I too would be interested to hear if OP continued down the bank path or moved to BTC.

Originally Posted by TimeForTheAce

If anything, this should show CardsChat forum members/guests that BOL is the leader in the industry and CardsChat rankings are legit, accurate and reliable.

I wouldn’t go as far as saying they are the leaders in their industry, because they're not.

Poker Stars is better and they don't take any of your money when you make a withdrawal like BOL does.

Great to hear this had a happy outcome. Congratulations don't spend it all at once

Originally Posted by Zorba

I wouldn’t go as far as saying they are the leaders in their industry, because they're not.

Poker Stars is better and they don't take any of your money when you make a withdrawal like BOL does.

Agreed. I meant for 'US' based players.

congratulations! Im really happy for you that it worked out

Man that situation would have me furious to say the least, glad it's all working out in end. Why does these things always make the online gambling world seem so shady. This is a big reason why I would never play higher than micro stakes online