Long story made short: Bovada closed my account and seized 5 figures sum

Long time poker player on Bovada. Never bet sports.

I decided to bet a big chunk on the Bucs.

Speaking to a group at a gathering about prop bets before the game. Someone I barely know mentions that they heard through a grapevine (i.e. friend of friend of friend of friend) that there could be a spectator streaking onto the field. For fun and a good sweat, I decide to also bet $650 on a spectator rushing that field at +700 on bovada. Sure enough, it happened.

I'm not a sports bettor. I'm not a 'connected person'. Im not part of a syndicate. Im essentially clueless.

Well I win both bets.

Today Bovada emails me this:


Hello,

While conducting our investigation, it was found that your account is in breach of our Terms of Service and Player Agreement. Due to this breach, the decision was made to terminate our business relationship with you and discontinue all services and products offered. Please refer to the below link and clause for details:

https://www.bovada.lv/terms-of-service

Terms Broken:

6.7 "Betting Syndicates"
6.2 Fraudulent Activity
6.10 Integrity of Sport

As a result, any available balance has been seized. We ask that you refrain from creating any other accounts. Discovery of any accounts created and/or accessed by yourself will result in immediate termination of your account and any associated balance voided. This decision was made with careful consideration given all the evidence brought forth and judge this decision to be final.

Regards,

Bovada Investigations
investigations@bovada.lv

You don't have any friends named Yuri Andrade?

In this interview the streaker said (01:20 onwards) that he called his friends to make propbets on Bovada.
I am not sure if the guy in the interview really is the streaker, but seems likely.

Snopes not so sure about the $50K bet that had allegedly been made in Vegas on the streaking.

My story is the 100% truth. I doubt I'm getting any money back and don't want sympathy. Luckily for me its not a lot of money.

Just thought I'd do a service to the public and let you all know.

I’m going to assume what you said is true. You could try a watchdog site like SBR, but theyÂ’ve had very little luck with bovada lately. Explain that you unwittingly got wrapped up in this and would like your bet to be voided and rest of $$ returned.

My take is they took bets on a rigged event. Unfortunately you made a very suspicious $650 bet (since when does bovada take $650 on bets like this) on a rigged event. Even if $650 isnÂ’t a lot to you, it is a large wager for a prop like this. Did any one else there place this same bet? Were you all in the same location? YouÂ’re SOL if the answer to both questions is YES. Probably screwed either way.

Good luck though

Best case scenario: You were UNWITTINGLY guilty of breaking those three terms of service (100% this was rigged).

Worst case scenario: You knew what was going on (the fix), and thought it would fly.

Bovada isn't changing their mind on this one.

I'm surprised there isn't more outrage about this. If I were OP, assuming I'm telling the truth, I'd be livid about this. Even if the amount stolen is less than 1% of your net worth, it's still complete horse **** that bovada gets to decide they can steal all your funds because there's a chance you may have bet on a rigged event. It's on them for posting a line for such an obviously riggable event in the first place.

What should happen is they pay out all the bets and learn their lesson. They posted a line on whether someone would run onto the field; someone did; that's the end of it. Would they void all the bets on a senate race if it came to light that a lot of bettors knew a piece of blackmail would be released on a certain candidate? Should they have voided all winning bets on the deflategate game a few years ago?

But what's so ridiculous about this situation isn't that they're voiding the bet, they're TAKING $10,000+ dollars of OP's money as some kind of retribution. What if OP had $5,000,000 on the site? There's no amount that wouldn't be appropriated?

Obviously this is the risk you run betting with these offshore books that have no legal accountability, but that doesn't mean cases like this aren't outrageous. And in my state, for example, there's only one place I can legally bet online, and it's a total piece of trash site run by the government. So you're kind of forced to wade into shady betting as an American because of our corrupt government.

OP, I hope you get your money back somehow, and I hope you also go John Wick on the people in charge of Bovada. I hate seeing *******s get away with this mafia-esque robbery.

Claiming "Syndicate wagering" has become the last resort for books looking to take some red off the ledger. I've been stiffed for this numerous times by highly regarded shops because of others chasing my steam. It's ridiculous, but there isn't much recourse for the player other than to win it back x10 down the road and/or file a complaint with limp dick SBR.

It sucks they freerolled you, but $650 is a big bet for a random one-off prop bet even if your account balance wouldn't cover the streaker's legal bills. I would be more pissed at only getting 7-1 on a streaker in covid times.

According to Las Vegas Review Journal , Bovada has said that all 'no streaker' bets are refunded, and all 'yes streaker' bets are reviewed and those that are determined to have had no part in the betting irregularities are honoured.

If true, this makes it even less likely that they're running some sort of shenanigans on OP? Surely refunding the otherwise-losing bets costs more than trying to screw a few extra people out of their winning wagers.

Very unlikely they received as much action at -1000ish as their liability from $50k in bets at +750, +650, etc.

OP, will you come back and give us an update?

I missed something before. Why is a guy who “never bets sports” going to a conference on prop bets?

no chance. who would bet $5000 to win $500 on nobody running onto the field? fish don't like risking a lot to win a little. i'm sure they took way more action on the yes side of this prop, and refunding the very few no bets is just a cheap publicity stunt for journalists to write about.

sometimes you have to ask yourself, as a professional gambler what are you really contributing to the world? well these guys are pure scum and i can say that redistributing tens (hundreds? i don't even know) of thousands of dollars of theirs over the years has contributed greatly to a sense of meaning to my life

OK, fair enough.

Boy you really buried the lede with this thread title dude.

You should contact SBR (sportsbookreview.com). I doubt they’ll be able to do anything but they’re you’re best chance. It’s worth pushing back on just so it isn’t so easy for them in the future to decide which bets they’re gonna pay out and which ones they aren’t

I don't have a problem with canceling the bet, because it leaked out what was going to happen. Same if some stadium employee posted on 2+2 the color of the Gatorade that was going to be dumped.

I'm leaning towards he did deserve to have his account banned, but have remaining balanced cashed out because he was obviously in part of a group that knew this was going to happen. A bunch of people who don't bet sports making a single big prop out of nowhere is a big flag.

HITS is right; any time I am worried about not contributing to the world I remind myself i'm directly taking money out of the pockets of bookmakers who make a living exploiting problem gamblers while banning/stealing from winners wherever they can

he isn't right at all lol

in reality you are just taking whale money since that's where they get their money from

a bookie wouldn't even be running if only sharps played there

Ivr, without sharps, fish gamblers would still exist, and scummy bookmakers would still be taking money from the fish. So once again, your logic is flawed, lol.

I'm no pro, but I would not have a problem whatsoever making a living from gambling. We all do what we have to do to make a living. Not every working stiff is contributing something to society guys. At least you're not collecting welfare and being a burden to society.
So lighten up

UPDATE:

Bovada has decided to return the money I had on the site prior to placing the 'streaker bet'.

They are only confiscating the streaker wager and profits from winning that bet. They are paying out the bucs win and giving back the original balance prior to the super bowl bets. I feel fortunate they partially made the situation right.

They still closed my account permanently.

Hanging out with some poker friends (who bet on sports) prior to the superbowl. A conference? Not really

Good ending and seems fair enough. Can you play on ignition?

this is what sportsbettors like to tell themselves so they feel morally superior to poker players lol

bookie A : only fish
bookie B : fish and sharp
Bookie C : only sharp

which one of those is the only one that will bust?

The only reason you can make a living taking money from bookies is because they make more money from the fish.

Maybe you're right. In a way. But I think you're looking at it from the wrong perspective. And I bet on sports and play poker, but I'm in neither a professional. So I don't need to justify doing either, but neither does anyone else. Here's why.

Say you go buy an iPhone. You love the product and your boss pays you well.
It cost a thousand bucks. From who did Apple make that 1k, you or your boss?

Say you sit at a poker table. You go all-in on your first hand and you double up.
The guy you won the pot against was crushing the table before you arrived and was up a significant amount. From who did you win the money in your double up, the opponent, or the people he was crushing before you?

I've never heard of a sports bettor limiting an account of another sports bettor because he's winning too much money. Bookmakers do that. You make your money from the book.

Once the money goes into the pot, it's belongs to the pot. And it's up for grabs for whoever can win it. That's how sports betting also works. That's how life works.

we going off topic but I was just stating that you don't make money from the bookie

sportsbettors don't vs the bookie they vs the other side

being happy that you took money from the bookie is silly because it doesn't make any sense (ik why people do this because they want that feeling of moral superiority in not taking degen money)

bookies job is mainly to make the market and that's it

the money you make comes from the other side and if it didn't you wouldn't have a source of income

Ok. That's well explained.
I'm not qualified to argue any further, if there is an argument still to be made.
If someone who knows better wants to chime in fine.
Otherwise you get the last word.