Betway - Are they legit or a con?

[chazmj6]

I saw an advert for this company on Sky last night - I thought if they're advertising on TV they must be safe to use. I placed some bets - they took the deposits immediately of course - and the site seemed professional. I made a withdrawl today and they've asked for scans of card used, ID, proof of address - the only other company that I've used that asked for this was casino 770 and that process was an absolute nightmare. The timescales they are quoting for withdrawl and processing are ridiculous - 48 hours to check docs, 49 hours to pass it on to relevant department and 3-7 days to actually appear in my account. Their call centre is in South Africa. They never called back when they said they would. So far a driving licence and a car insurance document with addresses on both were insufficient because the licence doesn't have a date and the insurance document was dated from 4.5 months ago. Is this all reasonable? I was spooked by casino 770 and this feels worryingly the same. I appreciate any responses.

See Related Threads:

• Betway - Questions on PayPal and Bank Statements
• Betway Not Paying!
• Betway Confiscated Balance After Huge Win
• Betway - Any Problems?
• Betway Withdrawal Issues and Horrendous Customer Service
• Bryan's review of this casino right here

 

[premiergaming]

they are accredited. Personally i think they are very good

 

[vinylweatherman]

They are legit. My drivers license has a date, you may have sent the wrong bit.

The motor insurance is an unusual document to send. They normally want something with a date 3 months or less ago. Anything official showing your address will do, such as an energy bill, bank or card statement, water bill reminder (might just make it, they are dated 1st October). Many UK focussed casinos don't ask for this because they check your credit file with an ID search, not because they are not bothered with you proving who you are. Palace Group (Betway) are based in South Africa, although they are licensed in Malta. They are doing things the usual way.

Unlike 770, they are not using the process just to stall and wriggle out of payment.

I have sent documents to Betway group, and used my drivers license and the latest monthly phone bill. I have also done the front and back of my Barclaycard. With cards, block out the middle 8 digits and the 3 digit code on the back. Make sure the whole document is sent, no cropping of the edges. Scan in 300dpi mode, often shown as "photo" in the scanner software. Save as JPEG and send these one at a time via a series of emails to ensure they get through.

48 hours is their standard pending period. The 3 days+ is down to the card company taking that long to post the credit. It should now be much faster than that since the "faster payments" system became compulsory for all UK banks.

If you are not satisfied, you can use the PAB service here.

 

[chazmj6]

Thank you for your responses, I'll relax a bit ( but not fully until the money is in my bank!) and report back when all is settled or past an unreasonable timescale.

 

[me_and_ed]

Once my 48 hrs has past I have been paid immediately from them, regardless 48 hour pending is still unacceptable in my books.

 

[requiem]

In my experience they are totally legit. No worries.

 

[PCJACKPOT2008]

I would stay away. Personally I never have and never will play there. A friend has had huge problems getting his legit winnings (he eventually did but it took over three months). And judging by a google search alot of others have problems getting paid.

There are far better and safer sites to play at.

 

[chuchu59]

I would stay away. Personally I never have and never will play there. A friend has had huge problems getting his legit winnings (he eventually did but it took over three months). And judging by a google search alot of others have problems getting paid.

There are far better and safer sites to play at.

Are you sure its Betway and not Betfair?

 

[dougbet1]

Their sportsbook arm has many complaints all over the internet, and they are rate as D- on SBR (Sports Book Review)"D-to D+ Poor, some risk to players funds. Poor customer service, etc."

It seems that the sportsbook area deems the majority of users to be an advantage player/bonus abuser.

However, they are accredited here and i've rarely seen a complaint from the casino side of the business. I wouldn't be worried about your funds.

 

[chazmj6]

Well all my documents were approved and I received the following e mail:

We are very happy to inform you that all your documentation has been received and has all been approved by our Operations Department. Your withdrawal is currently still in the holding account and will be processed further for you on XXXXday XX December 2012.

Once a player makes a withdrawal, it goes into a holding account for 48 hours, to give the player the opportunity to reverse the withdrawal. After the 48 hours in the holding account, it will go to our Operations Department for review, this process will take between 24-48 hours. Once your withdrawal has been through the pending period in our holding account and has been reviewed by our Operations Department, your withdrawal will be released to you.

We would like to thank you in advance for your patience and understanding.

So the documents are approved then its:

- 48 hours in a holding account - something I apparently can't opt out of.
- then to operations department for review taking 24-48 hours. What for given I've provided all docs.
- then it is released for withdrawal taking apparently 3-7 working days.

Life is too short for them to take 10 secs to take the money and up to 11 working days to return the money. It makes me think they either have cash flow problems or aren't interested in long term business and thus like to play 'games'.

Either way, this is not reasonable.

 

[Osloking]

Life is too short for them to take 10 secs to take the money and up to 11 working days to return the money. It makes me think they either have cash flow problems or aren't interested in long term business and thus like to play 'games'.

Either way, this is not reasonable.

its simple, they want you to reverse the money, more time = more chance that you get the urge to reverse and lose

 

[chazmj6]

Then they shouldn't be accredited and they should know that there is no chance of that happening. 0%. I should be allowed control over my account and my money.

And every time I try and call them, the phone is picked up and then hung up now.

 

[Osloking]

Then they shouldn't be accredited and they should know that there is no chance of that happening. 0%. I should be allowed control over my account and my money.

the only thing that can actually change this rule is if many players stop playing and stop reversing there, currently they make profit from this and as long as they dont get negative results they will continue to have it. its a greedy business my friend.

also stop playing there, theres plenty places where they pay you whitin few hours.

 

[chazmj6]

Has anyone else had the same e mail or experience as mine above?

 

[vinylweatherman]

Interesting confession there of a breach of accreditation standards. They are not using the 48 hours pending for a necessary process, it is purely to stall payment so that players reverse the funds. The standard is that casinos must pay in a timely manner, and surely a deliberate 48 hour stall fails this as it means they would have cut 48 hours from the time taken between request and receipt by the player.

It seems far too many players lack the resolve to hold to their decision to withdraw and end up reversing.

 

[chazmj6]

I have the resolve! As I've said, they're wasting their time with me in that respect.

They are playing around further - I apparently now need to make a minimum £20 deposit in order to have it credited to my chosen account:

Kindly be advised that the funds will be paid out on the Credit/Debit card of your last card that you've made a deposit with. We can confirm that the card that you've used last to make a deposit is your Visa card ending XXXX. If you want the funds paid out to you Visa Card ending XXXX, you will need to make a minimum deposit of £20 before the withdrawal has been processed.

I set up the account 2 days ago, registered two cards, deposited using both and now I can only have the money refunded back to the account I last made a deposit with? And in order to bypass that rule i have to make a deposit of £20 when their minimum deposit is £10. I've never heard of that before. They should not be accredited.

 

[PegeeSue]

Its been my experience that if I register a mastercard and do a withdraw, most casinos cannot withdraw back to mastercards, only to visa's. But I see from your previous post that you did a deposit via visa. I would perhaps livechat with them or email them to double check on that. Maybe it's an oversight on their part.

You are not restricted to withdrawing via your last deposit method, but if you want to withdraw any other way than back to visa then you need to do a small deposit from the source you want the withdraw to go to. This is just a verficiation process the casinos use.

I have played at Betway for a few years and withdrew several times and never once have I had a problem. 4 days to get paid but that's because I use the direct bank transfer and generally that takes 3 - 5 days for my bank to accept the transfer.

 

[vinylweatherman]

I have the resolve! As I've said, they're wasting their time with me in that respect.

They are playing around further - I apparently now need to make a minimum £20 deposit in order to have it credited to my chosen account:



I set up the account 2 days ago, registered two cards, deposited using both and now I can only have the money refunded back to the account I last made a deposit with? And in order to bypass that rule i have to make a deposit of £20 when their minimum deposit is £10. I've never heard of that before. They should not be accredited.

They must think you have chosen a withdrawal method other than the one used to deposit. Registering the card is not the same as making a deposit. The alternative is to have the withdrawal paid back to the source of your last deposit, or via a cheque posted to your home address.

 

[chazmj6]

But I deposited using both cards ( which are both Visa) within the last two days. I'm asking for the money to be credited to my choice of one of those two Visa cards.

 

[chazmj6]

They are playing BIG games - adding in another 24 hours here and there - my payment has left their 48 hour holding account this morning ( the purpose of which is to insist the player has a chance to reverse their withdrawal - they shouldn't be accredited) but they won't process the payment today because 'payment runs' are only made in the morning and I've apparently missed the window at 0830 in the morning.

They insisted that I HAD to make a minimum deposit of £20 to my account in order for the money to be refunded to my account.

I had a call yesterday evening asking me if I'd be willing to reverse the withdrawal - if so they'd give me a 20% player bonus with none of the restrictions on bonuses. I told them to jog on.


Dreadful company.

 

[Mousey]

They are playing BIG games - adding in another 24 hours here and there - my payment has left their 48 hour holding account this morning ( the purpose of which is to insist the player has a chance to reverse their withdrawal - they shouldn't be accredited) but they won't process the payment today because 'payment runs' are only made in the morning and I've apparently missed the window at 0830 in the morning.

They insisted that I HAD to make a minimum deposit of £20 to my account in order for the money to be refunded to my account.

I had a call yesterday evening asking me if I'd be willing to reverse the withdrawal - if so they'd give me a 20% player bonus with none of the restrictions on bonuses. I told them to jog on.


Dreadful company.

Oh dear... if you have already made deposits with the card you are using for withdrawal there should be no requirement to deposit again.

edited to add: Please go up to the top of the page and click i-Gaming reps. Do a page search for 'betway' and you should find a rep. Once on the rep's page, look to the left for 'send private message', and let them know what is going on. Inform him/her of your casino ID and a brief synopsis of the problem. Hopefully they will respond quickly. If you do not have a response by tomorrow evening, please let Bryan know.


And phoning you up to entice you to reverse is NOT what an accredited casino should do.

I am giving Bryan/Casinomeister a heads up on this...

 

[Sk0t]

This suprises me alot, I have played quite a lot at betway over the last months and had no issues whatssoever. Also, so far their support has been a better experience than average.

They do have that annoying 48hour "reversal period", but so do Roxy palace and many others I play at.
Once those 48hours has passed, my money has been processed and received with no delay.

I have made several withdrawals, with no issues at all (including a larger one at ap. 3000$) when I made the large one, they did call me and request documents, but no hassels, no suggestions of reversal or mentioning any "reversal bonus".

Find it strange that they treat palyers so differently, but an offer of a "bonus if reversing" is obvioulsy not ok! - so far they are still on my "good list" but will follow this thread...

 

[chazmj6]

Well I have sent a PM to their rep. Thank you for the advice.

So far I've found the staff have misquoted their Ts and Cs, not read notes, given generic responses and been unhelpful.

They tried to say it was against their Ts and Cs to bet more than 30% of your deposit per spin ( with no bonuses). So if I deposit £10 and wish to bet 4 £1 coins on 4 numbers the phone operative claimed that was irregular game play. I told him he was wrong and his Ts and Cs said:

Before any withdrawals are processed, your play will be reviewed for any irregular playing patterns. In the interests of fair gaming; equal, zero or low margin bets or hedge betting, shall all be considered irregular gaming for bonus play-through requirement purposes. Other examples of irregular play include, but are not limited to, placing single bets equal to or in excess of, 30% or more of the value of the bonus credited to your account before the wagering requirements for that bonus have been met. Should Betway deem that you have indulged in irregular game play, we reserve the right to withhold any withdrawals and/or to confiscate all of your winnings.

Which is completely different.

I have found this casino just appalling.

 

[chazmj6]

Their rep has responded saying they will come back to me. If they are anything like the company the will take minimum 48 hours which seems to be their default time frame.

 

[AC7X]

I had a call yesterday evening asking me if I'd be willing to reverse the withdrawal - if so they'd give me a 20% player bonus with none of the restrictions on bonuses. I told them to jog on.

I had this same phone call when I cashed out a large(ish) amount from Betway - pretty disgusting tactic. I did get paid in the end though, took a while though I have to say.

 

[vinylweatherman]

I had this same phone call when I cashed out a large(ish) amount from Betway - pretty disgusting tactic. I did get pain in the end though, took a while though I have to say.

They are not the only ones. It seems this all sneaks under the radar and does not affect their accreditation no matter how many times it happens. When done over the phone, there is no written evidence, and if the player refuses the offer, that is the end of the matter. I have had to tell a number of accredited casinos to "jog on" when they have offered a miserly 20% or so for reversing most or all of a large withdrawal.

It seems they have serious CS problems in this case.

1) Getting an explanation of the max bet rule completely wrong.
2) Demanding a minimum deposit from a chosen withdrawal method that a deposit has already been made from.

The result has been an extension of the delay between submission of this withdrawal, and it being paid. It seems their pending period and making withdrawal runs first thing in the morning has been designed to add that extra day to the process as it ensures the majority of players see their pending period lapse after the daily withdrawal run has gone out, which means they have to wait almost another 24 hours for the next. It can be worse when this additional delay makes a withdrawal that should have been paid on Friday sit around till Monday.

48 hours pending has now become the norm, and there is nothing players can do about it as it seems most operators have agreed to follow suit, or implement something even longer.

Worst of all is Digimedia, which pays on day 11 nearly every time, no matter how big or small the withdrawal. They also occasionally offer bonuses for reversals, but again I tell them to "jog on". I am now concerned by evidence that Digimedia have taken over Fortune Lounge as they may eventually extend this 10 day wait to these brands as well. Both Fortune Lounge and Digimedia now show as the same processor in my Neteller account, which wasn't the case before. One is "Seabrook" and the other "Seabrook Group 2". This is a strong though circumstantial indication that Digimedia have taken over Fortune Lounge, but as present run them as two separate entities in the same manner they did with the Trident Lounge group for over a year after buying them out.

I will be taking great interest in the next withdrawal I manage to make from Fortune Lounge, as normally they are pretty quick, 24 hour pending and paid the day after.

Betway, of course, are now Palace Group, and it is NOT the same Betway it once was. The first thing that happened when Palace group took over was the doubling to 48 hours of the pending period. They also unified the Betway group into the Palace Group bonus system, which is at present quite a generous one, but not as generous as it once was. They scaled down the offers at each loyalty level by over a third earlier in the year. The top Platinum level offer used to be 100% up to £500. This was scaled back to 100% up to £300, with the lower levels also seeing a proportionate scaling back.

 

[chazmj6]

Just a quick update - they said the payment was made this morning and should reach my account in 3-7 working days ( which is long - but if its down to my bank which they say it is it'll be there in 2). I had to chase them up for the feedback. I'll let you know when the money is in the bank.

 

[chazmj6]

My money was received this evening so all is good!

 

[premiergaming]

knew it would come

 

[badbeat]

Very Poor Support

I have had a nightmare trying to get $20 from them, they know I have a gambling problem yet want me to keep it on the site. I have asked numerous times for a real non generic contact and also a bricks and mortar address.

In all honesty any casino that is not prepared to give you a real physical address that they can be contacted and more importantly held responsible should anything untoward happen should be avoided and as a punter my view is that this should be mandatory in order to get accreditation.

Having read briefly the terms of accreditation it seems that they should also be running their own support this I understand not to be the case as they admitted that their support is contracted support.

Although it has never occurred to me before I do think a physical presence is very important as hiding behind a licence or auditor is a cop out in my opinion.

 

[plasticnote]

they used to have 4 hours pending - same as gnuf. but all changed...