On Tuesday, the head oddsmaker for the Costa Rica-based sportsbook MyBookie.ag poked a bear — and then he and MyBookie got mauled.
That bear is Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy, aka “El Presidente”. On Monday the oddsmaker (hereafter “John”) tried to get Portnoy’s attention on Twitter, claiming his book would take a $250,000 wager from Portnoy (in Bitcoin) on Texas Tech +1.5 to win the National Championship. El Presidente had remarked on Barstool Radio and on Barstool Sports Advisors that “[Texas Tech] is the easiest bet in the history of sports,” that he was pretty jacked up to push hard on the Red Raiders, and said he’d been actively trying to get down $250,000 on Texas Tech.
"I think Texas Tech is the easiest bet in the history of sports. I have been actively trying to place a $250k bet on Texas Tech tonight." – @stoolpresidente @pointsbetusa pic.twitter.com/Au09H6aRe0
— Barstool Radio (@BarstoolRadio) April 8, 2019
Empty your bank accounts, liquidate all your assets and bet it on Texas Tech, this is a no brainer #BeAdvised pic.twitter.com/4v7udhnaOU
— Barstool Sports Advisors (@BSSAdvisors) April 8, 2019
Portnoy said he wanted to get the quarter million down at FanDuel Sportsbook — a new Barstool sponsor — in New Jersey, but couldn’t because he was in Minnesota for the championship game. As you know the Texas Tech Red Raiders lost to Virginia in overtime, after which John continued to pepper and taunt Portnoy for not shoving his chips at the offshore sportsbook.
Portnoy has explained he wasn’t aware of John’s suggestion, and it’s gotten real grim online for MyBookie as he also took the opportunity to enumerate reasons why he would never bet with them.
Is MyBookie (AKA the least reputable illegal sportsbook on the planet) picking a fight with @stoolpresidente out of the clouds at his lowest point the dumbest move in the history of the internet? https://t.co/QAiCiV0E5h pic.twitter.com/Vdy7KLgzFg
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) April 9, 2019
I got to be honest I thought I was seeing things when I noticed today that Mybookie was chirping me about being a fake gambler. Claiming that they would have taken my 250K bet on Texas Tech last night. Well first things first. I didn’t see any of these tweets until today. Well I went back and apparently at 7pm they tweeted me that if I bought 250K in Bitcoin and transferred it they would take the bet? Yeah that seems possible to do in an hour.
But even if I could have gotten that done I wouldn’t trust these frauds to pay me in a million years. We used to work with these guys and we got tons of complaints that they made it impossible to cash out. Not to mention the fact they are an illegal sportsbook and as sports gambling is becoming legal in the States they can be shut down at any moment and customers will lose all their money. So any deposit even if they weren’t scumbags would be at risk of seizure. So sorry I’m not gonna trust a quarter of a billion with a company with one of the worst reputations on the internet.
Then on Tuesday for all to witness, there was a dueling symphony on Twitter: At the same time that Portnoy opened his offensive and began retweeting dozens of MyBookie complaints — largely about shady practices and alleged refusals to pay out winners — MyBookie’s social account went into full-blown damage control mode, responding to dozens of complaints and queries about their payouts, customer service, and the operation in general.
Love ‘em or hate ‘em, and there are millions on both sides, Barstool has a huge presence, reach and influence over a cohort of mostly males right in the heart of MyBookie’s target demographic and potential clientele. MyBookie is probably on the phone right now with a public relations crisis firm, or if not, should be.
The amount of customer horror stories from @betmybookie today is truly horrifying. It’s hard enough to win gambling without your book refusing to pay you. Hopefully we saved some people some money today. Please retweet this hashtag to help spread awareness #mybookieisascam.
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) April 9, 2019
We try hard to provide the best service possible to our customers. We give away thousands in free play every month. We give out all kinds of bonuses. We probably create more props than anyone else in the market.
— MyBookie Sportsbook (@betmybookie) April 9, 2019
John has since apologized and deleted tweets, all of them preserved by Portnoy and others and perhaps he’s gone into hiding. And now MyBookie — a former Barstool sponsor/partner — is the latest member of Barstool’s shit list, which includes Deadspin, Goodfellas Pizzeria, and Roger Goodell, among others.
“Good, I need a new enemy” Portnoy exclaimed at the end of his video discussing the uproar. “You’re my enemy.”
But this is not your run-of-the-mill Twitter feud. This dustup highlights a lot of subplots and points to greater implications for the mammoth offshore sports betting industry, the expanding U.S. legal sports betting industry, and their dual existence (a subject I wrote about at length previously).
Let’s now review some key points/questions raised by this Barstool-MyBookie brouhaha.
Is Portnoy going to become a champion for regulated sports betting?
No.
Only idiots would gamble with @betmybookie pic.twitter.com/4QqoMnbKF5
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) April 9, 2019
“I can’t wait until they fire the guy who picked a fight with me,” Portnoy said on the video. “You fucking idiots. Idiots. I cannot wait for MyBookie to go out of business. I will fucking dance on your grave.”
That’s what this is about.
This is the kind of fight that Portnoy thrives on. John made an exceedingly foolish decision to go after him and then continue pushing it and calling him names like “Foolpresidente” and saying he’s “all talk and no follow through.”
If John had made an offer to take Portnoy’s action and that was the end of it, we’d be discussing other things and MyBookie wouldn’t be the new enemy.
But Portnoy is not joining any “resistance.” He is not joining “the fight” as others have characterized it. Business interests may coincide, but he is not going to carry a torch for anyone except Barstool and his own bank account.
Is MyBookie an illegal sportsbook?
Yes and no.
It’s a common misconception about many offshore sportsbooks that they’re flat-out illegal. MyBookie may engage in some terrible, anti-consumer, shady practices, but it’s not an illegal operation per se. It is indeed “offshore,” based in Costa Rica but has a license issued by Curacao in the Netherlands Antilles (like many other offshore books). That said, it is illegal to knowingly accept bets or wagers from U.S.-based customers, per the Federal Wire Act, so there’s the illegal activity. (Consider the cases of United States v. Cohen and United States v Lyons.)
Also, it is illegal by virtue of a federal law known as the UIGEA for certain payment processing by financial institutions in the U.S, which is one of the major disadvantages of offshore books. Offshore books have to spend a lot of money on payment processing and pathways around UIGEA financial roadblocks (such as cryptocurrency) to accept funds and pay them out to withdrawing bettors (a major MyBookie failing, from many accounts!).
We use international payment processors, so if you deposit with us, that's probably what you're seeing with your account. But we are always available to help via DMs or mentions, and we take customer security very seriously. Let us know how we can help you.
— MyBookie Sportsbook (@betmybookie) April 9, 2019
I’m going to bed. I’m hearing @betmybookie is freezing accounts requesting withdrawals today. Not sure if that is true. I’d urge people to withdraw funds quickly. If they fold you will have no chance of recouping your money. Goodnight. #mybookieisascam
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) April 10, 2019
Also, licensure in Curacao doesn’t do much good for U.S.-based bettors, particularly the ones mired in payment disputes. Recourse is limited to e-mailing support or hitting up the company’s direct messages. In a phrase: consumer protections. They just don’t really exist offshore, where brands that last do it through reputation and generally treating players well. Obviously, many operating in this gray area/market do not. It’s quite a contrast with regulated U.S. markets, where operators can face fines or lose a license for a variety of transgressions, such as allowing wagers from persons underage and taking bets on college games that regulations prohibit.
Portnoy is right that the feds may increase their efforts to enforce UIGEA to really clamp down on the offshore world, especially post-PASPA, so theoretically player funds are always at some degree of risk in that regard. And state and federal lawmakers to varying extents are exploring other ways to impede or prosecute sportsbooks/their executives exchanging funds with U.S. players.
And more broadly if Portnoy repeats “illegal” enough, it’s going to stick for many, including in the mainstream sports media who don’t know the difference, and MyBookie may become synonymous with a purely illegal enterprise regardless of which clients use its site. There is another president holding a high office who has proven if you repeat something enough, eventually, many people just accept it. Could MyBookie eventually ditch U.S. clients like some other offshore sportsbooks claim to have done, and survive through a different clientele? Impossible to say but I doubt that was ever the plan.
Anyhow, the dustup is about burying an enemy and probably to some extent directing Stoolies away from the offshore industry and toward its new, current and future sponsors in the legal U.S. market.
MyBookie’s background and profile
@AnonymousGamblr would pay good money to see your tweet deck right now pic.twitter.com/0yKzW48Hnd
— MyBookie CFB (@MyBookieCFB) April 10, 2019
It’s a relatively new offshore sportsbook launched 2014, believed to have some big players behind it, including Gary Kaplan, according to trusted sources. Kaplan founded the now-defunct BetonSports, which in 2004 made a successful IPO on the London Stock Exchange.
But here’s how that venture ultimately ended, via Reuters:
The founder of the defunct British online offshore gambling firm BetOnSports, Gary Kaplan, was sentenced to the maximum 51 months in prison for conspiring to violate U.S. racketeering and other laws, the Justice Department said on Tuesday.
Kaplan, 50, pleaded guilty to the charges in August and as part of the agreement forfeited almost $44 million which the U.S. government described as proceeds from his criminal activity. He has been incarcerated since March 2007 and the judge in the case in St. Louis could have given him a sentence from 41 to 51 months in prison.
I haven’t used MyBookie so cannot speak from personal experience. I encourage you to read this Reddit discussion about the book’s practices and reputation, a thread triggered by the Barstool dustup.
Here’s is a four-comment sample:
“Terrible book, use literally anything else (bovada, 5dimes, nitro). They gave me so many problems trying to withdraw $350 it was unreal.”
“MyBookie definitely is not a very good book. But all these people are coming forward saying MyBookie stole their money when in reality they are just stupid and don’t understand rollover haha. Pres could go at a lot offshore books and I bet the response would be the same.”
“I used to use Mybookie because I liked the user interface and that deposits and everything were pretty easy. Cashing out was always a pain but that’s how it is with most sites. I left because they kept fucking up prop bets last year and taking them down when fake news was leaked and not returning bets when the news worked in their favor. However when the news did not work in their favor they gladly refunded bets. Which led to me going to 5Dimes who I still don’t love because cashing out is a bitch.”
“Support your local bookie! #BetLocal”
And here are earlier Reddit threads about opinions, payout issues, reviews, and warnings.
Former partners
In the article, Portnoy addressed the fact that MyBookie and Barstool used to work together. MyBookie was a sponsor for some combination of their podcasts, including Barstool Rundown as recently as March 2018.
I’m not sure exactly when the relationship began or ended or how much knowledge Barstool had about MyBookie’s practices when they were working together. I’m not going to speculate.
MyBookie has grown to be quite large in a relatively short span through some big bonus offers (more on this later), lots of props, and by aggressively seeking and paying for high-profile partners of Barstool’s caliber, and for lots of other “influencers” as well.
But do they always pay and pay on time?
Industry sources have told Sports Handle that MyBookie also has a reputation for slow paying their bills. Not just slow paying withdrawals to customers, but bills — which may include sponsors, software, the electric. Portnoy himself references this in his video and may partly explain why Barstool cut ties with them last year.
“You are an illegal, offshore sportsbook,” he said in the video. “You don’t pay your fucking bills. Why would you ever come at me? I never said anything about you.”
Punters are sponsors, too
Take former Barstool employee and former Colts punter Pat McAfee temporarily off the MyBookie roster of partners…
listeners down..I’m very lucky that folks listen, it’s our job as a show to make sure you’re taken care of. I also trust/respect Dave’s judgment in situations. If he’s raising concerns, I understand that I should wonder as well.
I hope you have an incredible night. Cheers
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) April 9, 2019
Is/was McAfee oblivious to MyBookie’s reputation? Portnoy tries to give him some cover in his video, by noting that’s he’s a novice/newbie to sports betting, but you’d think someone in the business department would be doing some vetting.
Rolling it over
I’ll let Reddit user theratpack_319 take this one first:
“I use mybookie and while it’s a pain in the ass to withdraw money from them, which is a huge gripe of mine with them, the people who don’t understand how a rollover works is astounding. I had a 10x rollover on $100 and knew that I had to bet it 10x over. People depositing money expecting to just be able to cash out the bonus money cause they didn’t read the terms is so annoying. Not the best book at all, but use your brain.”
A lot of the new promotions in Jersey (where I reside) offer much simpler match bonuses or “free bets” that are pretty easily understood, with different rollover requirements. For some you just have to put the money in play once and then you can withdraw. A 10x rollover requirement is completely absurd, but still, people should and often don’t read the rules.
How much will all this affect MyBookie’s business?
Yeah, that’s the money question. McAfee is one of many partners and his partnership is easier for MyBookie to quantify. The impact of Portnoy’s wrath is a different animal.
This is interesting because among the thousands of MyBookie players, probably a good percentage of them originally came from Barstool. And each of them right now is at least -1000 to leave MyBookie — and good luck to all of them getting their withdrawals processed, particularly today.
We always pay out. We wouldn't have 10s of thousands of customers if we didn't. And we process all payout requests within 48 hours. We're among the fastest in the business in payouts. We are also always available via DMs and mentions if you have questions or want help
— MyBookie Sportsbook (@betmybookie) April 9, 2019
So in this case, all publicity is definitely not good publicity. Here Portnoy is speaking DIRECTLY to many of its own following who previously signed up with MyBookie, and telling them to GTFO.
Meanwhile, in an attempt at reputation salvation, MyBookie is pointing to thousands of customers as evidence of legitimacy. Elsewhere, the Alliance of American Football was once a real football league, with viewers and fans and bills to pay.
More on the #AAF collapse:
+Players in Memphis came back to their hotels after news came down, and had their personal items waiting in the lobby. Kicked out of their lodgings.
+Amount of money owed to vendors, venues, etc. in San Antonio for training camp is over $4 Million
— Rich Ohrnberger (@ohrnberger) April 4, 2019
Where might Barstool followers wanting out go now? If they’re in New Jersey or Pennsylvania, there’s plenty of legal options and Barstool will send ‘em over.
But there are currently 47 states in the union where there is no online/mobile sportsbook where adults can place a wager legally. This at a time when ESPN’s Daily Wager sports gambling program is reaching millions of viewers in every U.S. state.
So the Barstool crew in these other states can take their business elsewhere. There are offshore sportsbooks that have operated for a long time and have good reputations. Of course there’s always the specter of governmental intervention/interest.
For lawmakers in other states, well, this perfectly illustrates the foolishness of not legalizing sports wagering and allowing mobile betting. It’s happening. It’s here. There’s a massive market — and failure to license reputable shops is an invitation for U.S. citizens to get scammed.
Obviously, Barstool, and perhaps fellow Chernin Group property Action Network, is leaving the offshore sportsbook business behind. Various Barstool programs are now sponsored by FanDuel, PointsBet, and SugarHouse, all licensed New Jersey and/or Pennsylvania operators.
Since I raised the money question I’ll put a number on it. I think this dustup could cost MyBookie 20 to 25 percent of its existing business. I also have no idea how liquid the business is. We’re also entering a slower period for sports betting with the summer approaching, so that’s sub-optimal timing for them.
As for lasting damage… Portnoy thrives on this type of conflict, and if I were the person at MyBookie tasked with estimating how badly the Barstool/Portnoy/Stoolie wrath might damage the business, I’d just be hoping Portnoy gets bored or finds another, bigger enemy really soon.
Just a daily reminder to everybody that gambles that @betmybookie has a horrific track record of paying customers and can be shut down at any moment. Buyer beware #mybookieisascam
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) April 10, 2019
