The BetED.com Bailout Mess
Reports began circulating on Thursday that the folks behind seized online gambling website BetED.com are looking for “cash upfront” as part of any “bailout” deal. Another website denies this to be the case, however. And at this point, we here at Gambling911.com don't know what to believe.
What we do feel comfortable with is that at least two companies are looking to purchase the lucrative recreational player base of BetED, one of which has been publicly named as BetOnLine.com, a rather stable Internet gambling firm based out of Panama City, Panama and in business for 11 years now.
Two forum websites – SBR Forum and Covers.com – have been working to arrange a deal and neither appear very happy with one another.
Forum representative for the SBR website writes:
Covers really shot themselves in the foot by putting BetED's private terms out there and how BetED had actually asked for cash and revenue share for the privilege of picking up the tab for their players. We didn't want BetED to turn away from the BetOnline offer because we publicized their requests for cash... but now that the curtain is pulled back, players can see how the scam was developing and why they wanted to ignore and discredit legit bailout offers.
A representative for the Covers.com website broke down one of the deals that was on the table, presumably from the yet-to-be-named suitor.
* betED gets cash upfront (very nice for them, they supposedly need it).
* betED also gets a sweet rev-share deal on the lifetime of those customers (again, another obvious plus for betED).
* The players get a 10X rollover, which is probably pretty standard.
* The players have to stay with the book for a minimum of 90 days, with the idea of locking them down till football season starts... huh?
betED said they rejected that deal because they didn't think the players should get locked into something with time restrictions, and they have been working other pitches with other operations.
The BetOnLine.com deal does not provide for cash upfront to the indicted “owners” of BetED.com, according to reports.
Sources close to Gambling911.com claim that at least 90 percent of BetED.com’s player base came in from Covers.com, so that website appears to have a vested interest in ensuring customers get taken care of.
In our travels across the US, we have regularly run into readers of Covers.com, a popular sports betting information website that we frequent almost daily. These same readers almost always bet with BetED.com. That’s just our own personal observation.
- Chris Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher
