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 So, ‘bout that time again, eh?
Hey y’all:
It’s almost that time of year again: that wonderful, wonderful time of year known as opening kickoff. It’s like Christmas, isn’t it? Whether you’re watching as a fan (GO TEXANS!!!) or as a sports bettor looking for spots with value, the beginning of football season brings you renewed hope, renewed dreams, and a renewed vigor for life that is just absent without football.
But while you needn’t do anything, but kick back, relax, and grab some ‘refreshments’ to enjoy the games as a fan, there are a few extra steps necessary as a sports bettor. Steps like…how do I fund my accounts?
With the collapse of neteller (well, at least they gave us our money woohoo!), the days of easily and rapidly moving your money from one place to another offshore are over. Now, we might actually have to get off our asses to deposit and withdraw! Shocking, I know.
Moreover, with major books like Pinnacle completely shutting off from the US market; and with others like BookMaker (the US facing sub-book of BetCris) making you jump through ridiculous hoops to withdraw (A $60 withdrawal fee? Are you freaking kidding me?); and yet others like BetCascade and BetonSports locking up all their customer’s funds and essentially disappearing into the night…we sports bettors need to pratice “caveat emptor” when selecting places to play at.
So…in the face of all this, where are we to turn to place bets? And how do we get our money there?
Well, we have to look at our priorities and how they’ve changed from before
#1 Reliability
FAR, FAR, FAR above anything else now is the dependability of the book. It does you no good to double, quadruple, quintuple, etc your initial deposit if you’ll never see that money.
#2 Customer Service and Flexibility
Customer service is now uber-important. Gone are the days where you’d deposit, play, and (hopefully) withdraw without ever really needing to speak to customer service. No…now, helpful customer service is required in order to help you navigate the new obstacles to depositing and withdrawing your money. You never really appreciate a good customer service rep as much as you should until you have an absolutely TERRIBLE one.
Which brings us to flexibility. No, I’m not talking about the physical flexibility of the female customer service reps. I’m talking about the different methods that the sportsbook offers to move money into and out of the book. Where as some books have been extremely innovative in this area, working with their customers to establish as many ways to both deposit and withdraw money, others have been content to do absolutely nothing in the way of allowing their customers to deposit (and more importantly) withdraw their funds.
#3 Low juice, free half points, square / slow moving lines, special teaser rules, bonuses, etc.
This used to be #1. Oh my, how times have changed. Obviously, this is still important, as getting low juice or free half points is extremely helpful to your bottom line.
But don’t get your money tied up in a shitty book just because of some gimmick. Be especially wary of places promising 100% cash bonuses *cough BetUS cough* . Most solid books don’t offer bonuses like this, because they don’t need to. Some will every once in awhile (always check out the book before you throw away the bonus), but most don’t.
This is STILL important; don’t get me wrong. The difference between -105 juice and -110 is ridiculous to your bottom line; ditto with half points; bonuses, less so, but they always help. However don’t join a low juice book you’ve never heard or a big bonus book you’ve never heard of. Keep things in perspective.
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OK, so now you’re thinking “Well that’s great and all, but what places do you recommend? Why those books?”
I’ll have a few books in my arsenal this year. Here’s how I chose each one:
BetJamaica:
This place is by far my #1 out as a “traditional” sportsbook. Superb, SUPERB customer service. They’re fluent in English (more rare than you’d think for CS reps in the industry), and have the knowledge and authority to get things done to help you. Moreover, they offer the most deposit and withdrawal options of anywhere.
They are the only book I know of that provides their customers with debit cards with which you can withdraw directly from your sportsbook account in minutes. These days, you can’t beat that speed and reliability…no matter what book you’re looking at. Just go to you ATM; use your card; get money. It’s a beautiful concept.
They also offer -105 pricing on Football for Fridays, which is a nice little perk. Another great perk is the fact that for every 100 wagers you place, they will give you a free freeplay for the average of those 100 wagers. No rollover, no nothing, just a freeplay to go and take a shot with.
Speaking of bonuses, their welcome bonus structure is nice. For someone looking to just try them out, you can deposit $100 and get yourself a $100 freeplay. Or alternatively, you could take a 20% cash bonus instead…which wouldn’t be that awesome, but that you can get yourself a $50 freeplay on $300+ deposits. If you deposit $300, I’d definitely go for the cash + freeplay. It’s nice.
And what’s better, they offer a 10% reload bonus. I know, nothing spectacular, right? Well look closer. They are the one of very few books that I know of that will reimburse your Western Union Fee AND give you the 10% reload bonus when you deposit. For most places, it’s either/or.
Matchbook:
Low juice, reliability, fairly good customer service. I like this place…a lot. The only really big pain the ass is that it’s harder to get money here than other places. Western Union isn’t an option (my favorite deposit method), and other deposit options either won’t work (credit cards) or aren’t available to US citizens (yay neteller). In the end, if I already had money in here, it would be great. But I don’t…and it’s a pain in the ass to get money here.
The solution? They do offer free book-to-book transfers and have agreements with several stellar books. My advice is to start off in a book like BetJamaica or theGreek, grab the bonus, fulfill your wagering requirement, and then transfer to matchbook.
You won’t be able to beat their lines with ANY book in 90% of cases. And it’s not even close usually. This exchange, as far as I’m concerned, is a MUST HAVE if you’re in this for the long haul. Think about it: even if you’re only a $100 bettor, then a 5 cents savings (and you’ll usually have more) on every bet you make is a $5 savings on every bet you make. Most bonuses can’t even hope to compete with that.
The above two books are two that I’ll definitely have money in. I didn’t mention it before, but both of them I believe are extremely solid. You won’t see them close up shop and run off with players money. That’s extremely reassuring.
The following are places that I’ll probably have money in:
ThePig:
-107/-108 lines helps. Yay reduced juice. Their customer service is only average in their response times, but usually provide good, knowledgeable answers.
They’re supposed to be solid, backed by the Legendz group, so that’s a big plus. Additionally, they’re supposed to put out slightly shaded lines that go against “square” plays, so if you like dogs, you may find additional value here. Furthermore, besides BetJam, this is the only book I know of that will give you 10% reload bonuses while still covering your Western Union fees when you deposit.
One thing that they do offer (though I doubt I’d ever use it) is a free half point on every game (even through 3’s and 7’s) if you bet EVERY game on the board. Seems like it’d be great…except now I have a bet on every game on the board.
Some things that could keep me from depositing are A) a clunky user interface. I dunno, but something about it just makes me want to pull my hair out sometimes. B) a 2 cent difference really isn’t enough of an incentive to have me play here as opposed to other places. C) Really late lines. I don’t understand why their lines come out so much later ethan everyone else’s.
Skybook:
Free Half Point, Yippee! If it would go through the 7, this would be worth more, but as it stands, it’s good the way it is as well. The free half point offered by skybook is very useful. The effect of turning a few games from losses to pushes and from pushes to wins is great.
They have absolutely phenomenal customer service; the only book that I could compare their service to is BetJamaica. These two can’t be beat in their customer service. Email replies usually within minutes; phone conversations with intelligent human beings who can speak English and who have the authority to help you: their customer service rocks.
The main thing keeping me from posting here is the $15 withdrawal fee to ever take any money out and the fact that their lines often are up later than everyone else’s.
P.S. If any of y’all are thinking about signing up for these books, please shoot me a PM. That way, we can maximize the bonus benefit for you. Thanks!
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