Dear Steve,
How many emails do you get a day which begin "I wish I would have known about your site before I bet money with so and so.com..." ? I had my doubts about booking over the internet back in September,  but I decided to take a risk and use a credit card to put a $500.00 deposit into a site called Betcom.com which I picked off of a search engine. They immediately gave me an extra $100.00 "deposit bonus" which I did not ask for or want. I am not a hardcore gambler but rather, a lifetime football fanatic with a knack for picking winners. I went through the ups and downs of the whole season racking up 81 wins, 44 losses, and 3 ties. I came up on Betcom over $1200.00. I never tried to draw out any money until after the Super Bowl. Of course when I did, just like you wrote about on your site, they put me through the changes about the unreadable fax, but after multiple tries, I finally overcame that excuse. In the meantime, of course, I promptly killed the credit card account that I had used with them because I figured if they are crooked enough to steal my winnings, they won't hesitate to steal my identity if they can. Next, this girl with the put on Jamaican accent starts trying to convince me over the phone that since they gave me the pretend $100.00 up front that they are now somehow partners in all my winnings. Further,  she says, I'm not allowed to let my account balance fall below the original $500.00 deposit amount without encountering some dire financial consequences. After thirty minutes of haggling,  I finally negotiated a cash draw of $500.00. Then rasta mama informs me that it is going to cost me $40.00 to have a check sent by Fedex. I told her to send it by US Mail for free (as per their own rules) and she says it might take three weeks or longer for it to arrive. Talk about the slow boat! At this point, I sincerely doubt if I'll ever see my money, which is the obvious downside of doing business with someone who is completely unknown to you. But if it only costs me $500.00 to learn the lesson that you shouldn't gamble over the internet, then I guess it's money well spent. Keep up the good work of educating people against these spliff smoking rip off artists, and if there is anything you can do to ruin Betcom's day, by all means be my guest. Thanks for letting me vent, G.D.