At first glance, betonline.ag is a fairly average-looking online gambling destination, offering access to a wide range of such activities. While the operation is best-known for its sportsbook, it has almost every conceivable angle of the online gambling industry covered. It features an online poker room, live betting, casino, a live casino, esports, horse racing and financials. These guys are in it all the way. Why exactly is the operator regarded as one of the biggest scammers of online gambling though?
Before we take a look at the background of the operation and the various technical details of its offer, let us place its reputation under the lens for a spell, because this is extremely interesting.
Some of the reviewers dealing with Betonline.ag swear up and down that the operation is indeed a 100% legitimate and safe one. While its legitimacy is indeed quite unquestionable, what IS questionable is the reputation that it’s built up over the years, through various alleged and proven underhanded practices. That said, the operation seems to have righted its approach/attitude and it is now a rather attractive gambling destination.
What past wrongdoings are we talking about though?
The bad
Back in 2011-2012, many reviewers advised against playing at the operation. Here are a few reasons why:
– They lied about the poker network they joined upon the launching of their online poker room. At first, they told the public the poker branch was on the Hero Poker Network, even though it was obviously on the Action Poker Network. Rumors had them on the Chico Poker Network too, from where they were allegedly booted. Long story short: whatever the reason (they probably did not see the APN as prestigious-enough), they lied about something rather petty and trivial.
– They stole (confiscated) client monies. They justified such moves by stating that the players whose funds were pilfered, had been caught cheating. The problem with all that is though that they never provided any proof. On at least one occasion, they relieved a professional player of some $60,000. Though they promised to send him proof regarding his alleged cheating, that proof never materialized. No matter how one turns this around, $60,000 is a lot of money and such a unilateral move in this regard simply cannot be excused.
The attempted pilfering of player funds extended far above and beyond such moves though. On another occasion, two players were caught chip-dumping. While the act did indeed happen, the two were at a heads-up table, so nobody got short-changed. Furthermore, the two players were apparently playing from the same IP address, which raised the question: how were they allowed to sit at the same table to begin with?
While chip dumping is a major problem nonetheless (as it can be a money laundering tool), such an incident should not mean that the poker room can simply grab $37,000, one of the perpetrators acquired in winnings following the incident – which it tried to do.
Even worse was the fact though that some of the Betonline.ag staff members let it slip at one point that they knew their players’ usernames and passwords. The implications of that can be rather scary indeed for all players of the site. Whether they chose to abuse this knowledge or not, is not known, but what’s certain is that such information should never be leaked so carelessly.
That said, since those days of confusion and debacle, the operation has evolved into something that some of its players actually like these days. Certainly, there are still complaints here and there, but nothing that stands out the way some of the above said incidents do.
The Good
Some would go as far as to say that betonline.ag is an entirely “different story” in 2018.
Indeed, the operation is one of a handful that accept deposits and wagers from the US – from all 50 states no less. US gamblers seem to love the operation and they consistently rank it well in regards to accessibility (yes, apparently even credit/debit card deposits work).
Betonline.ag has indeed gone the extra mile to add as many deposit/withdrawal options as they could, to best help their players. In addition to the usual medley of credit/debit cards and various eWallets, they have waded waist-deep into the realm of cryptocurrencies too. Not only do they accept Bitcoin – the most popular of these cryptocurrencies – they also accept Ethereum and Litecoin.
Betonline.ag’s Offer
As said above, besides the ever-popular sportsbook, Betonline.ag feature an online casino as well.
The Betonline.ag casino has been online since 2009, so it is indeed nearly a decade old. As already mentioned above, besides the “classic” online casino games, it features live casino games too these days.
The “classic” online casino offers scores of slots (unsurprisingly, the virtual one-armed bandits are the most prolific games in the selection), table games, video poker, as well as “specialty games” such as keno, scratch cards and a virtual racebook.
The Live Casino is mostly focused on Blackjack, of which it features no fewer than 5 variants. There’s roulette though too on the offer, as well as Baccarat and Super6. The live casino games all take place in a live setting, with an actual dealer.
The Betonline.ag poker room is a fairly run-of-the mill operation, which no longer defrauds its players. The software is available for PC as well as Mac, not to mention mobile. There’s a massive selection of promotions focused on poker, so it is obvious that the operation is keen on pushing this side of its business.
Player Protection
The Betonline.ag site is designated an 18+ destination, and it seems to mention Responsible Gambling here and there, but it does not really push the issue.
Conclusion
Everything accounted for, Betonline.ag seems to be a classic case of bad operator gone good. Despite some complaints here and there, the shady dealings of the past have apparently been shed. The operation is a one-stop-shop sort of angle on online gambling, and it does indeed accept US players, which is quite the rarity these days.