Visit just about any online gambling site on the Internet today, click over to their ‘Security’ page, and you’ll find a long paragraph detailing the extreme measures taken to keep all member accounts secure. From SSL (Secure Socket Layers) to the most sophisticated encryption technologies, they certainly know how to make a potential sign-up feel like they are 100% safe.Safety and security is generally the first sought after aspect of a user who’s giving their personal and/or information, regardless of the type of web site in question. Online gambling sites are well aware of this, making every effort to reassure their customers.
Take PokerStars for example, the largest online poker room in the world. Click over to their ‘About Us’ page and the first thing you’ll read is, “PokerStars.com is a fun, safe place to play poker…” Five words into the page, they deem themselves safe. Now click over to the ‘Security>Integrity’ page, and you’ll be given a complete description of how your account information is kept safe, what methods are used and why you should trust them. I should point out, though, that I’ve heard no complaints or reports of issues with PokerStars – maybe that’s why they’re number one?
Now let’s try a different example – BetCRIS Sportsbook. Clicking on the ‘About’ page, I find this as the second sentence,;
“BetCRIS Sportsbook provides Safe, Legal, and Secure sports betting…”
Go a few paragraphs down and, once again, we read about the company’s devotion to their customer’s privacy and confidentiality; how they “protect your privacy” and “safeguard your personal information”. Furthermore, they attest that they have “designed policies and procedures to prevent misuse of this information.”
In regards to this particular case, a BetCris employee had this to say:
..there is no way we can know if that was you or not. Either way, your complaint is with Bos which leaked your information. I’m sure every one knows that information was on the street as the employees and managers took every thing that wasn’t bolted down. – Scott M, BetCris.com
Unlike PokerStars, the BetCRIS Sportsbook cannot back up its claims with a stellar reputation; at least, not anymore. A member of BetCRIS claims that he has had his identity stolen from BetCRIS, not once, but twice. Not only was it stolen, it would seem BetCRIS actually handed out the information!
The BetCRIS customer allegedly left the BetOnSports (BoS) community when it shut down, having all of his account information transferred to BetCRIS, as did many members of the old sportsbook. Someone got into the BetOnSports database and stole all records of this member’s identity, including his ID on file. Sounds like it’s BoS’s fault, right?
When the fraudulent bettor gave this information to BetCRIS to retrieve his “lost” user name and password the BetCRIS customer tells 4flush.com that BetCRIS was more than happy to hand it out, even though the ID provided (the copy that was stolen from the BoS database) was so old and outdated it was actually expired.
If a web site is going to claim the utmost security measures, should they be accepting expired documents as proof of identity verification wonder clients whose personally identifying information was mishandled?
According to the long-time member of BetCRIS, his account information was given out on two separate occasions. After the first incident, the member was told BetCRIS that his ID had been stolen, and to please watch his account so that it would not happen again. BetCRIS replied apologetically, stating it would not happen again.
Apparently, BetCRIS forgot to watch, because it did happen again. This member has been in a constant battle with BetCRIS to reclaim the money that was transferred from his account to another members account on two separate occasions, to the illusive tune of $17,000, portions of which were transfered to a skybook account.
It does look as though some policies as to giving out usernames and passwords have been created, they don’t require current identification, you will however have to provide the amount of your last deposit:
When we contacted BetCris and tried to get information on our psuedo betting account, we were given this answer from Danny in customer service:
For security reasons I can not give you that information over the chat, but I can send you an e-mail with it. For verification purposes please give me your full name, e-mail address, zip code, phone number and the last deposit method used.
Moral of the story – there is no 100% safe and secure web site anywhere on the Internet. But if it were not for the absent-minded actions of individuals who do not take the time to follow the security measures they claim to embrace, it would certainly be easier to rest assured your information was in good hands. Reputation goes a long way, and when you can’t back up your claims (or at least pay the member his money back for your screwing up?), you’ll never last in this enormously competitive online gambling industry.
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