The Offshore Wire Forum > Offshore Gambling Information > Offshore Sportbooks > BetUS – A face lift can’t disguise rogue habits |
Forum Quick Jump
|
|

TOW
Founder

      
Date Joined Mar 2005
Total Posts : 1753
|
Posted 9/26/2005 1:28 PM (GMT -5) |
  |
Changing an image is not easy. Just ask Mike Foreman, now at the helm of BetUS. His hard work to build a new image may lead some to believe that the days of Joey Rizzo’s rogue business tactics were over.
Foreman, a respected sports book manager, gave his soul to improve BetUS’ tarnished image. The company was known as a sports book that would cheat, slow pay, and openly stiff winners. The owners wouldn’t think twice about trying to damage other books to their benefit.
Allegedly known as a tough guy, Rizzo’s name hit the news in 2000 when he got into a physical confrontation with one of his former female employees.
The employee, fired because she didn’t put up with sexual harassment from one of her managers, came across Rizzo at a party.
She was trying to voice her disgust when Rizzo tossed a glass full of liquid refreshment in her face. The confrontation then turned physical when the woman repeatedly slapped Rizzo. When Rizzo tried to escape the outraged lady, he burned his hand on a barbeque during his retreat.
All this seemed forgotten when Foreman began working at rebuilding the book’s tarnished image. However, the professional face lift turned out to be an insufficient patch that can’t disguise Rizzo’s rogue habits.
Not even the hiring of Jesse Ventura, former Governor of Minnesota, can keep the lid on BetUS’ wrong doings.
“We’re in an industry that’s highly competitive,” said a BetCRIS General Manager in a recent interview with TheOffshoreWire. “I wouldn’t necessarily call it cut throat because I think there is a lot of friendly competition out there. But there are always a few bad apples that tarnish the name of the industry.
“For example, there was a company out there called Betempire that was sending out emails to customers with the BetCRIS logo on it. When you’d click on these logos you would go to their company. From what people tell me, I think Betempire is part of BetUS.”
BetUS is still not willing to settle a dispute that happened a few years ago concerning a player who was shorted $25,000. BetUS claims the player accepted mediation. However, in reality, the player was forced into a settlement agreement under extreme duress. The player was told to either take what the company offered, or end up with nothing.
BetUS has also admitted utilizing competitors’ brand names embedded in its internet blogs to literally steal traffic.
A few days ago, BetUS agreed to take a phony Web site called PlayDSI.com offline. The site is the bad clone of reputable Diamond Sports International Web site (2betDSI.com). Players hitting the phony site end up unknowingly signing up with BetUS.
Rizzo decided to put the site back online after a few hours despite knowingly misrepresenting his company and literally stealing traffic and customers from a reputable operation.
It is safe to say that, in this scenario,
Ventura is making a testimonial of a scam operation. We believe Ventura should separate himself from BetUS before being dragged into legal proceedings that angry competitors have threatened to undertake against BetUS.
We strongly recommend players avoid BetUS. Foreman’s efforts have not changed this company’s core philosophy, which remains based on underhanded business techniques and stiffing winning players.
|
Back to Top |
|
|
|

RPM
Welcome to TOW

      
Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 4570
|
Posted 9/26/2005 1:53 PM (GMT -5) |
  |
|
|
|

codeworks
Forum Moderator
       
Date Joined Sep 2005
Total Posts : 629
|
Posted 9/26/2005 2:30 PM (GMT -5) |
  |
if I guy keeps getting paid it would be tough to move him to another book, especially if he is not a forum hound |
Back to Top |
|
|
|

TOW
Founder

      
Date Joined Mar 2005
Total Posts : 1753
|
Posted 9/26/2005 4:51 PM (GMT -5) |
  |
'Celebrities Should Use Caution When Making a Testimonial of a Questionable Sports Book Operation,' Says TheOffshoreWire.com
Monday September 26, 3:44 pm ET
WILLEMSTAD, Curacao, Sept. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- "Changing a tarnished image is not an easy task in the offshore gaming industry," said Roberto Castiglioni of TheOffshoreWire.com, a player-driven watchdog website.
"Companies known as sports books that would cheat, slow pay and openly stiff winners tend to reach out to celebrities in the attempt to rebuild their image," continued Castiglioni. "However, the professional facelift usually turns out to be an insufficient patch that can't disguise rogue habits.
"Not even the hiring of a celebrity like Jesse Ventura, former Governor of Minnesota, can keep the lid on a rogue sports book's wrongdoings," Castiglioni added.
"To the contrary, it is safe to say that, in this scenario, Ventura is making a testimonial of a questionable operation with a track record of wrongdoings such as slow paying and stiffing their customers. We believe celebrities should separate their image from rogue operations before being dragged into legal proceedings that angry customers may undertake against stiff sports books," Castiglioni concluded.
TheOffshoreWire.com recently published an article concerning the association of celebrities to rogue operations.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050926/flm017.html?.v=21
|
Back to Top |
|
|
|

msufan
Registered Member
       
Date Joined Sep 2005
Total Posts : 37
|
Posted 9/26/2005 9:33 PM (GMT -5) |
  |
Our local sports radio guy started a bet US promo today. I hadn't known all of this was going on -- must be part of their PR campaign. |
Back to Top |
|
|
|

RPM
Welcome to TOW

      
Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 4570
|
Posted 9/26/2005 10:07 PM (GMT -5) |
  |
|
|
|

TOW
Founder

      
Date Joined Mar 2005
Total Posts : 1753
|
Posted 9/30/2005 11:39 AM (GMT -5) |
  |
Damn....I almost forgot to say good morning to Joey Rizzo today.... |
Back to Top |
|
|
Forum Information |
Currently it is Tuesday, November 08, 2005 11:55 PM (GMT -5)
There are a total of 30,316 posts in 3,747 threads.
In the last 3 days there were 129 new threads and 659 reply posts. View Active Threads
|
Who's Online |
This forum has 378 registered members. Please welcome our newest member, Swany.
65 Guest(s), 53 Registered Member(s) are currently online. Details
Tesco Vee, lucifer, bertex, Utopia, Nostradamus, Jerseymike, roxygurl, jakethompson, The Cooler, godzilla, Lawrence, Swany, Big Papi, ghostposter05, Sneaks, jwunderdog, codeworks, Duce, Kevy, raiders72001, MR X, Pegasus, kermit, TOW, bigboydan, red eye, cossi, Halifax, juiceless, JOHNLOGIC, guesser, coconutman, Mike, Drunk, Rich Coast Sports, slash, cynic, tacomax, xpiratexlovex, Augustus, rambo123, halix02, kbhirsch, Rod, Gulliver, nevell hall, SwampyJ, nojuicesports, onlòóker, omahamoneymaker, kahlmyishmael, RPM, kaiz |
Forum powered by dotNetBB v2.42EC SP3
dotNetBB © 2000-2005 |
|
|