Today my girlfriend signed up to an online gambling site called Betfair. She put £10 onto her online account and started playing some games. Since then she managed to rack up about £35, but in order to pay it back into her bank account, she needs to prove that she's over 18. She is over 18, but in order to prove that, they want her to either send over her credit card details or a scanned copy of her passport. To me it just seems a bit dodgey. Would anyone who uses these sites be able to vouch as to whether they are legitimate, or just trying to scam people?
I would imagine that they want the details for guaranteed age verification. The laws on gambling are quite strict, so it doesn't surprise. A reasonably well-known company like Betfair shouldn't be up to any tricks, have a google around and see if you can find any horror stories. Personally I doubt it.
I've won loads of money on betfair, its perfectly safe, although the prove your age process is a bit of hassle, once you've done it, you've done it -/-
I hope you're right, she's got about £40 in her account now. Just hope she quits while she's ahead! I'll let you know how it turns out.
could you go over any info they wont be interested in with a marker before sending it off. like any kind of ref numbers and her address maybe?
Betfair is the largest exhange betting site in the world. It is trustworthy. It was brought in because confusion arouse with some of the other visa cards, like electron, that 16 year olds can get a hold of. In the first instances you may as well get her to email the customer support saying that as they can see, it's a credit card that's registered with the account, not an electron card for example (which you only have to be 16 to have0, and therefore she must be over 18.
stuart tell her to check out bet365 free £250 when you deposit money, told my dad about it, ive done it, tell her.. oh and its safe.
You have to let casinos IRL scan your driving license (or whatever else) for identity reasons. No reason why doing it online should be any different.
Just a little worried about identity theft, that's all. The card she's using is actually a Maestro card, so I don't know if that's acceptable or not. One question though, She won that money so easily after only an hour of playing. The reason why I was skeptical was because it seems just too good to be true, how is this beneficial to the site, or am I missing the big picture?
That'll be why, I think you can get a Maestro under the age of 18. Gambling can seem easy. That's it's problem. Betfair make most of their money taking commission on winnings. For example, the odds you see in foootball, racing and so on are odds offered by other members. They have to have the money in their account to cover any loses (ie if you win). Betfair take 5% (decreasing with ammounts wagered) of winnings. They make millions. Betfair are hoping to make £1.5billion when they float their company on the Stock Echange later this month. clicky
The site don't care who wins they're not a bookie they take a cut of every bodies winings. Put another way your not betting with the site your betting with other punters betfair is like ebay for gamblers your not buying from ebay your buying from another person. edit: Ninja'd
google 'matched betting' before joinging any site - it's guarenteed way to make money (sadly it isn't idiot proof and can be quite complex). It relies on the free bet promotional offers you often get from signing up, so you cant do it often; but whenever there is a free £50 bet I know 100% that I'm going to get around £48 in my pocket. Shouldn't be difficult for somebody IT savy, as there are plenty of spreadsheets around that do the math for you.
Betfair is fine. I have a poker account with them and haven't had trouble. Online gambling is generally safe as long as you stick to the big names; some guys I know from the community have over $10k in their Pokerstars or Full Tilt accounts.
