In Defense of Futurebet...

[gdf5]

Fair and Balanced: The Other Side of the Story

Dear Bryan,

I would like to speak out in response to your recent attack against Futurebet. I have been a HAPPY license of Futurebet software for almost 9 months. Over this period of time, I have had only one complaint from a player and this was regarding slow payment, not non-payment. The vast majority of my approximately 500 players have been extremely happy as demonstrated by the high rate of return players. These players would not be so loyal to us had there been poor customer service or problems with payouts. To my knowledge, no player has ever not been paid out.

My background is an affiliate. Before I invested in purchasing my own license, I met with and researched a number of other software providers. As an affiliate I know all too well about rogue casinos. I, too have researched and contacted casinos on behalf of my players who problems or complaints with specific casinos.

Since I have been involved with Futurebet as a licensee, I have not had any trouble receiving payment or having emails responded to by customer service. Like any new organization there have been bumps in the road and there was a period of slow payout processing. This situation was caused by a very legitimate reason and as you know with the state of industry and in particular 3rd party processors, some problems are not the fault of the casino, but rather 3rd parties. I can assure you that from my experience these situations were taken very seriously and dealt with swiftly by upper management.

I am privy to some of the great products and changes that are going on in Futurebet. I know you live in Europe, but I think you would greatly benefit from a trip to Vancouver too see their facilities and meet with their management. I am certain that you too will be impressed with their level of professionalism, integrity and commitment to providing a terrific online gaming experience.

You may not be aware of this, but during my visit to Vancouver and their headquarters, I was able to see some of Futurebets plans that are soon to be announced. Among them is a 48 hour guaranteed payout, not something I have seen at any other casino. Futurebet has just recently hired a large number of programmers (I have met and spoken to some of them). I can assure you that as a license, former affiliate and player advocate that Futurebet is financially solvent as it has very been in its short history.

I am also aware that there was recently a substantial influx of cash to Futurebet because a number of large licensees invested and bought an ownership stake in the company (no, I am not one of them!) This only further increases my confidence in them. Why would unhappy licensees invest hundreds of thousands of dollars into a company that is plagued by as many problems as you contend?


Bryan, you and I both know that there are a lot of unreliable and dishonest casinos out there, but I can assure you from my experience, Futurebet is certainly not one of them.

With best regards,
Greg Friedlander

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[jpm]

Greg, I'm kind of curious about the 48 hour guaranteed payout you mentioned. How exactly would this work?

A guarantee indicates that I would get some sort of compensation if the conditions of the guarantee are not met, in this case payout in 48 hours. What would I get if my payout took 49 hours for instance?

 

[Casinomeister]

Hi Greg,

And welcome to the forum. First of all, I do not feel that I have attacked Futurebet; they would absolutely know it if I did. But in October this last year, I felt that players and possible investors/licensees should have been made aware of a number of issues that I had against this software provider, thus I warned my readers here:
https://www.casinomeister.com/static/newsletter/2003/23oct2003.html

Since then, there seems to have been made a difference between IGS and Futurebet, but I am still not 100% satisfied that they are totally separate.

Nevertheless, I still have problems with them. One thing is their integrity. Today at startcasino.com's message board, Dave made a comment to this page:
https://www.casinomeister.com/rogue-casinos/

And he stated: "I believe that is an old post, and after the owner of Casinomeister had talked to some of our licensees , he has removed all the negative about Future Bet off his site, and we do communicate with him via the phone."

Well I'd like to know who they talked to since it certainly wasn't me. So we have an integrity issue here.

Deceptive advertising/promotion/shill watchdog organizations really burn me up as well. Take a look at this site

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Please bear in mind "The Ethical Online Gaming Association" is served from Futurebet servers. It states "The Ethical Online Gaming Association in an independant organization dedicated to the establishment of responsible business pratices within the Internet gaming community."

I don't know about you, but I have a BIG problem with this. Why does a software provider feel that it is necessary to deceive the public with a shill watchdog portal? Sure it's outdated and probably doesn't get much traffic, but it still is available to anyone out there. Why do you thing RTG killed Safebet? It's because deceiving players is unnecessary to do well in this industry.

I made a comment in last week's newsletter that I would not handle Futurebet player complaints in my "Pitch a Bitch" section (amoungst others) stems from the fact that I honestly don't have the time and patience to deal with casinos that spring up and disappear way too often. Futurebet has their own "Player Protection Program" anyway. So why bother?

So in essence, I haven't blacklisted or attacked anyone. I try to give fair credit where credit is due. I've met with some of the Futurebet reps in the past, (over the Rhino Casino scandal of 40-50K) but none recently. I do travel a lot and would be glad to meet them in London at the ICE in January.

Good luck with your casino; may the force be with you.



(Message edited by casinomeister on December 04, 2003)

 

[jetset]

Forgive me, but this sounds a little like a Futurebet charm offensive!

However the proof of the pudding will be in these *guaranteed* 48 hour payouts, because there have been very real and numerous complaints on several message boards this year about slow-pay by FB. And who can forget the licensee that posted on his site a sad tale of his dealings with FB that cost him significant amounts of money?

I don't like what I am reading in Bryan's post above either - successful companies don't have to lie about stuff like that.

The word on the street was that FB was in financial difficulties, but if they have now managed to get such a large capital inflow as to enable the hiring of all these extra people, perhaps we will see an immediate speed-up in normal payouts from FB powered casinos.

That would be a good thing, worthy of applause.

It will be interesting to watch this claimed new golden era for Futurebet shape up.

 

[valles]

No no-pays??? I wonder who got my $22,500 from Black Rhino Casino then. It certainly wasn't me.

(Message edited by valles on December 04, 2003)

 

[jyde]

48 hour payout? That's worse than today! On your site you promise 24 hour payout?

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Why decrease the service?

Greg - if you actually did some research before purchasing a Futurebetlicense I don't understand why YOU don't understand why WE have our reservations to your softwareprovider.

What you describe as "bumps on the road" the players see as an endless line of slowpays. Is it acceptable to wait for 3-6-9 months?

I wonder who the 3rd party processor you blame for the bumps on the road is? Idollar? Playersupport? I can't really think of other to blame - and since these parties are controlled/owned by Futurebet it doesn't really change anything.

Futurebet lied and slowpaid for over a year. Perhaps they're OK today - I don't know because I and most other players wouldn't touch them with a ten foot pole.

What REALLY bugs me is that players have to either contact a watchdog like Casinomeister or post on Winneronline to get paid.

Marc Linehan made a post on WOL back in October 2002: My name is Marc Linehan and I am an accounts supervisor at Worldwide Support, the licensor of the FutureBet gaming software. As part of our companys ongoing commitment towards standing behind our software, our focus is directed towards providing whatever assistance I can to our licensees, and, if necessary, their players. Please feel free to email me at service@worldwidesupport.com I would be happy to immediately address and resolve any issues you may have.
Marc

It turned out this was an effective way for some players to get paid - contact Marc and he'll take care! How stupid is that??? You have to CONTACT some 3rd party to get paid??? But how about all the players that didn't know about Winneronline or Marcs offer? Well screw them - if they don't know WOL they won't post complaints on WOL.

(Message edited by jyde on December 04, 2003)

 

[jpm]

But Jyde, they will GUARANTEE 48 hour payouts! Which still begs the questions, what is the compensation that backs up the guarantee?? Do I get my money back? Oh wait a sec, that's what I'm trying to do with a cashin to begin with.

 

[jyde]

I really don't care if it's "guaranteed" or not - it's bullshit anyway. I just thought it was great fun that Greg sounded as if they're inventing the wheel - and basically they're doubling the payout time. That is - if you believe what's on his site today.

Btw. this all started because someone on Startcasino posted a not so Futurebet flattering link to Casinomeister.

Dave from Futurebet replied: "I believe that is an old post, and after the owner of Casinomeister had talked to some of our licensees , he has removed all the negative about Future Bet off his site, and we do communicate with him via the phone." - and later he posted the link to Gregs defense of Futurebet. Of course Dave liked what he saw. But then Casinomeister woke up and pointed out that:

- the stuff on his site was of recent date (October 2003 and last weeks newsletter) and nothing has been removed
- he NEVER spoke on phone with anyone from Futurebet

Slash pointed all this out to Dave and asked why he was lying - and guess what? Now I can't find the freakin thread in Startcasinos messageboard????

 

[jpm]

I meant to put a in my previous post after I said it was guaranteed. I was just being facetious. BTW, love the picture LMAO!

 

[valles]

Just read through Greg's post. Did anyone say pure bullshit?

 

[jyde]

Nice - Futurebet is also selling emailaddresses.

Link Removed (Old/Invalid)

Kelly is from Futurebet

Must be part of their guaranteed customer privacy program

 

[jpm]

Thank Jyde, now I'll know who to hunt down and kill when I start getting spammed by futurebet!

 

[jetset]

Another shining example of Futurebet professionalism...

 

[amandajm]

I won't forget no matter what nice words are written.