How New Jersey’s Regulated Market Is Failing The ‘Low Roller’

At first I felt guilty. I found a massive hole in a major online sportsbook/casino, and I zoomed through it. Repeatedly. Daily. It went on for probably 18 months and then, one way or another, the operator discovered the hole.

I made well over $15,000 — which, for a low roller like me, is about enough to keep me in the DFS streets for the rest of my life. I maxed out the value on a daily basis, and my only regret is that I didn’t hook up my wife’s and parents’ accounts to the scheme.

I’m not going to detail exactly what I did here in case someone, somewhere else, on another site figured out a similar play — an AP never tells, I’m guessing — but trust me when I say, it was pretty ingenious on my part. (I did tell Captain Jack about it as it was happening. He was impressed. #bonafides)

Anyway, one day I got an email about a site-wide rule change that completely torpedoed my play. I figured the next step was that I would be banned by the operator.

Nope. Not banned. Not limited. Nothing. They took their lumps, changed the rules, and moved on. Bravo to this site. (I still don’t even want to name the site for fear it will somehow try to claw back my winnings. #anxiety)

I tell this story because it’s an outlier. Fact is, I’ve been limited by nearly every other sportsbook in New Jersey I’ve played at — even ones where I’m down money — and now I can even add “banned” to my resume.

The ones I’ve been limited at, I understand, even if I don’t agree. I’ve either won some money or, more likely, got some sweet closing line value a few too many times (Hi DraftKings! Hi FanDuel!). Other sites figured out I was using them to arb and they didn’t like it (hello, bet365!). Some thought I was abusing the bonuses (I wasn’t, hi Hard Rock!).

Of course, this is all a giant pockmark on the regulated market. The whole point of the regulated market was to bring all this above board, kneecap the offshores and the local bookies, give players a place where they can ply their trade safely and legally.

Tough to do when you get limited.

Impossible to do when you get banned.

Banned

So I got banned by BetMGM, along with the operator’s other sites in New Jersey, which are Party Casino, Borgata, and Wheel of Fortune.

Why I got banned, I will never know. Literally.

“This email is to inform you that, after further review, we have decided to close your account permanently,” read the email. “Unfortunately, we are unable to share any information regarding this business decision.”

Hmmmph.

So what could I have possibly done?

It wasn’t because of sports betting. Cannot remember the last time I placed a sports bet at BetMGM or Borgata (the other two are casino-only). It’s been probably five years if it was a minute.

I do sometimes dabble in the casino, and I never hatched an evil advantage play there.

What I did do, on a daily basis, was play the bonus games the sites offered. And they were terrible. Literally things like “one free spin” or “here’s $1 and you need to play through it 10x.”

But it wasn’t just the freebies; they’d have things like “bet $100 get 20 free spins” and I’d grind through 100 hands of $1 blackjack for the spins.

Sometimes I’d win a few bucks. And once I would build up to $10 — yes, 10 whole dollars — I’d withdraw. That is the minimum withdrawal.

I was a bonus user, not a bonus abuser.

Sometimes I’d play casino without any hope of bonus money.

And that’s all I ever did.

Apparently, that was enough to get me kicked off.

But wait, there’s more

Here’s the thing: I had about $15 floating around the BetMGM sites, but at none of the sites did I meet the $10 withdrawal threshold.

I tried to withdraw, but it wouldn’t let me. Principle of the thing, y’know?

So I sent emails to all the sites, as well as to the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement.

From the state I got back this: nothing. No response.

Great job, New Jersey. Aces.

From Borgata, the only one to email me back: “We understand you are looking for assistance with a withdrawal. Unfortunately your email address is not registered to any accounts in our system.”

Um … but … I …

So what does Borgata want me to do in order to collect the $4 or whatever I have there? In total, they would like me to send them my full name, date of birth, Social Security number, mailing address, old phone number, new phone number, old email address, new email address, my ID, and a selfie.

Of course, I don’t have a “new” email or phone, and … you know what, Borgata? Keep my $4.

Is Kafka still alive? I’m sure he could work up a short story here.

In the end, let’s just go to the scoreboard.

Prediction markets, black markets, unregulated markets, bookie on the corner, social casino, crypto casino: 1

Regulated markets: 0