5Dimes
QUICK FACTS
Established in 1998
Located in Costa Rica
info@5dimes.eu
Their website mentions they are involved in “The 5Dimes Care” project. Its goal is to make a difference in their community in Costa Rica by taking part in charitable initiatives. For example, they have organized Christmas parties for children of a rural school and they have donated money in order to buy sports equipment for students. The website describing “The 5Dimes Care” project is pretty sketchy with 2 of the 4 pages being empty so it’s not easy to get many details.
Voted #1 sportsbook in 2016 by sports gamblers on SBR (https://www.sportsbookreview.com/sports-betting-news/top-five-sportsbooks-voted-sbr-forum-community-78168/).
pros
Very advantageous odds: Their “reduced lines” are great: the vigorish is among the best and provides sports bettors a better shot at winning long term. Once you have made up your mind that you want to bet on a specific team, the chances are fairly good that 5Dimes will have the highest line. It’s a good thing to have an account with them in this regard.
Surprising (and fun!) bet offers: They post odds on unusual events, like hot dog eating contests (will Joey Chestnut eat over/under 70.5 hot dogs?) and whether there will be a jackpot winner on certain lotto contests.
A whole slew of proposition bets: There are odds on several prop bets at 5Dimes. For example, during the NBA playoffs they have a wide variety of player props concerning the number of points, rebounds, assists, blocks+steals, whether the first FG attempt will be successful or not, etc. On baseball you can bet which of two players will get the most total bases, which teams will win a 3-game series, whether a specific player will hit a homerun or not, the number of strikeouts by a starting pitcher, and many more. Also, there were tons of player prop bets during the NHL Finals.
Enticing promotions: They have several bonus offers, not just for new players but on reloads as well. At the time of the writing, the signup bonus is a 50% free play up to 200$ (corresponding to a 400$ deposit). However, if your deposit amount exceeds 400$ you will benefit from an additional 20% free play up to a maximum total of 520$. More specifically, if you send 5Dimes a 2000$ amount, you get a 50% free play on the first 400$ (i.e. a 200$ free play) and a 20% free play on the remaining 1600$ deposit amount (i.e. a 320$ free play for a grand total of 520$ in free plays!). That’s pretty a nice kickstart!
Enticing promotions (cont'd): They also have some cash back rewards. Basically, they offer different plans, but you need to pick one (you can’t have everything). 5Dimes is also running an innovative betting contest where you can win free-plays if you can build a streak of at least 5 consecutive winning picks.
Quick and reliable withdrawals: This bookie handles payout requests pretty fast. You will get paid if you wish to withdraw your money: that’s not a source of concern with 5Dimes.
Posting lines on more games: I have seen a few cases of college football games being listed on 5Dimes that weren’t available with other sportsbooks.
cons
Very disrespectful boss: If you experience a problem with 5Dimes and you want to resolve it, I wish you good luck. I have dealt with their GM and head linesman, Tony Williams, a few times in the past and the conversations weren’t very pleasant. I have read on discussion forums several stories of players sharing their experience with him and let me tell you the vast majority are not positive. See the “Player Experiences” section below.
Strong indications of fraud: That section will also give you some insight related to credit card fraud suspicion. When one single person claims a sportsbook may be selling credit card information on the black market, I consider that a rumour that I take with a grain of salt. But when SEVERAL (and I don’t mean two or three) talk about their credit cards being compromised after using them to deposit at 5Dimes, that raises a big red flag. Again, I invite you to have a look at the “Player Experiences” section.
Ugly-looking website: The interface is extremely basic and not visually appealing. That’s not necessarily a big deal and generally not the main focus of sports gamblers, but it’s hard not to mention it.
Limited in-play wagering: If you are an avid live betting fan, you might be a little disappointed. 5Dimes doesn’t offer such lines on a large variety of sports and leagues.
Smart gamblers not treated well: Winning sports bettors are not welcome and will get their betting limits lowered. Or even worse, such a player might be forced to have a disagreeable chat with Tony Williams after getting itsaccounts frozen.
- Cashier's check
- Person to Person (Western Union, MoneyGram)
- Money order
- DCFA (debit card)
- CCFA (credit card)
- Bitcoin
- Bank wire
- Credit card
- Person to Person (Western Union, MoneyGram)
- Money order
- Bitcoin
STORY 1
A few people on Covers.com discuss their own experience dealing with GM Tony Williams:
- “I've had my argument with Tony years ago. I got my money, finally. But I will never do business with 5Dimes and Tony ever again.”
- “I've had fights with Tony before as well. 5dimes pays but they are a nightmare with customer service.”
- “Tony sounds like a punk. Talking $.hit from some third world country while running a book. What a loser.”
- “I said this a long time ago, He is the most unprofessional imbecile on this planet. I never dealt with 5 dimes and never will as long as this idiot is running the show.”
SOURCE: http://www.covers.com/postingforum/post01/showmessage.aspx?spt=35&sub=102164748
ANALYSIS: These types of comments about Tony Williams and 5Dimes’ customer service are all over gambling discussion forums. Having personally experienced it, I can confirm it’s all true.
STORY 2
A guy from Australia got his credit card information stolen twice. On the first occasion, the card had been used for many purposes, including 5Dimes deposits. The second time, in May 2017, it happened with a card he only used for deposits at four online casinos, including 5Dimes. Their management confirmed customer data was stolen. The player shared his story on the TwoPlusTwo forum.
ANALYSIS: I have found many stories of people getting their credit card compromised after using them to deposit with 5Dimes. There are so many of them that I have to say my level of concern is pretty high in this regard. If you want to do business with this sportsbook, I strongly advise using another payment method.
STORY 3
More credit card stories from another discussion forum, but this time in 2015 so it’s not like it was a one-time issue. Let me report some quotes from different Covers.com users in that thread:
- “I had an unknown charge on my card for 700$. No one has my card info except 5dimes. They purchased a walmart gift card for that amount. My bank traced the ip address down and it was in costa rica. I will never ever use 5dimes again. I really liked them as well as i deposited and they paid out with no problem.”
- “This is the 2nd time in a year where I have had a fraudulent charge on my card. Both times they were online purchases. Both times they were on cards I ONLY use online for 5dimes. Walmart.com twice and now a plane ticket for Atlanta airport. There is no doubt in my mind 5dimes is giving away info. I am never using them again and I suggest you don't either.”
- “Do not use a credit card to deposit on 5Dimes any time soon. They are having major fraud issues. Either internal theft or their system isn't secure. Which has happened to much bigger companies than 5Dimes before.”
SOURCE: http://www.covers.com/postingforum/post01/showmessage.aspx?spt=33&sub=102206126
ANALYSIS: Is there really anything to add? Don’t use credit cards with 5Dimes.
STORY 4
I saved the best one for last. This is one of the most famous disputes in online gambling. A guy named Dan won 3900$ on a 6-team pleaser that paid 7000 to 1, while it should have been 70 to 1. He even took the time to call 5Dimes prior to the start of all 6 games to ask a customer clerk whether the odds were okay or not. They assured him the payout was correct.
After winning the 3900$ amount, Dan went on a roll by winning many legitimate plays, while requesting a few payouts totaling 12,000$, which were processed without any problem. Then, on a given weekend he hammered 5Dimes for 25,000$, which raised his account balance to 32,000$. That’s when 5Dimes froze his account and refused to pay. GM Tony Williams told him his 6-team pleaser from 2 months ago had incorrect lines, and therefore all of the bets that ensued were invalid. Not only did Tony Williams refused to pay, but he also told the player he owed the 12,000$ he had already cashed!
If you think this is unbelievable stuff, I’m not done yet. Tony Williams threatened to send goons at Dan’s house to collect the 12,000$ he supposedly owed to 5Dimes. I think it’s well worth reading the actual live chat conversation that was posted on the TwoPlusTwo forum:
ANALYSIS: This is just incredible stuff. After placing the controversial 6-team pleaser, the player took the time to verify with 5Dimes if they had posted incorrect lines or not. How many people would do that? The player gave them a big chance to correct their mistake; most people would just place the bet and hope the bookie doesn’t figure out the error. 5Dimes had more occasions to find out about the bad line when Dan requested many payouts along the way, since bookmakers always review your account prior to processing withdrawals. What really killed Dan was winning 25,000$ over a single weekend. That’s when 5Dimes became very suspicious and started reviewing his whole betting history.
I can’t believe Tony Williams has the audacity not only to refuse to pay the winnings, but to claim the player owes the money already paid out. Threatening the player physically is just icing on the cake. How unprofessional is that? It even goes beyond being unprofessional; making such threats is just plain criminal.
Almost all sportsbooks review websites give 5Dimes high praise without even the slightest warning. I bet most of them have never played there. And do they even read online forums where people bring up some issues they are experiencing with online bookmakers? How can they not even mention the major issue with credit card fraud suspicion, which is all over the internet?
As a matter of fact, most of these websites supposedly reviewing sportsbooks only talk about the pros and only say good things about all online bookies. How can you call them reviews if you only show one side of the coin? My objective is to help you, and the only way to accomplish that goal is by telling you the plain honest truth (not by making things look nicer than they truly are). That’s Professor MJ’s philosophy when it comes to reviewing online sportsbooks.
I do like 5Dimes’ reduced lines, their bonuses and their wide variety of prop bets. However, trust is an important factor when it comes to selecting an online sportsbook. To me, the credit card story coupled with the lack of respect shown on several occasions by GM Tony Williams is enough to make me worry. I’m not saying you should absolutely avoid them because they do have a long experience in the business. But please be aware of the potential consequences.
