BetPhoenix
QUICK FACTS
Established in 2006
Located in Costa Rica
memberservices@betphoenix.ag
The parent company is called BetPhoenix Entertainment Group.
They have sister sites called BetMania and Skybook.
pros
Beautiful website: In my opinion, their site is stellar. Truly stunning images and some animated GIFs (including one of the greatest catch of all-time by Odell Beckham Jr.).
Good bonuses: Their bonuses are enticing and plentiful. Here is an overview:
- New depositors can select one of three bonuses upon making a “cash” deposit (not via credit cards): a) 175% free play up to 2625$ carrying an 18x rollover; b) 100% free play up to 2250$ carrying a 12x rollover; c) 50% free play up to 1875$ carrying an 8x rollover. They have similar reload bonuses.
- Deposit between 300$ and 1000$ on Tuesdays or Wednesdays via a person to person money transfer and receive a 100% cash bonus. The promotion comes along an 18 times rollover requirement; therefore, if you deposit 1000$ you are getting an additional 1000$ but you must wager a total of (1000$ + 1000$) * 18 = 36,000$ before being able to cash out. Ouch.
- Upon making your first bitcoin deposit between 200$ and 1000$, you will receive a 100% free play that requires a 15 times rollover. So notice how this is a free play rather than a cash bonus, which is not as great for you since free plays need to win in order to earn some money!
- Make a credit card deposit and choose between the following three possibilities: a) 10% free play up to 50$ carrying a 2x rollover; b) 15% free play up to 75$ carrying a 3x rollover; c) 20% free play up to 100$ carrying a 4x rollover.
- Make a UPayCard deposit and receive a 200% free play (wow!!) along with a cash bonus (5% if deposit amount less than 300$, 10% if between 300$ and 499$ and 15% if 500$ or beyond). The rollover requirement is hard to obtain at 18 times.
Reasonable odds: I wasn’t sure whether the competitiveness of BetPhoenix's lines should be placed under “Pros” or “Cons”. I ended up choosing to grade it as a positive, but please note their commissions are not spectacular. On Major League Baseball they do have 10-cent lines (i.e. -105 lines), but the juice is doubled on totals and tripled on prop bets. International basketball (like Italy, Spain and Turkey) have 30-cent lines (i.e. -115 lines) which is not advantageous to players at all. Same thing on major tennis matches.
Adequate support: Their customer service seems good. I joined their live chat on several occasions; waiting time was short and the clerks were helpful. No problem there. They even have phone lines for people speaking Chinese or Vietnamese.
cons
Payout rules: Many things related to withdrawals are negative. First of all, there are only three options available! Also, some conditions are pretty harsh or just plain weird. If you want to receive a check, the payout amount must be between 1000$ and 2000$ USD, but checks are sent in increments of 500$ USD and are associated with a 50$ USD fee per check! That’s a 10% fee rate, which is outrageous! The only good news is players are eligible for a free payout every 30 days. If you want to go the person 2 person route, be advised the payout amount cannot exceed 450$ USD, which will be very small in the eye of many gamblers. You need to contact customer service to get more details about the fees, but I’m betting they are on the high end.
Limited props: Players enjoying proposition bets won’t feel very satisfied here. On MLB games you only get three common offerings (which team will score first, will there be a run in the first inning, total number of hits+runs+errors). I couldn’t find any on football (soccer) games!
Few markets: Market diversity is below-average; the BetPhoenix sportsbook posts lines on fewer sports and leagues compared to the norm in the industry.
Ridiculously low limits: Another website reviewing sportsbooks mentions their “high” betting limits. I inquired to a BetPhoenix customer representative named Jonathan Mora about their limits and I was told they are set at 250$ for new accounts, even on major sporting events like NBA spreads or MLB money lines. How can some websites claim BetPhoenix has high limits? That’s probably one of the lowest limits I have ever seen.
- Bitcoin
- Cashier's check
- Person to Person (Western Union and MoneyGram)
- Bitcoin
- Bank wire
- Visa
- Cashier's check
- Person to Person (Western Union and MoneyGram)
- UPayCard
STORY 1
A player asked fellow gamblers on a discussion board if they had any suggestions on smaller sportsbooks that were pretty reliable. Here is one answer that came up: “Betphoenix. They are offering 200% bonus and extra 50% Freeplay. Don't know details of bonus but they are an underrated book that pays fast. I've been there for years and had no issues".
ANALYSIS: Payout speed is always a good barometer of how trustworthy a sportsbook is, especially when we are talking about a bookie that is not among the top guns. The comment above is reassuring in this regard.
STORY 2
A player waited approximately one year to recover a 2160$ balance owed to him. But the headline sounds worse than it really was. The long delay was partially due to the player wanting to wait until he could withdraw via Skrill (Moneybookers), but the option was eventually removed by BetPhoenix. Both parties discussed the possibility of sending a bank wire, but the idea was dropped. They came to an agreement to proceed via Western Union, but the manager dealing with the player left the company which caused additional delays. The player was eventually paid in full.
ANALYSIS: One year before receiving your money is an awful long time. The article does not specify how long they waited for the Skrill option to become available, which seemed to have been a choice made the player. In other words, was the player responsible for 20% of the overall delay, or 75%? We can’t tell. The good news is he got his money.
STORY 3
A poster called RGCREATIVE2014 filed a complaint against BetPhoenix regarding a bonus that was not honored. Upon investigation, it was determined another account at the same address had already benefited from the same promotion. Since BetPhoenix only allows one account per household, they did not honor the bonus.
SOURCE: https://www.askgamblers.com/casino-complaints/not-honoring-the-free-no-deposit-bonus
ANALYSIS: Most sportsbooks won’t allow more than one account per household (or per IP adddress) to avoid people abusing their bonus programs. That’s totally understandable and I support their decision in this case.
STORY 4
A guy needed to wager a total of 208,000$ in order to get his 3000$ bonus. Once he reached 77,000$, his betting limits got severely cut down (50$ on the NBA, much lower than normal!) which gave him no chance to reach the rollover requirement. He asked whether he could either get his limits restored to reasonable amounts, or to get a prorated bonus amount (which amounts to 1110$). BetPhoenix opted for the first option and both parties were happy with the outcome.
SOURCE: https://www.sportsbookreview.com/sports-betting-news/betphoenix-player-submits-bonus-dispute-5163/
ANALYSIS: Limiting a player to 50$ on NBA wagers is a strong indication BetPhoenix doesn’t like winners. I totally agree with the player; he had no chance of wagering an additional 131,000$ in 50$ increments. That amounts to 2620 different wagers! I’m glad they reached an agreement, but I don’t like such sportsbook behaviour.
STORY 5
In 2011, a player logged into his account and was prompted by a message saying his account was frozen until it was determined “how much you robbed from us.” The problem was he placed several correlated parlays (like betting the same team to win the game and the first half of the game), which gave him a huge advantage over the house. His account balance was negatively adjusted.
ANALYSIS: What? How much he ROBBED you? First of all, prompting your customer with such a message is not very professional. Secondly, if BetPhoenix does not want to accept correlated parlays then it should set up its website accordingly. Or have its line manager monitoring such activity instead of calling out their players like that. This story happened several years ago, so I’m hoping they have learned a lesson and don’t treat their customers this way anymore.
STORY 6
A report mentions six slow-pay complaints in 2011. They seem to have all been resolved, but players had to call on a daily basis in order to put pressure on the sportsbook.
SOURCE: https://www.sportsbookreview.com/sports-betting-news/betphoenix-slow-pays-update-4979/
ANALYSIS: I have been in this position several times in the past where you need to call or email a sportsbook repeatedly to get your money back. It’s pretty annoying. Again this story occurred in 2011 and there does not seem to be slow-pay complaints over recent years, so maybe they have improved in this regard.
STORY 7
Let me end this section with a couple of threads dating back to 2013 discussing BetPhoenix.
SOURCE: http://www.covers.com/postingforum/post01/showmessage.aspx?spt=40&sub=101594839
http://www.covers.com/postingforum/post01/showmessage.aspx?spt=9&sub=101594837
ANALYSIS: We have mixed opinions, but tend to find more negative than positive.
BetPhoenix is good for low or mid-sized players. Gamblers with a large bankroll wouldn’t enjoy their experience there considering their 250$ betting limits for new accounts, along with their costly and restrictive withdrawals.
I have reported you several stories of players not being treated very well between 2011 and 2013 (slow-pay complaints, preventing people from meeting rollover requirements by lowering their betting limits significantly, accusing customers of robbing them), but it seems like management has learned from its mistakes from the past and finally understood that taking good care of customers pays off in the long run. They are not the biggest brand, but I do believe they have been on the right path over the past years. I would not have recommended this sportsbook a few years ago but I now see them as a viable option, though more risky than the big names.
There are less betting events and options available at BetPhoenix, so this bookmaker is more suitable for players focusing on major sports and traditional bets like point spreads, money lines and totals. Customer service is good, the interface is gorgeous and most importantly they have a handful of amazing bonuses (make sure you fully understand the rules associated with them because they tend to be restrictive).