Betting online.

When the NFL began its current season I had the idea that the 49ers would be better than expected - though I certainly didn't imagine they'd be 10-2 at this point. I decided it would be fun and possibly profitable to bet a few dollars on their games. Since Las Vegas is a long commute, I looked for a place to bet online, eventually settling on BetOnline.com. Little did I realize what a can of worms I was opening.

Being still a Puritan country, online gambling is illegal in the U.S. Our guardians in the government have protected us by prohibiting banks from allowing deposits to gaming sites via credit or debit cards. I had to use a 3rd party site to deposit $200 into my account at BetOnline.

As football fans know, the 49ers got off to a great start, and I won my bets week after week. When my account was up to $750 I decided to opt out, since the betting lines on the Niners were becoming more realistic. When I tried to withdraw my funds from BetOnline, I got the message, "Customer has not met rollover requirement." The what????

What happened was this. I went online to bet $100 on one of the early games and saw a box that said, "You have a $30 Free Play. Do you want to use it?" That sounded like a good deal - BetOnline advertises free plays for depositing money - so I used the free play and bet $70 straight. Unfortunately, using the free play toggled a section in BetOnline's non-advertised and well-hidden rules: according to their formula, I could not withdraw any money at all until I had wagered $1450.

That infuriated me and I went ballistic, but it didn't do any good, they didn't budge. BetOnline is legally located in Panama City, Panama, so any thin possibility of a legal remedy had evaporated. I called them names but decided to play by their rules. I started by making some $300 straight bets on highly favored NCAA basketball teams. That was scary, because in each case I was risking $300 to win about $18. I did win those bets, but it didn't help much. BetOnline credits to the rollover amount the lower of the amount bet or the amount that could be won, so I just got some $18 credits.

My next attempt was a few $50 bets where I bet on both teams, thinking there would be no big losses. Then the commissions were eating up my stash. Finally I realized that the best thing to do would be to just make some straight bets, because money I couldn't get certainly wasn't doing me any good. I bet $100 on each of several basketball games with spreads of 3 points or less, taking the home team. I bet $100 on last week's 49ers game and… choke… the Broncos in last week's game. When I checked my account it was up to $997 and the rollover amount had been met! I put in an order to withdraw my money, which BetOnline said they would "review". I was optimistic, but then I got an email saying that according to their rules… aaarrrggghhh… I had to send them documentation: a scan of my driver's license and a recent utility bill.

That was just one more way for BetOnline to annoy me. Why did they need that? I'd given them my address when I signed up and they were going to mail me a check - what was the problem? After more complaining (they really hate me now), I decided to send them the scans and end the entire affair. But it didn't work. Reaching deep into their Bag 'O Rules, they said that I had to send them a scan of the front and back of the credit card with which I funded my account, even though that was done through a 3rd party with no direct connection to BetOnline.

That was the last straw. As Twila mentioned to me, I could send the credit card scans and then monitor charges, but I will not do it. There is something nefarious going on, or extreme harassment at the least. I told them they can keep my money, because I am going to destroy them. They don't seem overly concerned, but they should be.

It was actually my intent to ruin their company when I first heard about the rollover thing, and I must confess that the desire to do that mostly disappeared when I thought I'd be paid. But now I am highly motivated again and the only real money I'm giving up is $200. I'm calling it a cost of doing business.

Stay tuned.