Are Betezy the next Sports Alive?
I saw the Sports Alive debacle unfolding well before they went under taking a lot of our money and did not voice my concerns. I was lucky to get a large chunk out before they went bust but still lost over $6,000. The sad story of how these Sportsbook operate and how they can get away with it is a post for another day but I just want to draw to your attention a new concern I have with another Australian Sportsbook.
Bear in mind this is just my opinion from my own experience and some stories I have heard from other bettors. Betezy & their many other skins (Dynabet and others) use TAB odds plus 1c better and usually take a good bet. It was actually one of my favorite sportsbooks for some time. It’s Australian owned, their marketing is fun at times and I had no complaints with them. Until the last couple of months, where they have taken a very long time to make payments, missed payments, don’t respond to emails, stolen bonus money and have changed their terms and retroactively applied them to users accounts.
I’m not as worried as I was with Sportsalive, but I don’t want another book to go down without any warnings. I hope I am wrong and probably am, but if you do have a large amount of your bank in there, it won’t hurt to withdraw and deposit just when you place bets.
If representatives from Betezy would like to reply to any of my emails regarding this matter I would be happy to post their comments on this site.
hey stevo mate – i wanted to congratulate on your betting achievements over the 4 yr span – by the way do you pay any taxes to the ATO on your winnings – I am winning but not as much as you mate – keep up the good work hopefully u can strike the 500 k mark. cheers
Hi Chris,
On the Sportpunter forum we have talked about the Tax issue a bit and on that forum the majority of members are much larger bettors then me. My understanding (I am not an accountant) from the forum and reading some Tax documents is that if gambling is not your major source of income then it is seen as a hobby (which for me it is, but something I would like to change in the coming years) and therefore not taxable. As my main income is still more then what I make here I would fall under that category.
It is a tough one and in the next few years I hope to be in a position where I am earning more then my job and would have to get some clarifications on the rules.
I think it would be seen as double dipping from the government, as they already tax the bookmakers and then to tax anyone who makes profit as well would be a bit silly, then you bring in all the questions about losing players, if you tax the winners then you would have to give some sort of tax credit to the losers. So it’s easier to just tax the bookmakers.
I also see this as an investment vehicle and my investments have not been realised yet (as money is still in the bookmakers accounts). If tax were to be paid then it would be like stocks and I would pay capital gains tax.
A very confusing mess to be honest, but the reason the ATO doesn’t have an exact finding on this is that there are so few people making a profit that it’s not worth their time.
You can always move to the UK where there is no tax on gambling winnings.
Thanks for the reply Steve – I was curious to know – personally my annual income is about 70 k per year and after tax its about 55 k. However with regards to sports betting, if i am lucky i can hit 25 k a year – majority of the time its under that.
I cant hit 225 k over a 4 yr span but still I thought 25 k was a bit to be potentially taxed. Otherwise we can do our betting at the TABs with tangible money, although we prefer Pinnacle as TAB have a bigger/wider margin.
All the best
When I started 3 and a bit years ago, I didn’t think I would be aiming for a minimum of $100k a year and looking at 2-300k a year if everything went well. So keep at it and slowly grow your bank and over the years you’ll be amazed at what is possible.
The year I do make more from this then my normal income, I will need to talk to my accountant and see what I need to do. I will off course let you all know what he says.
Out of interest and if you don’t mind me asking, what is your profession Steve? Read the blog weekly and know you manage to get overseas a bit so wasn’t sure if betting was the main income or not, With a salary and this on top, that is pretty handy! One other question, and its a bit lazy in that I am sure I could work it out via the figures you detail – do you know on average what % of your roll you lay out on each stake? I know you have different banks for different sports etc but was just curious as to a general figure, 2-5% something like that?
Thanks and as always, good luck! Hope this week is panning out better for you than the last!
Hi Brian, Sorry for the very slow response.
I guess my profession is Entrepreneur. I do a number of things. I have a few startups I am working on, I have a few websites, I do some consulting in the IT field and have a few other streams of income.
I worked for a University and then a big engineering company while studying at University, but realised quickly that I’m not the sort of person who can have a boss and work 9-5.
I would say I’m turning over around $55,000 a week this year, but with Soccer that will increase to $100,000 a week. The bank is about 150-200k now so half the bank is turned over per week.