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Bet Cascade Sportsbook Scam

Bet Cascade will go down in history as one of the worst sportsbook scams in history. The sportsbook, still based in Costa Rica, rose to popularity in the early stages of online gambling and sports betting in the United States at the turn of the century. At one time, they had a sterling reputation. They were a highly rated sportsbook by both players and industry watchdog sites. Few could have predicted their downfall and their demise left many bettors shell-shocked.

Bet Cascade Early Years

In 2002, Cascade was met with apprehension by bettors after rumors of slow-pays, but soon became one of the top sportsbooks on the internet within the next two years. However, trouble began to surface around 2004. Sportsbook Review reported that the operator lost their main backer and financier and lowered their rating to a C. Just over a month later, another report stated that Cascade had “secured a partnership, with a Costa Rican heavyweight” and that their business was back on track.

We’re not sure which bookmaker made the deal to back Bet Cascade, but SBR once again reports several days later that they are “one of the most respected and established bookmakers in the offshore industry.” Cascade’s rating continued to rise after this development and their early troubles were behind them. They were even voted a Top 10 sportsbook at SBR in early 2006. They had an A- rating and offer plenty of perks, including reduced juice lines and dime lines for baseball. Remember, this period was the heyday of online gambling. In America, the numbers kept going up every year and the market was much bigger than it was today. It wasn’t until later in 2006 that the United States passed the UIGEA, which stifled growth for US-facing online gambling markets.

Cascade acquired several other sportsbooks during their upturn. This includes 777Rock and Dimeplayer.com. The books were failing at the time and were bailed out by the sportsbook.

Slow-Pay Trouble – The Late Signs Of The Scam

The timeline of events surrounding Bet Cascade can be viewed at SBR’s Bet Cascade page. This illustrates the rise and fall of the once prominent offshore bookmaker and goes over the above events more in-depth. Slow-pay complaints began again in late March 2007. SBR reported on a five-figure slow-pay around this time, which was paid soon after the player filed a complaint with Sportsbook Review. However, that was just the tip of the iceberg. More complaints began to emerge in the coming days and weeks. By April 2007, slow-pay complaints totaled more than $300,000. While some withdrawals were still going out to players, the slow-pays owed continued to increase in the coming months.

During this time, Bet Cascade and their sister sportsbook were adamant that players would be paid. After all, they were a top 10 sportsbook less than a year ago. However, SBR and other industry minds, along with players, were skeptical. SBR demoted them from an A- to D- as they began to stack up more debts. Worst of all, Cascade and Dimeline were mailing bettors offers of 100% reload bonuses. They were already far behind payments at the time and had stiffed international players for more than two months. By November, requested withdrawals totaled more than $2 million. However, it was business as usual at Cascade in terms of their public face. They were looking to acquire more customers and were accepting wagers.

Other Scam Operations Under Bet Cascade

During their issues with paying players, Cascade opened up two other sportsbooks which were not affiliated with their sister brands. Bet Sports Inc. and Big World Casino Sportsbook both popped in late 2007 and were immediately spotted by SBR users. The scam outfits would tell players that they aren’t staffed Cascade nor share the same owners, but that the two sportsbooks worked out of the same facility.

One of the players who was owed by Cascade tried to log in to both sites with his Cascade username and password. It worked, and showed his balance, proving for certain that it was Cascade’s management and the same software used by the crooks. They also launched another site, called Play Fast Sportsbook over a year later, which was once again tied to Bet Cascade. In 2012, the sportsbook, Wager Madness was once again tied to Bet Cascade.

Prop Player Sheds Light On Bet Cascade

Form poster, “Prop Player”, sheds light on the situation at Bet Cascade before much of the information was published by SBR. Prop Player is Jim Griffin and his take on the industry can be found at SportsBettingSites.org,  he’s one of the best minds in sports betting and covering all offshore news. Jim links to a story regarding Bet Cascade which mentions the $2 million in debts and that the owners only have assets that would amount to 30% of the overall debt. It also mentions that they tried to find a bailout (a new partner) but goodwill is gone among bettors after months of slow-pays and no-pays.

Interestingly, the report posted by Jim also mentioned that Cascade owes one professional player on their balance sheet quite a lot of money. This professional player represented about 65% of the $2 million or more owed to players, agents, and vendors.

The Situation Today – Bet Cascade Still Exists

Cascade never did much to make even make a dent in their $2 million or more owed to players. The lawsuit threats made by some never materialized. Some of their sister “sportsbooks” may still be operating, but along with Cascade, they should be avoided. All of their outfits were no-deposit sportsbooks in 2008 and are the same today. BetCascade.com is still up, but there’s not much to the site. Their system is still up, but their homepage is bare. It’s unknown if player logins still work from their 2007 days, but there is the option to login on the main page.

Conclusion – Bet Cascade Sportsbook Scam

There’s no denying that the only way to know this types of actions is to read about it. Sadly no one talks openly about it and new players may fall to the marketing attempts on several other scamming sites. We belive our job is also to inform players of such pending financial danger, for this reason if you are still looking for information about sportsbook scams visit our main review page about scam sportsbooks sites, where you’ll find the similarities between the sites and the tactis they all seem to use.