Beware of 5Dimes horse racing
 

I've been checking out offshore, with small amounts (because of a general lack of trust).

So I won this race at SA today. Maybellene won and paid 6.20, beating the 3/5 favorite and another horse. Close race, as you can see here: http://www.equibase.com/static/chart...102314USA2.pdf

Of course the track paid the winnings. But I had played it offshore, at 5Dimes, and - surprise! - they took the bet, but didn't honor it. Reason? There were only three horses in the race.

Excuse me?! Isn't it about odds?

5 Dimes is mostly about sports. To point out the obvious, most sports games in the NFL, NBA, NHL and, well, in fact all, have only two horses in the race. Should we cancel all those, Tony?

So they created an arbitrary rule, and I post about it here to warn you not to play there. They also close races regularly five minutes before they go off. At main tracks... I thought they would know their business with horses, as they do with sports, but I was wrong.

Would they have honored the wager if it lost?

I couldn't tell you that. They sure as hell didn't pay back races that I lost. I know that.

In my experience they don't offer horse racing as alternative to going to the track, but as a virtual game based on horse racing, where they can insert rules and/or cut off races as they see fit.

Look at their rules for racing. The first one is:

"A race must have a minimum of 4 runners or all wagers will be no action." Pretty typical for a non-commingling book to have rules like that. Just be aware of them...

Is there a way you could tell if the money was refunded to your account BEFORE the race actually ran? As soon as the field went to 3, the money should have been in your account.

I found them pretty good for an offshore book in the past, don't think they are ripping people on stuff like this. I'm 99.9% sure he'd be refunded win or lose.

I didn't check their arbitrary rules. There was a relatively late scratch, but it happened well before I placed my wager, which they obviously accepted. When there's a sports dispute they will abide by the score of NFL.com, NBA.com, NHL.com, and so on. But in horse racing they won't abide by the track in question. That, to me, is the bottom line. They're good enough at sports, but they really are terrible at horse racing. Unless you don't mind races being taken off the board five minutes before they go off. :ThmbDown:

The race only had 3 horses yet they took the bet anyway ? fawk them..

All transactions are "settled" 10 minutes after prices are posted final. When field went to 3, transaction was considered a scratch, the refund dispersed after settled action completed.........been there, done that.

Of course the advantages are good rebates (sort of) and your bets not going in the pool. The one thing you have to do with offshore is know the rules, or eventually you'll learn the hard way. A 2-1 winner is a lot cheaper lesson to learn than other stories I've heard.

But this place isn't parimutuel, so they don't need to wait till the race is over like a real track would. Am i right about that?

never bet a race with less 5 horses thats my rule :eek:

SRU, you are correct, but it's wagering by their rules.

Dansan, I was making a hedge win bet to cover a Pick-4 pay-off.....

Books like these don't grade wagers in real-time or even necessarily keep track of scratches. They even warn you not to past post (because it is "allowed" from a technical standpoint) or will you get your account canceled. Bets after a certain time each evening are not graded until the next day...

Here's what i don't get.

Since this is not a pari mutuel book, they can essentially just "not pay" if there are any "irregularities". So, why not just permit betting on a 3 horse field and if everything is on the up and up, pay the winners.

In other words, the original reason for not accepting bets on 3 horse races isn't applicable to this book, because they can just 'not pay' if they don't want to.