EZStreetSports.com Review
EZStreetSports, also known as EasyStreetSports, is a Costa Rica based online sportsbook that services the US market. They are rated D on our sportsbook rating guide. The reason for this low rating is they have a history that involves theft, deception and fraud. This review will largely cover a famous theft they perpetrator against a player known as Cory1111. Before getting to this scam, I’ll cover a bit on their history.
The company we’re discussing first came online in September 2004 using the domain name BetOnline.com, and was headquartered in Costa Rica. Relatively unheard of at the time, a lot of their initial marketing was the infamous Robbie McPhail hitting the phones to solicit deposits. Robbie has a long history we’ll write about at some future date, but he’s been around since the 1990’s. After scamming many players he’s believed to eventually have gone straight. He now uses the alias Zack and is a main partner with AmericasBookie/1Vice/Bet33 group. In any case we’re not aware of any scams that took place when they used the BetOnline.com name, but they did have known scammer recruiting for them at the time.
BetOnline.com was a relatively quiet shop. They were mostly a cash only sportsbook that took deposits and made payouts with Western Union and MoneyGram. In April 2007, they sold their domain to BestLineSports.com which merged several of its sportsbooks to the BetOnline.com url. Other than purchasing a domain from them, the current BetOnline.com/BetOnline.ag has no association with EasyStreetSports; the two are entirely separate companies with unique histories.
From the same Costa Rica office, the original BetOnline.com relaunched in late 2008 using the domain EasyStreetSports.com. After the theft we’re about to cover took place in early 20011, Google search results for EasyStreetSports were filled with warnings. Perhaps for this reason, or perhaps for another, shortly after this they changed their URL to a new spelling of Easy and became EZStreetSports.com. While they do have some fans they also have more than their fair share of enemies. This is perhaps why they now also run a second brand called 7RedSports.com. With their history now covered let me get into their theft.
EZStreetSports Theft and TheRx.com Fraud
In March 2011, a complaint hit forums by a poster using the handle Cory1111 that EasyStreetSports was refusing to pay him his $46,000 account balance. Several forums covered this complaint, but most of the reports are courtesy of SBR (an industry recognized company that sells advertisements to and/or affiliates for online sportsbooks, and owns SportsBookReview.com and a player advocacy forum SBRForum.com). Their dispute analyst known as Justin7 handled and was the most vocal about the complaint.
For those who prefer videos, here are two worth watching that tell much of the story.
A good summary report is also available in this EZStreetSports Blacklisted Report by Wizard of Odds.
Why EZStreetSports Has Supporters
The poster Cory1111 that was robbed by EasyStreetSports had a history of chargebacks. This means he deposited at a sportsbook, lost and called up his credit card company putting in a false claim of unauthorized transactions. This is a huge no-no in our industry, and very few players were sympathetic to Cory’s side due to his past, which he came clean about at the start. However, the facts of the dispute proved his past was not relevant. He made 11 deposits using P2P (Western Union or MoneyGram) and therefore these were legit transactions with no possibility they could be charged back.
Details of the Complaint
Cory1111 made eleven deposits from November 30, 2011 to February 28, 2011 most in the $200 to $300 range and all were cash transfers. The amount deposited totaled $2730 and he was giving a 100% casino bonus each time. On his final deposit he hit three Royal Flushes at Jacks or Better Video Poker running his balance up to approximately $58,000. He continued to play losing back another $12,000. With a $46,000 balance his account was frozen in order to review his play. EasyStreet asked the software provider DGS to review the players play and to see if there was any errors with the software. They responded back that all checked out fine, but EasyStreet decided to confiscate his balance anyways.
Their logic for doing so was their claim the player had played 5,848 hands in 326 minutes with perfect strategy and didn’t stop playing when he hit a Royal Flush. They concluded he must have been using a bot. SBR in an attempt to mediate the claim asked for proof that the player had played perfect strategy. EZ Street said they need additional time to do more tests.
They never did those tests. Instead they responded to SBR saying they’ve concluded the investigation. They are sure they player used artificial intelligence (“AI Software”) and their rules state if detecting AI software they “reserve the right to take any action we see fit, including immediately blocking access to the service to the offending user, terminating such user’s account and seizing all monies held in such account.” Seizing the money was the decision they made.
They further stated that they discovered “the player perpetrated fraud in over 22 other online gaming companies with over 34 various accounts over the last three years. This fraud included but was not limited to fraudulent charge-backs as well as software manipulation.” They also offered to fly Cory1111 to Costa Rica pay for his expenses and have him take a polygraph test. If he passed he would be paid. Note: There was no evidence ever shared to back up the claim he had manipulated software.
Justin7 Rebuttals
Justin7 questioned the use of a bot, and EZ Street later admitted they had no ability to print the hands and only scanned a few of them. He made a proposal that to settle the dispute they should first provide the game logs (which they had themselves offered to send and never did) to prove perfect play was used and the speed claims were correct. He then proposed the player come to either DGS of SBR office in Costa Rica and demonstrate his play. His balance would be escrowed with a reputable third-party such as Bookmaker.eu. If the player passed the test he would be paid.
EasyStreet countered by rejecting the proposal and making a similar one. They wanted the player to take a polygraph before the speed/accuracy test and wanted the funds escrowed with TheRx.com who they advertise with instead of a neutral third party. Justin7 addresses this in the videos already shared. He also made a post that the The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled there is no consensus polygraph evidence is reliable. He further explained former Attorney General John Ashcroft estimated the false-positive rate of polygraphs at 15%, while a technology journal had it as high as 30%. He then discussed how a tester could guarantee someone fails.
During the SBR investigation, Justin7 ruled that the player should be paid. At this point Easy Street Sports stated they never agreed to SBR mediation and said they should no longer contact them.
TheRx.com Circus Begins
TheRX.com was long the primary source of referring players to EasyStreetSports.com. The details of their financial relationship are unknown, but it’s pretty visible to see a relationship does exist. They could own the sportsbook, they could be an affiliate, or they could just be selling them advertisements. It is very clear to see they are the top sponsor as shown in the image to the right. As for their credibility, notice they also promote SBGGlobal, another sportsbook we have rated D. Whatever the case of that relationship might be, EasyStreetSports decided that TheRx.com would give Cory1111 a fair unbiased arbitration.
This proved a joke right from the outset. First Cory1111 had never agreed to this arbitration, Easy Street just decided it would take place at TheRx.com. Well right after communicating his side to the RX he was sent a message by RX management Marty Jensen that said he believes Cory1111 has wasted his time and didn’t disclose the fact he had 2 Royal Flushes a few weeks ago at North Bet. For failing to disclose this he was recommending wilheim banned him. This happened! So TheRX.com held arbitration without the poster having the ability to post.
As Justin7 pointed out, if this was an unbiased arbitration then it isn’t the mediator’s job to sell and control public opinion. However before even gathering the facts the supposed mediator wilheim posted that Cory’s account has been closed by at least 21 different sportsbooks for fraudulent activity. No proof was given of this ever at all, it’s a claim that Easy Street stated in the beginning and the mediator shared. It became obvious at this point this was a horse and pony show and it was already a forgone conclusion EZ street was committing this theft.
Shortly later TheRX.com wanted the player to fly to Costa Rica and pass a polygraph test. If, and only if, he passed the polygraph he would need to sit and play perfect strategy at the same speed for 5 hours and he’ll be paid. To this point no hand history had been released. It was complete bogus.
Later in the case it was revealed that EasyStreetSports had misrepresented most of the facts. The Rx said they would obtained and share the game logs. They said however EZ Street at the current moment had no easy way to print the logs. To this point they had only been able to view the hands one by one. This made it obvious they had never even reviewed most the hands, they only assumed the player had used a bot due to statistical improbabilities (which it was later proved were in no way statistical improbabilities, but was rather a 1 in 64 shot). I’ll address all this later, but first let’s cover some of the facts they misrepresented.
- They claimed the player had played perfect strategy. The hands were never analyzed to determine this. This was a lie.
- Early on they accused the player of playing a 5,848 hand in 326 minute session. This was false, that day he played for 326 minutes, but there were breaks, the actual time span was 9 hours.
- They claimed the player never paused when he hit a Royal Flush. Actually he did pause. With one of the royals he played the next hand, lost, and stopped. With the other royal he played another hand won, played the next and lost and then stopped. This was a consistent trend, he played until he lost another hand.
- The number of hands total over which he hit 3 Royal Flushes was later stated to be 8,762 hands, the real number of hands played over several weeks was roughly 22,000. They used selective sampling counting Royal Flush #1 as the first hand, and Royal Flush #3 as the last hand.
Later in the case EasyStreetSports would claim when they called Cory1111 asking how he had hit his last Royal Flush and he didn’t remember. This was used to support he was playing with a bot. However both Justin7, and the Wizard of Odds addressed this. The player was asked 9 days after the fact this question. This is a player who plays a TON of video poker, and has hit Royal Flushes several times. He’s less likely to react than some newbie gambler. He was consistent with playing style that he played until his next loss and then stopped. During the 9 days that passed before the question was asked, he played a ton more video poker losing back $12,000 of his winnings. The Wizard stated he would not have remembered 9 days later how he hit a Royal Flush either.
Evidence Suggests Human Play
Eventually, the hand logs were released with time stamp and results only. All play was stripped from the logs, perhaps for reason their perfect play allegation was a lie. It turns out the time it took to play the various hands were all sporadic. With rounding the partial seconds it broke down as:
- 600 hands had a 2 second gap
- 2791 hands had a 3 second gap
- 759 hands had a 4 second gap
- 65 hands had a 5 second gap
- 59 hands had a 6 second gap
This appears to be human play. For the more challenging hands it took extra seconds to process. There were also stoppages all together and breaks taken during the sessions.
The Wizard of Odds also added evidence to support the play was obtainable. The Wizard consulted with Video Poker expert Bob Dancer who said the play rate is obtainable by experienced players. He himself if given 5 trials would likely complete perfect play in one of them and make 1 or 2 mistakes in the other 4 trials. Now keep in mind, it was later revealed the hands were not even analyzed for perfect play.
Furthermore no experienced video poker player came forward to state the rate couldn’t be achieved. Several video poker players came forward who were able to match the given speed of play. Additionally the DGS Software has a fast deal option as well as an auto hold option. When no changes are needed playing the next hand is as simple a mouse click.
Justin7 made the points there was no reason for this player to use a bot. The three reasons to use a bot are 1) the player is going to make a chargeback if he didn’t win, 2) he was bonus whoring, 3) he was manipulation the software. None of these reasons existed. Cory made cash deposits and therefore no chargeback was possible. The bonuses Cory1111 received required a 25-time rollover. The fact he went on to play 400 times rollover with no bonus is consistent with a degenerate gambler, not a bonus whore. The bonus whore would have long since stopped playing. And to the final point, DGS reviewed the software and found nothing wrong.
TheRX Assists with Theft
I’ve done enough passing on info about the EZStreetSports.com scam, but will make a few comments before linking to the source. They posted a ridiculous report by a so called expert that made several false points. It stated a 1 in 710 chance as a mathematical improbability. Further it gave the wrong numbers anyways as it was a 1 in 64 chance had they not done selective sampling. It also provided false info about the time it takes the screen to load. It made a simple math error that 1.3 + 1.7 = 3.4, and further made a ridiculous claim that insinuated the player played so fast the RNG was tired and as a result began spitting out Royal Flushes. This was quite insulting statement to anyone with any intelligence about gaming software. To learn about more of the inaccuracies I suggest at minimum watching the embedded videos and read the second post in this thread.
The bottom line is EZStreetSports.com, who now also operates 7RedSports.com committed theft against Cory1111. TheRX.com and their former longtime moderator wilheim were accomplices to this theft. Although smarter than the scammer shown right, they’re all scammers just the same.