The following is an unedited statement from the mediator in the case:My name is Brad Scott and I work with SBR (sportsbookreview.com) helping players resolve disputes with sportsbooks.
I have been asked to provide a statement for public consumption regarding the complaint submitted by Betcoin.ag user ZIK013, so am addressing this to the wider crypto betting community.
Brief Background:Betcoin.ag decided that user ZIK013 was playing from The Ukraine, was working with a syndicate from that country and was multi-accounting with account KillyPG.
They wanted to confiscate the account balances in line with their stated policy regarding The Ukraine
https://www.betcoin.ag/suspending-service-russia-and-ukraine-effective-immediately SBR was asked to advocate for ZIK013 and after reviewing the available evidence advised ZIK013 that trying to come to an amicable agreement was the best option to see him paid.
Betcoin.ag said that if ZIK013 would make a public statement on the Bitcointalk forum saying that he understood why Betcoin were so suspicious and were not unreasonable to have acted as they did, and SBR would provide a report to back up that post, they would treat this as a simple multi-accounting case and not invoke their rule regarding The Ukraine
ZIK013 agreed to this, made the requested post on Bitcointalk forum, and was allowed to withdraw the account balance of that account, and the total deposits that had been made to the KillyPG account. This is what I advised ZIK013 would happen and is in line with fair industry practice for multi accounting, the lesser of current balance or total deposits.
ZIK013 has changed his mind after being paid, so Betcoin has asked SBR to provide the promised report.
SBR Role:SBR is not a regulator and does not make “orders”. We attempt to mediate fair solutions to disputes that both parties can be satisfied with and agree to. Confidence that the wider offshore industry can be trusted, without the onerous rules of onshore regulation, is the goal.
We advocate for the player and try to avoid doing anything that might compromise their position, so it is with regret that I am now forced to honor the agreement and provide a public explanation of the mediation process.
This is not a ruling, just an explanation of the steps taken to find the best possible solution for the person we are advocating for.
Betcoin Allegations:1) Playing from The Ukraine
2) Controlling more than one account & circumventing betting limits
3) Working as part of a Ukrainian syndicate
Evidence Offered:1) Playing from The UkraineBetcoin offered activity logs where on three occasions the account was logged in from a VPN connection which changes to the same retail Ukraine ISP owned IP, causing an auto logout. The same regional VPN IP range was used both before and after these logout events, which Betcoin say is indicative of a VPN system drop out and reset.
I asked ZIK013 if he had any idea how this could happen. He said he uses a multi layer setup involving virtual machines, TOR and rotating IPs from five VPN companies and it must have been from that. I said it appeared unlikely any of the 5 companies he named would control that IP and did he know if any of his providers offered “undetectable” or “retail” IPs. He said he did not really understand the system very well but some online friends had helped him set it up and one of them may have included their home IP from inside Ukraine in the rotation.
I thought that explanation brought up more questions than it answered, and there was no evidence of rotating IPs in the logs I was shown to support the theory, so decided it would be fruitless to go any further into this angle.
I asked what KYC proof ZIK013 could offer to show where he is.
ZIK013 said he is located at an address around 10 hours driving time from the suspect Ukraine IP, and in a different country. He said that he could offer passport and utility bills, a photo of himself outside his house which can be identified from Google Earth, an on demand video, or anything else within reason.
I believe this is more than enough to meet normal justifiable ID standards and is sufficient for ZIK013 to refute the claim that he is in The Ukraine.
Betcoin did not agree with that assessment, saying their experience is that operatives for the suspected group are always armed with fake KYC documents or use a “gnome” stand-in.
2) Controlling more than one account & circumventing betting limitsBetcoin is able to show that the ZIK013 and KillyPG accounts have been funded from the same source.
Betcoin offered six examples of the two accounts making the same maximum limit bets within less then 1 minute of each other.
Betcoin alleged that ZIK013 has been communicating on behalf of the KillyPG account and offered a number of examples comparing the writing style to justify their claim. I could not argue with their analysis.
ZIK013 said that KillyPG has made many bets that are not the same as his apart from these few examples, and is in control of his own account.
He says KillyPG is a subscriber to his Blogabet service and as such follows most of his bets soon after posted.
He said that the account funding was him innocently paying back money he owed and denied that he had ever communicated pretending to be the KillyPG account.
I sent ZIK013 three of Betcoin’s example bets and asked him to send me a link to Blogabet where he had posted those, hopefully just before KillyPG bet them.
I also asked ZIK013 if he was able to provide anything we can use to show how the money owed had originally changed hands, to support that story.
None of those three bets had been posted to Blogabet but ZIK013 provided evidence of a Telegram session where he says he shared those bets with private subscribers only.
He was unable to think of anything that could be used to help show it was a real debt.
I explained to ZIK013 that whether KillyPG is genuinely another person and all activity is innocent or not, Betcoin do have enough evidence to reasonably justify their claim that the accounts are working together and are circumventing their betting limits.
3) Working as part of a Ukrainian syndicateBetcoin point to the Ukranian IP they detected
Betcoin offered examples of bets on lower leagues and alternative markets that they are suspicious of being syndicate plays
Betcoin claim that the source wallet only ever having transacted with the Binance exchange and Betcoin is indicative of how banned Ukrainian syndicates operate.
ZIK013 said he sometimes uses tips from other sources but denies acting on behalf of any other group or person.
ZIK013 was asked to show where several bets Betcoin were suspicious about had been posted on Blogabet, as this would go a long way to refuting the claim these were syndicate plays. But they had not been publicly posted.
ZIK013 said Betcoin were incorrect about the wallet usage as he had used it to fund several other bookmakers.
I put it to Betcoin that they were wrong about the wallet use history and they responded with this information;
“Here is a graph of their transactions
https://imgur.com/a/4PuYgrCThat wallet on the far left starting with 13Taq is the wallet which funded both accounts. The Zik account had several other wallets which funded and received funds from Betcoin, which are part of that triangle on the left.
On the right side you see sending and receiving exposure and orange is for gambling. All Bitcoin gambling sites are a part of this software.
If I click on the orange for that wallet, you will see that it is 100% Betcoin.
https://imgur.com/a/VNzaTdG To be thorough, I also checked the other 2 private wallets that were related to Betcoin and they are both 100% exposure to only Betcoin, as well.
https://imgur.com/a/N1LJFUAhttps://imgur.com/a/hZOnzT2 He does have some other transactions which came directly from the Binance exchange but the wallet which was used to fund the Killy account and 1 of Zik's deposits was 100% only used for Betcoin.”
I explained to ZIK013 that although Betcoin are only assuming this is the case, I think they are not being unreasonable to be suspicious.
Resolution:Given the weaknesses on both sides of the argument I suggested an agreement to allow both parties to get most of what they want. Betcoin to be cleared of the wrong doing that has been alleged, and ZIK013 to be paid out.
ZIK013 made the requested conciliatory public post and was paid his full balance, as it was less than his deposits, and the KillyPG account had all betting cancelled and the total deposits refunded, as the balance was higher than the deposits.
This is in line with SBR policy and fair industry practice and I think was the best solution for both parties in these circumstances.
I hope this helps provide some clarity for the bitcoin betting community.
