Pasting this my own personal thread:
Update:
I was recently contacted by Lou here at BMR to start working on my case. He said he would be in contact with Bovada about my situation. Yesterday evening I received this email from Bovada after 5 months of "investigation" and silence:
Hello,
Upon investigation, it has been discovered that your account is linked to other accounts involved in Bonus Abuse, a direct breach of the Player Agreement laid out in our Terms of Services. Please refer to the below clause for details:
6.8 Abuse of Bonus Programs. Bonus programs are intended for recreational bettors only. Professional players or players considered, in our sole discretion, to be abusing the bonus system by any means may have bonuses revoked and be subject to further sanctions. Bonus abuse may be defined as (but not restricted to) clients cashing out for the purpose of re-depositing, depositing on top of an existing balance, or referring new accounts that they are using themselves. Sanctions may be in the form of increased rollover requirements or loss of bonus privileges altogether for the offending Account as well as any linked Accounts. We reserve the right to restrict eligibility for special offers and bonuses when necessary. This includes (but is not limited to) placing geographic restrictions on match bonuses due to bonus abuse. Please refer to the Help section for further information regarding additional details concerning the eligibility, conditions, terms and usage of bonuses offered.
6.2 Fraudulent Activity. If, in our reasonable discretion, we determine that a player has engaged in fraudulent, unlawful, dishonest or improper activity (including, without limitation, the usage of a VPN, proxy or similar service that masks or manipulates the identification of your real location, or by otherwise providing false or misleading information, or by making bets, wagers or poker play through a third party or on behalf of a third party) we reserve the right to immediately terminate or deny a player access to their Account. In such event, all Account balances (including both deposits and any winnings) shall be forfeited and we reserve the right to disclose information (including the identity of the player) to applicable parties including but not limited to banks, credit card companies and/or any person or entity that has the legal right to such information, and/or taking legal action against such player.
By breaching our terms, the decision has been made to terminate our business relationship with you. Any available balance has been seized.
This decision was made with careful consideration of all the evidence and is final.
Regards,
Bovada Security
The timing is obviously not coincidental. They got some pressure to look at my case and this is what they came back with. Note their careful wording. They don't accuse my account of doing anything wrong. They say it is "linked" to accounts that have engaged in bonus abuse.
I will restate some facts because they seem material here:
1) I do not have multiple accounts at Bovada
2) I do not work for or with a syndicate
3) I do not place bets for other people
4) I have never used the referral program
5) I was very careful to never bet more than 50% of my deposit amount while clearing a bonus. But I am not even sure this is relevant since they don't accuse my account of abusing bonuses. Just being "linked" to them.
I don't know what being "linked to an account" even means tbh. Did someone place similar bets to me? I think many of us have people we tail for certain markets, so that is possible but would not be an abuse of ToS.
Their rules for bonus abuse talk about limiting bonuses, removing them etc. But they chose to seize my entire balance and end their relationship and "it is final".
They provide no evidence or reference for any of the alleged violations.
I have asked BMR to dispute this for me. I will continue to provide updates.
