newper wrote:
Bob Loblaw wrote:
They paid out last year except for the main event because of the screw finish.
So how did this work exactly? I'm not the biggest wrestling fan or the biggest gambler, but I am a little bit of both and find it odd that they wouldn't pay out no matter what happened.. it is essentially like booking the winner of the Apprentice or American Idol with the caveat being that there's no vote or decision being made -- they are following a script. I guess to some degree it would be similar to some of these shows where the "winner" is predetermined when they get down to the final six or so contestants.
Here's the official story from the GM of 5dimes:
http://www.covers.com/articles/articles ... Art=230064Tony Williams, general manager at 5Dimes.com , is prickly. Some may even go as far to say he’s a prick. But aren’t all good businessmen?
A 17-year veteran of the offshore industry, Williams is as blunt as they come. He’s not going to sugarcoat anything. He doesn’t care if you’re polite while visiting with him via online chat. And, in some cases, he doesn’t even care if you decide to leave his book. In fact, he paid at least one client to go away just this week.
What Williams does care about is running a cutthroat, profitable sportsbook that is consistent in grading wager results by the letter of the rules posted on its site.
In attempting to do that for the main event of WrestleMania XXVII, he created a wee bit of controversy here on Covers by grading the main event between The Miz and John Cena as a draw with no action.
I bet on The Miz at SportsInteraction ; my bet was graded a winner. Multiple other books that took WrestleMania action also graded The Miz as the winner. A headline on the WWE’s website reads, “WWE Champion The Miz def. John Cena.”
But none of that matters to Williams, who was adamant about following the rules that he stated in article here on Covers and which are listed on his website.
The ending of The Miz-Cena match was indeed controversial. Big surprise – controversial ending in a WWE match.
I watched it on pay-per-view, and my old lady Tina was there, part of the largest crowd ever to see a live event at the Georgia Dome. Here’s her eye-witness account. Judging by the text messages, she was absolutely ripped to the gills. So take this for what it’s worth.
According to Tina, toward the end of the main event, The Miz and Cena were outside the ring in the audience, lying on the floor, knocked out. The referee counted them out and called for the bell. The bell rang, and within a minute, the ring announcer entered the ring and said that both men had been counted out, and the match was called a draw.
As The Miz and Cena started to recover, The Rock, who was guest hosting, entered the ring and announced that he was reversing the decision. The match was restarted, and with a little bit of help from The Rock, The Miz eventually pinned Cena to retain the title.
Williams told Covers.com before last Sunday’s event that each bout will be graded by what the ring announcer states at the end of the match. In the above case, the announced ruling was a draw.
A similar scenario happened during the Michael Cole and Jerry “The King” Lawler match. Lawler was initially ruled the winner, before the decision was overturned. Williams also ruled no action on that match, citing a listed rule on the site: "5Dimes does not recognize suspended games, protests, overturned decisions, etc., for wagering purposes."
Multiple Covers members contacted 5Dimes.com about the main event ruling and, after going through customer service, eventually ended up on an online chat with Williams.
The conversation wasn’t friendly, because, well, Williams can be prickly. In one case, he reportedly ended up relenting $500 to an upset bettor, but told him to get lost and not play at 5Dimes anymore.
Williams and I chatted for almost 30 minutes the other day about what went down at Wrestlemania and his overall philosophy on bookmaking. He was prickly as ever. Here’s our online chat:
Q: Does something like the debated decision in The Miz-vs.-John Cena match happen every Wrestlmania?
Williams: “Any time a customer can find a "hole" or a possible chance of getting paid on a selection in any wagering category that they think they can deem marginal, they're going to try to collect. We grade all events based on the posted rules on the website. Those rules were followed. In this case, a Covers.com interview was done where we even clearly stated, "The sportsbook grades each bout by what the ring announcer states at the end of the match." That is exactly how all bouts were graded.”
Q: I’m sure you’ve seen the forum threads on Covers.com, where bettors have copied and pasted the transcripts from their online chats with you regarding the decision. From reading the comments in those threads, it looks like you’ve got a reputation as a no-B.S. guy around the gambling community; you’re a bottom-line businessman and make no apologies for that. Is that a fair description of your bookmaking philosophy?
Williams: “In my mind, we came out and handled the grade exactly as we said we were going to handle it prior to the event in a documented statement. There is no reason for the bouts in question to be graded in any other manner.
“As for a no-apologies businessman, that is not simply a philosophy of bookmaking, that is a philosophy of my entire life.”
Q: In my opinion, it’s not your job to be friends with your clients. But I could see where your no-B.S. approach could turn people off. Are you ever afraid it’s going to hurt business?
Williams: “When a customer service rep can't solve a problem, that problem is elevated to customer service management. When customer service management can't solve a problem, that problem is elevated to me. I leave little doubt with anyone that I'm not there "to be nice.” I'm there to solve the problem in a fair and efficient manner. If some are turned off by the way I handle things, they don't need to be talking to me. As long as customers are treated in a fair manner and paid quickly when they win, the business will do nothing but grow.”
Q: Do you really consider Covers.com “a rock of a forum” that bettors climb out from under, as you stated in on the chat transcript?
A: “I think there are people that "crawl out from under rocks" in every forum you visit, every bar you walk into, every office setting where you're stuck with a co-worker you'd like to jump from a 12th story window, every plane ride your sitting next to a 350-pound guy with a glandular issue. All could have claims on how I handled their Wrestlemania grading.
Anyone who felt it was that important to be paid on selections they most probably know were not winners, "were paid.”Then, those same customers were shown the door. If it is that important to you to get paid on a bet you didn't win, it is that important to me to never have to deal with you again.
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