GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — With the Super Bowl this Sunday, the Winter Games in Milan, and March Madness approaching, the Better Business Bureau is warning sports bettors to carefully read the fine print before placing online wagers.
The BBB of Michigan receives just as many complaints about sports betting rules as it does about actual sports betting scams, according to Nakia, a representative from the organization.
"Hey, this is our safe bet program, where you get all your money back, but the fine print might say up to $10 where you think you're safely betting $100 and if you lose, you get it back," Nakia said.
One major concern involves impersonator sites that often appear as social media ads. These fraudulent platforms allow people to deposit money, but when bettors try to cash out their winnings, they're either declined or asked to provide additional personal information or a blank check.
"Read, do your research. You know, go to bbb.org, type in the name of the company. Are there complaints about it? What do their reviews say? You can even, you know, just go and Google, type the name of that company and type the word scam or reviews after it," Nakia said.
The BBB offers several tips for safe sports betting:
If a site requires you to deposit more money before withdrawing winnings, that's a major red flag. Legitimate sites should allow withdrawals without additional deposits.
Verify the site's security by looking for the lock symbol and "HTTPS" in the URL, which indicates a secure connection.
Always read the fine print on incentives and promotional offers. Like any sales pitch, these can be deceptive, and without understanding the terms, bettors may wonder where their money went.
Even legitimate sports betting sites have the right to freeze winnings if they believe a bettor has an unfair advantage or shows irregular playing patterns, according to the BBB.
The BBB of Michigan has a scam tracker where you can look up sports betting sites to search their legitimacy or any complaints made against them.
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