Sportsbook.com

Yesterday I received a letter from Sportsbook.com that was very appealing. Here is some of the key points of the letter:

Remember playing in Paradise Poker? Remember those Frequent Player Points you were piling up? Boy, do we have a poker offer that'll interest you...

Greetings,

It was never any fun getting kicked out of Paradise, but at least we can now reveal a plan to get a serious poker product back on the desktops of American players - and put cash in your hands to try it risk free.

Since Paradise pulled out of the US, their parent company also had to sell off their crown jewel: Sportsbook.com. Now backed as a private venture, Sportsbook.com continues to service and satify players for both sports betting and casino entertainment.

And now Sportsbook.com has launched a new poker platform.

Our players are serious about poker as they are about sports. In the few weeks we've had the beta version up, literally thousands of people have come to compete in our first $100,000 freeroll and daily cash freerolls.

With cash games and tournaments now available, we figured it was time to invite you to join in. So we're sending you this software and this sixteen digit number that will unlock anywhere from $10.00 to $100.00 in free cash for you to try poker at Sportsbook.com

The rest of the letter goes on to market their company and software. Being a previous Paradise Poker fan I decided to check them out. Their software doesn't resemble Paradise in anyway, and with it's limited customization options you can tell it just came out of beta. What's good about the site is that the cards are easy to read, and so is every one's chip counts. While I haven't played a game on the site yet, merely spectated, I am definitely going to give their software a try. My sixteen digit code gave me $20 of free staring money, so we will see how far that will take me.

So with all this in mind I decided to look into Sportsbook.com a little more. For money transactions they use a company called EFS (Electronic Financial Services International Inc.) EFS has been in business since 1995 but doesn't seem to have an official website. EFS' site seems to go to http://www.worldgaming.com/ which only list a contact number for questions. I am assuming that this may be in light of what happen to Neteller. Maybe a way for them to protect their business and their people?

But the real question is, do they accept US transactions. I took it upon myself to find out the answer:

Sportsbook: How may I help you today?

Me: I recently received a letter from sportsbook.com inviting me to participate in their new poker room. The letter makes it appear that your company is allowing US customers. Is this true? Can US customers transfer & receive funds from your company?

Sportsbook: Yes we do indeed accept US customers

Sportsbook: We are open for business! As you know, we've made a habit of looking after our customers, and we don't intend to stop now! The management team who have lovingly built the site remain in place. We have always made it our aim to provide top-quality service from our experienced and professional team of people, and we're going to continue to do so. We thank you for your continued loyalty and support during these changing times.
All your transactions remain secure, your details completely confidential. Your account is safe with us.

Me: So just to verify, we can safely deposit and withdraw from your site?

Sportsbook: Yes indeed

This is actually pretty enlighten news considering the recent actions of Neteller. In the next few days I will attempt to test out their new software and make a deposit if I like their room. Overall I think this is good news for some poker players who might have gone bust over the last few weeks and haven't had a way to replenish their accounts. Right now, this is the only site that I know of that we can deposit funds into, and withdraw without a hassle (or so they claim). As I find out more information I will keep you all informed.