Some discussion based on this case as I understand it:
First of all, points are money. We can laugh all we want about people who grub for them but they are money. They may not be a lot of money at the levels people are usually farting around with them, however it is a fact of life that some people gamble at different levels. I personally don't believe that people who play at lower levels are entitled to less rights than bigger players.
And when you start talking about $5600 - which is a low estimate of the value of the confiscated points IMO - that is significant.
So I don't personally subscribe to the, "Pfft, it's just fucking points argument."
However, in a case like this where a book like, say, Sportsbook.com accepts a bunch of bets and then decides they are "illegal," a common remedy is to return the deposit(s). If they tried to confiscate everything, I feel pretty sure SBR would condemn them for it. I believe that is the precedent. I'm not going to start digging up the threads on the correlated parlay incidents but durito probably knows and will correct me if I'm wrong.
But that condemnable action is exactly what SBR is doing.
The tricky part is the question of if there was a deposit to be refunded. Obviously there was no actual cash. However my understanding is that many of the points (which again are money) were earned legitimately. Therefore they belonged to the player. That was his deposit.
John has tossed out a number of accusations about ghosts which might justify confiscating the funds if they were true but from what I saw, the accusations were flimsy at best. John seemed to get caught in a few lies and then started weaseling away from any direct answers.
In the end, John reverted to the posture of many scambook or just plain arrogant managers - i.e. - it is my book and I don't have to explain myself to anyone and I can do whatever I want. Considering his position in the industry over the years, he is certainly guilty of first-degree hypocrisy. Inept public relations, no question.
Anyway, I haven't read every word that has been written about it but from what I have seen, I believe the player is entitled to his honestly earned points back. And SBR needs to do a better job of running their sportsbook. If there are bets you don't want to book, don't offer them and don't accept them.
