Oddsmaker.ag Full Review

Oddsmaker.ag is an all-in-one site offering poker, sports betting, casino games, and a fantasy racebook. Licensed by the Curacao Gaming Commission, Oddsmaker.ag runs on a blend of popular software platforms and proprietary software, and is headquartered "in Canada," a vague reference I found right on the site's own About Us page.

Take note that Oddsmaker.ag is no longer accepting customers from the US – if you had an account before they cut off new signups, your account is still valid.

I don't like to start getting negative this early, but it's hard to ignore all the bad stuff floating around about Oddsmaker. This site has to be one of the worst-reviewed gambling sites I've covered in recent memory. Typing in the URL plus the word "review" will lead you down a rabbit hole of some truly awful stories about the site's business practices. It's difficult to discuss the site without paying special attention to the stories of scams, rip-offs, and confiscated winnings.

Below, I cover the specifics on games and bets available as well as customer service information and a brief FAQ. Let's start with the (very short) list of things I like about Oddsmaker.ag:

They have a decent range of deposit and withdrawal methods. It is by no means the biggest I've ever seen, but it's bigger than a lot of all-in-one sites with popular sportsbooks.

The site also offers some so-so bonuses, with a low rollover requirement. A 15x rollover requirement for a casino bonus is so low as to be praise-worthy. Unfortunately, the site's status as a blacklisted rogue operator makes them way less attractive.

Their casino includes software from a number of the biggest names in the casino design industry. A blend of Betsoft, NetEnt, WGS, and other designers (along with a few proprietary designs) means that you won't get bored as easily from playing the same-old titles again and again.

Now for the bad news – I have one big reason why you should avoid making a deposit at Oddsmaker.ag:

Oddsmaker has earned some really bad press and might confiscate your money. It appears that Oddsmaker.ag is a rogue operator. I found review after review that warned players to stay far away from their services. Read the review of Oddsmaker.ag at SportsbookReview. You'll find the words "blacklisted" multiple times. SBR's main complaint, in their "F"-rated review of the site, is as follows:

"Avoid blacklisted betting site Oddsmaker - Oddsmaker Sportsbook (SBR rating F) has confiscated more than $250,000 from winning players. The online sportsbook cites a part of their terms and conditions outlawing professional play to justify the confiscations. SBR advises players to avoid the blacklisted site."

That's a pretty serious accusation, and it deserves to be taken seriously. The issue at hand is that Oddsmaker has repeatedly said that their service is for "recreational players," and that they have the right to intervene when professional money is invested.

What happened to turn Oddsmaker from a site with so-so reviews to a blacklisted scam operation?

The site used to be called Oddsmaker.com – back then it was run by the dubious Futurebet organization. The transition to Oddsmaker.ag happened in 2006, after the passage of the UIGEA forced Futurebet out of the US market. The company that purchased the old sportsbook.com for a buck also runs Sportsbook.com, PlayersOnly.com, Hollywood Sportsbook, Belmont, and a few others, some with bad reputations all on their own.

What happened? Jazette, the new management team, began freezing and confiscating large account balances, focusing instead on customers with small balances. The idea must have been to focus their business on small-time players who like to deposit $20 here and there and never have a chance to cash out.

The first sign of big trouble came immediately after the takeover by Jazette – using a list of past clients (organized from the customer lists of other skins), the site sent a snail mail offer of $50 free, under certain conditions. The rules were strict – a 30x rollover, no parlays, no long shot bets allowed, and the requirement of a $1,500 account balance in order to cash in the bonus. Not only was the offer a really bad one, in which just a few of the site's customers could even meet the requirements, the site started to throw out bonuses which were earned legitimately.

But those were just the first warning signs. Other problems have popped up since then. The Offshore Gaming Association has an excellent article spelling out exactly what the site did wrong in great detail.

SportsbookAdvisor.com offers another really negative review that everyone considering opening an Oddsmaker.ag account should be familiar with. This review alleges that the site confiscates funds and deactivates accounts pretty much at will.

Maybe the most damning link of them all isthis one from Casinomeister. Oddsmaker is blacklisted for "nonpayment and non-response" to queries about customer issues. Placement on Casinomeister's popular blacklist is a really bad sign of a site's legitimacy.

This forum post at FlopTurnRiver is another collection of Oddsmaker fail that is sure to scare even the saltiest bettor away from the site.

If all those links aren't bad enough, it looks like Oddsmaker is trying to hide their own negative reviews by stuffing the Google results with review-like pages on their own site. I've never seen a sportsbook review itself before – and what the site has to say about itself is pretty comical. Here's a choice quote:

"There are a number of pages on the Internet that offer an Oddsmaker sportsbook review. And it seems that every single one of them says what we're about to say: that Oddsmaker is an excellent online sportsbook site. They offer an excellent website, which is well designed and which allows people to place bets on whatever sporting events they want to bet on."

I beg to differ, Oddsmaker – I can't find a single review that says Oddsmaker is an excellent sportsbook. I also find the attempt to bury bad reviews completely abhorrent. Shame on you, Oddsmaker!

Whether you believe all these allegations or not, you have to take them under consideration. Above-board sites that do proper business simply don't garner reviews like this.

And now for an overview of each of the categories of gambling available at Oddsmaker.ag.

These are the bonus offers the site hosted at the time of my visit. They're likely to change over time, so visit Oddsmaker to read about the site's current deals. All bonuses are subject to a 15x rollover unless otherwise stated.

• 100% Sign-Up Bonus – New members are eligible for a 100% deposit match bonus worth up to $1,000.
• 20% Cash Back (Casino) – Casino customers can earn 20% of their losses back as a bonus in the months of June and July, provided they had overall losses.
• 20% Reload Tuesdays and Thursdays – Every Tuesday and Thursday, all Oddsmaker customers are eligible for a reload bonus, based on a minimum deposit of $20 and capped at $100.
• Free $250 Parlay – Sportsbook customers with a minimum $100 balance can earn a free chance at a $250 parlay all month long.

• American Express – Available for deposits only. $25 - $499
• VISA – Available for deposits only. $50 - $2,500
• MasterCard – Available for deposits only. $50 - $999
• EcoCard – Deposits and withdrawals. $100 - $1,000
• Neteller – Deposits and withdrawals. $100 - $10,000
• Person-to-Person – International and domestic. $100 - $2,000 depending on country of origin
• Bank Draft – Deposits and withdrawals. $500 – no maximum
• Bank Wire – Deposits and withdrawals. $2,500 – no maximum

As the name implies, Oddsmaker was originally a standalone sportsbook. Like most sportsbooks over the past twenty years, going online meant eventually adding features like casino games, a poker room, a mobile platform, etc. Oddsmaker does a good job of covering all the popular categories – though the sportsbook is still the site's main draw, the heaviest-advertised service, and the one piece of proprietary software that looks pretty darn good.

Oddsmaker's sportsbook has a decent range of available markets. Here's the list, current as of the time of my last visit:

• Baseball
• Football
• NCAA
• CFL
• Arena
• Awards
• Basketball
• Tennis
• Golf
• NASCAR
• International Soccer
• Mixed Martial Arts
• Hockey
• Entertainment
• Politics
• Rugby Union
• Futures

Most of these markets expand to reveal a larger range of professional and amateur leagues – this is especially true for soccer betting, with leagues all over Europe, Asia, and the Americas available for wagers. The wagering styles available for sports bettors at the site cover all the basics, from straight-up wagers to teasers and parlays, with lots of props thrown in, like any decent European-focused sportsbook.

The live betting section was disappointing at the time of my review – but that's partially because of the small number of sports that are actively being played right now. Still – the site had just a few MLB games available for live betting, ignoring the many international soccer contests going on entirely. The live betting feature here is one of the most disappointing of any I've reviewed.

The sportsbook has a strict minimum wager of $5 per bet. Maximum wager sizes vary from sport to sport, and from customer to customer. Some customers are allowed to place slightly-larger bets, a process which is handled through emails to customer support.

I'm always excited to see a blended software platform – and Oddsmaker's certainly fits that bill. I see games from WGS, NetEnt, Betsoft, and a smattering of proprietary games as well. This is usually a good sign – it means a site is genuinely concerned about creating a valuable casino product.

All games at Oddsmaker's casino are available in either instant or mobile versions – no download client is available, which follows a growing trend in the online gaming industry away from download software.

Here's a guide to each of the site's five categories of casino titles.

Blackjack

This is a very disappointing collection of two blackjack variants as well as two VIP versions of those same games that are little more than fancier-looking versions with no difference in rules or available wagers.

• Blackjack – the traditional game with a 6:5 blackjack payout
• Side Bet Blackjack – a variant that involves a series of side bets and progressive jackpot
• Blackjack VIP
• Side Bet Blackjack VIP

Slots

At the time of my review, Oddsmaker was home to just sixty-eight different slot games, which is about average for the online betting industry. The number of games isn't the important part, though – the variety of titles and designers makes this one of the only really interesting categories in the entire casino section. Collected here are classic one-line slots, modern licensed games with video scenes and bonuses, and everything in-between. Obviously my favorite are the Betsoft titles, like The Slotfather, though Oddsmaker also includes some decent WGS games ("Coral Cash," anyone?) to boot.

Table Games

• Caribbean Stud Poker – a poker game with a progressive jackpot
• Triple Card Poker – Oddsmaker's version of Three Card Poker
• Pai Gow – based on the rules of an old Chinese game of chance
• Craps – the casino classic
• Casino War – a classic kid's card game translated for casino play
• Baccarat – another casino classic
• Mini-Baccarat – a miniature version of the classic Baccarat game
• American Roulette – roulette with two green zero spaces
• European Roulette – roulette with one green zero space
• Triple Ride Poker – a poker-like game involving a strong element of chance
• Red Dog – a poker-like luck-based card game

Video Poker

• Jacks or Better – a classic game, with a return percentage of around 98%
• Wild Joker – Oddsmaker's version of Joker's Wild
• Double Barrel Bonus – Oddsmaker's version of Double Bonus Poker.
• Deuces Wild – the classic game, with a return percentage of around 97%

Keno

• Shockwave Keno – the site's standard game of Keno
• Instant Keno – something like a miniature version, moving faster than Shockwave Keno

My overall impression of the game library at Oddsmaker – it reminds me of a low-level slots casino, with little to be interested in besides a couple of interesting blackjack variations and a decent slot library. I'm a video poker fan, and that wimpy collection of video poker games doesn't interest me at all. If you enjoy slots, you may enjoy yourself at this casino, but with under 70 total games to play, you may get bored pretty quickly.

I noticed something weird about the poker room at Oddsmaker – it isn't at the same URL as the rest of the site. This isn't uncommon, but it is worth noting. The poker room is actually at the following URL: http://www.oddspoker.ag/.

Here is the (impressive) list of poker variants available for play at Oddsmaker.ag:

• Texas holdem
• Omaha
• 7-card stud
• Razz
• 5-card stud
• 5-card draw
• Ace to 5 lowball
• Deuce to 7 lowball
• Badugi
• Mixed poker games

OddsPoker is on the Merge network, which is not one of the busier or better-known poker networks. According to PokerScout, Merge's peak traffic in the past week was 520 cash players. That's a pretty small number, when you consider that the biggest networks in the world have thousands of cash players online at any given time. Merge has downsized big-time since 2012 or so, when the network had 60 participating skins. These days, that number is down to 20, and the decreased traffic is a direct result.

So how's the competition at OddsPoker? Because the Merge network is made up mostly of all-in-one sites, with lots of customers more interested in casino games and sportsbook bets, the assumption is that the competition will be weak. I've said it before, and I'll say it again – I don't believe this little bit of conventional wisdom.

As for poker tournaments – Oddsmaker's explanation of their tournaments is kind of a mess. I can't really figure out what they mean, so I'll just copy and paste a quote: "OddsPoker's guaranteed tournaments run round the clock with at least a $2,000 guarantee running every hour or so." That's not a very specific description, but I guess it gets the job done. The website promises guaranteed prize pools totaling at least $97,000 a day.

It's unusual to find an all-in-one gambling website without an attached racebook. I suppose Oddsmaker.ag added the pretty-silly fantasy racebook section of their site to make up for that oversight. Typical prize pools for fantasy racebook contests range from $500 to $2,000.

The fantasy racebook is exactly what it sounds like –an ongoing fantasy contest in which players select horses, rather than athletes, and compete head-to-head for points. You have to check it out for yourself, it's pretty wild.

You can contact Oddsmaker.ag via phone, email, or live chat:

• 1 877 633 7238
• [email protected]
• The site operates a live chat service, though they don't post active hours.

It's hard to get over a long list of reviews that identify Oddsmaker.ag as a scam. I could go on and on about how much I enjoy some of their table games, or how clean the sportsbook interface looks, but at the back of my mind is a constant flashing red light that says: "STAY AWAY."

Besides a decent slots collection, a longer-than-usual list of deposit and withdrawal methods, and a unique fantasy racebook (that I actually find a little goofy), I have nothing positive to say. As my grandmother taught me, maybe I shouldn't say anything at all, except to give my overall verdict: