Sports Arbitrage Guide's Blog

Cohen Strachan Investment (CSI Arbitrage) and International Arbitrage Strategies

Cohen Strachan Investment, known as CSI Arbitrage, is the marketing arm of International Arbitrage Strategies, a software company which programmed the arbitrage alert software CarbonA. I have received a number of queries about whether I think this company is reliable or not, so I started to look into it, reading through their website and booking myself in for a live demonstration of their software. I had known that CSI Arbitrage existed for a while, because they actually link to SAG from their links page. Inbound links arise like that every now and then, so I didn’t pay much attention to it, but other than that I had heard nothing about the company. No negative reports, nor any positive ones. I didn’t even realise that they sold arbitrage software, I thought they were looking for investments into a trading fund they were running and so pretty much lumped them into the growing group of dodgy HYIP’s available which promise huge returns on investment. The reason for that assumption is because most companies selling software make it very clear from the outset that they are offering software, they tell you the price, and they provide you with the option to buy straight away. CSI doesn’t focus on its software product so much as it focuses on the strength of their business, the strength of the company behind them (IAS), their trading fund which they are operating (hence my initial assumption that they were just another HYIP), and their goal to be listed on the Australian Stock exchange. Now that I am approaching the end of my initial research on this company, I have realised that CSI isn’t just trying to sell arbitrage alert software, they are trying to sell themselves, and the idea of a new level of sports arbitrage trading.

So when you make first contact with their sales representative over the phone and the $16,000 (+GST = $17,600 for Australians) price tag is one of the first things you are told, it becomes a little more obvious why they are going about this a little different to usual. In fact, my first thoughts when I heard that they were selling software for that much was that they had just put AusSoft to shame (with a cheap price tag of only $7,800!). But there is something more going on here. Why would a company which is selling their software for so much more than the average market price link to SAG? SAG clearly informs every visitor that software is as cheap as $50 a month in most circumstances and clearly informs every visitor that Arbitrage isn’t all easy sailing, it involves work and even a few risks. What could they gain from that? It seems like they weren’t relying on the ignorance of their prospective clients to make sales… but how could they sell their software for $17,600?

I spoke to Simon (a CSI Sales rep) over the phone in the morning. Basically the first thing he said to me was “This software costs $17,600, do you think you would be able to afford that?”. I answered honestly and said “No, probably not, but I’m already in arbitrage and I’d like to see your software” so he booked me in to see the live demonstration. The software looked much the same as most other arbitrage software on the market. It had a page full of arbs, showing the odds, the sport, the duration of the arb so far, the arb percentage etc. It does the usual calculations, and enables the user to hedge one way or the other on a sliding scale. The only two differences which really separated it from most of the other alert services on the market was that it has the ability to update currency exchange rates and auto convert currencies for you, and it also stores all of your bookmaker username/passwords so that you can have the software log in to all of the bookmakers for you, and for some of the bookmakers it can even do everything for you up to the bet confirmation page. Now this is the only software I have ever encountered which can do that, so that is impressive. Strangely though, I didn’t realise it only took you to the confirmation page until I spoke to Glen during my third conversation with CSI staff. Until that point everyone else had simply said that the software placed the bets for you, which I thought was quite problematic. For instance, that doesn’t take into account max bets, which contrary to the reassurance Simon gave to me at the time about the training directing you to large limit bookmakers, most betting limits encountered by arbers have nothing to do with the bookmaker wide betting limits, and everything to do with personal limits, sports specific limits, and bet specific limits. For instance I know that WillHill often has very high bet limits, but I can’t count on all of my fingers and toes the number of times I have had a great arb with Pinnacle and WillHill where the arb still existed but the WillHill side of the arb was limited to $1.50. However after all that, it only takes you to the confirmation screen, and only does it for a few of the top bookmakers (though they are working on adding the function to more). I think stopping at the confirmation screen is much more reasonable then letting the software commit your money, and this seems like quite a good function.

So all that said, is CarbonA, the software, worth $17,600? My honest opinion, is no; but remember, they aren’t really trying to sell the software, they are trying to sell themselves.

Shortly after I had my live demonstration of CarbonA, Alan Newton (a senior staff member who basically acts as a liaison officer) called me back and we spoke for almost an hour over the phone. He is determined to prove that there is nothing questionable about their business, and that the activities of other questionable organisations do them no end of harm (because everyone assumes the worst in an industry full of scams) while they are trying to basically start a new age of respectable sports arbitrage big business. So in short Alan basically promised to do whatever needs to be done to remove their company from being associated with any other questionable companies which have operated in the past. We spoke about what they could do to achieve that and we are working on some ideas, but personally my opinion on the matter is that the fact that they are willing to engage this problem so openly is quite impressive in itself.

So why do they charge so much? What does one of their clients get for that upfront payment? Basically, as I said, CSI are trying to usher in the age of Big Business Sports Arbitrage. They are trying to make sports arbitrage trading something which is worthy of the attention of the stock market, something that is worthy of financial reviews. They are not lone programmers working out of their basement selling their software for simple cash flow. So they have a big price tag to cover their staff which provide extensive training and support. They have a large price tag to cover their staff which trade their own investment fund. They have a large price tag to cover their costs, which are all designed to form a tight nit community of professional arbitrageurs who will work together to get the greatest profit they can manage: both individually, and for the IAS trading fund they run. So to reiterate the point: the software is not worth $17,600, but the company is trying to sell a dream, a big picture package of arbitrage which extends beyond the solo trader. The consumer is paying for the running costs of the CSI dream, not the software itself. I don’t know whether that is worth $17,600 or not, and I am not going to even offer an opinion on it because it is something which has never been done before. Who knows what it is worth? It could flop, or it could be the start of a real revolution. I offer no speculation.

In the end, the only question is whether you can trust them to uphold their end of the bargain. As I have said, I am impressed with their openness and their cooperation. The people I spoke to seem sincere and honest, and there is certainly a lot more going on than just some guys operating out of a house. But aside from their words, how can anyone be sure that they will still be around in 5 years? How can you be sure they will provide the extensive training their price seems to encompass? What motivation do they have to keep you happy once you have paid them? Well, it comes down to trust.

What should you do? My recommendation remains the same as always: If you are brand new to Arbitrage, take out the free trials, register at the bookmakers and have a go yourself before you part with any money. Once you have seen the reality of arbitrage, then re-evaluate whether you want to arb at all, and whether you would prefer to pay $50-$300 a month, or jump right in the deep end and lock yourself in with a one off payment. With that last step, I even recommend subscribing to one of the other services for a month or two first, just to be sure you are dedicated, because once you pay the big money, there is no going back.

read morePosted on: Thursday, September 6, 2007

Investing in a Sports Arbitrage ‘Investment Fund’ – Some Advice

Sports Arbitrage Guide is about how you, an individual, can do sports arbitrage trading yourself. The goal of SAG is to walk complete novices through the most fundamental aspects of sports arbitrage and help them not get overwhelmed, or lose too much money on silly mistakes. Part of achieving that goal is to provide as much information about the Sports Arbitrage ‘Industry’ as possible. We do that primarily in our Components section of the website where we list every single Sports Arbitrage alert service that we know of, every free trial that we know of, every e-book on the subject, and all of the accessories that can be downloaded to assist arbitrage traders. We have also set up SureBetBookies as a guide through all of the bookmakers used by sports arbitrage programs so that it is easier for novices to select sportsbooks to trade with.

So knowing that, it shouldn’t be a surprise that advising people about ‘investments’ is not what we do. And we are not about to start doing that. However there are a large number of companies around the world who offer to trade sports arbitrage for you, guaranteeing a certain return on investment. On one hand I think this has nothing to do with SAG, because there are millions of companies which offer to take your money from you and promise to pay back more than they took – at a later date, and they clearly have nothing to do with what SAG is about, however because a small number of companies which make this promise mention Sports Arbitrage in their product description, it seems appropriate that I should make some sort of comment on the topic.

Firstly, I have not yet heard a positive report about a company which solicits money from people to invest in a sports arbitrage trading fund. Secondly, if you receive an unsolicited call from someone promising you a lot of money, if you first just give them a lot of money, then just please don’t do it. I guarantee it will end in heartbreak.

The first company I came across which was solely dedicated to enticing people to invest in their sports arbitrage trading fund was Sports Arbitrage Investor, and from the outset I heard nothing about them but story after story of people being promised the world until they parted with their money, then never being able to make contact with the company again let alone ever getting their money back.

While I learnt about Sports Arbitrage Investor, I was actually using Risk Free Profit’s software SureBetPro. Alongside their software, Risk Free Profit offered their members the opportunity to invest a limited amount of money into a trading pool. Everything I read about the RFP trading pool made sense to me, and I actually believe it was legitimate (partly because the promise was reasonable, partly because the rules were strict, and largely because I thought the SureBetPro software was reasonable and therefore the company had a reasonable reputation). Nonetheless, there are payments that are due from that trading pool which members were meant to receive more than a year and a half ago which still have not been paid.

More recently my attention has been drawn to this string of Sports Arbitrage investment programs coming out of Australia. To list a few which I have noticed, there is OzFuture, Rhodes Peninsular Investments, Spectre Trading, and AFL Systems. There seems to be a common theme with Queensland Australia, particularly around the Gold Coast, however Spectre Trading actually operates from Fishwyck in the ACT, so there is no single common theme which holds them together. I have no idea why there are so many ‘investment funds’ coming out of Australia, but there it is. The important point that needs to be made though, is about whether they are real ‘investments’ or not. They all claim to be using your money for sports arbitrage, trading your investment for a compounding profit, and then paying you your money back at the end. The problem is that I actually believe that such a thing is ‘possible’. I know that arbitrage trading is a real phenomenon, and I know that real ongoing profit can be made, and it can be compounded. So how do you know if the company you are researching is a scam, or legit?

More often than not, there is no solid way to know. If you are lucky, they will shoot themselves in the foot with their glossy brochures or fancy website and provide proof that they are full of it. For example, OzFutures has stupidly put up a ‘Past Performance’ page on their website and claimed that they are ‘actual trades’ (screenshot). Careful analysis though clearly shows that the trades they are claiming to make, and specifically the compounding they are claiming to make is practically impossible to do with sports arbitrage. It is impossible because arbitrage is done with 2 (or more) different bookmakers, and when one trade is completed, all of your money ends up in one bookmaker or the other (whichever side wins). In order for you to then place your next trade, you have to withdraw money from that bookmaker and put it into the second bookmaker again so that you can place the second trade. Ignoring all of the actual technical problems with this, the most obvious problem is that it nearly always takes 12-48 hours for a withdrawal from a bookmaker, and so you are limited to one trade every couple of days at most. The ‘actual trades’ posted on the OzFutures website indicates that they can place as many as 4 trades a day, and compound their entire bankroll in each trade. It simply isn’t possible, and there is no way that I would trust a company with my money which doesn’t even understand one of the most basic facts of sports arbitrage with my money.

Not all of the companies are so forthcoming with their information (or disinformation) as that though, and so I will refer to an article published by the Queensland Government Dept of Fair Trading. To summarize, it says that they too have received a lot of complaints about gambling systems, and investment opportunities claiming to be arbitrage based while the reality of most of these systems is that they are simply gambling with other people’s money. They will try to do what they can to bring the people behind these types of scams to justice, but in general there is no way to recuperate the losses of the individual. Their recommendation is simple, and I concur wholeheartedly: These ‘investments’ are high risk, so do not use money you can’t afford to lose. Buy at your own peril.

In conclusion I just want to finish on the point I started on: If you receive an unsolicited phone call from someone offering to make you money, but you need to give them money first…just don’t do it. Obvious no?

Other Links to Queensland Government Fair Trading (etc) warnings:

Be Scam Smart!

Beware Scammers Targetting Your Business

Computer Prediction Software Betting Scams

read morePosted on: Friday, August 31, 2007

AusSoft/Reevera vs ArbForum? and Updated Alert Services List

In an incredible twist to the AusSoft/Reevera saga, AusSoft have threatened legal action against ArbForum for the discussion on their boards about AusSoft’s Arb-A-Trader. AusSoft’s lawyers claim that the discussion is defamatory of AusSoft and has caused them a large loss in income. They imply that there are sinister motives behind the discussion. It seems that they think the community of members at ArbForum are somehow trying to destroy AusSoft for the benefit of AusSoft’s competitors. Quite possibly one of the most outrageous claims I have heard. A community of autonomous individuals all under the control of some vague ‘competitor’ entity which fears only one arbitrage alert company….right….

Gamblers Paradise and Free Sports Arbitrage

As well as AusSoft, Gamblers Paradise (GP) and Free Sports Arbitrage (FSA) have been added to the Sports Arbitrage Alert Service listing. Both GP and FSA call themselves ‘Free Services’, but they both have restricted access pending a paid upgrade or in the case of FSA, a requirement to use their affiliate links to register with bookmakers.

FSA is targetting beginners, hoping that people who are only just getting started will be interested in having a lifelong ‘free’ service for the one time requirement of registering with bookmakers from their links. A sensible enough approach, this does however restrict old hands from joining as most seasoned arbers have registered at every bookmaker in existence several times over already. The owner of FSA does say that other arrangements can be made if this is your situation and you would still like to register. If you aren’t interested in the permanent membership, then don’t miss the 10 day free trial anyway. Another free trial can’t hurt to improve your arb turnover for a week.

GP offers a unique scenario where they are offering much more than just alerts. They seem to be trying to socialise arbitrage so that you can message other members, buy and sell things within the community, and write articles for the other members. This is all available in the free membership, however the free membership only provides tennis arbs, screening out all other types found by the GP software. Upgraded membership has several levels, each one improving the access.

read morePosted on: Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Surebet Zone Sports Arbitrage Trading Alert Service added to SAG

Surebet Zone have just announced a discounted fee until the 31st of August and the addition of a number of bookmakers to their coverage. They have been added to the main Sports Arbitrage trading alert service page in the main Sports Arbitrage Guide website.

Their discounted fee is only €19, and they also offer a 2 day free trial so you can try before you buy. They have a decent coverage of bet types, with a small selection of high quality bookmakers (all but 1 score very high in popularity on SBB). Their system seems to be pretty smooth and reports in the DTM forums are already quite positive about the results.

A couple of positive points that I take from looking at them for the second time now. I do like the way they display the arbs with just the basic information that matters, then the details displayed once you click on it. (See screenshot here) You really don’t need to know all of the details of every arb found, you only need to know the details once you decide to place it. The second major positive is the way that they clearly display all of the odds they have for that particular game. I like being able to easily see ‘the market’ at a glance. That helps you to identify palpable errors, and spot whether one bookmaker is grossly out of line. Any experienced traders will know how invaluable that information is, and having it so conspicuously displayed is handy, whereas most other alert services require a click through to see it.

However, on the negative side, to see the calculator you do have to click through to a whole new page. That can be annoying when you are trying to rush an arb and you are trying to balance your thoughts of ‘how much and where?’ and ‘What side/Who am i betting on?’ So there is room for improvement there. That being said though, their calculator is good efficient, and contrary to my previous report they do indeed allow you to vary and lock in each individual bet. The calculator starts on a ‘basic arb’ method (where you just change the total investment), but you can then select ‘Adjust Stakes’ which gives you complete control over each individual bet and the ability to favour one side or the other. Quite an effective method too.

More Alert Services to be added

In other news I will be working over the next couple of days to add a few more services to the main alert services page: Gamblers Paradise, Free Sports Arbitrage and AusSoft/GlobalSoft/Reevera. The last one may be a shock, but they do indeed sell an alert service and the philosophy at SAG is to provide the information, do our best to provide *All* of the information, and to provide it in an objective fashion. So an entry will be made for AusSoft, and I think it will do more to highlight the discrepancy between their price and what they offer compared to all of the other services. Providing the information side by side with their competition will allow the market to actually work, and allow the consumer to make an informed choice, rather than a choice forced by salesmanship in ignorance.

read morePosted on: Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Reevera’s Syntrade – The re-branding of AusSoft’s Arb-A-Trader

After numerous emails and forum posts by disgruntled ‘customers’ of AusSoft since my last post on this matter, I have another installment to the saga. It seems they have already re-branded themselves and moved on to a new website under the name of Reevera. The product is no longer called Arb-A-Trader, it’s now called Syntrade, and unless I am mistaken, this operation was only set up very recently. I guess that is the case because some of the domain lookup tools can’t find any information about it (they only update occasionally), and the purchase button on the website doesn’t yet work. The number for support is also not displayed yet. Either the website is still not finalised because they haven’t started making their phone calls yet, or this is old news and they have already started shutting this service down, I just completely missed it earlier. But considering the number of people who contact SAG and ArbForum about AusSoft, I doubt this is the case.

A little more information though, just to show that they are indeed the same group: The obvious point to note is that the website is put together by the same company (Grandscope advertising agency) and the websites generally have the same feel to them. The 3 domains use the same NameServers (NS1.SURFPACIFIC.NET), and Stephen Gray registered Reevera.com.au with an email address of carolyn at surfpacific.com.au, while Steve and Carolyn Grey registered GlobalSoftTechnologies.com , and Steve Keating registered AusSoft.net.au with an email address of carolyn at surfpacific.com.au.

But of course you don’t have to go to such technical depths to identify them as the same group. The text on the websites are often identical copies of each other, including the good old “there may be some limitations, normally in the tens of thousand, but realistically there are no restrictions to prevent you from trading aggressively!” line.

Interestingly there is no mention on the Reevera website of AusSoft, Arb a Trader or Colin Boyan. Reading through the description of their company they really do make it sound like this is the only project they have, they spend all of their time working on it, and there is nothing! like it. For example:

“It may be unfair to compare Syntrade to anything else that has been released into the market previously, however, the benchmark has now been set and the team at Reevera believes it will be along time before anyone catches up.”

I wonder if it still costs $7800.

“Browse through the links below to learn more about our dynamic company.”

Dynamic alright! They change names every month!

Looking at their Personnel I see a couple of familiar names. Stephen Keating and Gregory Gray (looks like the son of Carolyn and Steve?). The other two are unfamiliar to me, but unless I’m mistaken, James Bradley is the one in the header photos, who is also the same person in the Header photos over at AusSoft. Also, they have no information yet on their Personnel, it is all “Coming Soon”, further indicating that we have managed to really catch this one out before it has even got started!

One last laughing point comes from their “From Sports Arbitrage to Syntrade” page. They paint Sports Arbitrage as it was maybe 10 years ago, and claim that Syntrade is a breakthrough piece of technology, taking the guesswork and pain out of it! As if they were the first company in the history of mankind to write software to automate sports arbitrage! Apparently these people are becoming known within the industry as “Syntrageurs”. Haha! I’m sure everyone in the two online arbitrage communities (ArbForum and the members of our own forums at DTM) will love to hear that!

I think I speak for the numerous people out there who will read this article before they part with their money when I thank Stuart for the email bringing this to my attention. Hopefully less people will lose their money on this embodiment of AusSoft than lost their money with AusSoft Arb-A-Trader.

For the full list of all Sports Arbitrage alert service providers, see this page.
For a list of Free Alert Service Trials and complete services, see here.

read morePosted on: Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Arb-A-Trader by AusSoft/GlobalSoft – Overpromised, Under-Delivered and Expensive

Many people have been posting in the forums lately asking about AusSoft (aka GlobalSoft), a new sports arbitrage alert program designed by Colin Boyan, some programming prodigy, and supported by a short list of psuedo-famous celebrity testimonials. Unfortunately AusSoft don’t offer a trial of Arb-A-Trader and the cost is $7,800 AUD upfront, with a rumour of it possibly going up to $16,500 in the near future! Other reports indicate that Arb-A-Trader is being sold by GlobalSoft in the UK for as much as £5,500. That’s around $13,500 AUD!

Wow. £5,500 for arbitrage alert software? When all of the competition is either free, or between $50 – £149 a month. It better be pretty damn good! And if you read through the websites, it sure does sound it! They aren’t the first alert service provider to over-promise arbitrage to people, but they do manage to do it with a new level of exaggeration!

From the FAQ, when asked if there is a limit to how much can be traded, their answer consists of “normally in the tens of thousand, but realistically there are no restrictions to prevent you from trading aggressively!” Arbs in the order of ‘tens of thousands’ is not the ‘normal’ for the average arber. At one point the website also claimed to “Lock in the odds” when it found an arb, but as I can’t find that claim on the website anymore, it seems that the negative press it got caused them to remove it. (good move!) Plus all of the usual “Guaranteed profit”, “Don’t need to know anything”, “Anyone can do it” stuff.

For more points of view on this matter, read this thread at arbforum, and then there is also these two threads in our DTM forums.

Since the initial questions about AusSoft, most of the feedback I have heard about AusSoft’s Arb-a-trader has been overly negative. Particularly informative was a post made in the ArbForum thread by a poster identified as TFO, who has granted me permission to post this analysis he wrote of their service:

Introduction

The following is a list of Frequently Asked Questions about Arb-A-Trader listed under the title “An Amazing Opportunity� on the Aussoft Technologies Web site. The original text from the website is in blue. The real answers, based upon my personal experiences are written in black.

What they say:

How can I be sure that the arbitrage opportunity shown to me by Arb-A-Trader will have a positive outcome?

Once the arbitrage has been selected by Arb-a-trader, it will provide a direct link to both the bookmaking facilities, which will clearly show that when a certain division of our nominated investment is placed on each team between the two facilities, it is mathematically certain to produce a positive result. In fact it will show you exactly how much your return would be in both dollars and percentages.

What really happens:

The “direct link� that is referred to here is no more than a function that opens up a Web Browser and uses hyperlinks to each of the bookmaker sites to bring up each of the bookmakers’ home pages in separate windows. From this point the user still has to:

Sign in to both bookmakers’ web sites (assuming that the user has an account with the bookmaker).

Locate the particular sporting event that Arb-A-Trader is reporting on. Owing to the vast difference between bookmaker web site layouts and terminologies, this can be a time-consuming and error-prone task.

Once the event has been located on each site, the odds need to be confirmed against what Arb-A-Trader is reporting. This can be done by entering the odds from each bookmaker into the Arb-A-Trader Arbitrage calculator facitiy. I found that the vast majority (80%) of reported profitable trades were either non-existent, the odds were different from what Arb-A-Trader reported. Bear in mind here that I generally looked at trades with between 1.5% and 5% return as although Arb-A-Trader reported trades with much larger percentage returns, it was usually due to an error within the bookmaker’s site.

If the profitable trade is confirmed, the user must then place the bets on each bookmaker’s site. This is a critical point of the transaction because if either of the bets can not be placed for any reason (communication problem, sudden shutting down of the web-site, arbitrary limitations imposed by the operators at the bookmaker website, etc), the “guaranteed return� suddenly becomes a gamble and leaves the user in a financially exposed situation.

The implication here is that at the “click� of one button you will be able to make a guaranteed, successful trade. This is most definitely NOT the case. In fact out of 22 attempted trades that I made while I used Arb-A-Trader, 6 of them failed, 4 of the most successful trades I actually found without the use of Arb-A-Trader while I was trying to recoup the losses from failed trades (these were not even reported on by Arb-A-Trader). The failed transactions happened because of one or more of the following:

Incorrect information regarding events on the bookmakers’ web sites.

Sudden shut-down of bookmaker web sites as the bet was being placed. I have since found that this is a common practice when a bookmaker discovers that they have made an error in their odds calculations. The site is brought down on purpose at their end.

Wager amount limitations differing between bookmakers (see the following FAQ responses for details)

This THE most pertinent failure. Arb-A-Trader reported a “Guaranteed two-way Trade� (two-way means that either one team or the other can win, there is no draw). The trade was based upon a basketball game in Greece. The game ultimately did end up being won by one of the teams, however it was done in extra time. A lot of bookmakers will only pay for results of a game up to the end of match time and do not take into consideration extra time.

What they say:

OK, I have an arbitrage opportunity, now how easy is it to set up accounts with the selected bookmaking facilities?

Very simple! All you do is click on the link(s) provided to you by Arb-a-trader. On the facilities home page of their website there will usually be another link, normally titled “registerâ€? or “new accountâ€? depending on the individual bookmaking facilities. Once you have done this, you need only fill in some details and the rest is child’s play.

What really happens:

This particular information is essentially correct, however, it’s not as simple as it is made out to be. I found that while some bookmakers make it very easy to open accounts, others require much more identity verification in the nature of driver’s license, passport , credit card and sometimes utility bill images to be scanned and sent to them. Certainly, if you wish to retrieve money from your account with most bookmakers, they will require all of the listed identity checks. This is a reasonable practice.

What they don’t mention here is that the arbitrage opportunities don’t seem to remain valid for very long. One needs to act on the reported trades almost immediately before they disappear. They usually disappear because the odds tend to be changed as people place bets on the events. They also disappear because a bookmaker may become aware of an error in their odds and remove it from the web site. So, in order to make the trade as quickly as possible, you really need to have an existing account with the bookmakers involved in the trade. I was informed by the help desk at Aussoft that I would generally need to make the trade within 90 seconds if I was to take advantage of the reported opportunity (not much time for verification etc.)

What they say:

Can I trade as much as I want on each event?

Depending on the bookmaking facility, there may be some limitations, normally in the tens of thousand, but realistically there are no restrictions to prevent you from trading aggressively!

What really happens:

According to the example provided within the glossy promotional brochure, if you place an original trade of $1000 on your first event and continue to place the entire return from each trade on the next trade (ie compound your returns), AND do an average of 2 to 4 trades per day at between 1.5% and 5% return for a period of 4 months, you will have made quite a large sum of money. While the compounding calculations are quite valid, the realities of the situation are far different.

Some bookmakers will allow almost no limit on the amount that you wish to bet but the majority will impose strict upper limits on new account holders. My first attempted trade went wrong because I attempted a $1000 trade as outlined in the brochure. One of the bookmakers allowed me to place a bet with the amount stipulated by Arb-A-Trader while the other bet was intercepted by an operator at the bookmaker’s web site and changed from approx $400 to $16 (being the equivalent of 10 euro). The user is supposed to only press the “bet placement confirmation� on each site as the very last part of the process. The second site did not warn me about the changed betting amount and so I was left exposed. This trade failed and I was suddenly out of pocket by around $600. I was informed by the bookmaker that imposed the 10euro limit that it may be increased to 100 euro if I bet consistently for a period of 3 months. As you can see, this is a far cry from the claim of “tens of thousand�.

What they say:

Do I receive any ongoing support?

Of course, however Arb-a-trader is extremely easy to use and traders find that they need very little support. It’s just that simple. Nevertheless, there is a designated customer support hotline where our highly trained staff are ready to assist you in any way.

What really happens:

Each new customer is supposed to have 3 support appointments prior to commencement of trade using Arb-A-Trader. The first contact helps the user to install the software and is supposed to provide the user with their user-id and password for accessing the Arb-A-Trader data stream. I had no problems here.

The second contact is when a representative from Aussoft is supposed to supply the user with a reduced list of “preferred� bookmakers (around 40 or so). This is where the user finds out that signing on with 40+ bookmakers is quite a task. It’s also where I started to realise that rather than needing only $1000 to start with, one would probably need somewhere in the area of $40,000 in order to get anywhere near the returns shown in Aussoft’s example trades.

The third contact is supposed to be a tutorial where the whole process is explained in detail, the bookmakers list is cut down further and “tricks and traps for young players� are explained. Despite making two bookings for this to occur, it didn’t eventuate. When I mentioned this situation, I was told that I didn’t really need it and that I should already have enough to get started with. At this point I might add that until that moment, I had never placed an online bet in my life, nor was I particularly interested in the sports being traded upon. In fact my entire gambling history prior to this would be to place a bet on the Melbourne Cup on occasion.

What they say:

Do I need a good understanding of sports?

No! Not at all. Although the program is based entirely on sports arbitrage trades, you need absolutely no knowledge of any of the sports. Arb-a-trader does all the work for you so it just a simple matter of a few mouse clicks to make a guaranteed profit.

What really happens:

As stated previously, Arb-A-Trader emphatically DOES NOT do “all the work for you� and it is NOT “just a simple matter of a few mouse-clicks� to make a guaranteed profit. Even the “Arb-A-Trader Terms and conditions� that come bundles with the software and is only readable once the software is installed refutes this:

6. Risk Warning

(a) The profit generated is reliant upon your own decision on choosing betting trades. The Software is meant only for the purpose of highlighting opportunities for you to then consider placing a bet after you have assessed the pricing and the nature of the bet.

(b) You should not engage in sports arbitrage trading unless you understand the nature of the transaction being entered into and verify the actual odds offered by your betting agency correspond to those shown by the software.

(c) You must be familiar with and understand the nature of sport arbitrage trading – how to calculate trade size, jargon used, market/exchange/time zones, the nature of the trade and any trading rules – before you enter into any trading.

How soon can I commence trading once I have purchased Arb-A-Trader?

Just click here and fill out the customer enquiries form and you will be contacted by one of our Customer Service Personnel who will answer any further questions and guide you though the initial steps to becoming a professional sports arbitrageur. Take this step and you could be up and running within the hour and remember there’s no commitment required from you when you fill in the form.

What really happens:

In reality, you need to purchase the software ($7,800) first, they need to deliver it along with the secure USB key, you need to open all your bookmaker accounts (this took two days for 40+ bookmakers) and you need to fund those accounts. Be aware at this point that the majority of that major Australian banks will put an automatic suspension on your credit card if they monitor any funds going to online betting sites. You need to notify them of your intention. Another problem is that Credit card transactions with bookmakers generally incur quite large fees and the bookmakers are unable to credit Australian Credit cards with any winnings owing to Australian Money Laundering regulations.

What they say:

Do we only look at two way opportunities?

Most of the time this is the case however, in some situations a three way arbitrage may become available. This generally will occur in games such as some soccer leagues where a draw is a possible outcome. In some cases when this opportunity arises, the draw may offer an even greater return than the return for either team winning.

What really happens:

This statement is probably the most truthful of the lot, however as I found out, even so-called “guaranteed� two-way trades aren’t always guaranteed (I refer to the Greek Basketball game mentioned earlier in the document.

——————————————————–

End TFO’s Report.

Conclusion

Personally, I don’t trust AusSoft/GlobalSoft at all, but if this information isn’t enough to convince you, then the only thing you need to consider is this: Most arbitrage alert services are ongoing monthly payments, and for that they provide ongoing odds feeds and support. If they stop providing the odds, the support, or if their service falls below expectations, then you stop paying for their service. They are forced, by the market, to remain competitive in order to maintain their own cash flow. Considering another perspective, Microsoft, or Adobe, each sell very sophisticated software for several hundred dollars upfront. This software then works independently for an indefinite period of time (no need to supply odds or data feeds to windows or photoshop for the rest of eternity) so even if Microsoft or Adobe went broke tommorow, the software would continue working. These companies maintain customer support and regular updates because they are huge companies, they provide many different programs and they often create new versions of the programs they have already sold (improved version, more features etc), and so they want their customers to be happy with them so those customers will buy more software, or buy the new version when it comes out. On the other hand, when a company has one product and requires upfront payment for an indefinitely ongoing service (AusSoft must maintain their odds feeds to Arb-A-Trader forever, and these things change quite regularly)…then by accepting that offer, you are placing yourself in a position of great risk.

So if you are considering buying Arb-A-Trader, then ask yourself this: Even if the software is good, how long will it be good for? Will it pay itself off before it becomes obsolete/unsupported?

So, before you jump in the deep end, please follow the advice laid out all through SportsArbitrageGuide: TAKE A FREE TRIAL FIRST! Practice arbitrage for free before you jump in! Take your time! Use a cheap service for a month or two first so you can practice, then decide whether you want to commit yourself to the big expenses, and the life-long commitments.

And for those of you who stumbled across this article from Google and know nothing about Arbitrage other than what AusSoft has told you, be sure to look at the list of arbitrage alert programs that are available, and the free trials you can take.

read morePosted on: Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Sports Arbitrage Guide – One Year Old

I just realised that Sports Arbitrage Guide ha just passed its 1 year anniversary! SureBetBookies was in act the first version of the site, starting in late February/Early March, but then it was decided that the site needed to be split into an Arbitrage focussed site and a bookmaker focussed site and SAG was started in Early May. So we’ve lasted one year and we’re going stronger than ever.

Since the creation of Sports Arbitrage Guide and SureBetBookies we have

1. Created the first independent complete sports arbitrage trading guide with reviews on all of the alert service providers and explanations on how the whole process works

2. Provided the first ever Sports Arbitrage Trading news service.

3. Created a bookmaker database designed to meet the specific needs of arbitrage traders, including the fact that it is equally useful to non-arbitrage traders, thus protecting the arbers.

4. Provided on going assistance and answers to questions that whole time, through both our forum and through email.

From here we intend to keep developing the SureBetBookies database, upkeeping the information in the constantly changing world of sportsbooks and alert services. We already have 4 new alert services to be added to the SBB database and the SAG alert services listing. We will also be adding a glossary of terms in the coming weeks, and then working on the final section of SAG, the Trading guide.

Thank you all for your ongoing support. And I look forward to the years ahead as our community grows and we can all grow together and continue to assist each other.

Discuss this post in our forums

read morePosted on: Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Poker – Derren Brown Teaches old woman to win

OK, this is entirely off topic and not arbitrage based news or anything like that, but there is no need to keep arbitrage all work and no play. Besides, I know most people come into arbitrage from a background of gambling, and I am sure many people like poker, so i thought I would just post this:

Derren Brown’s Poker Virgin

I really love Derren Browns work (and I’m sure most of my subscribers from the UK know of him, although he still seems reasonably unknown outside of the UK). Anyway, this is just a great example of what he is capable of doing…and actually since I am making such an off topic post anyway, I might as well bring it slightly back on topic with this one:

Derren Brown at the Dog Track

Who needs to arb when you can just claim your losings? Too bad you can’t induce bookies into a suggestible state over the internet!!

I highly recommend browsing through all of the clips on YouTube of Derren…highly entertaining!

read morePosted on: Monday, May 14, 2007

10bet XML Feed Changeover 1st July

This is an important announcement for all Alert Service providers who use 10Bet, as well as all people who use alert services or their own XML feed software to arb.

Email From 10Bet:

This is an important message for website operators that use 10Bet XML feed, or intend to do so in the near future;
10Bet is in a process of updating its XML feed, after which we will provide partner websites with a much better and faster service.
Therefore, we are forced to restrict access to the existing XML feed, as of the 1st of June, 2007.

In order to re-activate your access to 10Bet XML feed, you ought to send us before 1st June, 2007 the following information: Your static IP address (or a range of IP addresses) from which you access 10Bet XML feed. Your website URL. Username. Please send above to: affiliates@10bet.com

Thanks in advance and kind regards,
The 10Bet Affiliate Team

So, if you provide software alert services and use the 10Bet XML feed, please make sure you have updated it for this change. If you use software, hope your alert service provider gets this message! Otherwise 10bet might just drop off their radar….

Shane

read morePosted on: Thursday, May 10, 2007

SureBetBookies Update – JuiceTrading completed, ArbExpert next

We have been working away on SureBetBookies tirelessly adding bookmakers every day for the past couple of weeks and we now have over 70 bookmakers in the database! Our goal is to maintain a minimum average of one new bookmaker added every day, and start knocking off complete lists of each specific alert service.

We have already added all of the most popular bookmakers. If you do a general search of SureBetBookies you will notice that virtually all of the bookmakers in there have more than 10 alert services which use them. Now that we are getting down into the bookmakers which are much less popular we will be targetting specific alert service lists in an effort to complete the bookmaker listings for each service.

To kick this process off, we have already completed our first alert service: Juice Trading, with a monster list of 10(!) bookmakers, was easily the first target for us to complete. (If JuiceTrading admin is watching this, you should update your list to acknowledge that WWTS has been acquired by Bodog, and thus no longer exists as a separate bookmaker) ArbExpert should follow sometime next week, then after that probably NickelVacuum, and then maybe SportsPunter.

I would like to take this opportunity also to thank the few people who have been providing feedback on the information presented at SureBetBookies. The SBB database will occasionally find itself out of date or with incomplete information due to our own inability to know everything about a bookmaker! So every time one of you, our visitors, clicks on that ‘Edit’ button or the ‘Comments’ link and provides some feedback to us about any innacuracies in our data, we REALLY really really appreciate it. Unfortunately we can’t actively use and experience every bookmaker online, and so some facts are simply out of our reach. If you see a question mark in any field, and you think you can provide some information on it, PLEASE tell us what you know!

Thank you all for your ongoing support, and I hope everyone really likes what SureBetBookies is offering everyone!

Oh, one more thing I just remembered! You can now register to receive email updates (usually weekly) on what bookmakers have been added to SureBetBookies. So if you are waiting for your favourite bookmaker to be added, or just want to stay informed on the amount of information available on SBB, then go to the homepage of SureBetBookies and enter your email in the registration box at the bottom of the news menu, and you will receive emails of every new news update released!

Thanks! Speak to you all again soon.

read morePosted on: Wednesday, May 9, 2007