Bovada SCAMS VIP customer out of $87k on US Tiktok Ban bet (update: RESOLVED thanks to PFA!)

[Dan Druff]

A listener to Poker Fraud Alert Radio has alerted me to the fact that Bovada has scammed them out of an $87k payout, regarding a very straightforward bet about TikTok being banned in the US sometime in 2025.

I have been in contact with this person for weeks, and can verify that this has indeed occurred, and there are no shenanigans involved, except on Bovada's side.

This player is considered a "VIP" because they bet large amounts on Bovada. For this reason, they were assigned a personal host to help handle their issues, but the host has been unable to get this resolved.

Despite the fact that TikTok was clearly banned on January 18, 2025, for a period of 13 hours, Bovada is refusing to pay this bet! Instead, the bet is listed as "pending", because 2025 isn't over yet. However, Bovada is illegally, greedily, and erroneously stating that the TikTok ban on 1/18/25 "doesn't count", and this bet will LOSE if TikTok does not get banned again during the calendar year.

Does that mean that people on the other side of this bet got (unfairly) saved a loss? No! This bet only allowed a "YES" side, meaning that you're betting directly against Bovada when you take it. Therefore, it is tremendously in Bovada's interest to find any reason to grade the bet a "NO", and win all of the money bet!

I'll go over the entire story, provide evidence, and show you the trail of communication where Bovada has completely shut down this person, and is refusing to pay $87k rightfully owed them.



The TikTok Bet

On January 15, 2025, this VIP player took a look at the "Novelty & Entertainment Specials" page, where you can bet YES on various events you think will occur at any time in calendar year 2025.

As I stated above, you CANNOT take the "NO" side to this bet. You can only bet YES, which means you are betting directly against Bovada.

This player noticed a +250 line on "TikTok To Be Banned in the US in 2025". This was indeed an excellent value bet, as TikTok had already been given a deadline of January 19 to get out of the US market, sell the company, or face consequences. While President-elect Donald Trump had expressed the desire to give TikTok a chance, the January 19 deadline was a day before Trump would take office, and therefore Trump would not have the power to stop it until January 20.

Given that this bet was great value, the player bet almost $25k on TikTok getting banned in the US in 2025. The bet would win them over $62k (plus their $25k back), for a total of $87k in their account if they were to win.

The bet screen is shown below. Note the 1/15/25 date on the left, and note the bet itself on the right. Also notice near the top left the full name of the bet. The bet reference number was redacted by me. Also note at the top left, the category for the bet is "To Happen in 2025". This means that the TikTok ban merely needed to "happen", not stay in place! There were no other terms posted for the bet, anywhere on the site.





So what happened from here?

Read on to learn about a disgusting tale of Bovada outright CHEATING their VIP customer out of $87k, refusing to pay out a clearly winning bet....

[Dan Druff]

Was TikTok Really Banned in 2025?

Perhaps you're not sure if the bet really won, so I will make it 100% clear below that the bet was a winner. In fact every other betting platform graded it as a win!

Tiktok was DEFINITELY banned in 2025. Congress and President Biden officially banned Tiktok, and it was written into US law. Tiktok was given a deadline of January 19 at midnight EST to get out of the US market, or face consequences. Approximately two hours before that deadline, on the night of January 18, Tiktok banned all US users.

The following message was posted on the TikTok app on 1/18/25: "A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can't use TikTok for now. We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned!"




Here is an article about the situation from CBS News: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/why-is-...ourt-congress/

The headline reads, "Why is TikTok banned? What's behind the law that shuttered the app"



That is EXTREMELY clear. Tiktok WAS banned, and indeed there was a law forcing it to occur.

But how is TikTok accessible again right now? 13 hours after the ban, Tiktok reinstated its service to US users. However, the ban was never lifted, and in fact Tiktok is STILL technically banned in the US to this day. It is only usable in the US right now because new President Trump signed an executive order on January 20, 2025, giving Tiktok a 75-day period without ENFORCEMENT of the ban. This means that Tiktok is STILL banned, but the US government is simply not enforcing the ban.

Regardless, for a period of 13 hours between January 18-19, 2025, Tiktok was both banned by law AND unavailable to US users. Additionally, the Tiktok ban is STILL in place!

You can read a good Wikipedia article explaining the whole thing, if you so desire.


Are you still having doubts that this bet won?

Here are three betting markets on other sites which all resolved to YES, regarding a US Tiktok ban:

Kalshi: https://kalshi.com/markets/kxtiktokban/us-bans-tiktok

Polymarket #1: https://polymarket.com/event/tiktok-banned-in-2025

Polymarket #2: https://polymarket.com/event/tiktok-...efore-may-2025


These markets accurately graded it as YES, because they did not have a dog in the fight. They were simply platforms where users could bet with one another, and did not benefit from either outcome. Bovada IS benefiting by refusing to grade the outcome as YES, because they have 100% of the action on the NO side!


So what has Bovada been saying to this VIP that they're cheating? Read on...

[Dan Druff]

Bovada's Response

Bovada is REFUSING to grade the bet as a win. It is still pending. They will not explain the criteria which would make it a win. Presumably they are going to leave it pending until January 1, 2026, at which point it will be graded as a loss, and they will keep everyone's money.

Nobody from Bovada is willing to talk to this VIP player except for his host, who we will call "Velma" (I replaced the actual name at the player's request). Here was the first communication from Velma, after the player clearly laid out how the bet had won, cited several sources, and gave her various links to verify.

Hi XXXXXXX,

I hope this email finds you well.

As promised re: Wager 250**********

I have looked into your inquiry, and also escalated the matter to the relevant departments.

However at this time the decision remains as is, and the bet will remain unsettled. Unfortunately, we are unable to give an approximate time frame as to when it will be graded. Apologies.

As your host I have applied 250000 points to your reward store, while I know this is not the outcome you were looking for, I do hope it will bring you some luck.

If you have any questions or need assistance, you can reach me in the office on Sundays – Wednesdays 8:00 am – 4:30 pm (EST) and Thursdays 1:00 pm - 9:30 pm (EST). Just a heads up, I’ll be out of the office on Fridays and Saturdays.

Thank you for your continued support.

Kind regards,

Velma
BVX Host

In case you're a bit confused, "250000 points", while impressive sounding, is worth just $250 -- less than 0.3% of the $87k which should have been paid out already.

"BVX" is the same thing as Bovada, but is just a VIP version of it. You can read this Reddit thread explaining BVX, if you would like more info on that.

As you can see, Velma refused to state the terms of what would denote a winning bet, and even refused to state the bet's settlement date! Extremely shady! She also refused to address the points brought up regarding why the bet won.



The player then responded to Velma, and demanded this get escalated to management. The player once again stated their case, clearly and in succinct fashion.

Velma responded with the following nonsense:

Hi XXXXXX,

This is your host Velma reaching out as promised. Thank you so much for your patience.

As your host I further escalated your matter re: wager 25*********. However, at this time the outcome remains the same, and as such the wager will remain unsettled until we have received official communication from our provider.

I do apologize, as I realize this is not the outcome you would have liked.

If you have any questions or need assistance, you can reach me in the office on Sundays – Wednesdays 8:00 am – 4:30 pm (EST) and Thursdays 1:00 pm - 9:30 pm (EST). I’ll be out of the office on Fridays and Saturdays.

Kind regards,

Velma
BVX Host

And that's it. Nobody at Bovada management is willing to discuss the matter, and the decision is final. The player also attempted to call Bovada, and all of the reps refused to state the exact terms of the bet, or why it wasn't graded as a win.

Bovada took a $25k bet from this player, refused to pay when it won, and is presently refusing to state the terms or resolution date of the bet. Essentially, the terms are "trust us, bro", and they won't explain why this clearly winning bet was not resolved and paid.

This is straight up theft on the part of Bovada. They should NOT be trusted until this matter is resolved. Perhaps they are having financial issues, and this is their way of stealing from high stakes bettors, in order to keep afloat!



But it gets worse. This unfortunate player is out $87k, but they're not the only one. Bovada might have stolen millions of dollars with this scheme, and I will explain that in the next post...

[Dan Druff]

Bovada Realized They Offered a Bad Bet, and Now Won't Pay

This bet was offered by Bovada for many days. As Bovada is a very popular sportsbook, it is likely that a lot of people placed this bet during the time it was up.

They removed the TikTok Ban bet from their site approximately an hour after this player placed their $25,000 bet!

Presumably the bet was removed because the large $25k wager made Bovada realize they misjudged the proper line for this bet, and they had the worst side of it.

However, that's the way things go when you run a sportsbook. If you offer a bad line, and you accept the action, you need to stick to it.

Keep in mind that this is NOT the same as a bet with outrageously incorrect odds. For example, at the time of this writing, you can bet on the Los Angeles Dodgers to win the 2025 World Series at +250. If the bet had been accidentally offered at +25000 (250-1) odds, it would make sense for Bovada to immediately void any bets made, as the lines were clearly posted in error. In no universe would the 2025 Dodgers be a 250-1 underdog to win the World Series, so it would make sense for them to immediately cancel such bets.

In this case, Bovada fully intended to post the TikTok Ban odds as +250, and in fact never cancelled anyone's bets! All of the bets are still "pending" at the time of this writing.

This means that EVERYONE who placed bets on this TikTok Ban on Bovada got cheated here -- not just the one player who messaged me about the matter. This could mean that Bovada took MILLIONS of dollars of bets at +250, and now is afraid to grade it a win, because they can't afford to pay.

I have no idea how many bets Bovada/BVX took on this TikTok Ban, but obviously it was enough to where they are willing to directly cheat their own VIP players in order to avoid paying it out. As I said earlier, this is straight up theft.



I'll conclude in the next post...

[Dan Druff]

Conclusions / Summary

Before I conclude, I want to make it clear that I have no dog in this fight. The player described was NOT me. I do not have any piece of that player's action, and I did not bet on this TikTok Ban myself (though I would have, had I known about it).

I am making this post because I am outraged at how Bovada is cheating gamblers with this bet, including $87k from one of my show's listeners.

I can also tell you that I verified that the bet and communications I posted were authentic, so none of this was fabricated or modified. Bovada is straight up cheating people here.



SUMMARY/ CLIFFS:

- Bovada VIP player bet almost $25k at +250 (2.5-1 odds) on TikTok being banned at some point in 2025

- TikTok was banned by US law on 1/18/25, and remains officially banned as of this writing. TikTok also removed all US users for 13 hours, starting on 1/18/25, as a result of this ban.

- Major US news outlets like CBS reported that TikTok was banned, and all other betting markets paid the YES result on a TikTok ban in 2025.

- On 1/20/25, two days after the ban, new President Trump granted TikTok 75 days without ENFORCEMENT of the ban, but left the ban in place. Regardless, prior to Trump taking office, TikTok was both banned by US law AND left the US market as a result.

- Bovada refused to pay the bet like all the other books did, because they only allowed a YES bet on it, meaning they had all of the NO action, and stood to lose a fortune if they handled it fairly.

- This particular player, who is a Poker Fraud Alert listener, is out $87k ($25k bet plus $62k winnings) as a result of Bovada refusing to pay out a clearly winning bet.

- Bovada will NOT state the terms of how they consider the bet a winner, nor will they give a timetable as to when it will resolve.

- Bovada will NOT allow this player to speak to management (or anyone else involved in this decision).

- Possibly MILLIONS of dollars have been stolen in this fashion, as everyone who bet on this event did not get paid their winnings.

- It is possible Bovada is BROKE or near broke, and is worming out of paying the bet for this reason.




I suggest a BOYCOTT of Bovada until the answer to this blatant refusal to pay out money they rightfully owe for all players who made this wager.

[Pickleball]

I started betting with Bovada when they were Bodog. A couple of times I had a dispute or a simple question that customer service did not know the answer to. They would never let me speak with management, no matter how many times I called or what the issue was.

I read an article that said Costa Rica doesn't require gaming licenses for online casinos. Not sure if this is true but if it is there would be zero recourse.

Some of these off shore sports books are so ignorant. They would rather stiff a good customer who has lost hundreds of thousands of dollars with them, than payout one bet. The sports book would easily recoup the money from a losing customer but would rather take the chance of losing the customer.

If Bovada stands to lose millions, most likely they will never settle up with every customer. I have one prop bet with Bovada that will be graded on Sunday. No matter what the outcome is, I plan on withdrawing my entire balance with them.

[Dan Druff]

Update:

After my tweet linking to this thread racked up 88,000 views in one day, Bovada decided to take notice and reevaulate.

They DM'd me (I did not contact them), and told me they could not go into specifics about that person's account (reasonable), but that they were working on the matter.

A few hours later, they messaged the player and informed them that the bet was being graded as a WIN, and the $87k was PAID.

It was not stated what happened to the other people's bets, but I do not personally know anyone else who bet this, so I cannot check either way.

Regardless, this was a very happy ending. After Bovada shut this person down and dug their heels in, Poker Fraud Alert brought enough attention to the situation where Bovada management chose to reevaluate, and handle the matter fairly.



I do want to note that I was helping advise this player since they brought the matter to me in early February. I told them to let Bovada know that they would be going public with this, via PFA, if the bet was not paid fairly. I was not looking for clicks or attention, and in fact was hoping that the player would be able to get this resolved quietly behind the scenes. Unfortuantely, Bovada refused (as you can see from the emails I posted), forcing me to bring the matter public.

I'm glad that Bovada ultimately decided to pay it out. As they are an unregulated site, it would be impossible to force them to do so. The only power we as players have is social media and sites like PFA.

It's days like this when I'm proud to be running Poker Fraud Alert, and helping casino/poker players both get fair treatment and call out individuals/companies which act badly.

Note that I don't always take the player's side. Before bringing any matter like this public, I carefully investigate all claims. If the player seems evasive or shady, or if the story doesn't add up, or if I don't agree with their position, I do not help them. In this case, it was clear that the player was in the right, and I'm glad to have helped recover the $87k due to them.

[Sanlmar]

Shame you don’t believe in tips, Druff

[Dan Druff]

Gambling news outlet Vegas Slots Online picked up the story from PFA, and cited both my tweet and this PFA thread about it: https://www.vegasslotsonline.com/new...-ban-prop-bet/


I did not contact Vegas Slots Online (or any other media), but they obviously saw the story because my tweet got nearly 100,000 views.

They did not post the update to the story yet (to my knowledge), but I encourage them to do so. I like when operators do get credit for ultimately doing the right thing, as it incentivizes resolution in these matters in the future.

I have emailed the author of the piece to let them know it was resolved.

[JeffDime]

I’ve been out of the loop for sometime but was catching up on radio today and just can’t say enough about what Druff did for this guy. Since joining this site I have seen Druff use his platform to get wronged gamblers back hundreds of thousands of dollars. I hope he has got more than a thank you from time to time (although I know he doesn’t expect anything in return).

Druff is so under appreciated for what he has done it’s almost absurd. In a world where everyone is looking out for themselves, there is simply no one else to go to when getting boned by these sites. I suspect doing some good in a really muddled world out there is very fulfilling to him. Being a winning poker player is something to be proud of, but getting these people paid surely is fulfilling in a much different way.

It’s about dam time that some poker/gambling journalist do some kind of story covering all the various instances where Druff has made these people whole. It won’t have to be a puff piece, it’s simply just the truth. It’s about time he gets the credit he deserves.

[Tankazoo]

that Oasis to break up bet at +1000 is tempting
Cant see Hamilton winning 6 even though he won the Chinese sprint

good work as usual Druff