FutureBet Resurfaces
Sunday July 24,2011 : Bad pennies have a habit of continually turning up
Bucking the trend set by several major sports book shutdowns this month is a relatively new arrival titled TopBet.com, which claims to have connections with the Tech Power Group in Tortola, BVI but is believed to be physically located in the Philippines, from whence it reportedly operates sports betting services to the United States (in itself an illegal practice in the Philippines) along with online casino action powered by software from the Alderney-approved Beast Gaming company, with financial options through Curacao.
On closer inspection, however, it appears that the site is backed by Filipino and Chinese investors who have allegedly stumped up $1.5 million to finance a related online gambling services outfit in Manila titled World Hub Services.com.
More alarmingly perhaps, the Topbet telephone numbers are the same as those of a low-rated sportsbook branded Feltstars, which has been associated with the notorious Futurebet-Gametech-IGS software trio and the men alleged to be behind it, American Joe LaCascia and Canadian Noel Samson.
It is not known whether LaCascia is involved in the World Hub Services – Topbet venture, but usually reliable sources allege that Samson, who apparently still owes substantial monies to Canadian investors in another project, is the man behind the TopBet enterprise.
Immediately prior to that he appeared to be exploiting the current problem of finding e-cash processing for US gambler deposits by claiming to have a solution….as it turned out he apparently did not.
It is understood that Samson recently found Filipino and Chinese investors, and that Topbet-WHS has been hiring experienced online gambling industry managers to expand the business.
In capital terms, $1.5 million is to say the least inadequate to set up a ‘proper' internet enterprise in the highly competitive sportsbook sector. Perhaps there are more substantial financial arrangements afoot, but given the unanswered questions surrounding this new enterprise, do not be surprised if they hit the headlines at some ‘future' stage!
