Most of their players probably never go to these forums and what had have ones will never reach them. There are way more players that never come to rheee forums than do.
I agree with this - but in general the players who bring the money ARE on these forums (or at least aware of them when something goes wrong.
There are plenty of $25-50 level players who just googled “online sportsbook” and got Bovada/BetUS or BetOnline - and never heard/visited a forum or social media group.
But serious gamblers still do follow these forums - as well as people old enough to remember when forums were a major source of info (the fact SBR still exist proves that). Forums now are kinda like newspapers - they are viewed as “out of date” by the general public - but remember the Wall Street Journal still sells well - as do several other specialty newspapers - because the people who write for them cover topics not covered elsewhere.
This is the same reason forums still matter - they represent a place to discuss that which is not readily discussed elsewhere. I mean Reddit/FB groups are fine for some things - but for industry news/sharing picks - things get lost in a ton of troll posting quickly. Forums allow a highly concentrated sharing of info without the junk. Even JJs high volume of post at least contain an appropriate amount of relevant info to make this forum a worthwhile read.
If this forum didn’t exist - we’d be at the mercy of 30 cent line dealing “licensed” books in the US or scam bonus books like Oddsmaker. Having it allows access to options.
As to forum ratings - again - your as likely to find a completely honest politician as you are a completely honest forum rating. BMR dropped WagerWeb to 8.5 - is that appropriate- yes and no.
Yes because they continue to pay (slowly) - including a player they cheated. That’s 90% of the rating basis for a sportsbook in 2024 - do they pay.
No because they violated a basic rule of gambling - if you take the bet - you owe the result. 100% if a player bet and LOST a parlay that paid over $50k - WagerWeb would have laughed in their face when asked to refund the bet as it violated their “rules”. But when you refuse to pay the full payout - you’re setting a double standard. Either the bets valid or it isn’t - and if it isn’t - not only do you owe the man the apportionment that exceeded the allowable limit - you owe any prior losing wagers that exceeded this amount to him and to all players. Doubtful they want to open that can of worms though - so just pay what is owed.