Auction of BetbyInternet membership withdrawn for “encouraging illegal actions”
Monday 12th December 2005
Online sportsbook and casino, BetbyInternet has announced that eBay has decided to halt its $100,000 auction for a pre-paid membership to be used for online gambling. eBay stated that the auction was, “encouraging illegal actions”.
The lot had a reserve price of $49,000, less than 50% of the face value of $100,000.
Lee Samuels, Director of Promotions at BetbyInternet said, “I am surprised it took nearly two full days for the eBay legal team to catch and react to the auction and finally make the decision to stop the auction citing, 'encouraging illegal actions' in an email addressed to our promotions department.” Samuels added, “Our guess is that the legal department was at a prolonged holiday party and slept the first few days of the auction.”
BetbyInternet plans to list a similar auction, however this time the promotion will be a pre-paid gambling trip to Las Vegas. “Gambling is only legal in Vegas… so my guess is that eBay should not have a problem with this type of auction,” said Randal Zuniga, Vice-president of Operations.
