I spoke to a guy at Ukhomebusiness today by the name of Michael Pollard. He was going on about something called Percentage Betting and how it is the way the bookmakers make money. I couldnt quite follow what he was saying, and it is the first I have heard of it, or at least the way he explains it. ( I understand how bookmakers make money,…balancing the amounts bet on each horse so that no matter wich wins, they will still make a profit … but he was trying to tell me I am completely wrong.) He showed me a client’s betting account at thelayexchange.com, which is their wagering vehicle. Looked impressive but there is something funny about it..
Where there is a client loss, it adds to the total, and when there is a client win, still represented by a negative figure, it takes away from the total. He explains that, as his actual client is the bookmaker…the total amount, and his client is taking these other bets from some punter. I asked him whether this was lay betting then but he said that this was not lay betting, yet in the screenshot you can see that it says Lay Series at the top of the table. Not sure what is going on here and will take a bit of digging…or a trial..they offer a $500 free trial where you put that amount in an account for them to trade with. Maybe theyll run off with the money. Maybe they will bet it, and if it does well, try to get you onboard for the $9,999 or $14,999 licence (!). If it doesnt go well, they will either move onto the next client and give you your money back, or move on to the next client and keep your money. I have heard from someone who is trying to get a refund. Waiting to hear..
Feedback from readers suggest that that the trials usually go well and profit is returned. The going gets messy though after the hefty licence fee is paid. There have been reports of losses and stagnation. The only reports of good returns have not been verified ( no more communications received) and could be hoaxes.
Update 30/10/13: I had a another cold call from them and the new guy explained the concept of their operation better: That you are investing in a share of a bookmaker’s licence, and since bookmakers always balance their books, you should make money. That sounds reasonable, but I’m still not sure whether that is really what is happening, as in the trial accounts, you still seem to be betting against one horse, not the balanced field of the race, as a bookmaker would be doing. I have received one email from a guy claiming to make good sums of money from a very large investment. He hasn’t supplied any proof yet though..
Update: the person who was tryingto get the refund did receive it, and had also made a profit during the trial. At least I can report that they are honest enough to return the investment, plus any profits. I still think that $10,000 is way too much to just buy in to the program, and you still have to supply a bank after that. Theres just no guarantee. I would rather try to negotiate profit share or something like that than pay any upfront fee.
Opinion: treat with a fair amount of caution and refuse to invest those sums of money for upfront fees.
Update 20/11/13: Another company running a very similar scheme has popped up:
Trading Capital Partners ( using a Costa Rican bookmafer Century Gaming who can not be found ) Similarly you deposit $500 for a four day trial where you are guaranteed to get your money back, probably plus profit. Again you are taking some kind of part in a bookmaker’s licence. Whether it works long term or not you won’t know until you have parted with at least $9,999, and that is unlikely to be guaranteed !
St George Ltd / Questbet and Racing Analysts/ Pacific Gaming have similar schemes going but without licence fees, so you’d only be risking your investment, which you should be able to withdraw at any stage. Much better prospects of getting a return there since you don’t have to win back your licence fee before making any profit.
Treat with caution
Hi All
There hasn’t been anything posted on here for a while. Are there any details in regard to legal recourse or investigation outcomes. If anyone has anything to update or provide please advise. We have lost what is quite a bit of money to use in the scheme of things. Many thanks.
Christine
only news we have heard is that Featherstone and son have had their passports returned!
We know….you’ve got to be kidding! Read on..
https://www.river1467.com.au/news/current-news/59506-passports-returned-to-qld-fraud-suspects
Anyone else have any updates?
Not sure if you are still operating, but I put $600 into questbet, of which I got $200 back about 12 months ago but now no contact, there is still a phone number where someone answers and promises to pass on my message but I can’t get the rest of my money back
I now believe Questbet is a scam, is there somewhere I can lodge a criminal investigation with or has that already been done
I too have been caught up in this settlement debacle regarding UK Home Business. Not sure what to do! If I sign and lodge for settlement before the 25th April 2014 (not much time left), and wait 3 years to receive the monies that I invested, with fingers crossed that they do not come up with another excuse in between that time – or is it worth while taking some other form of action against them? After going through all the paper work received from the UK Home Business and thelayechange.com website, I noticed more than one variation of names:- UK Home Based Business, Pacific International Gaming and the entity that is administering the settlement is Sentry Business Corporation T/A Sentry Gaming. They may not be affiliated, but they all seem to be in cahoots with each other! It looks like UK Home Based Business has been registered with ATSIC since 3/10/2011 and is up for review on 3/10/2014 ACN: 153 542 084. Is there anyone else in the same predicament, and what is there to do? Regards Simon.
I will email you..
Hi Simon,
I invested $8,500 to Uk home business and couldn’t contact with them since aI made the second investment.
How did you go with the settlement? did you sign the form? I didn’t even receive any claim forms to fill in.
Please let me know how you handled this frustrating situation.
Regards
They are a bunch of thieves. Stay well away. I lost a lot of money with them.
hi clients i have some news about uk home based business the owner name michael cunich registrar to tpp wholesale pty ltd they are in lane cove and all so technical contact john kane is should help us i got is of scamadvse website
Last year I was conned by James Watson it seemed ok to start with I had a couple of trials then fell for another amount which Geoff Evans set up a further $7000 have not heard since I’m going to the fraud squad in Queensland to lodge commpaint
I invested in a trial and made a paper profit of $63 but could not recover my money when requested. They kept putting up obstacles, and when I did everything asked, they stopped emailing. For those of you who invested via a credit card, you can try applying for a refund through your bank if you used Visa or any card that has fraud protection. I did, and got my $500 back. Mike Pollard and George Ghias are dishonest, though I didn’t see that at the time.
If there are anymore people out there that have been scammed by UK Home Business/ The lay Exchange/ Sentry gaming/ Pacific International Gaming or what ever they may be calling themselves please come forward and register at the bottom of this page so we can keep you updated with our findings, after speaking with another mate about this today it seems people may be looking on but not actually getting involved in this page. We need as much information as possible on these groups so we can join together to get a favourable result.
I think it is doubtful that Pacific International Gaming is involved, knowingly , and also Sentry may have been dragged unwilling into the mess.
We can’t know yet for sure.
I invested $60000 for 3 x $20000 accounts with UK Home Business. Now Lay Exchange has collapsed I want my money back from UK.
Please keep me informed of any developments taken against them. I would be will to join a joint claim with other out of pocket investors.
Any news on their whereabouts would also be appreciated.
Regards,
Trevor Clarke
Hi, I went through the same bullshit and of course UK Home Business has now been de-registered by ASIC. I have lost some $30,000 and can only pursue the matter civilly, however the Queensland Police Service have a form you can fill out to pursue the criminal side of the matter. That does not recover your money but it may give you enough info to allow you to get some civil action going. If any one wants to get a joint action going then we will need to get together and do so. It may be a long hard road but it is our only chance to get some satisfaction in the long run.
Regards, Phil
Same story, wondering now where to follow up?
Do we jump through the hoops and get the Acceptance of Setllement forms back to Sentry Gaming to be re-paid (possibly?) over 5 years?? if I sign will it have any further consequences??
It looks like we too have been sucked in with the UK Home based business. Our contact was Rose Thompson and she seemed genuine enough. We did the trial and made some money on it. We tried emailing them several times about the program after making the initial investment and we did extract $5000 from them before we got the email about fraudulent trading.
I was concerned about the contact process for the return of funds and was not happy about the process. Should have been more wary then but when you have been out of work for a while you grasp at straws!
Am hoping for the best outcome. Can be contacted if anyone wants to have a chat.
I was contacted by Rose also and she seemed very genuine, I put $6,000.00 in the ac. $4,000.00 for u.k. home business and $2,000.00 for the lay betting group. I was contacted after this by Geoff Evans saying he was minding the shop over Xmas break, he also tried to talk me into another scheme which I refused. I received the silent treatment after this and could not contact him again. I tried to ring Rose numerous times after this and could not get in contact with her. U K Business seemed to have vanished, then I received a email from the betting group saying their was problems, and to email all my details to them to try and receive some sort of dividends. I was advised against this, so I have just written it off as a bad loss.
I think they are all joined together lay exchange, sentry gaming & uk home based business as I get the exact same email back from all of them.
thelayexchange is the betting platform for UK Homebusiness. The betting platform is a kind of ‘franchise’ to Sentry Gaming, but they are not affiliated with UK Homebusiness in any other way.
Hi, I have invested $24 k . Why do you think they are all linked. What email are you getting from them? I think I am going to lose a lot of money because a got an email from the lay exchange saying my account has been suspended due to tampering with the system.
DO NOT, I REPEAT DO NOT FALL FOR THESE GUYS! NOT WORTH THE HASSLE AND STRESS. Read this whole post to see how disgusting these guys are.
Like many of you on here, I was also approached by George Ghias.
I recently invested $500 like most of you guys on here and although I made a $70 profit and got my money back quite quickly, I found them to be unprofessional and dodgy. George insisted that I should by a licence and a share of the company investing $10,000 plus another $5000 gambling money. Initially he made it clear that $10,000 was the minimum or a $20,000 licence for 3 years. Later on, after I told him that I don’t have that much money, he magically reduced the figure to a $6000 licence and $4000 betting money offer. To top this off, he also said that he would make this a 3 year licence, which would have originally cost me $20,000. To say this sounded dodgy would be an understatement and he was clearly very desperate for me to invest. His ‘fine’ sales skills were definitely on display.
Towards the end of 4 day trial, George kept pressuring me to invest the money. When I missed his call, he left me a message saying “don’t waste my time, I don’t have time for games”….and shortly afterwards sent me another message saying “call me back or you lose risking your $500”. Absolute scum!
No one has replied back who has given the managed account a full year to run. Is there anyone who has done this. I did the 4 day trial and it made money and matched the master account. Some things don’t add up though. George sounded like he was an employee at the time, 6 months ago. Then David Ross rang me, I though he was ok for a while but then some things he said put me right off, so I let it go. Now another bloke has rang me. He has given me the written guarantee of 100% return on account balance within 6 months. Can anyone one explain to me what is not legal about the guarantee?
I did a credit search on them and there has been no credit watch or court payment defaults recorded agaainst them.
I am told that Aust licences run out Tuesday 17th Dec at 5pm, and yet they have told others in this post that it was October 29?
Any feedback appreciated
Hi Jeff, I’d be pretty sure that they’d still be offering licences after the 17th…even if they have to make one ‘specially available just for you’.
There are a few of these type of businesses around now…Trading Capital Partners, St George Limited, PBX 300. They all seem to be saying that they are offering licence shares with a bookamaker, or a variation of that theme, using a bookmaker interface managed by Pacific International Gaming Ltd
While there are legitimate businesses that operate through PIGL ( VIPbet for instance) I am unsure whether you can trust them all.
St George’s set-up is to take commission and have no upfront charge, but then you have to wait 12 months or more to be able to withdraw. I would rather be looking at an offer like that than having to pay a huge upfront fee. I will be doing a post about these other organisations soon.
You’re right, we haven’t heard from anyone who has been successful post trial. One guy was claiming he invested 80k and was doing well, but he has not come back to me with anything further yet. Still waiting….
That’s better than the offer they gave me. First you have to decide if you think it’s really going to work. 100% profit on your $5k is another $5k. If you invest at this level they can make you $5k and walk away after that. If you paid $10k licence fee you are still $5k down and all their obligations met. Then you have to get your money back through the lay exchange as well. The contract they sent me looked like an amateur wrote it. It would not stand up in court. I tried to get a guarantee for % 200 in 12 months as that would guarantee my full investment and was well below what they were promising. Profit of $64k.
I also did the trial and made money. Got my money back from the lay exchange.
Then the problems started. I read the contract they provided and got legal advice. I had a contract drawn up at my expense which I was told by George Ghias the sole director would sign. Long story short they wouldn’t sign. Needless to say I have done plenty of research and business checks. They won’t guarantee a return past your initial 50%. This would mean on a $10k licence with a $5k investment you are guaranteed $7.5k (their contract doesn’t legally bind them) so you’re swapping 10k for 2.5k. You are risking at least $7.5k. I didn’t go ahead because they wouldn’t sign the contract I had made up. They give a figure that your $5k investment will make $64k but won’t guarantee past $2.5k. I have more info if ppl need it.
Great! Thanks for passing on the information. I’ve often wondered about how solid, or not, these guarantees are.
Hi, I invested a total of $16k on licence and $10 k in my trading account, I got $12k back but now I have emails from e lay exchange saying they have suspended my account due to suspicious activity.. I can share with you the emails… I don’t know what to do… I could lose $14k and I feel physically sick every day. I really need help.
everyone has the same email G. Have to be patient now and wait for an outcome. All is not lost.
Hi, l got a phone call originally from James Watson at UK Home Business, he was very nice and explained how it worked so l did the $500- trial. After the 4 days l only received $17.52 and James was concerned that it didn’t make as much money as some of the other accounts, so he arrange for another 4 day trial and this time it made $96.77. l then spoke to James and organised to get the money back and it only took a week. l also explained to James that l did not have the $10,000 available to get the trading licence. James was ok with this and he said if l ever change my mind to get in touch with him. l thought that was the end of it until George Ghias rang and said that the licences would run out in Australia by the 29th October. l said l haven’t got $10,000- available to do this but he said l could secure a licence with $1,000 and try and get the rest of the money. This is what l did, but l am unable to get the rest of the money, so l let him know and asked for my $1,000 back, after waiting a week for a reply, l was told that the $1,000- was non-refundable. l can’t afford to lose $1,000 with Christmas coming up and then kids back to school next year (books, uniforms etc..). l have demanded that the money be put back in my account, so l will see what happens next.
Hi Lee, any luck getting your $1000 back? If they did, it would show at least they are honest enough to do that, even though you had to go through hassles to do it.
Hi everyone if this system was that easy or you have to do is put $10,000 in and in around 12 months you can make $70,000 to 80,000 when you think a lot more people would buy in I think it is a scam I have never heard of paying $10,000 and just sitting back logging every to 3 days to 4 day what’s your Money grow just had a good look into it
Don’t even touch them with a ten foot pole. Stay away from them. They will tell you it is guaranteed to make money but it is not. M*** P*** is absolutely not professional. He is very smooth,quick and eager to take your money but don’t have the guts to pick up your call when there is problem. Stay clear away from them.
Stay away from thelayexchange.com. The guy at layexchange.com is honest though.
Yes, layexchange.com is a completely different business, and no problems with them
Hi Johnny, I’m still trying to check these guys out. I have a fair amount of skepticism so far. May I ask, did you have a bad experience and could you elaborate please? Thanks. Luke.
Hi I have done the trial and made.money on $500.
Hi I made money off the trial. There seems to be reasonable staffing…..
That’s great. Most people seem to do ok on the trial.
It’s afterwards that we seem to hear of problems.
PS
Can I ask why your URL also comes up as UKhomebasedbusinessPtyLtd?
Hello Guys,
Thanks for the insight to this website. I have just joined the $500 trial and cash has been taken from card already. George Ghias was the person i spoke to
Has anyone have had any updates for the people who have invested cash after the initial trial.
Let us know how you get on Ronny.
Yes, there has been feedback from people who have taken a licence. Nothing glowing yet. Licence fees seem to vary depending on who the agent is. We’ve heard of licences of $400 with a profit share arrangement, all the way up to $6000.
Performance has varied from much of the account wiped out to making a slight profit. It seems that maybe the same strategy is not applied to everyone, or maybe it is because they join at different times. Haven’t heard of anyone making great gains anyway.
Guys remember this, if it is as profitable as they say, why then are they sharing with us simply for putting up cash. I was approached by phone and when I suggested I could do better elsewhere received a solid amount of verbal abuse over the phone. The old saying, “if it looks too good to be true, it probably is”
My contact was George, who talked me into doing the trial, even though I told him I did not have any money to invest.
My profit for the three days was 67.45 on my $500.00 investment, which after 2 weeks and numerous emails I received back.
I am a racing person and was ready to borrow money to invest in this scheme but after reading Sophie’s email have certainly changed my mind.
Thank you Adam for this website you have stopped me from becoming an old fool
Take care
Hi Glo
Fancy that. I too made exactly the same profit of $67.45 on my trial what are the chances of that I wonder.
I don’t trust these guys. I am reluctant to give 100pts ID over the get my trial money back. How do I know they are not going to use my details to sign me up for things I don’t want. Or create copies of my details?
Have you had any issues with this at all? I would like my money back.
Regards
Jason
Hi Jason,
I haven’t heard of any problems getting your money back. It is quite normal that the betting agencies require the 100points of ID.
I think they run through Pacific International Gaming who are in Vanuatu, but I have had no problem with them.
I am sure it is a con and I have blowen my money.
Everyone makes money on the trial. You will also make money for the first 2 months but then the system loses more than you get. It is set up to give you a bit then take lots.
Julia
Hi Jack,
Did you end up following up with UK Home Business as to why your trades were different to the master account? Have you made any money thus far?
I did the trial run back in June when $1000 was required. They made me just under $100 in profit in 3-4 days. The original capital and the profits were transferred to my account no problem, however i did not go ahead with getting a license as the company hasn’t been around for that long and i can hardly find any reviews on them.
Has anyone actually bought their license/automated system and made any real money from it?
Alex
Hi,
I was silly enough to believe them. I also started with the trial and made a profit then paid $3,000 to join and placed $1500 on my account. It all started well and I had money sent back to me then it stagnated.
It was like it was on a time chart where they made sure one trade took back all the gains.
I have tried ringing them several times with no reply and no returned call.
Darren Baxter was my contact and recently a service provider transfer authority from Leigh Palmer the head trader. His email said they had secured various bookmaker facilities to dramatically reduce the current exposure. I returned it 22/07/13 but there was no contact or improvement and I have now asked for a Hault to be placed on my account
Julia
Hi Julia,
are you able to text me 04******** or email me. I need up ask you a few questions regarding this opportunity. Perhaps you could save me life 🙂 thanks
Hi Guys
I had a call from the company aswell and it was Michael. I also was displayed similar information to you that you have shown in the original post.
I have signed up for the $500 trial and the money has been taken from my credit card. I have advised that I do not have the $10,000 startup fee at the moment. Michael advises that after the 4 days i can get my money back at no charge for the trial. After I signed up, I was sent a username and password to my mobile phone to login to the website which took about 20 minutes after i signed up. I have not been sent any information to my email address at all yet even after I asked them to forward me all of the details.
I will see how I go when the 4 days is up and I try to get the money back. I don’t like my chances. But I will let you know. If I get the money back of course this puts some confidence in going forward with the bigger deal.
I find it strange that on their website there is not much information on the company or any phone numbers or anything.
All the best.
Regards
Jason
How did you go?
Hi Sophie
Did you have any luck?
I made $67.45 profit on my trial. I asked for the money back but they want 100pts ID. I was not told this when I signed up. I am reluctant to give them my details. You dont know what someone can do with those details. Plus I have never been sent any documents in regards to their policies or anything about the company. The websites seem dodgy and when these people write emails to you they are not professional. There are no signatures on the emails or anything. There is no direct contact for the company. They all call off mobile phones.
My money is still sitting in the account. They keep calling me almost every day telling me that they want to give the money back but need my details. They also want me to sign up for the full account still.
I hope everything has worked out ok for you. I really don’t know what to do right now.
I went to the police and had them run a check on ASIC against the ABN number I was given and it did not exist according to the police.
Regards
Jason
I want to know if UK Home Business is a con or not. Please do not give me your advice or your opinion. I only want the facts. So far I have made $65 profit from my $500 trial. Moreover I am interested in knowing how to check the background of the CEO of UK Home Business. If he has a solid track record it may be a legit system. If you can help please contact me. But do not merely send your opinion. It doesn’t help but only strokes your ego.
Thank you for your comment Bhima.
I try to give objective assessments and it is really up to you, or anyone else, to make up their own minds about any of these schemes. All I can do is to try and highlight the risks (since Scamwatch seem to do little) Sorry if it sounds like an ego trip, and apologies for the following advice:
Now, to Ukhomebusiness, you can look up this page
http://www.justanswer.com/fraud-examiner/7ocsk-lay-exchange-legit.html
or here
http://www.justanswer.com/fraud-examiner/7p2qu-hello-there-do-know-uk-home-based-business-the.html
They do not tell you much though. They are just another opinions. You can research the website ownership at http://www.whoismydomain.com.au/whois/ukhomebusiness.com.au
I could not find ukhomebusiness registered at ASIC
Not that I think ASIC has any real teeth. We could do well to follow the UK’s ASIC equivalent’s stance:
http://www.businessspectator.com.au/article/2013/3/27/economy/asic-lacks-bite-uk-chews-down
I am glad that you made a profit on your trial. I would caution that it may be bait. If you are really considering giving it a go, my advice, even though you do not want it, would be to bargain down as much as possible to a minimum up front fee.
It is up to you to make an assessment of all the facts available, and take in to account Jack’s experience!
Good luck, and please let us know how you get on.
Today we went to the address of Uk Home Business as we coulf no longer contact them on their mobiles.The place exists but they do not have an office there.
Till 2 months ago they had telephone answering service from the reception of that building.
It looks like a scam to me. But I don’t know if that is also true about Lay Exchange. We made quite a bit of money but I don’t know if Lay Exhange can pay it out
Hi Brigette,
I believe they have several of these offices around the place. I went to their office too a couple weeks back and its only a front.
Can you tell me which office you went to and which phone numbers you have been ringing and the names of the people?
Hi,
I too am investigating ukhomebusiness and it isn’t easy to get straight answers or the same story from the various reps. have not spoken with the Michael you mention nor has “Percentage Betting” been mentioned.
Can recommend the $500 trial, I did one in February and got back an extra $112 over 5 days.
In April I took up an offer of a $2000 dollar “trading investment” on a 70/30 profit share with $400 set-up fee. It has been far below expectations and I am currently attempting to find out why the odds on my account are not the same as the “master account” (the same one you would have seen).
Will get back to you when I find out more.
regards
Jack
Thanks Jack for your feedback.
Well that is two people who have had profitable $500 trials. Maybe that is the bait..or even legitimate?
Who knows..maybe if you think of it as a gamble, and have the money to spare, it could be worth having a go at.
That is not a recommendation though.
Yes, sounds rather suspicious what has been going on with your account.
I think this Michael bloke was just spinning me a story with his percentage betting ramble.
Hi Jack, any luck finding out why the odds on your account are different?
Hi Jack, I too have spoken to George and done the free trial. I have a $51.57 profit showing in the account but money has not returned to me yet. I will let you know if its returned. I am still investigating this program. My thoughts, it’s a bit disconcerting that everyone seems to be offered a different licence fee amount from $400 to $10,000. Once in, you can’t take your $ out for a year so you wouldn’t actually know if your account is growing or if its just numbers on a screen. Two years old is not really a long time established company. on the plus side, People do seem to be getting their $500 trial back with profit. I’ve yet to find any evidence of people who have invested the larger amounts and are doing well with it over time. Thanks to Julia for relating her experience, which on the whole, was not positive. If I invest in the licence, I’ll let folks know how it goes.