We at DirectBet sympathies with those of you who apparently lost their deposits and investments with the disappearance of BitcoinLiveBets.com
To date, there hasn't been a single cryptocurrency Sportsbook that we are aware of, which ceased operation gracefully and honored all withdrawal requests.
All the Bitcoin Sportsbooks that were closed in the past, with no exceptions, ran away with users deposits, and every time that happened, it hampered the reputation of the Bitcoin sports betting industry as a whole. (Note : Bitbook did pay out its users for several days after closing, but not all of them).
The purpose of this post is not to spread salt on the wounds of those affected but rather to raise the point that in today's new virtual currency era, there is absolutely no need for a Sportsbook to take deposits and hold your coins while they are not wagered.
The "My Account" -> "Deposit" type of wagering belongs to the 90s.
Today, you can bet with your coins and keep them safe in your wallet under your control while they are not in a wager.
No longer do you need to park your valuable coins on 3rd party websites and hope that they will be there when you need them.
A deposit book is still the only way to get the lines confirmed instantly without delays and getting the wrong odds - especially important with live betting.
If you use the official Bitcoin client, your bet transfers will deliver within a second or two. Unofficial wallets might sometimes have delays but this is something that they will solve over time and there is an alternative for the time being.
That's not an issue when betting in-play because the traditional deposit books force a delay anyhow when betting in-play, typically of 5-7 seconds, in order not to give an unfair advantage to those who are betting while physically presenting in the game.
This 5-7 seconds forced delay by traditional deposit books is equivalent to the time it may take for non deposit books to receive and process bet transfers.