WARNING! Vegas Palms has confiscated my EUR 1,003.00 winnings

[marjac]

Yesterday I signed up for EUR 20.00 (and got EUR 40.00 in bonus) at the Vegas Palms casino.

I was struck by pure luck and my balance grew to EUR 1,003.00 (incl. EUR 30.00 of non-transferable bonus money).

Then all of a sudden they locked my account and I was not able to log in.

I called them and they said that it was locked due to "bonus abuse" and accused my of "trying to defraud the system". This is totally unacceptable and insulting. I simply played the roulette a couple of times (European and European High Limit). They also denied to refund my initial deposit of EUR 20.00 ("I am sorry Sir, that money should be considered lost").

They promised to have someone more senior look at my account and get back in writing to me, which they did:

"This is a courtesy mailer regarding your refund request query with the Casino.
We would like to inform you that we have received feedback from our Special Investigations unit advising us that no refund can be done on your account as the €20 purchase initiated with the Casino was voided.
This means that the initial purchase amount was basically not accepted by the Casino and subsequently returned to the purchase account.
We kindly request from you to please review your bank statement to view the transaction in question.
I thank you for your time and patience in this regard.

Kind regards

Johan
Casino Desk
Where the Player Comes First"

One thing is for sure: Their players comes last. They confiscate any money you may win from pure luck. A totally unfair way of lowering their payout ratio below the actual percentages stated.

The thing that makes me believe this is a totally unserious and unprofessional casino is that I also asked for proof of my alleged bonus abuse, which they have not provided in any way (No such thing of course exists). They just say that their discretionary decision is final.

I have filed a complaint with the eCOGRA group and, of course, Pitch-A-Bitch, but I just needed to let everyone know that this casino is NOT recommended. They are probably going to confiscate anything you may win. The thing is that my bonus was so minimal that even without it I would probably have won a fair amount (if I were to be just a lucky).

Another thing which is clear is that they are trying to walk away from paying me MY EUR 1,003.00 by arguing that my payment was not even accepted in the first place. After I deposited my initial amount I received an email from them:

"This is a Purchase confirmation (not a bill or a second charge) of the purchase you recently made on the Vegas Palms (account number vpr17816800).
Please refer to the explanation below for a detailed description of your purchases.

Transaction Amount Date/Time Card Number Status

5333961 20.00 2007/05/06 02:10:20 PM 5413########0822 ACCEPTED"

It is a little difficult for me to understand that something can not be accepted when they follow-up with a mail stating that this is exactly was it in fact was: ACCEPTED.

I tried to explain this to them and all I got was this BU**SH*T:

"Is something that you do not understand, you have your transaction number, because is nothing wrong with your Credit Card; but we did not accept the transaction. And we have sent it back to your MasterCard. Please call you bank or MasterCard and they will inform you about this information.
Regarding your account, like you know will be remaining closed, due to promo abuse.

Kind regards

Nico

Casino Support"

And then more of it:

"Thank you for your e-mail.
Martin, like I told you check first with your Credit Card before sending another e-mail, they will explain to you. Second, the decision about your account has been taken, and is final.
The decision that was made is based on promotional abuse being identified on the account. We can unfortunately not provide you with the specific details behind the process of the promotional abuse being identified as this would negatively impact the security of the casino and it's processes.
As per the terms and conditions, if the account is locked by the casino for any such activity, any balance on the account including purchases, free money, bonuses and winnings will be forfeit.

Kind regards
Nico
Casino Support"

As well (after a couple of more emails clearly requesting this) a final confirmation of the amount confiscated:

"Thank you for your e-mail.
I do apologize for running around in circles.
Indeed you are correct. The total amount that was confiscated at the time the account was locked due to promotional abuse was €1003.00.
If you have any further questions or queries, please feel free to contact us.
Thank you for playing with Fortune Lounge.

Kind regards;

Will
Casino Support"

After reading through the other cases mentioning Vegas Palms in this forum I wish I had known about Casino Meister before depositing any money with Fortune Lounge. I will update this thread if I receive any news (I keep my fingers crossed for my PAB and eCOGRA).

[cynthial]

Hi Marjac,

Go to the search option above and type in Vegas Palms. You will see a list of threads concerning this casino. A few sound very similar to yours. Good luck and I hope you continue to post updates regarding your situation.

[dancinggoon]

Wow im really impressed by vegas palms and Rogue-Lounge, how can a casino employ so many dump pieces of **** ?!

Instead of putting you in the winner Section or mention you in one of their newsletters or promoemails, for the one, who turns 20euro into 1000euro just by playing roulette, slots or whatever, they are trying such stunts.

They could make great promotion with a player like you Martin, but this dumpasses are just killing their own buisness!

[Pinababy69]

You need to PAB (Pitch A Bitch) with Casinomeister and/or file a formal complaint with ECogra. This was a big issue here awhile back, and Bryan and ECogra got any legitimate players looked after (for the most part). I believe there are still a few complaints outstanding.

[vinylweatherman]

If this turns out to be nothing to do with fraud, (multiple accounts etc) then this proves FL have no intention of mending their ways DESPITE eCogra ruling against them in similar cases.

They also say that you "tried to defraud the system", this is an accusation beyond bonus abuse, and they are suggesting some kind of fraud was detected.

If they are worried about certain methods of play alone, they should alter the terms to prohibit such play, not just arbitarily confiscate winnings when they see fit (while keeping the funds of losers, who if they had won, they would not have paid).
All FL are doing is making it so that any player will be too scared to take a bonus, and thus they will have killed off the main marketing tool that these casinos have.
Although I have all the FL accounts, I would not go near a new SUB with them unless I got it in writing that this would be allowed, and that I would be paid - I would also only play slots with it.
I tend to only play slots with any SUB now, whatever the terms - it gives the casino no room to cry foul with "bonus abuse".

[marjac]

Well I did not play any hedge bets (like playing both black and red), all I did was play stakes on red and black. I did not play on all the spins and made variable bets (large and smaller).

I have never opened an account with any of their sites before. I simply do not understand how my playing could fall under the term "abuse".

[vinylweatherman]

Originally Posted by marjac

Well I did not play any hedge bets (like playing both black and red), all I did was play stakes on red and black. I did not play on all the spins and made variable bets (large and smaller).

I have never opened an account with any of their sites before. I simply do not understand how my playing could fall under the term "abuse".

It should not, many of the other complaints were from players who opened accounts at all 8 casinos, took all 8 bonuses, and played for the cash-in.

If you only opened ONE account, this is a serious escalation. New players have to start with their first account, and from one account how can they establish any kind of "abuse pattern". All they have is you won from your first deposit & bonus, nothing more. At this point, they cannot know whether you will begin the "abuse pattern" by moving through the other 7 in the same manner.
The other argument in your favour is that you dont turn 60 credits into over 1000 by playing low risk bets, nor even by doubling up at first and then grinding out the remaining WR (which was what they specifically objected to in the other cases).
Now, we have a player who made varying sizes of bets. Are they now saying it is enough merely to play roulette to be an abuser, regardless of strategy.