Resolved Betway deceit

[tofu23]

I PAB about a month back about this Betway matter and as reported today in the Casino warning section Betway have failed to respond. It is time to disclose the facts why I mentioned "Betway" and "deceit" in the same breath. I will let the reader decide whether "fraud" is a more appropriate term.

Betway use MG casino SW and the basic ClearPay bonus system. They offerred a $1000 100% match player SUB with weighted bonus clearing such as 100% Slots , 50% Roulette (now 10%) and so on.

I went for a $200 SUB and started to play slots. After accumulating loyalty points I was able to verify that I had wagered over $600. But my bonus balance remained unmoved from the original $200.

I queried CS and the email response was confusing to me:

"As for you questions regarding the wagering in the Loyalty program and the Casino bonus.

The Casino welcome bonus will only be released once you start wagering the bonus money in your account which is $200.

You have only wagered your real money at the moment.
That is why you have received the Loyalty points which you eventually can turn into Bonus cash.

You are correct that the bonus is reduced $10 per every $300 wagered but this is when you playing through your
Bonus Cash."

Not accepting the reality (or truth) of those statements I pressed for further clarification and received:

"What you wager with your real money has nothing to do with what you wager with your bonus money.

Please be aware, in order to start using your bonus money you can't have any real funds on your casino account."

Now I was really perplexed at this point. The published T+Cs were fairly standard MG ClearPlay and implied nothing of the kind quoted in the emails above. I decided to further test the Betway bonus system by wagering an additional $1,200 on French Roulette which then had a 50% weighted bonus clearing rate.

Again my bonus balance did not move from $200 whereas it should have been down to $160 as per the published ClearPay T+Cs. Much to my horror I was beginning to realise that Betway had in fact manipulated the MG ClearPay to operate in the exact manner as described in the emails above.

I protested the absurdity of the situation and the response follows:

"Thank you for contacting Betway about our terms and conditions of the Casino welcome bonus.

As you wrote in your previous email,

"What this affectively means is that the Player can never clear the bonus until the cash balance has been exhausted. You have to lose your entire cash deposit before the bonus wagering can even be commenced. And you can not make a withdrawal until the wagering requirements have been met".

This is how the Casino bonus is working and in the Terms and Conditions you can read that the bonus will not be wagered until you start playing with the bonus balance. It is also stated that if you have a cash balance in your account this will automatically be used before the Bonus money.

As it is stated in the terms and conditions,
"All Winnings using the Bonus Balance will top up your Bonus Balance to the original bonus/es amount (less any movements from the Bonus Balance to the Cash Balance), and the excess winnings will be added to your Cash Balance."

Please read the terms and conditions for this offer: https://www.betway.com/static_cms/en...ome_Bonus.html

We wish you a nice Sunday,

Kind regards,

Eva @ Betway"


Betway had somehow tampered with the MG bonus system to prevent ANY clearing of the bonus until ALL the cash balance funds had been lost.

Furthermore, as each $10 of bonus funds are then shifted to the cash balance, then that cash $10 would need to be lost before the player can further clear the remaining bonus balance.

In simple terms the player will lose his entire cash and bonus balance on every single occasion.

I invite readers to conclude that Betway have set out to deceive. I am of the opinion that it is clear cut 100% fraud. I was induced to deposit on the promise of contrived bonus T+Cs that Betway had no intention of honoring. Furthermore, Betway designed (tampered with) a bonus system that ensured the player could not win ANY money - the player had to lose no matter what.

It surprises me not that Betway have declined to respond to the PAB.

I am considering my options together with an approach to the licensee MicroGaming in a case that in my view is pure 100% criminal fraud.

..

[tristan727]

Is all very strange...

http://betway.com/casino/news/casino-bonus

You are not allowed to withdraw your initial deposit before you have played through the bonus.
You have to play through your Bonus 30 times before you can withdraw;

but then....

http://betway.com/casino/news/casino-bonus-terms

Your Cash Balance may be withdrawn from your gaming account at any time.

[chuchu59]

If Betway had really tampered with the EZ Bonus system, this is downright fraud. In fact, there is something wrong with the MG bonus system as another MG casino seems to have tampered with it also and wagering requirements from previous bonuses are now carried over though you have lost every cent of it and the balance is a big fat zero.

I hope that Tofu can at least get his deposit back. With such a ridiculous bonus system, who can win?

[Jasminebed]

Originally Posted by tofu23

Please read the terms and conditions for this offer: https://www.betway.com/static_cms/en...ome_Bonus.html

..

Tried that link they gave you and got a 404-Page not Found error.

Makes it very clear to me that something is not right at Betway.

[Jufo]

WOW! I was just about to play this bonus with full $1000 deposit. Now I am glad I didn't have time to do it yet. I have heard players having no problems with cashing out with the bonus so it seems they have done this tampering very recently.

Even without the tampering, the game weightings are so bad that you are expected to lose the whole bonus amount and half of your deposit while completing the WR on Table poker.

[GaryWatson]

http://betway.com/casino/news/casino-bonus-terms

A player’s casino account balance is divided into a cash balance and a bonus balance.

When your gaming account is credited with a promotional bonus, these credits will be added to your “Bonus Balance”.

All Winnings using the Bonus Balance will top up your Bonus Balance to the original bonus/es amount (less any movements from the Bonus Balance to the Cash Balance), and the excess winnings will be added to your Cash Balance.

Your Cash Balance may be withdrawn from your gaming account at any time.

Money which has been played through has qualified as cash, therefore can be withdrawn at any time.

Your Bonus Balance may not be withdrawn from your gaming account.

Thats fine, I am assuming you are only withdrawing from the cash balance.

As you meet the play-through / wagering requirement of the promotion bonus you received, your Bonus Balance will decreased in $10 increments and be added to your Cash Balance.

This states that once the $10 increments are added to the cash balance, you can now withdraw it as cash and buy yourself a new donkey jacket.

If you do so however, the bonus balance which has not met the playthrough requirements will be forfeited.

Betway.com Casino Promotions department will be the sole judge in respect of honoring any promotional offer.

This statement is important. Unless they honor the deal, I vote for rogued. The promo terms have been met. Now they cannot withdraw the offer in retrospect.

[Jufo]

Originally Posted by GaryWatson

http://betway.com/casino/news/casino-bonus-terms

Money which has been played through has qualified as cash, therefore can be withdrawn at any time.

Nope they don't allow that. They allow withdrawal only when bonus balance has been played to zero.

This states that once the $10 increments are added to the cash balance, you can now withdraw it as cash and buy yourself a new donkey jacket.

If you do so however, the bonus balance which has not met the playthrough requirements will be forfeited.

Unfortunately they don't allow this at all. From their page:

"You are not allowed to withdraw your initial deposit before you have played through the bonus."

This statement is important. Unless they honor the deal, I vote for rogued. The promo terms have been met. Now they cannot withdraw the offer in retrospect.

It seems to be common practice accross MG casinos nowadays that you have to complete the bonus wagering requirements. However it is rogue to make it impossible to finish bonus wagering requirements like they seem to have done here by tampering the system.

[Mallorca]

Hello,
I have just emailed Betway and let them know about this thread.I also made a deposit and the welcome bonus should be credited to my casino account today.Let`s hope that someone from Betway explains us exactly how their welcome bonus works.

[GaryWatson]

As you meet the play-through / wagering requirement of the promotion bonus you received, your Bonus Balance will decreased in $10 increments and be added to your Cash Balance.

If you make a withdrawal, your Bonus Balance is reset to zero. This means that if you choose to withdraw any portion of your Cash Balance and you still have a Bonus Balance, your remaining Bonus Balance will be forfeit.

It states remaining balance.

Bonus amounts credited to a Player’s Bonus Balance are subject to thirty (30) times play-through / wagering before they may be cashed in.

For any wager made, the wager is deducted from your Cash Balance first. If there is no cash available, then the wager is deducted from the Bonus Balance.

The wagering/playthrough is met using cash first.



I think the email tofu23 received was inaccurate, not the terms itself.

[Mallorca]

I have sent Betway two emails to... support@betway.com and to bonus@betway.com and both emails have been returned...