Exchange rate rip off littlewoods casino

**pmclough77** · 15th August 2009, 05:47 PM

Hi, I have got a very suspect transaction rate when playing with littlewoods casino.

I deposited 2000 sterling on the 18th of July which gave me �2384.37, an exchange rate of .839 I think (they won't give the information).

I cashed out 2124 sterling on the 27th of July which gave me �2,373.65 an exchange rate of .895 I think (they won't give the information).

Now after checked the ECB rate for both days the exchange rate was around .86, it was this on all the other exchange rate sites I checked as well.

So basically I have dropped around 6 percent of my money, I won 124 sterling and cashed out at a loss!. I was on to there support team and he could only confirm the cash out rate which he said was 89, but could not give me the deposit rate.

So I then mailed the transaction dept and they said they did not have either rate as another banking partner deals with them, so a normal support employee can give me the cash out rate and the transaction dept can't?, obvious LIE!!!!.

Anyway I would ask anybody that uses this casino or CASSAVA to check what they are been charged, the transaction came up as CASSAVA/INTERSAFE INTERNET on my credit card statement.

Regards,
Paul

**sjn** · 15th August 2009, 05:52 PM

Perhaps your credit card company did the rate conversion and they normally do sting you plus take a percentage.

**miranda_x** · 15th August 2009, 08:32 PM

moneybookers is even worse, they are the biggest thieves when it comes to exchange rate

**me_and_ed** · 15th August 2009, 08:43 PM

C2P is even worse than all, I dep in CDN, goes to US, withdrawl in Cdn, converts to US and then back to CDN, I figure I have been losing at least 10% of my w/d, needless to say I trashed their debit card and refuse to use them.

**pmclough77** · 16th August 2009, 12:30 AM

Well i'm presuming they added the extra charge as the support guy told me .89 which is correct by my calculations, I checked another casino DTD casino and they use Ecash transactions, they where the same, 6 percent cut, so basically there is no point in playing in any of these casinos if there is a currency change, you will be at a loss of 6 percent without even having a bet, rip off central!.

**thelawnet** · 22nd August 2009, 01:08 AM

Originally Posted by pmclough77

Hi, I have got a very suspect transaction rate when playing with littlewoods casino.

I deposited 2000 sterling on the 18th of July which gave me �2384.37, an exchange rate of .839 I think (they won't give the information).

I cashed out 2124 sterling on the 27th of July which gave me �2,373.65 an exchange rate of .895 I think (they won't give the information).

Now after checked the ECB rate for both days the exchange rate was around .86, it was this on all the other exchange rate sites I checked as well.

So basically I have dropped around 6 percent of my money, I won 124 sterling and cashed out at a loss!. I was on to there support team and he could only confirm the cash out rate which he said was 89, but could not give me the deposit rate.

So I then mailed the transaction dept and they said they did not have either rate as another banking partner deals with them, so a normal support employee can give me the cash out rate and the transaction dept can't?, obvious LIE!!!!.

Anyway I would ask anybody that uses this casino or CASSAVA to check what they are been charged, the transaction came up as CASSAVA/INTERSAFE INTERNET on my credit card statement.

Regards,
Paul

Most casinos will charge you in the currency you're playing in.

In this case if you deposit say �1000 on a euro credit card, the credit card company will add on a charge of about 3%, and the same again cashing out.

So you would expect to lose about 6% on a typical credit card on a round trip.

Which rather tallies with what you say. I doubt the casino are to blame, they should simply take/send the euros from your credit card, and the bank will do the rest. It would be a little unethical for a casino to charge euros as pounds using a less than optimal exchange rate, but I doubt they have - it's been done by your bank.

If you want to avoid these fees, make sure your deposit/withdrawal method matches the casino currency.

**thelawnet** · 24th August 2009, 04:02 AM

Well I just signed up at Luckyace Casino, and I can confirm that 888/Cassava Enterprises do seem to be operating this particular scam.

I deposited $200 from my neteller account, which is denominated in dollars, but without asking they have debited my account in POUNDS, even though Luckyace Casino operates in US$.

The result is my $200 deposit has cost me $205.25

BEWARE!

**vinylweatherman** · 28th August 2009, 10:22 PM

Originally Posted by thelawnet

Well I just signed up at Luckyace Casino, and I can confirm that 888/Cassava Enterprises do seem to be operating this particular scam.

I deposited $200 from my neteller account, which is denominated in dollars, but without asking they have debited my account in POUNDS, even though Luckyace Casino operates in US$.

The result is my $200 deposit has cost me $205.25

BEWARE!

I suggest you PAB, at least for the benefit of others. If you have good evidence, and I am sure your Neteller EMAIL RECEIPT will show whether a conversion "scam" has been done or not.

When I deposit in the dollar, I simply see the end result when I look at my online Neteller statement (which is in pounds), however, the email receipt details what currency the MERCHANT requested, so the proof of this "scam" would be the following.

1) What we all know - these casinos ONLY operate in dollars (is this entirely true though - I know so for the old 888.com, but MY Littlewoods (Crypto) account was in UK pounds, and I am sure my NEW (Cassava) version was also in UK Pounds).

2) The Neteller receipt - this will show that a request was made in pounds, and not dollars.

This same conversion scam is operated by Click2Pay, and is the reason I told them to effectively close my account. This type of scam skims an extra percent or two off the top each time a transfer is effected. Where currency exchange is unavoidable, we have to accept that there will be this small loss, but it is NOT acceptable for casinos and processors to "churn" transactions through a number of unnecessary currency exchanges - this is a scam. some casinos at least already admit that they "overcharge" on conversions "to protect us from fluctuations in the currency markets", so there IS scope for unethical PROFIT to be made by making more currency exchanges than required.

It may also be illegal under the terms of their gaming license to "manipulate the currency markets" in their favour when effecting transactions with their customers. This can be the subject of a complaint to not only their gaming regulator (which I believe is Gibraltar), but the FSA (and/or the equivalent in Gibraltar) because of the alleged misuse of the currency markets to generate extra profit through making unnecessary conversions at the customer's expense.

The other way to deal with this issue is to make sure other players are warned about it through publicity (done this through this thread), and to close your account, and tell them it is because you are not prepared to have 2-3% of every deposit skimmed off before you even get to place a bet.

Cryptologic do NOT operate this scam, for credit card deposits they even allow you to select the currency you want your card debited with, and if this is not the currency of your casino account, the exchange rate that will be used is shown to you before you agree to the deposit.

**GrandMaster** · 1st September 2009, 08:37 PM

Originally Posted by vinylweatherman

Cryptologic do NOT operate this scam, for credit card deposits they even allow you to select the currency you want your card debited with, and if this is not the currency of your casino account, the exchange rate that will be used is shown to you before you agree to the deposit.

True, but the exchange rate offered by Crypto is so bad (4%-5% worse than the interbank rate if I remember correctly) that you are better of letting you bank do the conversion, which will typically only cost you 2.75% in the UK, but can be much lower if you have the right card.

**vinylweatherman** · 2nd September 2009, 12:41 AM

Originally Posted by GrandMaster

True, but the exchange rate offered by Crypto is so bad (4%-5% worse than the interbank rate if I remember correctly) that you are better of letting you bank do the conversion, which will typically only cost you 2.75% in the UK, but can be much lower if you have the right card.

I have only deposited (and withdrawn) by CREDIT card. The sting would be just as bad, if not worse, by letting THEM do the conversion.

Perhaps as an experiment, I could deposit, say, $50 twice, once letting Crypto convert, and then the bank, and see which one charges the most.
I would have to do both on the same day to get a fair comparison, and it would be easy on my card statement to identify which is which, since the Crypto converted one will be a simple debit, and the bank converted one will show as a currency exchange and debit.

Sadly, I have been less enthusiastic about Intercasino since promotional terms took a turn for the worse. The change did not even seem necessary, since Crypto slots ALWAYS seem so tight that even the old 18x was a worse deal than MGS's 30x for slots bonuses. Currently, CRypto is 25x, but even worse, there is a bug that somehow "forgets" the 75% "reward" element of the bonus if you make another deposit, and it is usually IMPOSSIBLE to meet 25x on money you don't even HAVE at the time.