Rival Casinos Pull Out of Canada

[Jasminebed]

I contacted Slotocash by livechat last night...

Budd: Welcome to Sloto'Cash Casino Live Chat. How may I help you?
you: Hi. jxxxx, jxxx@xxxxx.ca
you: Hi. Is slotocash pulling out of the canadian market?
you: I've read that Rival is
Budd: Not to my knowledge, no.
you: Well, I greatly enjoy playing here at slotocash, so I hope not
you: but I have received an email from another Rival, and it is all over the forums
you: not slotocash specifically tho
you: so I hope you keep us
Budd: Well slotocash has it's own management and it's own way of doing business.
you: Thank you Budd, always good to talk with you
Budd: You are very welcome
you: Have a good night
Budd: Thank you for using Sloto'Cash Casino Live Support. Should you have any future questions, please contact us again.

This morning I received the following email

Due to a recent decision made by our software provider "Rival Powered Gaming", it has become necessary for us to close the casino accounts of all Canadian residents. If you have a balance on your account we kindly request that you login and withdraw the funds within the next 5 days. The account will then be closed permanently.

We apologies for any inconvenience caused.

FIVE DAYS This is an appalling lack of notice.

[Mousey]

I hope players will still be able to get their money out after the five days (!?!) by contacting casinos support.

Pity the poor players on vacation or traveling or otherwise away from their email & computer for a few days. Sheesh.

What a mess.

[AussieDave]

Does anyone have a complete list of who the casinos are that will be pulling out of Canada? This is an outrage and insult to our friends north of the U.S imo.............laurie

Beginning February 1st, 2009, Canadian players will not be allowed to
register new accounts with any Rival powered casino. Existing Canadian
players will not be permitted to deposit in the casino from this point on, and will be ineligible for any bonuses.

Cheers
T

[AussieDave]

I hope players will still be able to get their money out after the five days (!?!) by contacting casinos support.

February 28, 2009 at midnight EST will see all existing Canadian player accounts suspended indefinitely. Players have been urged to use the month of February to complete any wagering on active promotions and withdraw funds from their accounts. Any funds left in their account after February 28th, 2009 will not be cashable and the player will not be allowed to login to their account.

The above was extracted from the mailer I received as an Affiliate yesterday.

However with the update posted by Jasminebed it looks like Rival don't give a flying ducks #ss about their Canadian players. With only 4 to 5 days grace to pull players money from accounts before being locked/closed is appalling.

Not mention the fact that they will NOT or have any intention of sending players their money. If players do not clear their accounts, RIVAL CASINOS intend to keep (cough steal) this money from Canadian players.

This is one of if not the worst deplorable act I've seen from a group of casinos.

For anyone that does play at a Rival casino, it's pretty obvious that RIVAL ultimately pulls the strings. If they are happy to do this to Canadian players, what would they do to others in the position...Some genuine food for thought!

Cheers
T

[Mousey]

With all the weirdities lately (MG suddenly not accepting new US players, emails to affiliates indicating that most, if not all MGs, were pulling out of the US entirely -- eventually, etc. And now this Rival mess with them dumping Canadians like a hot potato -- players be damned) ... I'm beginning to wonder if there is some prerequisite that online casino owners must be certifiably loco ....

(To Spear --- this is only my opinion and not a statement of fact. )

[classymom]

This is a big mess - I have always been a big fan of Rival but this mass pull out with not much notice is very disturbing.

[KasinoKing]

There seems to be some 'Chinese whispers' going on here and some e-mails from some of the Rival casinos seem to be incorrect.

To answer some questions raised above, to the best of my knowledge:-

1) This effects ALL Rival casinos, including:-
Absolute Slots
Club Vegas
Cocoa Casino
DaVinci's Gold
Gold Rock
Irish Luck
Loin Slots
Mayan Fortune
Pantasia
Paradise8
Simon Says
Sloto'Cash
Slots of Fortune
Superior
This is Vegas
Vegas Regal
Vegas Sky

2) This is nothing to do with bonus abuse or anything like that. It's political. I was told by a very reliable source last night that the USA is totally safe and will not be following suit.

3) Players will not be able to deposit from Feb-1st onwards.

4) Players will be able to continue playing normally for the whole of February, giving them plenty of time to finish any outstanding WR's and withdraw all their funds.
(Some casinos are saying it's until the end of March - I don't know yet who is right & who is wrong - but I would expect ALL Rivals to have the same cut-off).

5) What a total bummer!

KK

[Kendra-SSC]

Hi Everyone,

I can assure you that all players will be able to withdraw their funds even past the deadline, they will just not be able to login to the casino accounts to do so, they will need to contact support who will then do it for them. At Simon Says we will be emailing all Canadian players that still have a balance to let them know that they should withdraw it and I expect the other Casinos will do the same.

Also, there are ZERO plans to leave the US market.

I understand that our Canadian players are very frustrated by this and rightfully so. However, this decision was up to Rival and not the individual casinos.

Kendra

[chuchu59]

Rival has been in the market for some time and I didnt think for a moment that they will not honour their commitments by confiscating legitimate funds/balances. This is not the bone of contention.


The Canadian Government has not announced that it plans to illegalise online gambling so Canadians are owed an explanation as to why they ousted whereas their counterparts in illegal jurisdictions arent. The casinos have to deal with their players so they should press Rival to justify, with appropriate reasons, for their decision. I am sure that many Canucks have been loyal followers of this software during the past 18 months or so and excluding them without telling them why is just a slap in the face. I understand that it would probably be difficult but it has to be done nevertheless. If this relates to a court case, say it although if this were so the decision should have been made after the outcome of the case.

Maybe all Rival casinos should press Rival to make an announcement on the decision with their valid reasons for doing so. The industry is still reeling from MGs decision last year but at least they had a reason for doing so. We need transparency.

[soflat]

Just mail all the players a check or money order if they don't withdraw by the deadline. Why wait until they email you?