Slotland Fraudulent "Video Poker" Games

[rowmare]

Frankly, the fact that the "video poker" games at Slotland are actually slot games is not made clear at all at Slotland.

IMO it is misleading. The fact that it is misleading - whether intentional or not - is proven time and again by players mistaking it for a true video poker game.

By the way, spacejack is a slot game, also.

I agree with Chalupa.

[largeeyes]

How long have they had "VP" anyways? THey are on the meisters reputable list, hard to believe given this shady act.

[caruso]

I take back my comment that those "irreconcileable" paragraphs are reconcileable, albeit very sneakily:

http://www.slotland.com/faq.html#gamesdescriptions

They SPECIFICALLY DIFFERENTIATE between CARD GAMES and SLOTS:

"We offer six different slot machines and three stylish card games at the moment..."

"In addition to our slot machines, we offer four great card games: You may try your luck at the Jacks Or Better, the classic video poker game. Our pay table for this game is the highest and most generous in the industry."

This is flagrant misinformation. They SPECIFICALLY state that the CARD games are NOT slots on this "general information" page.

Then, WAY down at the bottom of the page, they post that ridiculous little "disclaimer" about the unnatural nature of the dealing.

I wonder how many players have been duped into dumping thousands chasing the jackpot on an apparent 110% return game?

I've nothing against casinos running slots-only packages to fleece the mugs, but I am TOTALLY opposed to this level of deception being practised on players.

[chalupa]

An update... I received a reply from a customer service supervisor today. Unfortunately no resolution yet.

Basically his entire argument about the artificial jackpot odds is this:

"Finally, we do not hide this fact at all. Every player can find this information easily on our website."

Hmm... do not hide this fact at all? I responded:

That statement is equivalent to me sitting down at a progressive video poker in Vegas, dropping $1500, finding out the game was artificially controlled, and having someone tell me "Well, you should have looked at the note taped to the bottom of the ash tray next to the machine."

Here are the facts:
- You CALL these games video poker
- They look EXACTLY like video poker games
- The pay table makes NO mention of the Jackpot being different odds
- You say "CONFORM TO NEVADA GAMING RULES" right on the playing screen, and those rules REQUIRE correct odds for card-based video games

In fact there is absolutely no reason for a player to suspect that the game is anything other than a normal video poker game!

The ONLY place on your ENTIRE site where you mention that the cards are not random is, as you know, in the "Technical Tips" section, BELOW mundane tips like which browser to use and WebTV compatibility!
----

I have asked to be bumped up the line to someone else in Slotland if necessary to resolve my situation.

I'm hopeful they will realize this is no way to run a successful long-term business, and that the bad publicity they are generating isn't worth the deceptive practices. I'll keep this forum updated.

If not, when Casinomeister returns I'll try to enlist his help. Afer all, I did find and play at this casino because they are on his Reputable Casinos list, and at the moment they are acting very disreputably.

I've attached a screen shot (as much as it would let me upload) from the Jacks Or Better main playing screen. You can click here to visit it yourself, I wanted to capture this in case they change it later (as they should).

[chalupa]

Similar screen shot from Wild Heart, their Double Joker Poker game. This is where I lost most of my money. I was playing it instead of Jacks Or Better despite a poor pay table because of the better jackpot odds per dollar wagered (or so I thought).

You can view it on their web site for yourself here: Wild Heart

[rowmare]

That statement is equivalent to me sitting down at a progressive video poker in Vegas, dropping $1500, finding out the game was artificially controlled, and having someone tell me "Well, you should have looked at the note taped to the bottom of the ash tray next to the machine."

That's exactly right. But it's hard to find the ashtray on site.....

I also assumed it was VP.

[dominique]

Again, this is from the site:

"Please note that all games share the same mechanism which determines the jackpot win. Thus, with card games, the probability of hitting the jackpot combination is not natural but controlled by this shared random mechanism in the same way as slot machines' wins."

[jpm]

I agree with you fully Chalupa, and in fact have been thoroughly enjoying your posts. Excellently written, I particularly liked the ashtray reference.

And I did the same thing as the others, assumed that these were legitimate VP games when I first signed up there. Played and had some decent luck on wild heart, or whatever it was called, but then it all just kinda went downhill. Never went back because of the poor 'luck' I had on their vp and glad I didn't becuase it wasn't until last month that I learned that they are slot machines in the guise of videopoker. They really do have to do something to CLEARLY state that these are video poker SLOT machines and stop misleading players.

I agree that Bryan needs to remove them from his recommended list until they do this.

Dominique, I think you are being a bit too apologetic for them. It is really false advertising for them to state "...we offer four great card games: You may try your luck at the Jacks Or Better, the classic video poker game." That is VERY clearly stating this is a vp game. They should say something along the lines of 'you may try your luck at OUR VERSION of JoB, the classic video poker game THAT WE MADE INTO A SLOT GAME' That would be an honest description of this game.

[chalupa]

Well I have received no further response from my last e-mail to Slotland as of today. I hope I'm being passed up the line and not being put in ignore mode. I also find it interesting that they haven't responded in this thread, as I e-mailed them a link to it. I wish Casinomeister would hurry up and get back in town.

dominique, if you give that much weight to a disclaimer buried in the "Technical Tips" section of their web site, why not give the same weight to the information on the MAIN PLAYING SCREEN that directly contradicts that? Are you saying it's ok for a casino to do anything they want -- as long as they hide some little disclaimer somewhere on their site?

A player has a right to expect certain conventions to be respected, and a huge convention is that card games are dealt according to the odds of actual cards. I have NEVER seen a card game that operated otherwise in ANY casino other than Slotland.

It is OK for a casino to create a video poker game that has a poor payout table, and state that. It is not OK to create a video poker game that has a good payout table but doesn't pay it at the correct frequency.

That's like advertising a single-deck blackjack game with full payouts, but taking a couple aces out of the deck. And then burying a note to that effect somewhere.

It is just not right.

[dominique]

They should say something along the lines of 'you may try your luck at OUR VERSION of JoB, the classic video poker game THAT WE MADE INTO A SLOT GAME' That would be an honest description of this game

Agreed. I assume they will read this and hope they adjust their description in that direction... It needs to be made more clear.