Spam or not?

[wangpoker]

I got this email minutes ago.

ONE HOUR FREE PLAY, Play for Free, Win for Real.
From: Free Hour (palace17@neptocts.com)
Sent:October 14, 2007 11:52:09 PM
To: ###@hotmail.com

Hi ******,

Grab your complimentary free hour of casino play today with £1000 at SPIN PALACE.

Don't risk your personal funds! Play any game for free for your first hour and whatever you win is yours to keep!

1 HOUR FREE PLAY, Play for Free, Win for Real.

It's easy as 1,2,3
STEP 1: Download the free software.
STEP 2: Register a Real account.
STEP 3: Click on the "START YOUR FREE PLAY" button.


What if you don't win? No problem, because all you have lost is our money. You have exactly 1 hour to make as much cash you can at the casino.

Play Now

Cheers
Promotions




PS. If you want to be removed from future mailings, or if this mail was not intended for you, Please click here to unsubscribe

[babs7262]

What most of these casinos that offer one hour of free play with the promise that you keep what's left is this:

In this case the casino is offering $1,000
You play for one hour
whatever is left above the $1000 is promised to you

For example: you play for one hour and end up at $1050, you have to subtract the original $1000 and you get the $50 BUT.....they usually make you deposit around $30 or so in order to get the $50. Some have Wagering Requirements and some don't

I dont do them but if you want an hour to kill and play without the expectation of getting anything back, you can do that. Sometimes when I dont have money to gamble with, Ill do it just for fun and make bets that I normally would never make

ALSO: Make sure the casino is not on the rogue list and make sure you READ the T&C before depositing any mloney

[vinylweatherman]

It's spam, even though for a decent casino for a change.

It seems these spammers have taken to spamming the good casinos as well as the rogue ones.
The offer does not tell the whole story, as there is a maximum win that can be transferred, usually no more than $200.

[KasinoKing]

The e-mail is definitely spam as VWM says.

I am extremely disappointed that the otherwise reputable Palace Group allow their casinos to be marketed in this undesirable way

I have written to them once or twice, but no response of course.

PS: The max transfer here is 100 credits for a 50 deposit = a 200% bonus if you maximize it!

[wangpoker]

Full email header

X-Message-Delivery: Vj0zLjQuMDt1cz0wO2k9MDtsPTA7YT0w
X-Message-Status: n:0
X-SID-PRA: Free Hour <palace17@neptocts.com>
X-Message-Info: R00BdL5giqoNfnPqN4aSmE2ovH6NfOoZ/5PUbMAPTkdk0xLMbiOIu6/Yr6vPwDiQzKlednO9LKHogtGnMovdYQ==
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Sun, 14 Oct 2007 20:52:08 -0700
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Message-ID: <1377187.1192420322687.JavaMail.Administrator@gp m>
From: Free Hour <palace17@neptocts.com>
To: *******@hotmail.com
Subject: ONE HOUR FREE PLAY, Play for Free, Win for Real.
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/html
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Return-Path: palace17@neptocts.com
X-OriginalArrivalTime: 15 Oct 2007 03:52:08.0800 (UTC) FILETIME=[C2747600:01C80EDE]
Date: 14 Oct 2007 20:52:08 -0700

[chayton]

It's not the Palace Group sending out the mails, it's usually their affiliates. I was getting spammed from hotmail addresses, and even got a few with faked addresses. I finally got sick of it and started reporting the spams to Wagershare, which is PG's affialite program, and I haven't gotten any since.
Just forward the email (with full headers) to spamreport@wagershare.com

http://www.wagershare.com

[wangpoker]

It's from Godaddy server.
I reported the spam info to godaddy.

[Matthew23]

I also got one, mine said that they are giving me $1000 free. No steps on how to claim, no link to T&C's and does not mention this is a sign-up bonus (Which I have already claimed)

I fired off an email to the Palace Group warning them but they didn't bother their ass to reply!! It really pisses me off when they don't reply

[vinylweatherman]

Originally Posted by Matthew23

I also got one, mine said that they are giving me $1000 free. No steps on how to claim, no link to T&C's and does not mention this is a sign-up bonus (Which I have already claimed)

I fired off an email to the Palace Group warning them but they didn't bother their ass to reply!! It really pisses me off when they don't reply

I contacted the rep about this, but it seems they have lost interest as my most recent report (direct to CS) was brushed of with the usual "wasn't anything to do with us".
While true, they CAN and SHOULD do something, make it clear that ANY affiliate caught getting involved will have their affiliate accounts locked (and follow through too!) - just as happens to PLAYERS when they try to "cheat" their way to extra bonus winnings by bending the rules.

What is happening in the absence of this is that disgruntled recipients of this spam are reporting directly to the anti-spam watchdogs, who have a VERY dim view of ALL online casino mailers. This has resulted in everything that looks like it has something to do with online casinos automatically being labelled as spam. The spammers don't care, they just switch servers, for casinos it is a different matter, their customers don't receive their E-mails, and often they have no idea why as they received them fine in the past.

MY ISP has forced a spam filter on it's customers, and the only real control we have is to turn it off. Over the past couple of years I have found that nearly ALL my mailers from online casinos where I am a customer get blocked, but some of the spam still makes it through because they keep evolving their methods. I am also finding it harder to get E-mails out to casinos. I can not tell if they are ignoring them (usually the case), or whether they are so damn stupid that they use a standard spam trap that sees ANY mention of casino related terms as being spam.
These affiliates only take the effort to send this spam due to the very small number who actually click through & open an account. If this supply of revenue was cut off, the spammers would have no financial incentive to mass spam.
In cases like the "free $1000" above, the casino suffers because the spam is misleading (no proper T & C), and any player who is tempted is going to believe the offer came from the casino, and will complain to the casino, or even eCogra. eCogra will be annoyed at the number of complaints and will want to know what the casino has been doing to address the problem, and I doubt they will be impressed if told "nothing, it's not us".

[Palace Group]

Hi all,

I am not sure why you say you are not getting responses to your emails?
That is a bit concerning.

I've take the header (thanks) and sent it to our affiliate manager.

I assure you we do not promote or endorse this kind or spam.
I am always available on this site and will help out anyone who has issues.

These emails cause problems for us as a group for numberous reasons.
1) People don't like the smap
2) Our agents get angry players who haven't seen terms and conditions etc.

I hope you guys all know us better than this

I'll find out who this and and get it sorted.

Kind regards,

Darran