Ladbrokes February Tomb Raider tournament - Question.

[vinylweatherman]

I have tried to play the February Freeroll feeders to a grand tournament mid month. When I join, as expected, I am asked to choose an alias for the Microgaming multiplayer tournamements, however, I am not allowed to use my existing one, but have to choose a SECOND one just for Ladbrokes.

I have raised this with support, who confirm this to be the case, BUT, I am worried because this appears to be in breach of the centrally applied rules for players and casinos who participate in these tournaments.

IF I folow the advice of Ladbrokes support, I worry that I could find myself in trouble not with them, but other casinos in the tournament network.

My question, is this YET AGAIN, a case of Ladbrokes support talking "complete bollox", or have they somehow cut a special deal with Microgaming to allow this because they do not use Microgaming registration, but their own.

I asked support for further clarification on these points, but this was the best they could manage:-

Thank you for your e-mail.

Thank you also for your comments, which we will certainly consider.

If we can be of any further assistance, please contact us again and we
will be more than happy to help you.

Their original answer being:-

Thank you for your e-mail.

Our slots tournaments do indeed require a separate 'alias'. We are
sorry for any inconvenience to you.


If we can be of any further assistance, please contact us again and we
will be more than happy to help you.

My original question about this:-

Dear Promotions,
I have noticed that this month you are running a special
tournament
on Tomb Raider, but WHY can't I use my regular Microgaming tournament
username at Ladbrokes, I have had no trouble with this at ANY other MG
casino, but your software wants me to create a new one just for
Ladbrokes.

[cheekymonkey]

Typical response from their support team.

All I know is that Laddies are independent of the Prima Poker network, so maybe they are also independent when it comes to slot tournies?

You need to find someone with a brain that's in fully working order who can answer your query in more detail.

I'm pretty sure that the support team at Laddies are also earning below the minimum wage.

Oh and you can also expect this type of response from their VIP team too.

[Nifty29]

I noticed this too - I thought the rule was always that you were only allowed ONE id on the MG multiplayer network??

I see they also stuffed up the scratchie thing again this month - anyone see the problem with this from the promo page??

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[vinylweatherman]

mark of Medusa works, got a broken heart today (in more ways than one).
I have had their support "talking bollox" all through January. They simply CANNOT get even the slightest grip. I have YET AGAIN had to tell them how their OWN CASINO works. They CANNOT communicate effectively with their scratchcard supplier, who seem serially incompetent, yet they assure me that it is safe for them to send my details to them in order to issue the cards. I asked the obvious question, why not do it "in house", and have better communications, and better security of information.

I have NOT submitted an extra alias, as although they are independent at poker, they are NOT independent when it comes to the MG tournaments, as they offer all the central ones as well as this local promo for Tomb Raider. If I create a second alias, what is there to stop me from playing all the freerolls TWICE, and the weekender TWICE, which is probably why this single alias rule is there in the first place.

I have decided to ask a casino like 32Red, where I might speak with someone with more than a couple of braincells, and see if THEY can see a problem with creating a second alias for use at Ladbrokes. Even if it works, it could upset the software the next time I am asked to verify my alias, and could end up with me being blocked everywhere EXCEPT Ladbrokes, and with a huge mess to clear up with MG, who don't offer player support in the first place.

[umissme]

mark of Medusa works, got a broken heart today (in more ways than one).


I have decided to ask a casino like 32Red, where I might speak with someone with more than a couple of braincells, and see if THEY can see a problem with creating a second alias for use at Ladbrokes. Even if it works, it could upset the software the next time I am asked to verify my alias, and could end up with me being blocked everywhere EXCEPT Ladbrokes, and with a huge mess to clear up with MG, who don't offer player support in the first place.

Funny I was playing the tombraider $200free tournament and noticed these names. this was yesterday
---ant-nik3
--ant-nik2
--ant-nik3
--nikantwf
there was a few more names that all looked similar, I emailed support at royal Vegas and this was the reply.
Thank you for your email.

Hi %%%,
I have queried your account and I can confirm the following.

I have tried to locate details for all the aliases you provided with no success. None of the aliases exist on our system.

We trust that this information has been of help, and we wish you luck in your future gaming with us.
Well the same names in todays $200 free tournament so I emailed again and told them I had screenshots

Hi %%%%

Greetings from the Fortune Lounge Casino Group.

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We have requested that Micro Gaming’s Collusion and Fraud Centre look in to this.

Should any discrepancies be found the appropriate action will be taken.

Please note that any action taken is at their discretion.

[umissme]

thunder.jpg
It's the FIRST page of the Alias, so I wasn't looking for names this just hit me.
Not sure is you can see the names but this tournament will start in about an hour
(Thunderstruck Tournament 12007)
---ant-nik3
----nik-antw
---antnik2
---antxri3
--antxri
--nikantw-hot
--nikantwf

[vinylweatherman]

thunder.jpg
It's the FIRST page of the Alias, so I wasn't looking for names this just hit me.
Not sure is you can see the names but this tournament will start in about an hour
(Thunderstruck Tournament 12007)
---ant-nik3
----nik-antw
---antnik2
---antxri3
--antxri
--nikantw-hot
--nikantwf

If this is a fraudster, what a complete t***!

Why not choose an alias like "imafraudster1" 2,3, etc. Clearly this is one hell of a coincidence, as GENUINE players would want to STAND OUT & BE COUNTED for their prowess. Why else would I be "vinylweatherman" here, and pretty peed off that Laddies won't let me be "vinylweatherman" for THEIR tournament
I suspect that the problem I saw at Ladbrokes is being exploited by fraudsters, and this would especially be the case with FREE tournaments. Because these are run centrally by Microgaming, individual casinos would be UNABLE to cross check these on their system.
What FL were checking was if those aliases turned up on the ROYAL VEGAS database, and clearly these were aliases playing from one or more of the other MG casinos.
With so many casinos offering these, it would be possible for a single player to have nearly a dozen goes at the free tournaments. This would be enough to considerably enhance their chances.
IF these fraudsters were not stupid, they simply would never be caught under the present system, as it seems driven by having other players query suspicious aliases with individual casino support centres.

Closely matching aliases can also have an innocent explanation, so this does not PROVE fraud, it just gives cause to investigate.

IF someone else already had "vinylweatherman", I would probably try something similar, such as "-vinylweatherman", or add "--" or "---" to the front, or a trailing number, as low as I could get. So, if someone wanted to have a simple, but common, alias, a load of variants with only incremental numbers to tell them apart would be the result as players all tried to get as close as possible to their preferred choice.

What makes the above look odd is the choice of a name pair, rather than a single name or unique handle, such as a forum identity. This makes it look like a pair of schemers, perhaps an Anthony and a Nick, who are colluding to defraud the tournament system of small, but plentiful, wins from the free tournaments. If they hit a big one, such as the weekender, they could ditch the bad starts, and only rebuy when the had a good run. This would mean they would not get spotted, say, for taking more than one prize in the leaderboard top 17, which by default is displayed.

MG do indeed need to explain this, or it means honest players are getting ripped off unofficially, as well as through the "999 rebuys" sanctioned by MG, 100% of which goes to profit, and 0% towards the eventual prize pot.

[Slotster!]

I'm more suspicious of two dodgy sounding names that keep popping up when I've been playing tournaments recently...

"-----Simmo" and "spearmaster"

Sounds well dodgy to me...

[umissme]

You are RIGHT in EVERY THING you say Vinylweatherman, you would do good in support


THIS JUST GOES TO SHOW YOU CAN CHEAT IN ON LINE AND NO ONE CARES AS LONG AS CASINO AND POKER MAKE $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

[vinylweatherman]

You are RIGHT in EVERY THING you say Vinylweatherman, you would do good in support


THIS JUST GOES TO SHOW YOU CAN CHEAT IN ON LINE AND NO ONE CARES AS LONG AS CASINO AND POKER MAKE $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

I doub't it - I might give correct answers too often, and cause them to lose $$$$$$$$