win-as-u-go mobile casino... thoughts...

[funky_seagull]

I recieved an sms message from a mobile games portal I am a member of called gamemobile advertising a new mobile/wireless casino called : winasugo.

I downloaded the product and haven't registered yet, just played for fun. It is the first mobile casino I have come across where you can play all games from one lobby, like online, it is refreshing to do this. I find with mobile casinos, the process of having to log out of one game to load up a different one, is tedious.

It has a generous sign up bonus of 200% with a 20 times bonus playthrough, and it seems play on all games are allowed in wagering requirements as there is nothing in terms saying anything about any games being excluded. The English on the website is good, and the main office is registered in London. I was about to register and maybe make a deposit when I thought I would double-check terms and conditions in case I missed anything, and came across this:

from legalities and rules of play 1 :
https://www.winasugo.com/jsp/terms.jsp.

The casinos are licensed under the terms of the Costa Rica Gaming Commission.

The mention of Costa Rica Gaming Commission sent alarm bells ringing, and although I think it looks like a well put together casino. I am wary of where the casino is licensed.

If it is a trustworthy casino with a head office in London trying to appeal to the UK market, why the Hell is it licensed in Costa Rica? It may be the cheapest place to host your game servers, but if you are wanting to appear a safe place to play, wouldn't it be better to license your gaming servers with someone who doesn't have a reputation among the gamers as the capital of rogues...?

Are all casinos licensed in Costa Rica dodgy?

To deposit or not to deposit? That is the question?

_

[funky_seagull]

Ah well, guess nobody wants to talk to me then. Fair enough. maybe I am invisible or just too boring. In the resounding silence of the forum, will have to come to my own conclusions...

thanks for the help.

)-:

[GaryWatson]

The casinos are licensed under the terms of the Costa Rica Gaming Commission.

To deposit or not to deposit? That is the question?

I think you answered it yourself. Go with your instinct

[kmay87]

The site looks pretty good. Well set up and a good variety of information/games etc. The only part that puts me off is this Those pictures are far too professional, or just warped, to be real But they have a London phone number, an office over here too, so presumably they are a recently established company.

I see they offer a generous £2 sign up bonus, so at the least you could sign up and collect this to see how everything runs. I can't see it being long before enough people find out about the 200% bonus with a decent WR, so don't expect that to last long.

Nothing concerning in their terms, apart from the standard terms such as accounts considered dormant after six months (although they notify you and give 30 days before confiscating any funds) and 30 days to complete bonus turnover.

Perhaps if you play you can report back on what the casino is like.

[uungy]

I have played with them. Their games are a little slow, but I dont think you will have any problems in regards to payments.

the first payment is slow, then it takes about a couple of days or so to hit our card

[jetset]

I have some doubts here, mainly because these guys seem to flit in and out of mobile fora on one or two post spamming runs, mainly by a marketing/affiliate employee called Gal Yefet, who claims to be a graduate of the University of Amsterdam.

The following makes me a little suspicious:

1. Despite what seems to be European targeting they do not appear to have a "white listing" jurisdictional licence.
2. They do not appear to present the monthly payout averages of their casino machines
3. Spamming is rarely a good indicator of professionalism
4. The software appears to be proprietary and although they sport a TST button, it does not go to the RNG certification, only to the website where I could not find a certification for winasugo.
5. There do not appear to be any external auditors
6. There does not appear to be trademark protection, but the company uses the "TM" annotation.
7. The claim "fully licensed and regulated company" means little if you're operating out of Costa Rica.

This is the who is:

Registrant:
Vanway Services LTD.
Suite F5, West Wing
Prospect Business Park
Durham, Consett DH8 7PW
United Kingdom

Registered through: GoDaddy.com, Inc. (http://www.godaddy.com)
Domain Name: GO-A17.COM
Created on: 28-Aug-06
Expires on: 28-Aug-10
Last Updated on: 20-Feb-08

Administrative Contact:
Symeou, Simon supportwinasugo.com
Vanway Services LTD.
Suite F5, West Wing
Prospect Business Park
Durham, Consett DH8 7PW
United Kingdom
2081149227 Fax --

Technical Contact:
Symeou, Simon supportwinasugo.com
Vanway Services LTD.
Suite F5, West Wing
Prospect Business Park
Durham, Consett DH8 7PW
United Kingdom
2081149227 Fax --

Domain servers in listed order:
NS1.ABARZEL.COM
NS2.ABARZEL.COM

Vanway Services Limited (the owner) also has a London address: Office: 1 Conduit St., London W1S 2XA, United Kingdom. Tel. +(44)2070975191. Vanway Services in Durham claims 11-50 employees and identifies its core activity as "wireless industry." Looks as if they've been around since May 2006. Winasugo has .com and co.uk addresses. Banking is through Bank of Scotland in Edinburgh.

They're on the CNet Download site with around 20 000 downloads completed on their Mobile Casino - Premium Pack 1.4.0 which includes Slots, Roulette, HiLo, Poker, BlackJack, Baccarat.

[uungy]

I did quite a bit of research before making my initial deposi here.

As you say the addresses seem a bit vague, but from what I understand, or feel, they try showing they are inth UK, which is where they seem registered, but I have a feeling they are in reality based abroad, hnce their confusing addresses. Incorrect addresses often seem the case when companies try being in one place and licensed elsewhere, and support neing in a third address.

Try getting info for wiiliamhillcasino.com, then willhill.com and a couple other addresses, they seem to have different registered addresses, which sounds peculiar to me.

Their software seems to have been designed and implemented themselves, and I am not sure what testing has been done, however it seems pretty fair, a little buggy, but they were happy to hear my concerns. (bugs such as incorrect play hasnt happened, but once a win wasnt credited, but was a while back)

Other then I have never had a problem getting my money, I obviously cant say if their servers are securly closed so that they cant change gameplay, but they do seem straight forward, but as yet unrecognised on a large scale

[GrandMaster]

Here is the company registration info from Companies House, which looks OK.

Name & Registered Office:
VANWAY SERVICES LTD
1 CONDUIT STREET
LONDON
W1S 2XA
Company No. 05380792


Status: Active
Date of Incorporation: 02/03/2005

Country of Origin: United Kingdom
Company Type: Private Limited Company
Nature of Business (SIC(03)):
7487 - Other business activities
Accounting Reference Date: 30/06
Last Accounts Made Up To: 30/06/2007 (DORMANT)
Next Accounts Due: 30/04/2009
Last Return Made Up To: 02/03/2008
Next Return Due: 30/03/2009
Last Members List: 02/03/2008


What really bothers me is their claim to be licensed by the Costa Rica Gaming Commission. I was not aware that such an entity existed or that it licensed online casinos. If this were true, it would have been major news, and I would have expected to hear about it. Not surprisingly, there is no link to this mysterious Costa Rica Gaming Commission on the winasugo website.

[funky_seagull]

The site looks pretty good. Well set up and a good variety of information/games etc. The only part that puts me off is this Those pictures are far too professional, or just warped, to be real But they have a London phone number

Yeah I wondered about those pictures too. It could be one of two things:

The testimonials could be past winners. Most casinos expect people who win considerable amounts of money to be available for press releases etc. And they maybe photographed them then.

The other thing, it may have been the people who work in the London office, having their photos taken and producing made up testimonials to go with them.

I hope it is the first possibility...

Perhaps if you play you can report back on what the casino is like.

I decided to give it a shot. Made a small deposit this evening, and took up their bonus offer. So will report back on my experiences. If I don't get paid my winnings then it is my own stupid fault for taking the risk. If I don't get paid, at least everyone will know the score... and it may save other people losing money...

I want to thank everyone who replied. I really appreciate it. It was really helpful. I am not very good at researching, due to having a memory like a sieve. and two/several minds are better than one.

Thanks for all that information Jetset it was really useful, I wouldn't have known where to look to find all that out...

So far the games have played fair, and I've not felt any uneasiness that the results aren't random. I did lose connection during one bet, but when I reconnected, the game carried on from where it left off and I didn't lose my money.

It doesn't seem to have many deposit options, no Neteller, but there are a few other mobile casinos I am a member of, who don't either, so I don't fault this. It is probably due to the mobile format. With Microgaming mobile for example, they have no withdrawal options and the only way to make a withdrawal is via P.C.

The only 2 withdrawal options on win-as-u-go are to a visa card or a postal order/cheque... but at least you can withdraw through your mobile.

To go off topic a little, the best mobile software I have played so far has been playtech. It is well put together. The graphics and sound are impressive and they offer lots of deposit and withdrawal methods, you can even claim comp points.

The only downside to most mobile casinos is that there aren't many games to choose from, and each game has to be loaded individually, which gets tedious. When you want to play something different you have to exit application. Reconnect to internet, login again with username and password and then wait for game to load.

Which is the main reason I wanted to play on the win-as-u-go. To load all the games in one lobby, so you just click and play the games instantly without having to load each one individually, is really refreshing.

On the downside, it bugs me that a few of the games don't appear to have a paytable. But if you go online you can find the paytables for the games there.

It also bugs me there is no way to check on playthrough for bonus, so have to calculate myself with pen and paper. Will have to phone them up before I make a withdrawal to check, but most mobile casinos don't have a way to check on playthrough, so perhaps this is difficult to do on mobile format.

All in all, the rng results feel fair and just the same as any of the big name software providers.

The big test will if I'm lucky enough to make a withdrawal, getting paid.

Will get back to you on that one...

.