Sega Casino - jury's out

[MrWolf]

Since Sega Casino's on the baptism by fire list, and is linked to a big name company I thought I'd give them a go. Here's a summary of my experience with them, not sure whether I'll be a regular here or not, but hopefully this may help others when deciding to play there or not.

Anyway, I deposited £300 with them on 12.8.10 via moneybookers because they annoyingly don't accept credit cards at the moment. I declined a bonus since I play JorB VP and don't want to throw my money away playing slots just to make promo requirements.

Anyway, my bankroll headed firmly south, until I was down to my last £25. Managed to survive, get it back up to £400 before hitting a £20k Royal.

Now here's where the fun started. I sent verification documents of my passport and a utility bill. However, because I had blocked out my passport number (everything else was visible) this wasn't acceptable. I explained to them I wasn't sending them a complete copy of my passport and it was irresponsible of them to ask for this since ID theft is such a big problem.

Anyway, they contacted me and said a wage slip from my employer would be acceptable together with some utility bills. Unbelievable. So they want details of my total income, monthly take home pay, National Insurance number, and company employee number. I told them where to get off.

I did though agree to send a copy of my UK driver's licence, a copy of my credit card statement, as well as their know your customer form. And they do indeed want to know about you. There's the usual name, date of birth, nationality, address, phone and email. But they also want to know your "status" whatever that means (marital status?) whether you are self-employed, job title, nature of work, company you work for, gross monthly income, and "source of funds?income".

Is it me but are they demanding too much information? I pointed out to them if I supplied everything they wanted what guarantees do I have that someone in their organisation wouldn't steal my identity?

Anyway, eventually the documentation I provided was deemed acceptable. Then the fun part was actually getting the funds. Since I eventually cashed in £22k I asked if I could have a bank transfer made. Not available at this time. Neither was a cheque. So I had to make a moneybookers withdrawal. However, you can only make £6k at a time withdrawals (moneybookers withdrawal limits are a whole different matter!).

By the beginning of last week, I tried calling Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, but no-one was answering their support number. So I emailed to find out what was happening with my withdrawal. I'd received six emails, corresponding with the six withdrawals I'd made, saying I would receive the funds within 24-48 hours. That wasn't quite the case, but I did receive all the money at various stages between Tuesday and Friday last week.

Another curious thing before I finish on the topic. After hitting the Royal (£5 coins, max coins), I hit a 4 oak and eventually cashed in another £1k on top of the Royal. Later when I went back to play some more VP, I noticed that they had reduced the limits and 50p was their biggest coin size. Happily I decided to play some Let It Ride, where I again hit a 4 oak, three hands of £5 plus the bonus bet, meaning a £850 pay day, and also hit three of a kind on three card poker, adding another £150 to the bank roll, so cashing in another £1k. It felt ironic that limiting my bet size on my preferred game led me to play a couple of others, and nab a sizeable win.

I find it curious that Sega reduced the limits on VP after I hit a Royal, since I assume they'd be a well funded set up. It kind of rings alarm bells with me if they can't take that kind of hit.

Anyway, I've gone on long enough. Hope it's been useful to somebody else.

[winbig]

Another curious thing before I finish on the topic. After hitting the Royal (£5 coins, max coins), I hit a 4 oak and eventually cashed in another £1k on top of the Royal. Later when I went back to play some more VP, I noticed that they had reduced the limits and 50p was their biggest coin size.

And this was without a bonus, correct?

If so, imo, this is an instant baptism by fire FAIL, and they should be removed from accreditation consideration if they continue this practice. In my eyes, this only points to funding problems, because it just shows that they don't want to/can't afford to pay out many large hits such as your £20K ($31,062) royal.

And new or not, no casino should open its doors without having every deposit/withdrawal option setup and active. I mean, wth, are they that eager to take wagers that they'll open up half cocked?

I'm not saying they are, but If I had known nothing about this place before reading your post, I'd assume that you were dealing with a rogue casino....that's, of course, aside from the fact that you did get paid...

[Simmo!]

And this was without a bonus, correct?

If so, imo, this is an instant baptism by fire FAIL, and they should be removed from accreditation consideration if they continue this practice. In my eyes, this only points to funding problems

Needs to be verified but I just reinstalled Windows and don't have SEGA on there yet so I can't. If accredited status was removed for that we'd need to know more details and of course it would also mean every Rival and RTG bar iNetBet and Intertops would have to go too.

Anyway, I deposited £300 with them on 12.8.10 via moneybookers because they annoyingly don't accept credit cards at the moment.

They did actually implement direct card deposits recently but removed it - I don't think the authorisation codes were working quite as they should because I tried a deposit and it was "declined". So it could be an option again soon.

And new or not, no casino should open its doors without having every deposit/withdrawal option setup and active.

There must be about 100 different deposit/withdrawal options - I don't know any casino that has all of them WinBig. Bit strict aren't you LOL

[winbig]

Needs to be verified but I just reinstalled Windows and don't have SEGA on there yet so I can't. If accredited status was removed for that we'd need to know more details and of course it would also mean every Rival and RTG bar iNetBet and Intertops would have to go too.

So it's ok for a casino to drop a player's betting limits after a huge win? Fine, but they sure won't be keeping many players, aside from those that play for small stakes, with that policy... You would think that casinos would be jumping at the chance for a player to keep playing at their previous stake after a huge win like that, so they can give most of it back. Or are they just afraid of someone going on another great run and winning $100K more? Again, this reeks of funding problems...

They did actually implement direct card deposits recently but removed it - I don't think the authorisation codes were working quite as they should because I tried a deposit and it was "declined". So it could be an option again soon.



There must be about 100 different deposit/withdrawal options - I don't know any casino that has all of them WinBig. Bit strict aren't you LOL

Well, what I meant was that if they're going to be accepting credit cards, Neteller, etc. on a normal basis, they should have at least waited until those methods were available and working before they opened for business....I didn't know about them having to take CC deposits offline because of a 'glitch.'

But as far as w/d options go, the same still applies. Why don't they have any other w/d options available besides MB? Is that their sole source of funding right now? You would think they'd have at least one processor/bank account that would allow them to at least send a check, if not a wire transfer.

If you combine all that with their unrealistic documentation requests, well, it smells fishy, at least to me.

[4 of a kind]

Nothing unusual here when you should (at this point) consider this casino is just an RIT. (Rogue in Training)

They obviously paid you especially that amount in a reasonable time. They tried the minimum rogue delay and game tactics, but realized they couldn't afford bad publicity this early on and paid you in a fair time hoping you would be posting around giving them some free spam.

Red Flags should be flying here...

[winbig]

They obviously paid you especially that amount in a reasonable time. They tried the minimum rogue delay and game tactics, but realized they couldn't afford bad publicity this early on and paid you in a fair time hoping you would be posting around giving them some free spam.

..which backfired, if that's the case.

[love2winalot]

Hiya: First off. Mr. Wolf, and the rest of you, when will you all learn, "Send in your required Documents, PRIOR to depositing/playing. You have to do it anyway, so do it at the start. Don't like what they are asking for? Fine, don't deposit there. How many post do we have here that say the same thing????
"I deposit, and they want my mothers maiden name before they will pay me".
You should have know this, BEFORE you deposited, instead of waiting until after you won.

Next. This is Sega. A Gaming company first, and an On Line casino second. The policy they are using is the same at Sony, or Nintendo, or any other gaming company. They want as much information about you as possible. If you don't want to provide that information, then do not deposit there.

Withdraw limits should be listed in the Banking section of the Casino, or in their terms an conditions. Don't like the limits they have, then don't deposit there.

Now, here is the bad casino part. If there are NO withdraw limits listed on their web page or banking section, and or, they request ADDITIONAL documents after already approving what was sent in, and/or they violate their OWN terms and conditions, and the like, they YES, post away and complain about it.

imhop: There is NO difference between these type of post, and a person cashing their paycheck at Palace Station, here in Vegas, an getting a $5 match ticket, "$5 free with a $5 or higher bet", and placing it on the #17 at the Roulette table, and having the Pit Boss remove it, give it back, and say, "It can only be used on even money bets". "written on the bottom of the match play ticket". And having the player say, "WTF? If i had know that i would have just cashed my check someplace else". Is it the Casino fault, or the Players fault for not reading the policy first?

[MrWolf]

And this was without a bonus, correct?

That is correct - no bonus involved at all.

[spearmaster]

And this was without a bonus, correct?

If so, imo, this is an instant baptism by fire FAIL, and they should be removed from accreditation consideration if they continue this practice. In my eyes, this only points to funding problems, because it just shows that they don't want to/can't afford to pay out many large hits such as your £20K ($31,062) royal.

Completely disagree. The casino has the right to impose whatever limits it wants at any time for any reason, so long as it honors its agreement to pay winnings. If you don't like it, don't play.

Again, this reeks of funding problems...

This is not XYZ casino, it's Sega, for crying out loud. Exactly where are they going to have funding problems?

The reason for changing bet limits is simply risk management. I might agree with you that it's silly - but that is hardly a reason for removing them from the accredited list.

[manofsteel]

Sounds like it might be startup pains to me. Hopefully the Sega Casino rep will see this and take what he can from it.

The Sega brand is likely worth more than this online gambling site many times over, the site is licensed in Alderney and Sega is a publicly traded company. Hardly the makings of a "rogue in training."