Grand Prive Done on Dec. 1st

It's official for Grand Prive. As of December 1st, they will cease to exist. Anyone remember the email that some of us got quite a few months back for a casino called Villa Fortuna? That's going to be their new casino, and it will be no U.S. players allowed. Here is the email in its entirety.

Dear xxxx,
Let us lead with the chin and get the bad news out of the way. As mentioned in our previous correspondence, GrandPriv Affiliates will be closing our operation as of 1 December 2008.

Rest assured that all payments due for November will be made as per usual, but that will be the very last payment made by GrandPriv Affiliates.

Recent developments in the operations of our software provider, Microgaming, as well as general trading conditions in the US has led us to conclude that GrandPriv Affiliates is no longer a viable business division for the GrandPrive.com group of casinos.

That is the bad news. The good news is that the European-based, Villa Fortuna Affiliates, is up, running and ready to forge a new business relationship with you. Villa Fortuna Affiliates is open to all non-US business (Canadian and European especially) and offers the latest Affiliate Program platform from Microgaming.

Villa Fortuna Casino is available in English, German, Italian and French, with flash casinos currently available in all languages excluding Italian. Our Italian flash and Spanish flash casino software will be added shortly. Massive capital investment is going into building this new casino up to where she rightfully belongs at the very top of the gaming food chain. Have a look at this glittering Malta-licensed casino by following the provided link: www.villafortuna.com

I thank you for your support at GrandPriv Affiliates through the years.

I hope to continue doing business with you on the Villa Fortuna Affiliates platform. I think weve only just begun to scratch the surface of this exciting new venture and look forward to bringing you the very best service, marketing material and benefits with the help of our exciting new European partners, of course.

Thank you for your time and effort xxxx, I strongly urge you to signup at Villa Fortuna Affiliates the future lies there!

Please feel free to email me with any queries about what that future holds.

Regards,
Irwin
Affiliate Manager

Irwin@grandpriveaffiliates.com
US toll free: 1 888 881 7768
CA toll free: 1 888 891 7768
UK toll free: 0800 404 84 56

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It doesn't actually say that the casinos (Bella Vegas, Grand Bay, Jupiter Club, Lake Palace, Roadhouse Reels, Jackpot Wheel and Fortune Junction) are closing, but I'm assuming that's what it means. And they will relaunch with just Villa Fortuna as their one casino? And they will focus on the European/UK and Canadian market.

So any of you U.S. Grand Prive players, get your affairs in order in the next few days. Play out or withdraw any balances, etc.

EDITED: Here is the link to the original Villa Fortuna thread from back in June. So that's how long they've been planning this. And oh goody, another Malta licensed casino.

https://www.casinomeister.com/forums/threads/villa-fortuna-clever-ish-spam.25206/

Pinababy69 said:

It doesn't actually say that the casinos (Bella Vegas, Grand Bay, Jupiter Club, Lake Palace, Roadhouse Reels, Jackpot Wheel and Fortune Junction) are closing, but I'm assuming that's what it means.

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I got the exact same e-mail - but it just confused me.
It's says GP Affiliates will cease to exist on Dec-1st, but does not say what will happen to the casinos.

I can't imagine the casinos will close as they are a quite big and (apparently) successful group. But these days, who knows?
I sent an e-mail back to Irwin for clarification last night, but so far no answer.

All very odd.

KasinoKing said:

I got the exact same e-mail - but it just confused me.
It's says GP Affiliates will cease to exist on Dec-1st, but does not say what will happen to the casinos.

I can't imagine the casinos will close as they are a quite big and (apparently) successful group. But these days, who knows?
I sent an e-mail back to Irwin for clarification last night, but so far no answer.

All very odd.

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If the old casinos continue in operation, BUT the AFFILIATE scheme closes with no further payments, surely this means a right screwing over for AFFILIATES who have gained NON US players for the group. I received both direct, and aggressive, snail mail marketing for the original set of 5 casinos, so there are a number of NON US players, and it is likely that affiliates will have been promised lifetime payments for "their" referrals.
IF they DO close the well known casinos, and try to replace them with a single NEW casino, they will disrupt the flow of deposits from their EXISTING Non-US player base, and this of course, defies business logic

Clearly, this is PR, and not a full representation of the facts, which will no doubt come to light after the fact when affiliates and players either find the original casinos still running for non-US players, or them all waking up one morning to find them closed.

I have an account with them, and I have received NO information that leads me to believe my casinos will close by the end of next weekend - curious

As for this from Grand Prive,

Recent developments in the operations of our software provider, Microgaming, as well as general trading conditions in the US has led us to conclude that GrandPriv Affiliates is no longer a viable business division for the GrandPrive.com group of casinos.

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Come on now, the CEO of Microgaming has gone on record to say it is NOT their concern who individual casino operators choose to accept, and that decisions to accept US players or not are entirely down to the operator.
Either the chief honcho of Grand Prive is lying, or he is calling the CEO of Microgaming a liar, not wise if they are still going to use MG software.

Here is further evidence that the explanations being given out for this MG farce are just a pack of lies, there is another set of facts and reasonings that they want to keep well hidden, and if these came out, this "farce" would become a logical sequence of events. The "secret" facts may involve plans to wring the last few bucks out of the US players before they are spat out after the Thanksgiving weekend.

vinylweatherman said:

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Come on now, the CEO of Microgaming has gone on record to say it is NOT their concern who individual casino operators choose to accept, and that decisions to accept US players or not are entirely down to the operator.
Either the chief honcho of Grand Prive is lying, or he is calling the CEO of Microgaming a liar, not wise if they are still going to use MG software.

Here is further evidence that the explanations being given out for this MG farce are just a pack of lies, there is another set of facts and reasonings that they want to keep well hidden, and if these came out, this "farce" would become a logical sequence of events. The "secret" facts may involve plans to wring the last few bucks out of the US players before they are spat out after the Thanksgiving weekend.

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We may never know the 'real' story, or the reason MG casinos 'suddenly' decided to jump the USA ship. Perhaps it will all come out in the end ....

The posted letter from GP is confusing and raises more questions than it answers...

There's no confirmation in that e-mail. Don't be so fast to jump to conclusions.

Mousey said:

We may never know the 'real' story, or the reason MG casinos 'suddenly' decided to jump the USA ship. Perhaps it will all come out in the end ....

The posted letter from GP is confusing and raises more questions than it answers...

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Not all MG Casinos have decided to jump the US ship !!

This Grand Prive affiliate situation may be the reason for the recently launched "GoWild Casino"

I could be wrong but I seriously doubt it...

vinylweatherman said:

If the old casinos continue in operation, BUT the AFFILIATE scheme closes with no further payments, surely this means a right screwing over for AFFILIATES who have gained NON US players for the group. I received both direct, and aggressive, snail mail marketing for the original set of 5 casinos, so there are a number of NON US players, and it is likely that affiliates will have been promised lifetime payments for "their" referrals.

The "secret" facts may involve plans to wring the last few bucks out of the US players before they are spat out after the Thanksgiving weekend.

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I just went and read at CAP VWM, and yes, they are up in arms about this, for just the reasons you stated. And I don't blame them for that. There's talk of major blacklisting of all the GP casinos, if they remain open...or just Villa Fortuna if that will be the only one open. Again, I don't blame them one bit. It sure seems deceitful, underhanded and basically breach of contract.

But what I'd like to know is where is this outrage and indignation when the players get screwed over en masse by a casino or casino group? Why does it take a mass fleecing of affiliates to get their gander up, and prod them into action? This is precisely the point I was trying to make in that post I made in the APCW/GPWA thread. Nothing ever changes. Players get screwed over every day, but so few affiliates give a damn, and just go on promoting those programs doing the screwing.

And VWM, I had the exact same thought as you about Thanksgiving weekend, and getting every last dollar they can first.

RipRidah said:

There's no confirmation in that e-mail. Don't be so fast to jump to conclusions.

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Not sure I get you RipRidah...which conclusions? Not sure if the casinos themselves are going to stay open, but it's a definite that U.S. players will no longer be able to play at them after December 1st, even if they do.

After giving it more thought though....I really doubt they will keep seven casinos open, plus the new one Villa Fortuna. Has anyone actually had a look at the Villa Fortuna affy program? Does it list all of the other GP casinos? Or just the new Villa Fortuna itself? I really think they are streamlining, and the 7 GP casinos will be gone. That's just an opinion.

RobWin said:

Not all MG Casinos have decided to jump the US ship !!

This Grand Prive affiliate situation may be the reason for the recently launched "GoWild Casino"

I could be wrong but I seriously doubt it...

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Not all Rob...but this group, which is/was fairly large, and BelleRock, another large group. BelleRock are doing it in phases, but it is being done, and they are definitely pulling out completely, if the emails from their affiliate program (Referback) are to be believed.

You lost me with the Go Wild thing...what does Go Wild have to do with Grand Prive? And after having read their thread this morning, and their "updated" t and c's, and claims of bonus abuse....I wouldn't play there for all the money in the world. So far, they seem to have messed up everything they've done, and being licensed in Malta is a negative, not a positive.

People should not be surprised if other casinos/groups follow suit, and start locking accounts, with or without notice. I would imagine they'll keep their "higher value" players as long as possible. From a few things I've read from Referback, player value is the criteria they are using in determinining which accounts stay open (for now) and which get closed immediately.

EDITED TO ADD: I had forgotten I wanted to ask if so much as ONE PLAYER (from the U.S.) has received notice that their accounts will be closed/locked after December 1st? I'm asking because I read a post on another forum that was about ten days old, where a U.S. player had a live chat with a Grand Prive rep, and asked point blank if they would be able to play still (after the November 10th no new acct deadline)...and the rep told them they had no plans to pull out of the U.S. and would continue to serve their U.S. players. Which we now know is a total crock. So I wondered if they've been kind enough to inform anyone besides the affiliates as yet?

I had forgotten I wanted to ask if so much as ONE PLAYER (from the U.S.) has received notice that their accounts will be closed/locked after December 1st?

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I have not received anything stating they are closing accounts or for that matter from any of the MG casinos. I have actually had withdrawals processed from a few this week and have been paid in a timely fashion.

Strange we haven't been notified if this is really in the works of shutting down all USA accounts.



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Thanks Silc...that's what I figured.

I just took a quick glance at the Villa Fortuna Affiliates website, and it sure looks to me like it was set up for Villa Fortuna Casino only. From the About Us page:

Villa Fortuna Affiliates offers you the opportunity to generate substantial income from your European and non-US traffic.

Dedicated to Villa Fortuna casino, a new establishment in online gambling entertainment, and powered by Microgaming, Villa Fortuna Affiliates

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So if this program is dedicated to the new casino, and the Grand Prive affy program is closing...it follows that they are not going to keep seven casinos around and not promote them somehow (to new non U.S. players). What I "can" foresee happening is all non U.S. accounts being migrated over to the new Villa Fortuna. Or at least that player database being used to try and sign up those existing GP players that haven't already signed up at Villa. I signed up for them back in June when alot of others did...at the time I didn't even realize they were the new Grand Prive casino. I should have known though as they also used your email addy as your account login, just as Grand Prive did.

hi all

i have not recd notice either, but all my bellerock casino accounts have already been locked as of the 10th of nov. even my emails to them get sent back undeliverable. i guess the rest will follow just locking out usa players without notice.

pevangel

I forgot to comment that VWM also hit the nail on the head with:

Come on now, the CEO of Microgaming has gone on record to say it is NOT their concern who individual casino operators choose to accept, and that decisions to accept US players or not are entirely down to the operator.
Either the chief honcho of Grand Prive is lying, or he is calling the CEO of Microgaming a liar, not wise if they are still going to use MG software.

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The casinos say MG is behind all this, that "it's out of our hands/control". Yet MG has said this is what the casinos want and have decided. Nothing like throwing out disinformation to keep us off balance...

While none of the casinos have told players diddly as to WTF is going on, (JPF did at least give us warning that progressives were to be blocked), we only have their actions to go by. MG has blocked US players from progressives, they have blocked new US sign ups... Some MG casinos have indicated to affilates they're going to be pulling out of the US market Dec 1.... That tells me to deposit elsewhere until the dust settles and I see what is left.

That tells me to deposit elsewhere until the dust settles and I see what is left

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I agree Mousey, I think it's time to back off until after the dust settles as you say regardless of the wins and withdrawals from the previous weeks. Hate to have any money won locked down if this is the way it is actually going.

Mousey said:

I forgot to comment that VWM also hit the nail on the head with:

The casinos say MG is behind all this, that "it's out of our hands/control". Yet MG has said this is what the casinos want and have decided. Nothing like throwing out disinformation to keep us off balance...

While none of the casinos have told players diddly as to WTF is going on, (JPF did at least give us warning that progressives were to be blocked), we only have their actions to go by. MG has blocked US players from progressives, they have blocked new US sign ups... Some MG casinos have indicated to affilates they're going to be pulling out of the US market Dec 1.... That tells me to deposit elsewhere until the dust settles and I see what is left.

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I will say it again...No they haven't, at least not all of them anyway...and at least not for everyone...I just spent the last hour checking 28 Microgaming casinos that I am still able to play the progressives at !!

You must be one of those "high value" players that the casinos refer to Rob, lol. I swear, when I read some of these emails, I just shake my head. High value player...in other words, someone who spends enough money to warrant keeping, at least for now. I wonder what term they use for those of us not "high value"? Makes ya wonder.

That's not directed at you Rob..you know that right? I was just wrapping my brain around the way these affiliate companies/casinos categorize us. We're not people, we're a value.

Yeah, yeah..I know, it's business.

Robwin: I just spent the last hour checking 28 Microgaming casinos that I am still able to play the progressives at !!

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But are you willing to take the chance of spending your money and hitting one and NOT getting paid?

I know I am not..it would be a terrible blow to the confidence level of a player if this would happen...and to the online gaming world...think of how this would be a tool for the naysayers in congress...to hold this up as an example and say, "we told you so" and have a setback of years for us players in legalizing this alone...this would be a HUGE setback...and I feel there is more of a chance of NOT being paid now than there ever was by any MG casino...


.

Pinababy69 said:

You must be one of those "high value" players that the casinos refer to Rob, lol. I swear, when I read some of these emails, I just shake my head. High value player...in other words, someone who spends enough money to warrant keeping, at least for now. I wonder what term they use for those of us not "high value"? Makes ya wonder.

That's not directed at you Rob..you know that right? I was just wrapping my brain around the way these affiliate companies/casinos categorize us. We're not people, we're a value.

Yeah, yeah..I know, it's business.

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Or, one of those "high value" Idiots they so love...and Silc I just had a cashout this past week from one of the Fortune Lounge Casinos that I play at and it was paid into my QT account within 4 hours !!

RobWin said:

I will say it again...No they haven't, at least not all of them anyway...and at least not for everyone...I just spent the last hour checking 28 Microgaming casinos that I am still able to play the progressives at !!

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Ok... let's keep inserting the qualifier "some" players to keep Rob happy and to be fair to the casinos. BUT... What/who has determined which US players accounts are to be blocked from progressives, which casinos? Who's to be blocked altogether? Which casinos? When? Anyone have a list?

However, the problem boils down to this: We (players) don't KNOW anything except what we and others experience and whatever info is 'leaked' by affiliates. And, obviously, MG and the casinos are not talking to us.

Back to OP... There's a humongous problem if GP is closing their stable and moving all players to the one non-USA facing casino if they're cutting off all their affiliates. I'm sure affiliates have a lot of players who are not US citizens...

Anyway... thanks for the info, Pina.... and if anyone hears anything else... let us know.

Mousey said:

Ok... let's keep inserting the qualifier "some" players to keep Rob happy and to be fair to the casinos. BUT... What/who has determined which US players accounts are to be blocked from progressives, which casinos? Who's to be blocked altogether? Which casinos? When? Anyone have a list?

However, the problem boils down to this: We (players) don't KNOW anything except what we and others experience and whatever info is 'leaked' by affiliates. And, obviously, MG and the casinos are not talking to us.

Back to OP... There's a humongous problem if GP is closing their stable and moving all players to the one non-USA facing casino if they're cutting off all their affiliates. I'm sure affiliates have a lot of players who are not US citizens...

Anyway... thanks for the info, Pina.... and if anyone hears anything else... let us know.

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LOL Mousey...I always appreciate the babes trying to keep me happy...but you, Pina, silc and the rest are absolutely correct in your assessment that both the casinos and MG are keeping the players in the dark about all of this and it will end up costing them a lot of customers in the end if they do decide to stay in the US market...

I still believe though, that there is an intrinsic connection between GoWild Casino and the Grand Prive Group the same way there is between Bigdollar Casino and the Grand Prive group...I'm still doing some due diligence on this one...

RobWin said:

I still believe though, that there is an intrinsic connection between GoWild Casino and the Grand Prive Group the same way there is between Bigdollar Casino and the Grand Prive group...I'm still doing some due diligence on this one...

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Side bets Rob? I think Grand Prive have been around way too long to be as inept as this new casino appears to be, in almost EVERY way except polite CS. I'm no fan of GP, haven't been for a long time...but they have way more on the ball than this casino has shown thus far. Just the amateurish wording of the T and C's alone....no way!!

Pinababy69 said:

Side bets Rob? I think Grand Prive have been around way too long to be as inept as this new casino appears to be, in almost EVERY way except polite CS. I'm no fan of GP, haven't been for a long time...but they have way more on the ball than this casino has shown thus far. Just the amateurish wording of the T and C's alone....no way!!

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There is a couple of things that I have read on their website and also a couple of things that Floyd has also mentioned in his posts on here that got my curiosity peeked about this...but like I said I am still doing some due diligence research on this...there is also a couple of pics of the folks behind GoWild on the about us page that also look very familiar...

Any chance you're referring to this "revolution" that Floyd keeps mentioning? LOL...pretty sure that's the word that Big Dollar used in their ad campaigns as well, isn't it?

Pinababy69 said:

Any chance you're referring to this "revolution" that Floyd keeps mentioning? LOL...pretty sure that's the word that Big Dollar used in their ad campaigns as well, isn't it?

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That one, and another is the fact he also has mentioned the six hour time frame on cashout reversals...Grand Prive was the one that initiated this time frame back a couple of years ago and then there is a couple of archive photos of those folks that I previously mentioned that also look at hell of a lot like the ones in the GoWild about us page...Also Grand Prive also announced this so called "Revolution" back a couple of years ago when they started doing the live webcast streams announcing the winners of their contests...a lot of different things here look all too familiar to this ole fart that played at Grand Prive for years !!

At last .... I get to test my latest gadget the "He Said But Meant Translator".
Got it for a buck at last weeks MIT's garage sale ....Mrs Bush has one!


He said-
Rest assured that all payments due for November will be made as per usual, but that will be the very last payment made by GrandPriv Affiliates.

He means-
Don't panic little buddies, any of you expecting to get paid by GrandePrive Affiliates for November will still be paid for November. Last thing I want is your ass hounding me for a few bucks. Naturally the deal you had with us is over, null and void as of Dec 1. You'll be directing people to places that don't exist anymore.... don't even bother.

He says-
Recent developments in the operations of our software provider, Microgaming, as well as general trading conditions in the US has led us to conclude that GrandPriv Affiliates is no longer a viable business division for the GrandPrive.com group of casinos.

He means-
I invested a shit load of money to get my hands on this all set up and ready to go online casino biz. Even with the lease payments and giving a hunk of my profit to the OWNER of it every month.....I was guaranteed to make me a super shit load ton of money. Till the US Fun police decided they wanted a cut of it too. When the Gov found out they were SOL on getting a penny from my end or yours or the players, they got mad and decided to get even by dragging it into the never ending money pit of a legal system. I work smarter not harder so why bother making half the money I want to here when I can pack it up here and go unpack it over there.
Bottom line I signed on to make fast big bucks and have reached the end of the gravy train here folks..... gotta move quick or risk loosing a piece of the pie.

He says-
That is the bad news. The good news is that the European-based, Villa Fortuna Affiliates, is up, running and ready to forge a new business relationship with you. Villa Fortuna Affiliates is open to all non-US business (Canadian and European especially) and offers the latest Affiliate Program platform from Microgaming.

He means-
On the bright side the moment I realized I'd made as much money as I was going to make out of you all... around June last year. I put the wheels in motion to get all set up for my next hit on the rest of the world. Got one cash cow all set and just about to add the others for variety. Hey..I didn't get where I am by being stupid. I've been a busy Dr Evil and finally have it all ready to go. But your welcome to throw some biz my way just as you do now but remember no US players ok, they're of no use to me but hooking me up with your grandma in Germany is cool.
Now if you'll please excuse me there's a gazzillion bucks across the sea with my name on it. Nothing personal guys, it's just business.

Pinababy69 said:

Thanks Silc...that's what I figured.

I just took a quick glance at the Villa Fortuna Affiliates website, and it sure looks to me like it was set up for Villa Fortuna Casino only. From the About Us page:



So if this program is dedicated to the new casino, and the Grand Prive affy program is closing...it follows that they are not going to keep seven casinos around and not promote them somehow (to new non U.S. players). What I "can" foresee happening is all non U.S. accounts being migrated over to the new Villa Fortuna. Or at least that player database being used to try and sign up those existing GP players that haven't already signed up at Villa. I signed up for them back in June when alot of others did...at the time I didn't even realize they were the new Grand Prive casino. I should have known though as they also used your email addy as your account login, just as Grand Prive did.

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I got this invite, and when this was discussed on the forums, Grand Prive were asking those they know had posted to get their posts DELETED, as they dindn't want it known this had happened. Too late, affiliates had found out that GP were directly recruiting players, cutting affiliates out all together.

Now, we have the interesting case of the 7 casinos;. AFFILIATES are to receive payments only to the end of November, BUT while no US players can play after that, what about the NON US players, who are STILL able to play at the 7 casinos beyond December 1st. They will STILL be generating losses, and this would normally be shared back to the affiliates, however, I have an account, andso far have HEARD NOTHING about MY accounts ceasing to exist after December 1st, so it looks like this will NOT happen. Placing ALL of us into Villa Fortuna will be hard enough, but with a week to go, they have not even STARTED the process of moving existing non-US players over to Villa Fortuna.
Do we presume that we will ALL find we can't play, and GP will have a sudden revenue gap while they get through the process of getting us to all uninstall the old casinos, and download and register at Villa Fortuna. I think not, I think NON-US players will freely be able to play at the original casinos for some while, and that movement to Villa Fortuna will be gradual, so as not to disrupt the non-US revenue stream. IF I LOSE from December onward, any affiliate who referred me on a percentage "for life" deal is going to get screwed out of their 30% or so of my monthly loss.

PLAYERS will hardly notice. I MAY get another invite to try the "new improved Villa Fortuna", as they will need to go back to impressing non-US players again.
Given that they treated me "like a dog" when it was all about the US, and they had only dipped an experimental toe into the UK and European market with "that CD", they have their work cut out

I Find it hard to believe GoWild is Grand Privvy, since Grand Privvy know all about "bonus abuse", and would have guarded against it from launch.

vinylweatherman said:

I Find it hard to believe GoWild is Grand Privvy, since Grand Privvy know all about "bonus abuse", and would have guarded against it from launch.

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Yea, I'm not actually saying that it is yet Vinyl but all of my indicators are so far pointing in that direction of connection the same way that Bigdollar is connected...