Hi all,
I suppose it had to happen eventually. After about two years of gambling online I've finally run into a rogue operation and been cheated out of my deposit and winnings.
I like to play with a bonus so I've signed up to just about every casino on the internet which doesn't have obviously predatory terms. I always quickly scan through the promotions page and check for feedback on Casinomeister before making a deposit; this technique has held me in good stead so far. There wasn't much mention of Prime Slots on Casinomeister (Prime Gaming are in the "Not Recommended" section, but I didn't think it was the same operation), but they did have good reviews on another gambling website which I found.
I deposited £60 at 35xB WR. The 100% match bonus wasn't added so I opened live chat and they upsold me a better bonus deal (150%) if I deposited another £10. I did, and ended up with a cash balance of £70 and bonus of £105, for a total balance of £175. I confirmed with the chat operator that the standard 35xB WR would still apply. However, they did not have any method to track the progress of the WR in the user account, which I thought strange. Instead I kept a note of how much I had wagered and gambled only in blocks of 100 to keep the maths easy.
I played for the whole day, building my balance up to £350 before a bad run of luck just before the wagering was complete brought my balance just under £200. Happy days, time to withdraw, right? But when I went to the cashier to withdraw it told me that I still had over £1,800 to play through. It was after chat hours so I went to bed, angry and confused, and contacted the live chat in the morning.
The first line they spun me was that I also had to complete wagering on the £5 NDB that they gave me before I deposited (a balance which I cleared before depositing). Okay, fair enough, that's another £175 on to the WR but it didn't explain the massive gulf between my figures and the £1,800 the cashout screen thought I still had to play.
The CSR started banging on about only bets over $1 contributing to the wagering and different games having a different weighting, none of which were mentioned on the bonus policy page. When I re-visited the page I noticed a text link hidden amongst the text, in the same colour and without an underline (note: other links on the page are underlined). This links to a page that isn't linked from anywhere else, which shows all of the predatory bonus terms. The main one being that NetEnt slots only contribute 50% towards the wagering, which stacks up with the discrepancy between my calculations and the casino's.
What should I do? Is this PAB worthy? Does this fall into the category of deception or is it my fault for not finding the hidden link before depositing? Any and all input here is greatly appreciated.
Even though I'm seeing red with anger I had to LOL at a casino called "Prime Slots" where play on slots only contributes 50% to wagering.
Edit to add: I still have a balance of £170.
I suppose it had to happen eventually. After about two years of gambling online I've finally run into a rogue operation and been cheated out of my deposit and winnings.
I like to play with a bonus so I've signed up to just about every casino on the internet which doesn't have obviously predatory terms. I always quickly scan through the promotions page and check for feedback on Casinomeister before making a deposit; this technique has held me in good stead so far. There wasn't much mention of Prime Slots on Casinomeister (Prime Gaming are in the "Not Recommended" section, but I didn't think it was the same operation), but they did have good reviews on another gambling website which I found.
I deposited £60 at 35xB WR. The 100% match bonus wasn't added so I opened live chat and they upsold me a better bonus deal (150%) if I deposited another £10. I did, and ended up with a cash balance of £70 and bonus of £105, for a total balance of £175. I confirmed with the chat operator that the standard 35xB WR would still apply. However, they did not have any method to track the progress of the WR in the user account, which I thought strange. Instead I kept a note of how much I had wagered and gambled only in blocks of 100 to keep the maths easy.
I played for the whole day, building my balance up to £350 before a bad run of luck just before the wagering was complete brought my balance just under £200. Happy days, time to withdraw, right? But when I went to the cashier to withdraw it told me that I still had over £1,800 to play through. It was after chat hours so I went to bed, angry and confused, and contacted the live chat in the morning.
The first line they spun me was that I also had to complete wagering on the £5 NDB that they gave me before I deposited (a balance which I cleared before depositing). Okay, fair enough, that's another £175 on to the WR but it didn't explain the massive gulf between my figures and the £1,800 the cashout screen thought I still had to play.
The CSR started banging on about only bets over $1 contributing to the wagering and different games having a different weighting, none of which were mentioned on the bonus policy page. When I re-visited the page I noticed a text link hidden amongst the text, in the same colour and without an underline (note: other links on the page are underlined). This links to a page that isn't linked from anywhere else, which shows all of the predatory bonus terms. The main one being that NetEnt slots only contribute 50% towards the wagering, which stacks up with the discrepancy between my calculations and the casino's.
What should I do? Is this PAB worthy? Does this fall into the category of deception or is it my fault for not finding the hidden link before depositing? Any and all input here is greatly appreciated.
Even though I'm seeing red with anger I had to LOL at a casino called "Prime Slots" where play on slots only contributes 50% to wagering.
Edit to add: I still have a balance of £170.
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