Issue #155
weekly
Dear Reader,
Whoa, what a busy week. It's hard to believe that Thursday has crept up on us; the weekend is looming around the corner. Great!
This issue is a very informative one, especially if you are concerned about what sort of casino you're dealing with online. Are they rogue-like? Are they legit? Do they have the indicators of trustworthiness? Well, sit back, relax, grab yourself a hot cup o'java (or frothy Hefe Weissen) and read on...
Informatively yours,
Bryan
In this issue:
1. What's New at Casinomeister
2. Casinos You Ought to Join
3. This week's humor
4. Forum Highlights
5. ANOTHER VIRTUAL CASINO CLONE? You be the judge for Cirrus Casino
6. LEGALLY LICENSED AND FULLY INSURED? What does this REALLY mean?
Can't read this newsletter? Click here (or copy and paste this into your browser): http://www.casinomeister.com/newsletter.html#skip for the online version.
Cast your vote for Casinomeister as "Watchdog of the Year 2003". Casinomeister was voted number one watchdog last year, and for good reasons too. Where else do you have exposés on Evil Spammers, Evil Players, Rogue Casinos, Evil Casino Warning Signs, awe inspiring webcasts, and a search engine that digs deep into our archives of news, rogues, and newsletters. And what other site offers a "Pitch a Bitch" section where you as a disgruntled player can pitch a bitch about an online casino, and I try to do something about it.
And don't forget about Vortran, my little buddy! We travel all over the globe, putting ourselves in danger of funky diseases and international terrorism while meeting with casino operators, CEOs of casino software companies, webmasters and other colorful characters of the online casino industry.
And we do all for you, the esteemed reader. So c'mon and vote here at the Gambling Online Magazine's Readers poll
 | Casino Warning: It has been determined that Cirrus Casino is a member of the Virtual Casino family. This group of casinos have a history of dubious and unorthodox processes. Proceed with extreme caution and do not trust any messages you receive from them. Proceed with caution. Please read the Casinomeister's findings in this issue of today's newsletter. |
Got2bet
GoneGambling
Reviewed Casinos
Check it out here!
2. Casinos you need to join!
Have you tried Oddson software yet? If not, why not? One of the casinos you should be a member of is English Harbour
Are you into Poker Rooms? If so, you need to check out 7Sultans Poker Room
3. This week's humor
Lost with Translation
The American Dairy Association was so successful with its "Got Milk?" campaign, that it was decided to extend the ads to Mexico. Unfortunately, the Spanish translation was "Are you lactating?"
Electrolux, a Scandinavian vacuum manufacturer, used this ad in the U.S.: "Nothing sucks like an Electrolux."
Colgate introduced a toothpaste called "Cue" in France, but it turned out to be the same name as a well-known porno magazine.
When Braniff translated a slogan touting its upholstery, "Fly in leather," it came out in Spanish as "Fly naked."
Coors put its slogan, "Turn it loose," into Spanish, where it was read as "Suffer from diarrhea."
Chicken magnate Frank Perdue's line, "It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken," sounds much more interesting in Spanish: "It takes a sexually stimulated man to make a chicken affectionate."
Bacardi concocted a fruity drink with the name "Pavian" to suggest French chic...but "pavian" means "baboon" in German.
A hair products company, Clairol, introduced the "Mist Stick", a curling iron, into Germany only to find out that mist is slang for manure. Not too many people had use for the manure stick.
When Kentucky Fried Chicken entered the Chinese market, to their horror they discovered that their slogan "finger lickin' good" came out as "eat your fingers off"
When Vicks first introduce its cough drops on the German market, they were chagrined to learn that the German pronunciation of "v" is f - which in German is the guttural equivalent of "sexual penetration."
Parker Pens translated the slogan for its ink, "Avoid Embarrassment - Use Quink" into Spanish as "Evite Embarazos - Use Quink"...which also means, "Avoid Pregnancy - Use Quink."
When Pepsi started marketing its products in China a few years back, they translated their slogan, "Pepsi Brings You Back to Life" pretty literally. The slogan in Chinese really meant, "Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back from the Grave."
In Italy, a campaign for "Schweppes Tonic Water" translated the name into the much less thirst quenching "Schweppes Toilet Water."
Chinese translation proved difficult for Coke, which took two tries to get it right. They first tried Ke-kou-ke-la because when pronounced it sounded roughly like Coca-Cola. It wasn't until after thousands of signs had been printed that they discovered that the phrase means "bite the wax tadpole" or "female horse stuffed with wax," depending on the dialect. Second time around things worked out much better. After researching 40,000 Chinese characters, Coke came up with "ko-kou-ko-le" which translates roughly to the much more appropriate "happiness in the mouth."
Not to be outdone, Puffs tissues tried later to introduce its product, only to learn that "Puff" in German is a colloquial term for a whorehouse. The English weren't too fond of the name either, as it's a highly derogatory term for a non-heterosexual.
The Chevy Nova never sold well in Spanish speaking countries. "No va" means "it doesn't go" in Spanish.
Ford introduced the Pinto in Brazil. After watching sales go nowhere, the company learned that "Pinto" is Brazilian slang for "tiny male genitals." Ford pried the nameplates off all of the cars and substituted them with "Corcel" which means horse.
When Gerber first started selling baby food in Africa, they used the same packaging as here in the USA - with the cute baby on the label. Later they found out that in Africa companies routinely put pictures on the label of what's inside since most people can't read.
In the French part of Canada, Hunt-Wesson introduced its "Big John" products as "Gros Jos." It later found out that the phrase is slang for "big breasts."
ha ha ha
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ANOTHER VIRTUAL CASINO CLONE?
you be the judge for Cirrus Casino
But anyway, what I'm getting at is that this group of casinos are way below par, and their casinos multiply like a virus. There is a list at Casinomeister that I try to keep up on, but it's difficult when they are springing up like mutated bunnies. Nevertheless, I feel that I owe it to players when I suspect that a new Virtual Casino is reeling its frightening façade.
Well, what is the problem with these casinos? It seems that the owner has hired on a bunch of guys and gals, and has given them either free reign or incentives to do whatever it takes to bring in players and make some cash. This includes using deceptive spamming techniques, even using YOUR email address to send spam messages. Casino-of-the sun did this to me. They never responded to any of my queries why this was done.
Deception. This is the crux of the matter. They are deceptive. If you check any of the casinos that are associated with the Virtual Casino group at Totalnic Whois you will see a common factor: the use of a yahoo or AOL email address for the registrant. This is a warning sign that the casino has something to hide. They don't want anyone to trace them, they are not willing to accept any responsibility as to who they are. It's like the poster in the forum who hides behind a handle, thinking they're being oh so discreet. Well that may be acceptable in a forum or message board, but for a serious business? Well I'll let you make a determination on that.
Anyway, it was brought to my attention that a recently launched casino Cirrus Casino, had all of the identifiers of a casino from the Virtual Casino group. And they do. They have the same web design, they have some of the same indicators in their registrant information; opened with a yahoo account. They have their own servers which is fine and dandy. Many of the Virtual Casinos do, especially the newer ones. I got spammed by Matchmybet.com with an email I've only used when downloading the software from Prism Casino. Imagine that! It was a spam ad to open an account at Cirrus Casino. No problem. Matchmybet is a shill portal for the Virtual Casino group. They are on the same server as casinosupportcenter.com. This seems to be the flagship casino of the virtual casino group.
I figured it was an open and shut case. Cirrus belongs to this group. But oh, the cries of foul I heard from a number of people who claimed it was not true. Some of these "webmasters" called the casino support center, asking them if they were connected. Of course the support center is going to deny this. I look at 3rd party evidence: the Internet. Technology rarely lies. People do. I didn't just get off some boat, y'know.
I decided to prove my point by using firewall software, Sygate Firewall, that is free to use freely. What this software will do is prompt you anytime an outside source requests information from your computer. When it does, it will show you the IP address and/or the website that you computer is communicating with.
I had the firewall running in the background and downloaded the casino software from Cirrus, Prism, and from U1Casino.com, another sibling of the Virtual brood. When I launched Cirruscasino, my computer connected to affiliate.cirruscasino.com. I closed the program, then launched Prism Casino; it prompted me to connect to affiliate.cirruscasino.com. I closed this casino, then launched U1casino with the same results. You can view a screenshot here. These casinos are located on the same server, obviously they are related.
But this ain't good enough for some of the webmasters who have contacted me. They are up in arms getting all hysterical stating that, "They share the same servers, so what?" Okay, I agree. It shows that they are on the same servers, but that's about it. But what about my trump card?
My trump card: what if I were to tell you that someone forwarded me a URL that lists all of the Virtual Casinos and their daily and monthly stats. It wasn't password protected, until today, so I wasn't doing anything wrong by looking at it. But it was for a statistics program that was used on all of the Virtual Casino casinos up until the beginning of May 2003. I don't believe they are using it any more since these stats end there. But it lists all of the Virtual Casino casinos, to include Cirrus Casino. Now why is that? Well, you still may believe that Cirrus Casino has nothing to do with all of the Virtual Group, but then why is it here? Why would the webmasters or the operators of Prism Casino, Casinosupport Center, U1casino, Lolita Casino, ad nauseum, have access to Cirrus Casino stats? My question to the unconvinced is how are they NOT connected?
You be the judge. I'll let you figure it out.
And one webmaster stated "I really don't give a flying rats ass, as long as they will pay." This was from Slotchick at Playing4keeps. Well fine and dandy. Promote them for all I care, but when and if the casino goes down the path of rogue-dom don't go crying to me.
And those of you who are promoting these sort of operations. Shame on you for not doing your homework, and shame on you for deceiving your referred players.
LEGALLY LICENSED AND FULLY INSURED?
What does this REALLY mean?
According to CostaRica.com "on-line casinos are registered as technology corporations, and not as on-line casinos." You will find that all these casinos have is merely a business license for an Internet company, not a gaming license.
Further: "On-line Casinos based on severs in Costa Rica are free to do almost anything they want over the Internet as long as they ensure that Citizens of Costa Rica or legal permanent residents of Costa Rica do not access their servers to play the games or place a bet. On-line Casinos:
If you go here, http://www.go.cr/fs/meic.html look under "Reglamento Registo Apuestas Electronicas" and you will be guided to a page that contains a description of article No. 8343 which I've had translated:
Following , the MEIC has available the terms and conditions for the registration of firms dedicated to connecting calls of electronic bets to interested firms and to the general public. Following you can also find the application form and payment receipt that must be paid by every firm before they apply for their inscription.
The inscription must be made at the Unit of Economic Studies of MEIC, situated on the second floor at the Instituto de Fomento y Asesoría Municipal (IFAM) ), en Barrio Los Colegios en Moravia.
And you're probably sitting there thinking, well "so what?" what does it matter anyway?
Gaming licenses ensure a certain amount of security for a player. Licenses from the Isle of Man, the Kanawakees in Canada, Antigua, Netherland Antilles, to name a few, have numerous requirements such as background checks, money held in reserve, or high fees. Simply put, if something goes wrong in a "gaming licensed" casino, you will have some recourse by contacting the licensing agency. When playing at a casino that has simply a business license, you will be relying on trust. And as mentioned on the Costarica.com website, "You are playing at your own risk, and you are at the mercy of the Online Casino's good faith to fulfill its representations."
I just thought you ought to know. Return to Top
Complaints? Kudos? Please let me know.
Peace
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Bryan Bailey Webmeister Casinomeister |  |