Grand Privé - Bad Casino Practice - Rogue
Software provider: Microgaming
Licensing Jurisdiction: Kahna-haha-wake
Mother Ship: GrandPrive.com
Associated websites:
Belle Vegas Online
Casino Grand Bay
Grand Bay Poker
Kasino Grand Bay
Lake Palace Casino
Jupiter Club Casino
Road House Reels Casino
Fortune Junction Casino
Jackpot Wheel Casino
Villa Fortuna Casino
Villa Fortuna Affiliates
Added 7 December 2009
| Rage against the Machine... |
...the spam machine, that is. Spam is one thing, but receiving unwanted snail mail from casinos is intrusive and good casinos understand this, right? And when the mail is addressed to someone who is deceased, and after the surviving spouse makes several efforts to have this mail stopped, this falls into the evil marketing catagory. Here is the story:
Why, after I have personally called at least 3 times this past year, do you still insist on sending my deceased husband whom I may add has NEVER lived at this address of mine EVER unwanted cd's with free money offers? I am fed up!! I am looking into ways of taking action against your company and I hope to nail you scumbags hard core!! I have attached for everyone to see how these dirt bags continue to send my husband who passed away in 06 these damn offers, you will see they even say we have not seen you in the casino since 2006, YA THINK??? since he passed away on 06 and you were asked so many times to close that account and to cease sending these damn offers to my home!! Now I have your other casino Grand Eagle sending the same crap to him and how stupid are you to name your new USA facing brand so similar to Grand Prive AND to send a cd with the same amount of free cash within days of the Free cash offer at Grand Prive, anyone with a half a brain can put 2 and 2 together to see that it adds up to SCUM!
Please I ask anyone that gets these offers do NOT support these jerks toss them in the trash, call up tell them to remove your name from the marketing list not that it will help!
I am also asking the marketing company that Grand Prive hired to send the cd campaigns to stop sending me stuff, I know who you are and you are going to be held responsible! You should not do business with these crooks!!
Is it that hard to control one's database, to hit the delete button? This is insentitive sloppiness - monkeys could be trained to do better.
Rest of the story and screenshots are here.
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| Oy Vey, Oy Vey, Grand Privé... |
Trust is a must in this industry - and in the midst of flaccid regulators and licensing jurisdictions, self regulation is the only recourse when trust has been discarded and kicked to the curb. Here we have a Microgaming powered casino group announce their departure from the US market, and the closing of all affiliate accounts.
From Infopowa News 28 November 2008
GRAND PRIVE GROUP'S U.S. EXIT
December 1st is last day of US operations
Earlier information that the Microgaming-powered Grand Prive online casino group is to depart the US market entirely (see previous InfoPowa reports) has been confirmed by recent emails to the group's affiliate marketers making the move official.
The email advises that as of December 1st 2008, Grand Prive Affiliates - the program which administers the group's affiliate marketing - will cease to exist with the closing of all US operations. It goes on to assure affiliates that all payments due for November will be made as usual, but that this will be the last payment made by the program.
The email cites recent developments in general trading conditions in the United States as the reason for Grand Prive's departure after several years of operations in the region, concluding that GrandPrivé Affiliates is no longer a viable business division.
In what seems to be an alternative offering for affiliates, the email announces that a new European-based program, Villa Fortuna Affiliates, is "...up, running and ready to forge a new business relationship with you."
But the Microgaming-powered Villa Fortuna Casino.com will handle only non-US business. The new casino is available in English, German, Italian and French, with Flash casinos currently available in all languages excluding Italian.
Italian and Spanish Flash casino software will be added shortly.
Affiliate marketers are urged to visit the new Malta-licensed casino into which: "Massive capital investment is going to build this new casino to where she rightfully belongs – at the very top of the gaming food chain," the email informs, ending on an optimistic note by anticipating European success following the US departure.
It was not clear when InfoPowa went to press as to what arrangements have been made by Grand Prive to keep their soon-to-excluded US players in the loop....or what the exit arrangements will be.
Okay, so they are closing their affiliate program. That's fine and dandy, but the problem is that the affiliates who have been loyal to them over the years just got screwed over. Let me explain.
An affiliate is a webmaster who receives a percentage of the profit from the clients they send customers to. This is a business model common to the travel industry, adult industry, Amazon.com, and the casino/poker industry. Many webmasters earn their living from these marketing programs. And when the webmaster sends a customer to the client, the agreement is (in most cases) for the lifetime of the player.
In this situation, Grand Privé has decided to close their affiliate program, and to stop all future payments for those webmasters whose players are still active.
Baaaad casino practice.
Trust has been shattered. The casino group will continue to profit while tossing hundreds if not thousands of webmasters into the cold. If they are willing to do this with their business partners, how do you think they plan on treating their players?
Footnote: I have never been an affiliate of the Grand Privé Group, so this rogue listing is not out of spite. This listing is to inform the online casino community that this sort of underhanded behaviour is unacceptable.
Avoid these casinos at all costs.
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| More Rogues here ... |
Past Issues
| Underage Gambler |
30 March 2006
The was a major issue that brewed for quite a while before becoming very public. This concerned an under age gambler and Grand Prive casinos. This is a Microgaming group - nine casinos total - here is the problem in a nutshell:
The player, who resides in Las Vegas, joined each one of these casinos made deposits and occasionally won here and there. She was never asked for her ID, and the fact that she was only 19 was never an issue. But when she made a larger withdrawal, the casino requested her ID. These are required by the agreement that the casino has with eCOGRA. They must ensure that the player is a legitimate person who is lawfully allowed to play. Well, she lives in Nevada, and the gambling age for jurisdiction is 21. So the casino voided her cash-in and returned her deposits. Sounds fair? Well fairness was not the issue here. The issue was a casino's accountability, responsibility, and their relationship with the online casino industry.
The casino failed to do its due diligence. They have all of the power within their means to prevent under age gambling. They relied solely on their terms and conditions, and in these times when underage gambling is such a hot topic - this is unacceptable. Underage gambling is beyond nickels and dimes, it is a behavior that is prompting the Bible thumpers in the US to hop up on their soapboxes and preach about the evils of online gambling. Reliance on the gambler to police his or her activities is a careless and irresponsible attitude to take. There is no excuse to have let this happen.
The casino considered this case closed in August 2005 since they turned this over to eCOGRA which understandably ruled against paying this player. There is absolutely no way eCOGRA or any other entity could consider asking the casino to honor a dime of her winnings.
But to the average Joe player, this casino appeared to be selective in who they were paying. It seemed to them that once the player had a big win, the casino found a loophole and decided not to pay. "She's a teenager - don't pay her." And this is the furor of the public. In the eyes of most players, casinos are crooks - you have to earn the players' trust, and this whole scenario fanned these flames of suspicion.
The casino failed us - those who work in this industry - by not making a bold statement to this episode. I was trying to convince them that the only way to face this would be to take this player's winnings and donate them to either a charity of her choice, or to some other organization - perhaps Gambling Anonymous. This would have nullified the notion that this casino was being selective. It would have cost them 20k (or whatever amount the winnings were). Hopefully it would have made the player feel that her negative experience was transposed into something positive - feeding hungry kids, providing counseling to problem gamblers, giving the homeless a home.
It would have saved a lot of anguish for the casino. And most importantly, it would have demonstrated to everyone that casinos will not profit from catering to under age gamblers. In short, this would have made many positive messages and provided something for the needy.
But in the casino's short-sightedness, they chose not to do this.
Since this incident, they have imposed a "No under 21's" straight across the board and closed the accounts of all players not meeting this criteria. They are rigorously enforcing this going forward. They are one of the very few operations that take a "no one under 21" stance which I know of.
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