This casino needs to retrain its staff. Recently, a number of advantage players found themselves locked out of their accounts - being accused of "abusing" the casino's initial deposit. Apparently, the casino management must have slept through Online Casino Management 101 - specifically the block of instruction entitled "Bonus Abuse - No Such Animal".
In case you haven't read Casinomeister's newsletter, I covered this two years ago in Issue #263 and gave a presentation on this at GIGSE as well. In a nutshell, here it is:
CASINO MANAGEMENT 101
In light of some of the reoccurring problems that players keep sending to me via "Pitch a Bitch", I've chosen to dedicate this part of the newsletter to "Casino Management 101". This is in anticipation that a manager or two might not only read this, but heed to its principles.
Dealing with Players Who Use Bonuses
If you offer a player a bonus, and this player meets the wagering requirements - pay her (or him). Please understand, you are not being cheated if a player plays the bonus to the last cent; you are providing that player a unique service - the ability to gamble online. This is your function as a casino, and your mantra should be "Pay the player. Pay the player. Pay the player..." Repeat ad nauseum.
Providing gambling activities online may be your function, but with a bit of creativity and ingenuity you can garner loyalty from this player to keep him or her coming back. The house always wins, and if you are going to survive in this highly competitive industry, you need to see this "win" as a long term goal. Keep your players happy, whether you like their style of play or not, and you will receive your just rewards: respect and loyalty.
What not to do.
Don't lie to the player. Don't let the player play out a bonus, and then deny the player his winnings when he requests it. To tell a player the following is the wrong approach:
It has been noted that you have not taken part in promotions offered by xyz Casino and its affiliate casino's in the true spirit as intended. From your pattern of play at xyz Casino and other affiliated casino's, it has been noticed that you only generate the sub minimum wager required in order to be entitled to cash out after receiving the bonus.
On at least one other affiliated casino, you again wagered the sub minimum required in order to be allowed to cash out after receiving the bonus and never returned to this casino to play further. When we plan our promotions, the aim is to reward loyal and regular depositing players with FREE bonuses. Unfortunately, your pattern of play across our affiliated casinos has not shown this intention of becoming a loyal and regular depositing player.
As a result, as per our terms and conditions, your initial deposit has been returned to you and all bonuses and winnings have been declared void.
This is a no go. This gives the casino license to pay whom they want to pay. And to not pay a person who has met the wagering requirements is flat out wrong. I understand and sympathize with casinos which are hammered by bonus players, but if the casino invited them in by offering the bonus then whose fault is that? Casinos who feel victimized need to either review their bonus structure or in the method how these bonuses are handed out.
This email should read as follows:
....Unfortunately, your pattern of play across our affiliated casinos has not shown this intention of becoming a loyal and regular depositing player.
As a result, as per our terms and conditions, your winnings will be honored, but you will not be given further bonuses unless you can convince us that you will become a loyal player.
Simple as that. The casino may take a financial hit now and then - but that's just the way it is. Get used to it. Trust is what it's all about in this industry, and if players can't trust you, neither can I.
From Infopowa news:
CASINO CAUTION
8 February 2008
Luckyace trainsmash rolls into second week
Still at the epicentre of an intense and widespread Internet message board furore over the disqualification of hundreds of players from its generous sign-up bonus rewards, Luckyace Casino has lumbered into its second week of crisis with little sign of any intention to address the problems.
And disgruntled players are now beginning to lodge formal complaints with the Gibraltar government, which licenses 888.com.
The white label operation is owned by industry newcomer Kamay Holdings and powered by 888.com, and has been accused of:
* Unfair and indiscriminate confiscation of winnings and bonuses earned legitimately by players in compliance with the casino's T&C's
* Non-specific broad accusations levelled at winning players of "bonus abuse" without evidence of such activity.
* Failing to provide gaming logs timeously when asked by aggrieved players.
* Displaying a "Safe and Fair" eCOGRA seal dishonestly and without undergoing the mandatory inspection, probity checks and monitoring demanded by that non-profit, player protection organisation.
* Spamming affiliates to market the operation.
* Applying a general "we can do what we want" clause to the disadvantage of legitimate players.
Within days of launching, Lucky Ace started generating an alarmingly large and diverse number of bonus abuse disqualification complaints, judging by message board postings and player advocate approaches.
The complaints all have a similar theme: Player deposits and receives a matchplay bonus; play is compliant with the casino's promo T&Cs, leading to wins on allowed games; player cashes out, and finds his or her account locked pending despatch of ID documents. The casino security staff then advise the player that his/her play has been classified as bonus abuse without giving any explanation of how they came to this conclusion, and then all winnings and bonuses are chopped, with deposits only returned to the player.
In many cases, players assert that their bad experience occurred on their one and only visit to the new operation.
Staffers with the experience that 888.com has amassed over many years of operations must know that if a player meets the T&Cs applicable to an offer, without involvement in any illegal or fraudulent activity, then he or she should be paid. If the casino for some reason does not want to do business with the player, then the place to exclude him or her is at registration - not after the fact.
Where a casino wishes to lock a player's account it is perfectly entitled to do so in enforcing its right of admission - but only after paying monies that are due to those who have met the T&C requirements offered.
Until this debacle involving hundreds of locked accounts is sorted out, players would be well advised to continue to be extremely cautious around this new arrival, which is now believed to have Russian connections.
Players are increasingly asking how effective 888.com's "due diligence" has been in taking this problematic white label on board at the risk of its own reputation.
At press time, it seems as though some of the players who initially griped in public are being paid their winnings, but until this casino gets this sorted and decides to behave like a respectable casino - it will remain not recommended.
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