And now for something....

Slotmachine

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Joined
Oct 15, 2004
Location
US
...completely different!

If you want to check out a unique casino concept, visit www.paf.fi - it's an internet betting company and casino that's based in Ahvenanmaa (land), an island on the Baltic Sea. Here's my review of the Casino. It's open to international customers as well.

One unique aspect of PAF is that it's a non-profit organization - all the profits (about 7 million eur per year) go to humanitarian and social funds (as required by Finnish law). So you can feel good about losing! It's also the only Casino I know of that's been certified by the ISO 9001:2000 quality standard.

They have a decent payout%, about 97.7% for the Casino, and they have a slot machine with a 99.64% payout! Many of their games have been analyzed to death by crazy Finns hell-bent on analyzing everything...ahem.. and you can find reel setups, payouts and strategies on the net. The Joker Poker sucks at about 96%, but their progressive Jackpot multiline poker is OK when the progressive climbs above 4,700 eur -> above 100% expected return.

The only problem with paf.fi is that they don't have a comps program, and offer no bonuses usually, and the CS is sort of like William Hill - just not there - but they are extremely reliable, government regulated, and winnings are always paid very fast, directly to your bank account. They'll never pull a fast one on you.

They have a good progressive slot "Fisherman's Jackpot" which has a starting payout at 90% and often goes above 100% expected return at about 20,000 eur, and the progressive can be won on any of the 20 winning lines, which is unique.

The software is by a Finnish company named EGE, and the games come in Java and Flash versions. The software can't compete with Microgaming and RTG, and their servers are sluggish sometimes, their bonus features are annoyingly slow and overdone. Even the double feature is often a one-minute affair...but in general the games are OK.

All in all, a different casino. The main selling point to me is that even though they're out to get your money just like any other casino, they're out to put it to good use and use it to help those in need.

Cheers,
SM
 
During Christmas holidays I was in a cruise in Baltic Sea and in the ship there were fruit and video poker machines of this company. The house edge should be something like 50%, for real. They were old slots machines though. I recognized the name. I have no idea about internet gaming of PAF.
 
umberto said:
During Christmas holidays I was in a cruise in Baltic Sea and in the ship there were fruit and video poker machines of this company. The house edge should be something like 50%, for real. They were old slots machines though. I recognized the name. I have no idea about internet gaming of PAF.

Yes, the slot machines on cruise ships, airports and the like, are notorious for their poor payout % regardless of the company that provides them. I'm pretty sure it's not 50% though, the PAF machines in the ships usually have close to 90% payout which is not good, but nowhere near 50%.

The online casino is different - their games are fair and have a better-than average return % compared to other online casinos.

I don't actually play there so much myself, only occasionally. I still think they're a special outfit in many ways.

Cheers,
SM
 
Their CS is very good if you call them...the email support sucks...
I only play Multihand Jackpot Poker and Cash&Carry-slot over there...the other games I rarely touch, except Fisherman's Jackpot, which is nice too...
 
ergopro said:
Their CS is very good if you call them...the email support sucks...
I only play Multihand Jackpot Poker and Cash&Carry-slot over there...the other games I rarely touch, except Fisherman's Jackpot, which is nice too...

Right - I never needed to call them :) I agree the e-mail support is very unresponsive. But you don't need much support with them I guess.

My main gripe about the games are the infinitely boring bonus features where you have to wait for the silly 30-sec flash movie to finish, then you get a $0.40 bonus award!

Cheers,
SM
 
The history is interesting (
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. PAF was set up in 1967 (offline obviously!) by organisations including the Red Cross & Save The Chiuldren.

Nice concept all round if you ask me. Although i had to laugh at the name of the CEO - "Lars Porko" :D
 
It's the only online casino so far I've played that let's you make even money bets in roulette with a 1x playthrough for their match bonuses :D ...too bad they haven't handed out any codes for months now...

My main gripe about the games are the infinitely boring bonus features where you have to wait for the silly 30-sec flash movie to finish, then you get a $0.40 bonus award!
Lol...that's more than true...but they do have a button in the upper right corner of that bonus screen that let's you skip the flash movie :)
 
PAF was the first online casino where i played. But i don't play there anymore, because no comps, no bonuses, lazy support, no toll free numbers, poor pay tables, etc.

Of course i like their (Finnish) funding activity system. Based law.
Like RAY*:
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(Homepage - English)

More info about PAF online casino games (Finnish language)
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-> nettikasinot -> paf online

*Information about RAY

Raha-automaattiyhdistys (Finlands Slot Machine Association), which is generally referred to as RAY, was established in 1938 to raise funds through gaming operations to support Finnish health and welfare organizations. RAY has an exclusive right in Finland to operate slot machines and casino table games, and to run a casino. RAYs activities are based on four values: reliability, efficiency, customer-orientation, and respect for the individual.
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ergopro said:
...too bad they haven't handed out any codes for months now...

I think in light of it being for charities that that's good. This is one casino where i feel players should play with their own money! The last thing anyone would want is to see "profit-from-bonus" players trying to take advantage of a charity.
 
Most income in Finland made by RAY (the casinogame monopoly here, even the landbased casino in Helsinki) goes to charity...it's a good system. And yes, now and then PAF gives out a 100% match bonus 20e/20e that has 1x wagering requirement...I think that's no misuse, since the amounts are so small... :) It's a common thing here that gambling profits go to charity, even from our national sportsbetting and lottery company which is called Veikkaus. I think that's one thing that the rest of the world could learn from this tiny country...and sauna, as another thing :lolup:
 
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Slow

Slow? Its in a COMA on my PC!
Nice concept though, and I expect some of the slowness is by design to prevent a lot of money being lost too quickly. I doubt a small Baltic island has a major connection to the Internet and this may also contribute.
It's one to consider as it is "completely different" from the standard cash cow (for them) online casino.

At least when the dealer pulls all the 21's to our 20's we can at least console ourselves that the money is going to charity:)
 
Hmm...You can adjust the game speed from the Options menu :)
But yeah, it is a bit slow now and then- on the other hand...I think I've got used to it... :D
 
about PAF

ergopro said:
Most income in Finland made by RAY (the casinogame monopoly here, even the landbased casino in Helsinki) goes to charity...it's a good system. And yes, now and then PAF gives out a 100% match bonus 20e/20e that has 1x wagering requirement...I think that's no misuse, since the amounts are so small... :) It's a common thing here that gambling profits go to charity, even from our national sportsbetting and lottery company which is called Veikkaus. I think that's one thing that the rest of the world could learn from this tiny country...and sauna, as another thing :lolup:

Yes PAF is a real good casino if we are talking about being serious with players and paying in time (for me it take always 1 day to have money in my bank account), but I have noticed that 1 or 2 years ago the probability of winning was really higher, I don't know if I started to be not lucky all at once, but from the moment I got the 5 PAF symbols in Island slot machine (600euro), I started losing my deposits there, no metter how much I put and play I am always losing.
I think I will go to paradise for how much I contributed to this charity project...:mad:
 
FiftyOnMe.com said:
I couldn't find an affiliate program on their site. Anyone know if they have one?

I hope not. Why not just add it anyway? Its a good cause.
 
Simmo! said:
I hope not. Why not just add it anyway? Its a good cause.

That's a really good point - unfortunately it doesn't fit into my business model as of now. (I'm not being greedy, I offer incentives to sign up to casinos, and I would lose lots of money if I included them)

Hopefully another time on another site though.

- David
 
ergopro said:
Most income in Finland made by RAY (the casinogame monopoly here, even the landbased casino in Helsinki) goes to charity...it's a good system. And yes, now and then PAF gives out a 100% match bonus 20e/20e that has 1x wagering requirement...I think that's no misuse, since the amounts are so small... :) It's a common thing here that gambling profits go to charity, even from our national sportsbetting and lottery company which is called Veikkaus. I think that's one thing that the rest of the world could learn from this tiny country...and sauna, as another thing :lolup:

I agree - i think there is room in the market for more of this type of thing. Wouldn't surprise me if a number of the national lotteries over time started something similar.

Question though for the Brits. Is the "Tote" in the UK a similar thing? Or is it just a government tax collecting device? Only they have a casino so i wondered if it acted on a similar principle?

I dont know a lot about the Tote - in fact I think i'll go learn. Anyone know the answer meantime?
 
Check out Link Removed ( Old/Invalid) .

From Link Removed ( Old/Invalid) :
"The tote, was established by Act of Parliament in 1928 and is now the fourth largest bookmaker in the UK. Its original purpose was to offer on-course pool betting on horseracing as an alternative to starting price betting with bookmakers and to distribute its profits for “purposes conducive to the improvement of breeds of horses or the sport of horseracing”. The first major race meetings with tote betting were the flat race meetings at Newmarket (July Course) and Carlisle on 2nd July 1929."
 

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