Cinema now Maple, Rogue-like marketing ploy

[trade]

I received a call from Cinema Casino letting me know they are now Maple Casino. I was fairly uninterested in their call but had also noticed an email from Maple, with the subject line "You've got $100 credits!". I downloaded and logged in and there was no such bonus in my account. I contacted support and had the following chat:

You are now chatting with Courtney
________________________________________
Courtney: Hi there, how are you doing today?
Me: good thanks. I rec'd an email re. 100 credits with Maple, formally Cinema. Tcirxxxxxxxxx/ I do not know my pswd any longer
Me: formerly that is...
Courtney: Would you mind waiting a quick moment while I check my records?
Me: okay, thanks
Courtney: Have you heard about our latest big progressive winner on Friday, winning a whopping €91 000 on our aptly named game lots a loot? What a win! Our next expected progressive to payout is Mega Moolah, with the Jackpot sitting at just over 1 million euros. Next time it could be you watching your account balance skyrocket as you become one of our many Big Winners.
Me: a girl can dream....
Courtney: Anne you would like to change your password?
Me: I don't know what my old password is, so need a new one
Courtney: Allow me a moment
Me: ok
Courtney: thank you for your patience Anne
Courtney: I have successfully re set your password to 123456 default number
Courtney: Please change it in future for security reason's
Me: okay.I tried that twice now and got msg. pswd is incorrect
Courtney: Please try it again
Me: restarting...
Me: okay, opened it but just 2 cents showing in my bonus account
Courtney: Ok and the last time you checked , how much was on your bonus balance ?
Courtney: When did you receive the email ?
Me: I can't remember the last time I even played here. I just cleared the 2 cents out so now it's zeroed out. The email I receive stated I have been given a $100 bonus in my account. Yesterday morning. I was also called tonight and told that Cinema and Maple have merged.
Me: reference email>: And just like that, you've got 100 credits!
Hi Anne (Tcxxxxxxxxxxxxx),
It's time to get excited…
We bet you've had a ball with all the credits awarded! Well, the rewards don't stop there... You're now able to take advantage of a 100% Deposit Bonus and receive 100 complementary credits on your first deposit!
There are only 6 days left to claim, so make that first deposit now!
Be a winner at Maple Casino.
Me: email pasted above...
Me: I don't know what the email is talking about re. having a ball with all the credits awarded...
Me: i.e. what credits?
Courtney: To receive those credits you need to make a deposit first
Courtney: And receive the 100 complementary credits
Me: " And just like that, you've got 100 credits!" implies I already have them... since it says we bet you've had a ball with all the credits awarded... and the rewards don't stop there... this means I was rewarded them right?
Me: i.e. another 100 credits will be awarded if I make a deposit... so where are the first 100 in credits?
Courtney: Like I said to receive those credits you need to deposit first and receive the credits
Me: okay, this email is deceiving. Could you please just go ahead and close my account and remove me from your email list?
Me: The subject line says "you've got 100 credits"... the email implies more to come if I deposit. I don't appreciate this kind of thing which is clearly misleading.
Courtney: Al right , allow me moment please
Courtney: Just a moment, I won't be long at all. Thank you for your patience
Me: Was I ever awarded $100 free???
Me: Or what does the line "We bet you've had a ball with all the credits awarded!" refer to??
Courtney: I have successfully closed your account
Me: Could you respond to the above question?
Courtney: It refers to all the match bonuses which were credited in your account , before the migration
Me: okay, I will see what the Casinomeister forum members think of the casino's tactics. Very poor tactics and lousy way to relaunch the "big merger news"!

This kind of BS makes it really easy for me to delete any casinos which tries to trick you into downloading and returning to them, in the hopes you will be duped into depositing on false pretenses! I will stick with GUTS as my number 1 for their exemplary approach to the online casino business!

 

[chayton]

Sorry, nothing to do with your issue, but I'd like to thank you for mentioning that Cinema had closed - after looking through the casinos in the group I see that they closed Sun Vegas as well. So I guess if you get another email with a bonus from Sun Vegas you'll know not to bother.

 

[wobble33]

guys

I also got a snail mail to say golden Riviera casino is now casino uk. its all to do with the changes in the uk market.
in my letter it said I had 3 bonuses, when I downloaded and got redirected to casino uk, no bonuses at all in my promo page. no probs though, just thought I would let people know..

 

[spoton]

Way to many casinos use marketing tactics that would have gotten them fined if it wassn't for them operating from where they do. The same thing with "You have 100 freespins" etc. Eventhough the law doesn't stop them, I guess it just show the bad morale of their operators and promotion department.

 

[vinylweatherman]

guys

I also got a snail mail to say golden Riviera casino is now casino uk. its all to do with the changes in the uk market.
in my letter it said I had 3 bonuses, when I downloaded and got redirected to casino uk, no bonuses at all in my promo page. no probs though, just thought I would let people know..

Same here, there are no bonuses for the migration. I went from Crazy Vegas, my most played account.

I hope they realise that under UK law, they are in trouble for sending out this misleading mailer, and the snail mail one is definitely within the jurisdiction of the UK. It's a poor start, as the migration has been a bit of a farce, with no information for players followed by conflicting and misleading information and offers.

All UK players are being migrated to Casino UK from the other skins as this is the only one they are getting a UK licence for. Non UK players are going to get migrated away from Casino UK. Maple seems to be the skin serving Canada, and some Canadian players have reported being migrated to Maple. There has still been no official statement other than the change for UK players, but it seems Cinema and Sun Vegas are to close.

 

[Vegasbum]

I was able to get the 100% match. I checked with CS. They said just make a deposit and get match and it worked fine for me

 

[nikantw]

These changes are being made without any plan. Imagine the poor bastard that has paid 1000 or more at a tournament, only to find his account moved to another casino and his alias inaccessible!!

 

[vinylweatherman]

These changes are being made without any plan. Imagine the poor bastard that has paid 1000 or more at a tournament, only to find his account moved to another casino and his alias inaccessible!!

I did imagine it. The real problem is that even if CS can sort things out for you, precious time is being lost to play the tournament, and a solution may come too late.

By heeding the rumours, I avoided such a fate in my Crazy Vegas account. Had I only acted upon official statements, I could have been screwed. In the end, they screwed up a little, and I ended up with access to my Crazy Vegas account through Casino UK, and so would still have had access to my alias. According to my host though, this shouldn't have happened, UK players were supposed to lose access to all their other accounts.

The changes coming for Fortune Lounge and the old Belle Rock group could give UK players even bigger problems. They too have operator specific tournaments that run for several days, and here there is no migration for UK players, it's a complete closure and sale of the players to Betway. Red Flush and old Jackpot Factory could cause similar upheaval. All we really know is that things have to settle down by 1st October, when the new licencing laws come into force.

 

[catapultaudio]

In the end, they screwed up a little, and I ended up with access to my Crazy Vegas account through Casino UK, and so would still have had access to my alias. According to my host though, this shouldn't have happened, UK players were supposed to lose access to all their other accounts.

VWM, whilst it appears that it is now possible to start slots tournaments from accounts transferred in from other skins, the day immediately following the switchover this was not possible and an error was shown 'You must choose an alias before playing slots tournaments'. I know this because, as I think I mentioned on another thread you were on already, I won a tournament at 777dragon the day of the switchover and did not receive my winnings. I have enquired about this on three seperate ocassions so far without success, going to try them again now but all they will say is that they are waiting for Microgaming to advise them regarding the problem...

Personally i don't get it - it took them about an hour of convincing before they realised they owed me anything, then when they finally did agree I was owed it, they refuse to credit it .. and are still doing so several days later... I'm so glad its a small amount of money.

VWM have you actually tried to launch a slots tournament whilst logged into CasinoUK via your Crazy Vegas username? As I think you know, I won a tournament at 777dragon the day of the switchover however the winnings were not credited to the account over at CasinoUK and before the end of the tournament I was unable to launch it again - I am still unable to start any tournaments from any transferred accounts, instead I get an error

 

[vinylweatherman]

VWM, whilst it appears that it is now possible to start slots tournaments from accounts transferred in from other skins, the day immediately following the switchover this was not possible and an error was shown 'You must choose an alias before playing slots tournaments'. I know this because, as I think I mentioned on another thread you were on already, I won a tournament at 777dragon the day of the switchover and did not receive my winnings. I have enquired about this on three seperate ocassions so far without success, going to try them again now but all they will say is that they are waiting for Microgaming to advise them regarding the problem...

Personally i don't get it - it took them about an hour of convincing before they realised they owed me anything, then when they finally did agree I was owed it, they refuse to credit it .. and are still doing so several days later... I'm so glad its a small amount of money.

VWM have you actually tried to launch a slots tournament whilst logged into CasinoUK via your Crazy Vegas username? As I think you know, I won a tournament at 777dragon the day of the switchover however the winnings were not credited to the account over at CasinoUK and before the end of the tournament I was unable to launch it again - I am still unable to start any tournaments from any transferred accounts, instead I get an error

I haven't tried recently, but it appeared to work the day after. I have just had a call from my VIP rep who has told me something slightly different. The welcome bonus has been set on accounts that have been migrated, but as it has already been set, the usual popup is not seen when logging on. He also said that ALL previous accounts have been migrated and should be accessible through Casino UK, and said that playing the tournaments on these accounts is possible.

My suspicion is that they have not migrated the aliases, just the accounts, which means that players have to choose a new alias when joining a tournament, and of course the old alias is orphaned, so any winnings awaiting payment do not get credited automatically.

This migration is rapidly turning into a dog's breakfast, and it was clearly a MAJOR failure not to inform UK players well in advance, and add that they should NOT register for any tournaments that end after the migration date.

The fact that they are now having to get Microgaming to sort out this 777Dragon mess shows that my fears are justified about a tournament finishing before any migration issues are sorted out for players that began playing prior to the 17th July.

 

[vinylweatherman]

I have just tried again, and now that the migration has bedded down, it is telling me I have to register an alias. Clearly, this is a screwup.

Worse, I can't actually register an alias, the software doesn't deliver the registration screen after clicking OK to the message, and this is how one is supposed to register a new alias (click on tournament, get the you need an alias screen, which then lets you register an alias).

 

[tarantinoe]

Hello to all,

Signed up to this great forum to get some clarity, have been a long time player at sun vegas casino, couple thousands in deposits, now they have been merged to maple casino. I'm from canada and so this doesn't bother me however after speaking to 5 different CSR's I've been unable to find the answer. I Always play on the downloaded version of any casino, thus having the sun vegas software on my pc, since the merge I can still login, deposit and play, I have however encountered the alias tournaments issue as stated in this topic, now my question is is it ok if I continue to use the sun vegas downloaded version or must I download the maple version? Also I had a different username for maple casino then my sun vegas but used and played mostly at sun vegas, I asked to delete one account as I didn't want it to be seen as having multiple accounts and they told me this was not needed. Lastly once I did download the maple casino software and logged in under my sun vegas username all the progress I had made in free spins for immortal romance and thunderstruck 2 is gone under the maple casino platform. I continue playing with sun vegas platform for my progress in free spins but have lost access to tournaments with the alais issue. Lastly I'm either unlucky or too big a gambler but have never requested a cash out from this group or specifically sun vegas or maple. Are they safe and trustworthy, any help is appreciated and thank you

 

[chayton]

Lastly I'm either unlucky or too big a gambler but have never requested a cash out from this group or specifically sun vegas or maple. Are they safe and trustworthy, any help is appreciated and thank you

I can answer this question - yes, they're very safe and trustworthy, payouts are reasonably quick too except they don't process withdrawals on weekends. Just make sure you carefully read any bonus terms if you take bonuses. As for the rest, I'd send an email to casino support (not chat) and see if they have any ideas.

 

[vinylweatherman]

Hello to all,

Signed up to this great forum to get some clarity, have been a long time player at sun vegas casino, couple thousands in deposits, now they have been merged to maple casino. I'm from canada and so this doesn't bother me however after speaking to 5 different CSR's I've been unable to find the answer. I Always play on the downloaded version of any casino, thus having the sun vegas software on my pc, since the merge I can still login, deposit and play, I have however encountered the alias tournaments issue as stated in this topic, now my question is is it ok if I continue to use the sun vegas downloaded version or must I download the maple version? Also I had a different username for maple casino then my sun vegas but used and played mostly at sun vegas, I asked to delete one account as I didn't want it to be seen as having multiple accounts and they told me this was not needed. Lastly once I did download the maple casino software and logged in under my sun vegas username all the progress I had made in free spins for immortal romance and thunderstruck 2 is gone under the maple casino platform. I continue playing with sun vegas platform for my progress in free spins but have lost access to tournaments with the alais issue. Lastly I'm either unlucky or too big a gambler but have never requested a cash out from this group or specifically sun vegas or maple. Are they safe and trustworthy, any help is appreciated and thank you

It looks like they tried to fix something that wasn't broken, and broke it in the process. The migrations have broken the tournament functionality on accounts that have been migrated. It seems from your case that this has still happened regardless of what skin you use to log in. They have always had cross play, and it has meant that normally any skin will do in order to play tournaments on a given account. It seems they have messed around with cross play as part of the migrations, and it has resulted in the aliases getting lost, and players are unable to simply create new ones post migration.

I had another call this evening, and they are fully aware that the aliases and tournaments got completely screwed up in the process, and are trying to fix it. It may not be quick enough for currently running tournaments though. Oddly enough, I have been refunded €10 for a tournament that I entered, yet it's one I completed and didn't place (The Reels De Janeiro). Either I should have received nothing, or I should have got EVERYTHING spent on it back. It seems they are refunding only the initial buy in, but not any continues. I would expect any player who has placed would prefer the prize, and any with a half finished run would want all their costs refunded, not just the buy in.

By being the first group to migrate, they are uncovering all the bugs, some of which must be down to Microgaming.

It would surely have been easier to simply tell players to create new accounts themselves at Casino UK and Maple if they didn't already have one, and just cancel the old ones. This may still be a way out of the technical mess for players who are finding their migrated accounts troublesome. I am sure it will make affiliates pretty mad though, and they may already be getting annoyed that the problems could cause some migrated players to quit the group rather than struggle on.

 

[nikantw]

Problem not solved, but anybody can play at the 20.000 tournament with a temp alias. Just try it!
This temp alias doesn't work on anything else. It is "player something", given by the casino. If you don't have it ask for it.

 

[vinylweatherman]

Problem not solved, but anybody can play at the 20.000 tournament with a temp alias. Just try it!
This temp alias doesn't work on anything else. It is "player something", given by the casino. If you don't have it ask for it.

I've got mine working, and am making sure the issue gets highlighted.

They have assured me that the issue is now fixed, but it clearly isn't.

Even the temporary alias doesn't always work, sometimes it fails and you get the "you need an alias" message and the tournament doesn't load. It only works in the 20,000 tournament as they did a bulk opt-in for all their players, and created a whole bunch of temporary aliases.

It's possible that by creating these temporary aliases, they have yet again broken the system as when you do manage to get the screen to load that allows you to create your alias, it gives the error "cannot process at this time". I think this is because you already HAVE an alias, the temporary one, so obviously you can't create another. Unfortunately, the temporary alias is not recognised when trying to join any tournament from the client side.

The previous tournament was unplayable, there were no temporary aliases visible, and the creation process didn't work.

Non migrated players are clearly able to play as before, shown by valid aliases chosen by themselves.