Neil
Dormant account
- Joined
- May 17, 2004
- Location
- Ontario, Canada
This email is about a promotion offer from by Cirrus Casino which they refuse to honor. The promotion was a blackjack tournament during the week of May 7 through May 13. The tournament offered to put the blackjack odds in the player's favor by treating each 2-card 20 losing hand as a winner. Also, there was a 15% deposit bonus, with a 15x playthrough for blackjack. A screenshot of their offer is shown below. According to the rules they posted, I should have had a credit of $508, but they only gave me $100.50. Their excuse is that the posed rules were not the real rules of the tournament!
On Friday May 7, before making my deposit, I clarified with the casino manager, Christine Jennings, using their online help chat, that using the codes shown on the web site would give the 15% bonus as well as make my blackjack games operate under the special tournament rules. So I deposited $725 and received a bonus of $108.75. Christine told me to keep track of the hands where I should get a bonus, because the software would play using regular rules, and I would be compensated for those hands at the end of the tournament. She also said to email the casino when I got such a hand. As strange as that sounded, I agreed and began to play.
After playing blackjack for an hour or so, I chatted with support again to clarify the rules. I had a 2-card 20 hand that resulted in a push. The support person, Brian, was unsure of whether a push on a 2-card 20 would qualify for the promotion, so he went to check, and came back and told me that this was not my win. Fair enough.
On that Friday and Saturday I played over 4000 hands of blackjack, and I recorded 44 2-card 20 hands where I lost betting $5, and 17 hands betting $2. During that time, I sent them 3 emails listing what I had recorded, along with my calculations of how much I expected back for these hands. I asked them to reply and confirm the amount I was owed, but I received no responses to my emails. The amount I had calculated was as follows:
For each $5 hand, the program took my $5, but under the tournament rules the hand is treated as a winner, so I should have been given $5 instead. That is a $10 difference. Similarly, for each $2 hand, I should be credited $4. This gave a total of 44*$10 + 17*$4 = $508.
At least twice during the week, I chatted with Christine and asked her to confirm how much I was owed. She said that she would do it but that it would take time, and that she would get back to me when she did it. I didn't hear back from her about that. However she did tell me that once I received my bonus credits, they were subject to a 15x playthrough, and that I could not cash out more than the original amount of the bonus credits! This came as a complete surprise to me, and I don't see anything on their web site that explains this.
When the tournament was over on Friday May 14, I contacted Cirrus support and they told me to send an email requesting my credit for the tournament. So, I sent yet another email, and got the following response:
Date Time Bet Dealer's Cards Player's Cards Credit
5/7/2004 8:55:18 PM $2.00 10D, AH QD, JS $3.00
5/7/2004 9:13:58 PM $2.00 QH, AC 10H, JC $3.00
5/7/2004 9:34:02 PM $2.00 AH, QH KS, QH $3.00
5/7/2004 10:08:01 PM $5.00 KS, AS QS, JC $7.50
5/7/2004 11:35:35 PM $5.00 AS, JD KH, 10S $7.50
5/7/2004 11:42:03 PM $5.00 QS, AC 10C, 10S $7.50
5/8/2004 12:25:00 AM $5.00 QD, AS JC, QH $7.50
5/8/2004 12:28:29 AM $5.00 QH, AD QC, 10S $7.50
5/8/2004 1:06:17 AM $5.00 QD, AS KH, KS $7.50
5/8/2004 8:27:01 AM $5.00 KC, AC KH, KS $7.50
5/8/2004 1:25:54 PM $2.00 AS, QD 10C, 10C $3.00
5/8/2004 1:47:15 PM $2.00 KS, AH JS, JD $3.00
5/8/2004 2:18:14 PM $2.00 JH, AS JC, KS $3.00
5/8/2004 2:52:17 PM $5.00 JS, AS JC, QC $7.50
5/8/2004 3:29:13 PM $5.00 JS, AH KC, KC $7.50
5/8/2004 3:43:21 PM $5.00 AH, JS 10S, KH $7.50
5/8/2004 4:29:28 PM $5.00 AS, KC KD, 10D $7.50
Total credits $100.50
First of all, the credit should be twice the bet, not 1.5 times. I have no idea how they came up with that. But worse, they missed most of my 2-card 20 loss hands. They only counted the hands where I had a 2-card 20 and the dealer had a BlackJack,, not hands where I had 2-card 20 and the dealer got 21 with more than 2 cards, and I lost. The web page very clearly said "Every time you lose on a 2-card 20 CIRRUS will treat your game as a WINNER!!".
Cirrus was trying to pay me only $100.50 when their tournament rules clearly indicate that they owe me $508! What a rip off!!! Do they think I'm stupid?
I replied to the email, explaining their error, and chatted with Christine Jennings again. She said that the rules posted on the web site were wrong, but that they could not correct them that day because the person who makes web site changes was not there. And she said that she personally explained to everyone who played the game that only dealer BlackJacks count. I told her that she did not explain this to me, and that this was unacceptable because it is not what was promised on the website. I also said that as casino manager she knows that it is important to have written rules. By the way, the web page stayed as it was all week long, and was not changed to indicate different rules.
She said that she would check with accounting to see if they could "bend the rules" for me, and that I should contact her on Saturday. On Saturday I talked to her by phone and she said that she had not yet talked to accounting, but that she would in 2 hours or so, then get back to me. She didn't get back to me yet.
This is extremely unfair. Not only did I spend most of my weekend playing thousands of games of BlackJack under false pretenses, but I also would have cashed out earlier when I had played as much as I really wanted to, and I was ahead in winnings. But I was doing so well because of the tournament rules, that I just kept playing and playing, and I ended up cashing out less than I could have.
Does everyone else reading this agree with me that this was deceptive and misleading false advertising? Did anyone of you also play in this tournament and feel cheated? I would love to hear.
Regards,
Neil Lefebvre
On Friday May 7, before making my deposit, I clarified with the casino manager, Christine Jennings, using their online help chat, that using the codes shown on the web site would give the 15% bonus as well as make my blackjack games operate under the special tournament rules. So I deposited $725 and received a bonus of $108.75. Christine told me to keep track of the hands where I should get a bonus, because the software would play using regular rules, and I would be compensated for those hands at the end of the tournament. She also said to email the casino when I got such a hand. As strange as that sounded, I agreed and began to play.
After playing blackjack for an hour or so, I chatted with support again to clarify the rules. I had a 2-card 20 hand that resulted in a push. The support person, Brian, was unsure of whether a push on a 2-card 20 would qualify for the promotion, so he went to check, and came back and told me that this was not my win. Fair enough.
On that Friday and Saturday I played over 4000 hands of blackjack, and I recorded 44 2-card 20 hands where I lost betting $5, and 17 hands betting $2. During that time, I sent them 3 emails listing what I had recorded, along with my calculations of how much I expected back for these hands. I asked them to reply and confirm the amount I was owed, but I received no responses to my emails. The amount I had calculated was as follows:
For each $5 hand, the program took my $5, but under the tournament rules the hand is treated as a winner, so I should have been given $5 instead. That is a $10 difference. Similarly, for each $2 hand, I should be credited $4. This gave a total of 44*$10 + 17*$4 = $508.
At least twice during the week, I chatted with Christine and asked her to confirm how much I was owed. She said that she would do it but that it would take time, and that she would get back to me when she did it. I didn't hear back from her about that. However she did tell me that once I received my bonus credits, they were subject to a 15x playthrough, and that I could not cash out more than the original amount of the bonus credits! This came as a complete surprise to me, and I don't see anything on their web site that explains this.
When the tournament was over on Friday May 14, I contacted Cirrus support and they told me to send an email requesting my credit for the tournament. So, I sent yet another email, and got the following response:
Date Time Bet Dealer's Cards Player's Cards Credit
5/7/2004 8:55:18 PM $2.00 10D, AH QD, JS $3.00
5/7/2004 9:13:58 PM $2.00 QH, AC 10H, JC $3.00
5/7/2004 9:34:02 PM $2.00 AH, QH KS, QH $3.00
5/7/2004 10:08:01 PM $5.00 KS, AS QS, JC $7.50
5/7/2004 11:35:35 PM $5.00 AS, JD KH, 10S $7.50
5/7/2004 11:42:03 PM $5.00 QS, AC 10C, 10S $7.50
5/8/2004 12:25:00 AM $5.00 QD, AS JC, QH $7.50
5/8/2004 12:28:29 AM $5.00 QH, AD QC, 10S $7.50
5/8/2004 1:06:17 AM $5.00 QD, AS KH, KS $7.50
5/8/2004 8:27:01 AM $5.00 KC, AC KH, KS $7.50
5/8/2004 1:25:54 PM $2.00 AS, QD 10C, 10C $3.00
5/8/2004 1:47:15 PM $2.00 KS, AH JS, JD $3.00
5/8/2004 2:18:14 PM $2.00 JH, AS JC, KS $3.00
5/8/2004 2:52:17 PM $5.00 JS, AS JC, QC $7.50
5/8/2004 3:29:13 PM $5.00 JS, AH KC, KC $7.50
5/8/2004 3:43:21 PM $5.00 AH, JS 10S, KH $7.50
5/8/2004 4:29:28 PM $5.00 AS, KC KD, 10D $7.50
Total credits $100.50
First of all, the credit should be twice the bet, not 1.5 times. I have no idea how they came up with that. But worse, they missed most of my 2-card 20 loss hands. They only counted the hands where I had a 2-card 20 and the dealer had a BlackJack,, not hands where I had 2-card 20 and the dealer got 21 with more than 2 cards, and I lost. The web page very clearly said "Every time you lose on a 2-card 20 CIRRUS will treat your game as a WINNER!!".
Cirrus was trying to pay me only $100.50 when their tournament rules clearly indicate that they owe me $508! What a rip off!!! Do they think I'm stupid?
I replied to the email, explaining their error, and chatted with Christine Jennings again. She said that the rules posted on the web site were wrong, but that they could not correct them that day because the person who makes web site changes was not there. And she said that she personally explained to everyone who played the game that only dealer BlackJacks count. I told her that she did not explain this to me, and that this was unacceptable because it is not what was promised on the website. I also said that as casino manager she knows that it is important to have written rules. By the way, the web page stayed as it was all week long, and was not changed to indicate different rules.
She said that she would check with accounting to see if they could "bend the rules" for me, and that I should contact her on Saturday. On Saturday I talked to her by phone and she said that she had not yet talked to accounting, but that she would in 2 hours or so, then get back to me. She didn't get back to me yet.
This is extremely unfair. Not only did I spend most of my weekend playing thousands of games of BlackJack under false pretenses, but I also would have cashed out earlier when I had played as much as I really wanted to, and I was ahead in winnings. But I was doing so well because of the tournament rules, that I just kept playing and playing, and I ended up cashing out less than I could have.
Does everyone else reading this agree with me that this was deceptive and misleading false advertising? Did anyone of you also play in this tournament and feel cheated? I would love to hear.
Regards,
Neil Lefebvre
