Telemarketing Operation Fined a Record $300,000 Under the Competition
Act For Scamming Thousands of Victims
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The Competition Bureau announced yesterday that 3076784 Canada Inc.,
carrying on business as National Clearing House-Nationwide Clearing
House and The National Clearing House, and the company president,
Jack Stroll a.k.a. Jack Strulovitch, pleaded guilty to the highest
fine ever imposed against a deceptive telemarketing firm under the
misleading advertising provisions of the Competition Act.
A fine of $290,000 against the corporate entity and a fine of $10,000
against Mr. Stroll were imposed by the Quebec Superior Court.
Prize-pitch deceptive telemarketing is a serious problem in the
marketplace. This case demonstrates our commitment to attack the
various forms of deceptive telemarketing in co- operation with other
law enforcement agencies. The Bureau's law enforcement partners; OPP
Project Phonebusters, The Montreal Metropolitan Urban Police Force
and the R.C.M.P. provided valuable assistance that contributed to the
successful conclusion for this matter.
The charges relate to deceptive telemarketing and direct mail
practices carried out by the Montral area operation during the
period of November 1, 1994 to October 31, 1995. National Clearing
House mailed "Official Claim Certificates" to consumers in every
province of Canada with the exception of the province of Qubec. The
mail piece stated that they had been selected to receive at least one
of five valuable awards, but stated that to be eligible to receive
the awards they must call the firm within 72 hours. The odds of
receiving the various awards, and that a purchase was required to
receive the awards, was disclosed in very small print on the reverse
side of the mail piece. Consumers responding to the mail piece were
told that to be eligible to receive the awards they had to purchase
grossly overpriced promotional items.
The awards offered ranged from a Ford Explorer to a diamond &
sapphire pendant. Investigators did not uncover one winner of the
Ford Explorer or of the other valuable award, the satellite tv dish.
Consumers received the same three awards; the diamond & sapphire
pendant, the airfare for two to Hawaii, and the cellular telephone.
However, so many terms and conditions applied to the airfare to
Hawaii and to the cellular phone, that they had essentially no value,
and the diamond & sapphire pendant was comprised of a low value
commercial grade diamond. The conditions applicable to the awards
were either not disclosed or were only partially disclosed to the
consumer at the time of the transaction .
In addition, the Court imposed a Prohibition Order to prevent the
repetition of the anticompetitive conduct against the corporate
entity, Mr. Stroll and against the following managers and
telemarketers:
Joel Greenspoon also known as Joel Green,
Mark Francis,
Leo Hackenbroch also known as Leo Hack,
Robert Martin Schwartz also known as Robert Martin,
Myra Kerzner Cohen also known as Myra Kerzner,
Ann Slodovnick also known as Ann Slade and
Velna Bernice Griffith-Johnson also known as Bernice Johnson.
For further information, please contact:
Joanne John
(819) 953-4257
GOLDEN PALACE ONLINE CASINO SETS UNWANTED PRECEDENCE AND OTHERS FOLLOW... Written by Sting
06.26.00
Now that we have determined the Golden Palace Casino, one of the oldest in the industry, to be based in Antigua and licensed by that tiny island nation's government, the next question is why has the government not taken action to rectify a situation that continues to get way out of hand? Making matters worse in fact is Golden Palace's response to the accusations regarding "bonus confiscation" AND the Antigua government's announcement that their license was reinstated....as if we really needed to hear THAT.
Once again, while I am no advocate of "exploitation" of online casino and sportsbook bonuses, I find it reprehensible that a book would simply take it upon themselves to confiscate such monies regardless of whether the individuals chose to continue patronizing the establishment or just did so only to take advantage of the bonus offer. It is the operator's responsibility to establish ground rules prohibiting individuals from "abusing" bonus programs. Whether persons in this situation engaged in so-called "bonus abuse" is a nonissue. The issue centers around an online casino's confiscating money from players accounts at will.
Now we learn that other online casinos have also begun engaging in similar practices. Casino Depot is the latest. They too use Microgaming software.
Our own online casino expert pointed us in the right direction. "Sting, the following comes from a post at
Link Removed ( Old/Invalid) . James (Layland) is part of
and is a frequent poster and expert on casinos and their bonus policies. He is quite sharp, an engineer I believe. He once wrote he was making more than double his income playing bonuses by the casinos rules."
<,<,Dear Mr. Francis (Casino Depot),
On April 27th, Casino Depot removed $6995 from my account. (Actually, make that $7025, since you charged me $30 for a wire you didn't send.) See attached log.
You have stated that you feel this action is justified because I defrauded your casino by playing according to your rules. Personally, I feel the fraud is on your side, but let's not point fingers right now.
You have informed Dov at Gambling Grumbles that you will consider accounts on a case-by-case basis; I assume from our previous conversation that my account is already well-considered and closed.
You feel that I have defrauded your casino by playing in previous promotions and winning a total of about $7000. I feel that you have stolen $7000 that is rightfully mine.
I am a gambler, and as gambling is the business of a casino, I propose we play double-or-nothing.
1) You put $7000 back into my account and re-open it. 2) I deposit $7000 into my account, which is roughly the total of my winnings over the past 6 months at Golden Palace and Casino Depot. 3) I gamble in your casino, giving total action exceeding $50,000 (or until broke), verified by Microgaming. 4) In the event that I win, you PAY me. I have copied this to Microgaming, Antigua Gaming, Gambling Grumbles, Got2Bet, and the newly forming Online Players Association, in hopes that they will be interested in overseeing the fairness of any deal. 5) Win or lose, if you keep your end of the bargain, I will post on all the message boards I frequent, and on my column at www.gamemasterarcade.com, that my case was resolved to my satisfaction.
Details are negotiable.
Think about it.
- James Layland<,Dear Mr Layland
I have looked over your accounts and your proposal. The first point that I would like to bring up is regarding your proposal. Mr Layland I have one question for you: Haven't we paid you enough already? I mean seriously we have been more than generous by offering these promo's we have paid you thousands of dollars already. Rather than being content you choose to try and argue for something that is really not yours. You call yourself a gambler well you certainly did not prove that to me. We have actually taken a decision to lock you out and ban you from our casino and we will suggest that our competitors do the same. You are obviously not content with the thousands of dollars in promo monies you've received, it does not seem to be enough for you to promote us already. So in answer to your proposal I will sum it up by saying "thanks but no thanks" I have done something even better.
Just to show that it is not about the money I have taken the promo monies retrieved from your account and sent it to the IGC for them to donate it to a charitable cause of their choice, you see Mr Layland it is not about the money but the principle.
Regards
Mark Francis Credit Manager>,>,
What these operators do not understand is that this bonus money, regardless of HOW MUCH they offer, is a GIFT.....and gifts cannot be taken back then sent to some other agency. This is completely intolerable in my eyes. Antigua needs to take a stand on this issue. The online gaming community is becoming quite antsy over what is taking place.
A new precedence has been set where operators can just remove monies from players accounts. THAT bonus money is rightfully his! It is the casinos job to make sure their bonus program does not get abused BEFORE THE FACT, NOT AFTER.
GOLDEN PALACE AUDIT...Written by Elizabeth May
10.04.00
Once again Golden Palace has dodged a bullet. In June, a group of players lodged a complaint against Golden Palace Online Casino to the Kahnawake Gaming Commission in Canada, where Golden Palace is now licensed. These players, and others, provided documentation that they had been locked out of their accounts by Golden Palace, and that money still in their accounts had been seized by the casino. Golden Palace agreed that they had, in fact, taken this action against players they termed "bonus abusers". Golden Palace, through their spokesman, Mark Francis, also stated that the money confiscated from players accounts had been donated to the IGC to be given to a charity.
The Mohawk Territory Kahnawake Gaming Commission has set themselves up to authenticate the honesty of the entities that are licensed under their jurisdiction. This commission, in June, concluded that "Golden Palace's actions in the disputed case were 'justified and did not contravene the provisions of the (Kahnawake) Regulations.' " *
Microgaming, who licenses the software for Golden Palace, authorized an audit of Golden Palace by PriceWaterhouseCoopers, the accounting firm retained by Microgaming to audit their gaming software. This audit was to be completed with the stipulation that "all parties" would be bound by the results of this audit.
The results of this audit have yet to be published anywhere. However, it would seem that given the public nature of the announcement by Microgaming of the audit taking place, it would be incumbent upon them to publish the results of the audit. They make a selling point of the results of audits of their websites. Recently, I received the following reply to an inquiry from me about this audit.
"Dear Elizabeth,
Thank you for contacting me.
Microgaming facilitated the audit by in PwC in an attempt to settle this dispute, however, apart from paying for it, we are not actually involved.
I understand the matter has been settled amicably between all concerned, have you contacted the parties who were involved in the ruling?
Please let me know if I can be of any further assistance.
Kind regards
Lisa Wycherley.
Ms Wycherley is listed as Vice President of Operations, Microgaming Systems. Presumably, she would be privy to anything affecting the operations of Microgaming casinos.
Microgaming's integrity is in serious jeopardy here. The recent change to Firecash for their online financial operations has already caused a number of players to express doubts about the safety of playing in their casinos. Firecash has had numerous instances of double-billing players. There is still a question whether Firecash contacted all players who were double-billed to correct the players accounts. Lack of candor from organizations with such a close business relationship does not bode well for the trustworthiness of Microgaming in the future.
*Fred Faust, RGTonline.com
GOLDEN PALACE CONTINUES TO STALL - BUT CLEARLY THREATENED...Written by Spearmaster
11.12.00
The ongoing saga of Golden Palace continues, with the Online Players Association digging up tons of useful information about Golden Palace and its owners, while Golden Palace keep threatening but are clearly backtracking - perhaps a final solution and payment of winnings to players is near.
Golden Palace, through their lawyer Fred Seller, alleges that President of the Online Players Association (OPA) Steve Adkins continues to slander them - yet Adkins has not only backed up his words but come up with additional information about the shady background of the Golden Palace owners and senior management.
Among the past problems - owner Jack Strulovitch, alias Jack Stroll, and security manager Mark Francis were implicated and fined $300,000 in a Canadian telemarketing scam in 1996.
Golden Palace continues to imply that Steve Adkins and the OPA, amongst others, have not provided them with the details of the complaints - yet I personally know this fact to be untrue because I am in possession of many of the same documents. These details were provided to both Golden Palace and their former software supplier Microgaming in great detail; neither of them responded.
Golden Palace, as you will know, has since left Microgaming in order to use their own new software. Apparently they have been beta-testing this new software since January - Microgaming were said to be aware of this fact. Now Microgaming, in an earlier response to Adkins, said that they would help engage the services of a third party (believed to be PriceWaterhouseCoopers) to audit the accounts of those affected, PROVIDED Golden Palace was willing to cooperate as they were no longer under contract with Microgaming.
Now you and I will see the great irony of this situation, seeing as that this information has been in their hands for six months now - BOTH parties, in fact, as well as the Kahnawake Gaming Commission have long been in possession of account numbers as well as audits of their deposits and withdrawals. In another instance, a staff member of Golden Palace was caught red-handed posing as a player on one of the message forums, and these details were ALSO provided to all parties.
The players, meanwhile, have been left out in the cold for six months. So the OPA stepped up the pressure, threatening to bring about a boycott of Microgaming casinos unless Microgaming stepped in and responded appropriately to the situation. They also uncovered all of this additional information about Golden Palace and senior management, intending to show that perhaps Golden Palace were not fit to hold a gaming license of any sort.
It is clear Golden Palace are on the defensive - their last letter to OPA indicated that "we invite you to forward these complaints with sufficient detail and each of these matters will be diligently handled by our client. If you so wish, and if the individuals agree, our clients are certainly agreeable to handling these matters publicly so that they can be scrutinized by you or anyone else for that matter."
They already have the sufficient detail - an account number and a complaint AND a transaction audit provided by Golden Palace in the FIRST place - what the hell more do they want, the plaintiff's first-born child?
Golden Palace, consider this your final warning. The OPA will move full force to expose you and your activities if you do not meet the 10-day deadline for solving each and every one of these cases.
