No Playcheck at MG Bonus Accounts!?

[player101]

I have recently played on a Microgaming casino with a "Bonus Account" (Captain Cooks). This was a new feature for me - and I noticed that Playcheck was not available. Is this just Captain Cooks or does this apply to all MG:s with Bonus Accounts?

 

[GrandMaster]

How very convenient for the casino that the player cannot check independently how much he has wagered on the bonus account.

 

[The Dude]

How very convenient for the casino that the player cannot check independently how much he has wagered on the bonus account.

You can. Just go to the banking section during the play-through phase and it will show you how much of the bonus you can transfer to your real account.

 

[player101]

You can. Just go to the banking section during the play-through phase and it will show you how much of the bonus you can transfer to your real account.

You can??? All I get is the message: "The banking facility is not available for bonus accounts"

 

[GrandMaster]

You can. Just go to the banking section during the play-through phase and it will show you how much of the bonus you can transfer to your real account.

That's not the same. What if I have to wager $1000 on the bonus account, which I do, then I find that I still cannot transfer the bonus. Where can I get evidence that I really have satisfied the requirements if I have to argue with customer support? I would also want further details, rather than just the amount wagered in order to keep statistics.

 

[ftg]

That's not the same. What if I have to wager $1000 on the bonus account, which I do, then I find that I still cannot transfer the bonus. Where can I get evidence that I really have satisfied the requirements if I have to argue with customer support? I would also want further details, rather than just the amount wagered in order to keep statistics.

Captain Cooks has a separate page where you can login and have the information such as amount wagered/amount left to wagered, amount allowed from Bonus Account to transfer Real Account.

Link Removed ( Old/Invalid)

All is automatic without the need to contact their CS. The page is updated about half an hour or so and the transfer of fund can be performaned only once within an hour.

This is better than the other casino groups using bonus account. But I still find their WR too high and you can't really get anything from them.

Example, you get $200 bonus from $100 deposit. $200 goes to Bonus Account while $100 to Real Account.

1. you have to wager $7,000 (35x) on BJ in Bonus account. Min transfer $50.

2. Suppose you retain $200 in your bonus account after $7,000 action. You still have to wager a further $10,500 in real account (($200+$100) x 35).

3. This is close to 60x(d+b) if you are lucky.

4. If you lose on the bonus account, you have to wager $3,500 ($100 x 35) in the Real account before any cashin will be process.

Note: non-BJ, and non excluded games are 10x instead of 35x in the above formula.

To me: this is a double WR and need double luck to play at the casino.

 

[The Dude]

Captain Cooks has a separate page where you can login and have the information such as amount wagered/amount left to wagered, amount allowed from Bonus Account to transfer Real Account.

Link Removed ( Old/Invalid) ....

That's what I meant. It's been a while since I cashed out on a bonus

And again, I think this is an excellent way to track the wagering - and lest we forget, you may cash out whatever winnings you are accumulating in the real money account section. The bonus amount is to play with as well - and the more it's played out - the amount to transfer to the real account increases.

It's beyond me why anyone has a problem with this. The bonus money is not the player's money to begin with. THE PLAYER'S money is in the real account. If you're lucky enough to have some good hits in the bonus account - great! You might be able to start transferring this over to the real account section. So what's the problem with this? Am I missing something, or what?

 

[ftg]

It's beyond me why anyone has a problem with this. The bonus money is not the player's money to begin with. THE PLAYER'S money is in the real account. If you're lucky enough to have some good hits in the bonus account - great! You might be able to start transferring this over to the real account section. So what's the problem with this? Am I missing something, or what?

What I dislike about the system is that after meeting WR in the bonus account, the transferred $$ from the bonus account to real account still have to meet the massive 35x WR (that's what I call it a doubled WR). The higher you win at the bonus account, the higher WR in the real account. If someone hit a 20K royal at the bonus accout and transfer it to the real account, he has to meet 700K playing BJ or 200K playing slots. With other simple bonus systems, if you get lucky, you can keep your money.

 

[player101]

I think this is an excellent way to track the wagering [...] It's beyond me why anyone has a problem with this. [...] So what's the problem with this? Am I missing something, or what?

Yes you are

I have no problem with bonus accounts per se. And it is also nice to have a feature that shows you your wagering status without having to go through loads of pages in Playcheck. But Playcheck is as far as I understand something the individual casino can not tamper with. I am not so sure about the "Bonus Account Page"

To be specific: Last week I got $16 + $200 in my bonus account at Captain Cooks. It was a couple of hours in between. My total wagering on the bonus account since then has fulfilled the x35 rule - but according to the casino more than $2k of this wagering was with the $16 bonus only (= before the $200 was deposited) and will thus not count towards fulfilling the terms for the $200 bonus.

With Playcheck I could have proved them wrong, since I did not wager a single $ before receiving both bonuses. Now this is not possible.

I do not belive Captain Cooks to be dishonest. But my faith in their automatic systems is not that great (see below). Last time I played there was in November. This is what happened:

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NOVEMBER 2003

They ran a promo with $40 bonus for a $20 deposit you could claim this five times. They had a lot of game restrictions I had to settle for slots. Wagering unfulfilled from one of these 5 episodes would not carry over to the following ones, if you went bust.

After claiming it all five times I ended up with $255 in my account. I checked with support and received confirmation that I had fulfilled the terms - and thus asked for a withdrawal of $255.

This was declined.

Here are a few quotes from what support wrote during this week in November:

November 12: Your wagering requirements have been met. [When I asked before making the withdrawal]

November 14: I'm as puzzled as you with the token refund, I have forwarded your e-mails and information to our accounts department and they will get to the bottom of the situation. [What support wrote me when I asked why the withdrawal was declined]

November 15: After having a look I can see that the reason why your CashIn was returned to your playing account is because it is under the minimum CashIn amount of $75. [They had somehow split my $255 withdrawal into $225 and $30 declined both and sent me this explanation]

November 18: In my previous email I outlined why your CashIn was returned to your Playing Account. [CSR referring to that explanation from November 15]

November 18: I apologise for the confusion, for some reason I only spotted your $30 Cashin when I first checked your account. [I still do not know why they split it up]

November 18: Play on any Video Poker and/or Blackjack is prohibited with this bonus, even after wagering requirements have been met. Your wagers have been placed on 4 games, including the majority on BlackJack and Jacks or Better (Video Poker). [Are they on drugs??? I played slots!]

November 18: I have gone through your bets one by one, and you did wager entirely on Double Magic, a game with no restrictions on it. [Thank you]

November 18: You Cashed in $255 after you had wagered a total of $1503 on the 12th. Your Wagering Requirement was $1760. This means you hadn't reached it, and why the Accounts Crew subsequently returned it to your playing account. [But the wagering requirements should not carry over...]

November 18: I have just gone through and added up all your bets, a process that takes slightly longer than checking the game you played. The automatic checking that is done has problems with multiple bonuses claimed in one day [] I talked to the Accounts Crew and they have moved your $255 through the system to be processed. [The $255 reached my Neteller account the following day]
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In November 2003 I could prove them wrong with Playcheck - this time I can not. That is the problem with bonus accounts.

 

[sw2003]

I also find this problematic with no playcheck in bonus account. They offer it in the real account but if I want to see the past 100 hands that I played in the bonus account, where can I find it? Why do I need to email them for the records in the bonus account? Even if the dealer has 20 blackjacks in a row, the player has no way of going back and look because playcheck is not available in bonus account.

 

[player101]

Update: I relented and continued my wagering...

...and managed to increase the funds in my bonus account from ~$170 to ~$870

The funds are now in my Neteller account.

BUT it is still disturbing that:
1) Playcheck is not available for Bonus Accounts.
2) That the casino made these false claims about my wagering.

This time I was lucky. Next time might be different.

 

[LRDell]

Harder to meet requirements with split $$

It seems to me (and this is just my impression - not backed up with an wiz info or anything) that is it much more difficult to meet the requirements of 10X on each account without the benefit of the combined dollar totals. If for instance you deposit $100 and get $100 in your bonus account - it seems much easier to bust on $100 [particularly on slots] without getting anywhere than if you have $200 to get through the tight spots. Seems just one more additional factor in favor of the house. Also don't like the fact that any money transfered is treated like a new deposit and must meet the WR instead of being treated like winnings - which it is!

 

[jpm]

You hit the nail on the head LRDell, that's exactly why they do it. And I think the double w/r is really outrageous. Personally I will not play at any casino that does their bonuses this way, since the only time I tried it I felt that I was getting screwed on the deal (which I am sure I was).

 

[DeMango]

There seems to be a need out there for a website that lists the different type of bonuses, wagering requirements, games, bet spreads so that we all know what we are up against. But with WR changing daily that probably is a formidable task. I know that in my case I look for minimum, maximum wagers on table games and I have a tough time looking up T&C for many sites. I will not download or order a CD unless ALL terms of a casino are listed. My conclusion is that a website like this could not be run by a single individual. Not even WOL serves all my needs