Nostalgia - Unbelievable wagering requirements

[CraigB]

I deposited 200 for a 100 bonus there. I wagered the required 45 times (over 5000) in the bonus account winning 3300 which I was able to transfer to the real account. After wagering over 9000 there I requested a withdrawal. It was reversed. After contacting online support they say I am required to wager 45 X 3300, an unvelievable 150,000 in action before I can cash in. Does this sound correct?

 

[Vesuvio]

Unfortunately yes All the bonus accounts around at the moment (the Casino Action and Integrity Casino groups) have this horrible sting in the tail if you win.

 

[winbig]

I deposited 200 for a 100 bonus there. I wagered the required 45 times (over 5000) in the bonus account winning 3300 which I was able to transfer to the real account. After wagering over 9000 there I requested a withdrawal. It was reversed. After contacting online support they say I am required to wager 45 X 3300, an unvelievable 150,000 in action before I can cash in. Does this sound correct?

Yep, it's correct....it has this in the t&c:

"If you play any of the Blackjack (except Vegas Strip Blackjack), Roulette, and all Poker games you are required to play 45 times the amount you transfer from your Bonus Account to your Real Account"

But, with 3300 in winnings, it will take awhile to fill the WR, but with small bets @ BJ/VP, you should be safe in filling those requirements without going bust.

 

[GrandMaster]

I don't really approve of using autoplay just to fulfill wagering requirements, I have not played BJ with autoplay for months, but at this point you should just set your computer to play Atlantic City BJ at $1/hand on the fastest setting with the sound off. You should meet the WR in about 4 days.

 

[Flower Girl]

That seems crazy to me. That means if you hit a $5 royal flush for $20,000 you would owe 900,000 in wagering???

 

[slotchik]

yes, ANYTHING you transfer to the real account needs to be wagered that many times!!

That is why you should make your wagering requirements FIRST in the bonus account and as soon as you make them, transfer over small increments....

That's where they got you~~You need to wager 15x...then transfer your winnings and then another 15x...however read below if you played games that require 45x.

What games did you play???

here are their rules:

Minimum Level of Play
Your play on most games require a minimum wagered amount of 15 times the bonus amount credited to your Bonus account. The only exceptions are:


1. Your Play on Craps, Baccarat and Vegas Strip Blackjack is not counted towards in the Minimum Level of Play requirement.



2. If you play any of the Blackjack (except Vegas Strip Blackjack), Roulette, and all Poker games you are required to play 45 times the bonus amount credited to your Bonus Account.


Bonus Transfer
The player is required to meet the minimum level of play requirement of the promotion by playing in the bonus account. Once the minimum level of play requirement is met, the player may transfer their accrued winnings (less the bonus amount) to their real account.


There is no upper limit to the amount of funds that can be transferred from the bonus account to real account; however the minimum transfer amount is 50 credits.



A full statement of your current wagering and available winnings for transfer are available by clicking on the Casino Action link while playing in your bonus account.



Players are required to meet a minimum wagered amount on any funds transferred from the Bonus Account to their Real Account. The wagering on most games is 15 times the transferred amount. The only exceptions are:

1. Your Play on Craps, Baccarat and Vegas Strip Blackjack is not counted towards in the Minimum Level of Play requirement.



2. If you play any of the Blackjack (except Vegas Strip Blackjack), Roulette, and all Poker games you are required to play 45 times the bonus amount credited to your Bonus Account.

 

[trick]

It's been discussed before and it's a WR trap designed to turn your bonusmoney into playmoney. It kills the joy of winning anything at all.

I would recommend against taking bonuses where these terms are in place. It really makes winning a pain in the - hmm what is the term.... - the fourth point of contact?

 

[winbig]

That seems crazy to me. That means if you hit a $5 royal flush for $20,000 you would owe 900,000 in wagering???

yep, if it's with the bonus $

 

[largeeyes]

I deposited 200 for a 100 bonus there. I wagered the required 45 times (over 5000) in the bonus account winning 3300 which I was able to transfer to the real account. After wagering over 9000 there I requested a withdrawal. It was reversed. After contacting online support they say I am required to wager 45 X 3300, an unvelievable 150,000 in action before I can cash in. Does this sound correct?

I thought my $93,000 WR was bad. I am done with this group until they change their ways.

 

[rj314]

Is this still going on? There is another group that uses these bonus accounts, Challenge, Music HAll etc. Do their WR work the same way?

 

[largeeyes]

Yes, they all work the same at Casino ACtion Group:

UK Casino Club
Golden Reef
Challenge
Music Hall
Aztec Riches
Nostalgia
Phoenician.

 

[RTJ]

I won some money at Phoenician in January and February, and I didn't have to bet anywhere near that much. Did the rules change sometime after that?

 

[bpb]

I won some money at Phoenician in January and February, and I didn't have to bet anywhere near that much. Did the rules change sometime after that?

Yes

Their old policy was that you had to wager your deposit X times in your real account and your bonus X times in your bonus account.

They added the requirement that any money moved from the bonus account to the real account must also be wagered X times.

And increased X by some huge number.

 

[winbig]

Yes

Their old policy was that you had to wager your deposit X times in your real account and your bonus X times in your bonus account.

They added the requirement that any money moved from the bonus account to the real account must also be wagered X times.

And increased X by some huge number.

Any casino that does this is insane. Like slotchick brought up earlier in this thread if you hit a jackpot (say $20,000) from the bonus money, your new WR is $900,000....totally rediculous.

And I'm sure if you brought over a little at a time from the bonus account, you'd be banned.

 

[jonevegas]

And Integrity has the nerve to call players bonus abusers and lock accounts, if you ask me the only abuse that goes on here is by the casino itself. There is only one answer for this behavior, close all your accounts and run as fast as you can.

 

[jonevegas]

Sorry I should clarify my self that integrity did the same thing to me.

 

[trick]

You mean they closed your accounts and ran as fast as they could?

 

[KasinoKing]

After contacting online support they say I am required to wager 45 X 3300, an unvelievable 150,000 in action before I can cash in. Does this sound correct?

It is correct, and what a bummer! Just proves they don't like winners!
I'm not sure what I would do in your situation, but I think probably avoid the 45xWR games, and go for the quicker 15x option. Maybe start with very big bets on some of the Bonus Video Slots - which can be very profitable! I would try Stud, 3-card or PaiGow poker - if it wasn't a Microrigging site .. maybe have a go starting with small bets?

But once again I find myself repeating the same old words:
ALWAYS read and UNDERSTAND the T&C's before you deposit at ANY casino!
This requirement SHOULD NOT have been a surprise to you!
Sorry you had to learn the hard way.

PS: If you did exactly the same with your $3,300 as you did with your $300 - you would end up with $36,300!
As a matter of interest, I really would love to know how you managed that great win in the first place - which game(s) did you play?

 

[thelawnet]

I deposited 200 for a 100 bonus there. I wagered the required 45 times (over 5000) in the bonus account winning 3300 which I was able to transfer to the real account. After wagering over 9000 there I requested a withdrawal. It was reversed. After contacting online support they say I am required to wager 45 X 3300, an unvelievable 150,000 in action before I can cash in. Does this sound correct?

unfortunately this is one of the hazards of Viper casinos. Autoplay makes it too easy for people to win and withdraw. So they have horrible T&Cs on most viper casinos.

The good news is you won, I can only guess playing Video Poker or slots.. The bad news is that you have a no-win situation with these jackpot games when they have bonus account terms like this. If you don't hit the jackpot, then you are likely to bust out as the game will effectively be paying no more than 97% (which is 3% edge), meaning you bust and lose your money. If you do hit the jackpot, then you are happy, but the casino is even happier, because rather than getting roughly 89x (to take into account the expected average loss on your bonus), the casino is getting in your case 1500x the bonus, which is very much a good thing for them, as over that much wagering you will probably lose $500 or more.

So they force you into playing low variance games (i.e. blackjack) in order not to get totally screwed and avoid playing there again. The ironic thing about this is that blackjack has a lower HA, and will be less profitable for them in the long run, and you are also more likely to make a (small) profit (due to low variance), and come back and do their other offers as well.

In any case if you are going to participate in a bonus account casino, your lesson is learned - play blackjack or get screwed by the casino.

Ironically by doing this they encourage people into bonus hunting, autoplaying and everything else, because when you're told that despite having thousands of dollars in your account, you cannot withdraw, then there is NO alternative other than autoplay, because $150,000 (which as I stated above will likely cost you well over $500 of your balance, even on blackjack) would take you forever any other way.

 

[jonevegas]

You mean they closed your accounts and ran as fast as they could?

HAHA, you got that right.

 

[lamber]

unfortunately this is one of the hazards of Viper casinos. Autoplay makes it too easy for people to win and withdraw. So they have horrible T&Cs on most viper casinos.

That isn't true. Fortune Lounge casinos or Vegas Partner Lounge casinos all have viper and they don't have these ridiculous wagering requirements.

Funny, Phoenician just sent me an offer today for a $300 bonus. I will be taking my action to Fortune Lounge, even without a bonus.

What I don't understand is what happened to Phoenician? When they were RTG software I thought they were one of the best casinos on the net. Did they change management when they went to MG? What a shame.

 

[vinylweatherman]

Confirmed - Good group let down by poor offerings & WR

I am Platinum at 5 of the 7 casinos in this group.
The main problem is that there are three differing versions of the T & C currently live on the sites (when I last checked). The guided tour for understanding bonus accounts contains the grossly misleading statement '....and if you hit that royal flush it's yours to keep'. This dates back to a couple of months ago under the old terms where ALL wagering of bonus money was in the bonus account, which has that neat tool to help you work it all out. When they excluded Vegas Strip, they E-mailed all current players. When they changed to add wagering of transfers they kept this under wraps, and hid the bad news with the launch of Mermaid's Millions and the Viper upgrade. I E-mailed to customer support when I discovered this, mainly that a Platinum member had to hear about it on this forum, and not from the 'Dedicated VIP support'. I said they should ensure that all instances of T & C were updated and all players informed, pointing out that they will eventually have to token refund withdrawals from players who were not aware. Even checking T & C every month would have done no good, as the ones provided for existing players were missed out of the update process, indeed one set still has WR of 10x and 20x. They have simply ignored this problem, and my predictions to them are coming home to roost, they are irritating their existing customers, and at the same time putting off new recruits. Their Easter 'promotion' was pathetic, and they have not upped the loyal player bonuses from the tournament events to compentate for the increased WR.
Jackpot Factory are a much better play now for tournaments featuring a live scoreboard - they have the innovative promotions that Casino Action were forever promising as being 'in the pipeline', the prizes are much greater, tops $500, and even $1000 for the Pot O' Gold (I spent it in 32red ). The WR on these is only 3x AND you keep all of it, not just the winnings.

I do still play this group though, customer service itself is still good, no waiting 2 days for an E-mail reply, it's usually within the hour. Management need to address these issues soon. They need to reprogram the software to separate the bonus only players from the regular event players. The simplest way would be to have wagering of transfers no longer required at Silver VIP and beyond, and reduced WR in the bonus account for Gold and Platinum.
Perhaps when all their customers have defected to the Jackpot Factory, they will make changes, but I am tired of waiting for my 'Jam Tomorrow'.

The whole group are:-

Aztec Riches
Challenge
Golden Reef
Music Hall
UK Casino Club
Phoenician (Recent addition)
Nostalgia (Recent addition)

If you fail on WR your funds will be token refunded and you will be told to play some more - at least they don't confiscate the money!

When you withdraw having met WR they will pay up - takes around 3/4 days to Neteller. They process only Midnight Sunday through Thursday, and not on Friday and Saturday night.

 

[RTJ]

I just delete their emails now. When I read here that they have gone back to something sane I will play them again.

 

[largeeyes]

Vinyl, I'm platinum at one CA, but I'm banned from all promos at Jackpot Factory

 

[schankwart]

Vinyl, I'm platinum at one CA, but I'm banned from all promos at Jackpot Factory

"No promo gambling" has a much higher expectation to win than the Nostalgia & Co promotions. I do not know how much it adds to their house-edge but its a huge percentage!
Additionally, they also drastically lowered their table and betting limits recently only in the bonus-accounts so one does not even get the slightest chance anymore to survuve at least the beginning of their super-mega wagering requirements.
I am a Platinum VIP at almost all their Casinos too and will definetely drop these people now. This is by far the craziest rule for wagering requirements that I have ever seen at any online Casino. -And its coming from such a used-to-be-reputable group at Microgaming...!

I am deeply sad and disappointed.

urgh