Announcement Fake NetEnt Southpark/Aliens slots at 21Bet

[NeverLucky]

That is the problem with many casinos. I said it a few times that the MGA logo is very often misleading as it does not mean that the entire site runs under the MGA license. A single item from the entire casino/sportsbook running under the MGA allows an operator to display the trust-building MGA logo and the rest can all be under whatever they like, can be Curacao, Costa Rica or anything else.

Most players will see the MGA logo and think....."oh, I'm safe to sign up".....and when it comes to a complaint they find out that their gaming didn't fall under the MGA license. Very misleading, to say the least.

I was reviewing a casino just two weeks ago and they had 2 games, in clear words TWO, from one provider on their entire site which were running under an MGA license and the whole rest of over 2,000 games and sports were all under Curacao apparently. Upon researching in more detail, they didn't even have the Curacao license. But the MGA logo was shining bright and big on the bottom of the site. In essence, that site was running with no license at all but misled the players with the MGA logo. Only when I highlighted the issue, did they hastily remove the MGA logo.

Now, which potential new player investigates a casino as thoroughly as I do because I take my duty to write a truthful review serious? The aff, I wrote the review for, blacklisted them but as usual, the outfit scores 8 stars on AG, a complete disgrace.

As you have more knowledge than i do on this:

Would hosting pirated games (even though its not under the MGA license) be grounds for the MGA to suspend their license for the MGA licensed services?
I certainly hope that this will be done, im just not sure in this scenario.

 

[Harry_BKK]

As you have more knowledge than i do on this:

Would hosting pirated games (even though its not under the MGA license) be grounds for the MGA to suspend their license for the MGA licensed services?
I certainly hope that this will be done, im just not sure in this scenario.

Yes and no. It is a tough one as even the legit casino operators are mostly a mesh of subsidiaries that are registered and/or licensed in various jurisdictions.

The main problem is though that the games are supplied by a provider who is legitimately licensed by the MGA and those games indeed run under that license. So not much the MGA can do. The provider can decide to pull the games to show "solidarity" with the pirated providers or "integrity" that they will no supply games to fraudsters.

 

[dunover]

Yes and no. It is a tough one as even the legit casino operators are mostly a mesh of subsidiaries that are registered and/or licensed in various jurisdictions.

The main problem is though that the games are supplied by a provider who is legitimately licensed by the MGA and those games indeed run under that license. So not much the MGA can do. The provider can decide to pull the games to show "solidarity" with the pirated providers or "integrity" that they will no supply games to fraudsters.

Yes, you're right according to the Leon bloke:
Old / Expired Link

 

[Tirilej]

I saw that an affiliate manager for 21Bet signed up. I thought he would post something in this thread when he read it but nope, he didn't.

 

[dunover]

Just FYI I have looked at 21Bet.com today and ALL Netent games have disappeared, not just the obviously fake ones like Aliens and South Park. This simply confirms that they have been running their WHOLE Netent catalogue from the fraudulent fake supplier and server as imaged over the South Park game earlier in this thread. As Harry pointed out, this criminal slots supplier/server has somehow got a valid MGA license and alas some seemingly proper casinos are obviously taking advantage of cheap plagiarized software in order to bypass Netent's fees.

Given that this is the corrupt state of Malta perhaps not surprising, but I am wondering what action Netent have taken to the MGA about this, as they have been aware of this for a while. If this continues it will cause irreversible damage to their brand.

 

[21BetAffiliates]

Dear Casino Meister Members,

Thank you for voicing your concerns over several new casino games listed on 21bet.com.

We recently agreed a deal with a casino aggregator who offered a range of casino content from various providers but were notified by several players soon after launch that there were some concerns with a small selection of these games.

We are carrying out a full investigation into all the games provided by this casino aggregator and subsequently all content from this aggregator has been removed with immediate effect.

Player concerns and queries are the utmost priority at 21Bet and we fully appreciate the seriousness of the matter.

We are currently taking legal advice with regards to the issue and will provide a full update in the coming weeks as the investigation progresses.

We would also like to confirm some of the confusion from earlier in this thread with regards to 21bet.co.uk and 21bet.com. They are separate entities with 21bet.co.uk operating under FSB’s UK Gaming Licence on a platform provided by FSB. 21bet.com operates under a Maltese Gaming Licence and Curacao Gaming Licence and on a separate platform entirely to 21bet.co.uk.

Again, we would like to reassure you that 21Bet fully appreciates the seriousness of the matter and want to thank the Casino Meister Members for raising their concerns in the first place.

Best regards,
The 21Bet Team

 

[colinsunderland]

Dear Casino Meister Members,

Thank you for voicing your concerns over several new casino games listed on 21bet.com.

We recently agreed a deal with a casino aggregator who offered a range of casino content from various providers but were notified by several players soon after launch that there were some concerns with a small selection of these games.

We are carrying out a full investigation into all the games provided by this casino aggregator and subsequently all content from this aggregator has been removed with immediate effect.

Player concerns and queries are the utmost priority at 21Bet and we fully appreciate the seriousness of the matter.

We are currently taking legal advice with regards to the issue and will provide a full update in the coming weeks as the investigation progresses.

We would also like to confirm some of the confusion from earlier in this thread with regards to 21bet.co.uk and 21bet.com. They are separate entities with 21bet.co.uk operating under FSB’s UK Gaming Licence on a platform provided by FSB. 21bet.com operates under a Maltese Gaming Licence and Curacao Gaming Licence and on a separate platform entirely to 21bet.co.uk.

Again, we would like to reassure you that 21Bet fully appreciates the seriousness of the matter and want to thank the Casino Meister Members for raising their concerns in the first place.

Best regards,
The 21Bet Team

But they are the same company aren't they as I got the same chat rep on both .co.uk and .com, and the rep on .co.uk gave me the .com email address to email.
I asked your live chat why you had fake games, and one of the quotes was 'I don't know what you're talking about' and pretty much refused to say anything else, didn't seem very concerned to me, in fact he clearly couldn't care less.

 

[Harry_BKK]

Dear Casino Meister Members,

Thank you for voicing your concerns over several new casino games listed on 21bet.com.

We recently agreed a deal with a casino aggregator who offered a range of casino content from various providers but were notified by several players soon after launch that there were some concerns with a small selection of these games.

We are carrying out a full investigation into all the games provided by this casino aggregator and subsequently all content from this aggregator has been removed with immediate effect.

Player concerns and queries are the utmost priority at 21Bet and we fully appreciate the seriousness of the matter.

We are currently taking legal advice with regards to the issue and will provide a full update in the coming weeks as the investigation progresses.

We would also like to confirm some of the confusion from earlier in this thread with regards to 21bet.co.uk and 21bet.com. They are separate entities with 21bet.co.uk operating under FSB’s UK Gaming Licence on a platform provided by FSB. 21bet.com operates under a Maltese Gaming Licence and Curacao Gaming Licence and on a separate platform entirely to 21bet.co.uk.

Again, we would like to reassure you that 21Bet fully appreciates the seriousness of the matter and want to thank the Casino Meister Members for raising their concerns in the first place.

Best regards,
The 21Bet Team

Welcome to the lion's den.

The two casinos might be legally two separate entities, but that does not mean they are not owned or controlled by the same people. So that point is totally moot. I have not investigated this matter yet but I'll happily start digging around to find the connections.

Geez, you have the same people manning the live chat for both casinos, so you are clearly connected or at least more connected than you want to admit.

Next, it is so simple to find out if a game you load is genuine. I can't fathom that your tech guys are such amateurs that they do not know how. Plus, as a NetEnt operator you have received an End Of Life list for Netent games, so you were clearly informed that South Park and Aliens were not available anymore since 2017, yet you just loaded them up on your site.

Admit it, you have been caught red handed offering fake games and only took them down after you were caught. Period!

IMO, you are using for the UK site the FSB platform as a Trojan horse to get access to a vital regulated market. For the rest of the world, you don't really care what games you offer and whether they are legit or not.

I stand to be corrected, but my instincts rarely let me down.

 

[4048]

Player concerns and queries are the utmost priority at 21Bet and we fully appreciate the seriousness of the matter.

lol

Offering fraudulent games just screams "player concerns are the utmost priority".

 

[Harry_BKK]

There is actually a website under the name of slotomaticgames openly offering cloned games:

You do not have permission to view link Log in or register now.

My first searches lead me all to RU, I better leave this as it is, don't need any extra trouble. Nicola was right though, it is a well-constructed mesh that won't be easy to deconstruct to find out who actually sits at the end of it.

 

[pinnit2014]

Too harsh Harry, after all the site says ‘As seen on TV’ so it must be all OK

 

[dunover]

Dear Casino Meister Members,

Thank you for voicing your concerns over several new casino games listed on 21bet.com.

We recently agreed a deal with a casino aggregator who offered a range of casino content from various providers but were notified by several players soon after launch that there were some concerns with a small selection of these games.

We are carrying out a full investigation into all the games provided by this casino aggregator and subsequently all content from this aggregator has been removed with immediate effect.

Player concerns and queries are the utmost priority at 21Bet and we fully appreciate the seriousness of the matter.

We are currently taking legal advice with regards to the issue and will provide a full update in the coming weeks as the investigation progresses.

We would also like to confirm some of the confusion from earlier in this thread with regards to 21bet.co.uk and 21bet.com. They are separate entities with 21bet.co.uk operating under FSB’s UK Gaming Licence on a platform provided by FSB. 21bet.com operates under a Maltese Gaming Licence and Curacao Gaming Licence and on a separate platform entirely to 21bet.co.uk.

Again, we would like to reassure you that 21Bet fully appreciates the seriousness of the matter and want to thank the Casino Meister Members for raising their concerns in the first place.

Best regards,
The 21Bet Team

So an aggregator? So how come other MGA sites manage to provide legitimate Netent slots? This isn't a mistake but at best lack of due diligence and at worst fraud. You said concerns 'with a small selection of games' - I would hardly call 100+ Netent slots in their range 'small'!

Now you are aware you've been conned by this 'aggregator' what steps will you be taking to make the MGA is informed of their licensee offering fake slots to help ensure it doesn't occur again going forward?

And what happens to the profits made from these fake games that YOU have misled your non-UK players with?

Why are people starting casinos with so little product knowledge that they aren't even aware some of the fake games they offer aren't even available to play for real any longer?

You can make yourselves out to be the victim of someone else's dishonesty all you like, but it won't wash as won't the denial that 2 identical sites, with 2 identical logos, identical Customer Services and identical sponsorship 'aren't related'.

 

[goatwack]

Just FYI I have looked at 21Bet.com today and ALL Netent games have disappeared, not just the obviously fake ones like Aliens and South Park. This simply confirms that they have been running their WHOLE Netent catalogue from the fraudulent fake supplier and server as imaged over the South Park game earlier in this thread. As Harry pointed out, this criminal slots supplier/server has somehow got a valid MGA license and alas some seemingly proper casinos are obviously taking advantage of cheap plagiarized software in order to bypass Netent's fees.

Given that this is the corrupt state of Malta perhaps not surprising, but I am wondering what action Netent have taken to the MGA about this, as they have been aware of this for a while. If this continues it will cause irreversible damage to their brand.

Which is what I was alluding to in an earlier post. Why would Netent meekly stand by and watch their brand get dragged through the mud

 

[thr0b]

Franchised website with outsourced customer services I’d guess. I wouldn’t read too much into the same chat operator - they’re probably live and covering 50 brands for 30 licences, unless they’re directly employed by the casino. Also explains why half the time operators don’t know about specific promotions and games.

 

[dunover]

Franchised website with outsourced customer services I’d guess. I wouldn’t read too much into the same chat operator - they’re probably live and covering 50 brands for 30 licences, unless they’re directly employed by the casino. Also explains why half the time operators don’t know about specific promotions and games.

It wasn't that, but the fact the company e-mail addresses are the same apparently.

 

[homerbert]

Maybe I'll ask most boring question:
Okie, you used pirated games. When all customers who lost at least 1 penny at such games will be refunded?

 

[Casinomeister]

What a mess - just goes to show that this industry is going to hell in a hell basket. This whole thing about fake games popping up left right and center just downright stinks. As an operator, how in the hell are you not aware that you are not paying licensing fees and royalties to the owners of the software you are using?? Ten years ago I never thought that this would be possible. Man, I miss the days of downloadable software games with the choice of about 5 software providers. With this "play in your browser" crap - it's just too easy. The crooks are coming out of the woodwork in 2018 that's for damn sure.

@21BetAffiliates: so you never checked the games your casino was offering players? How is it possible that you were unaware that you were hosting pirated games? And please don't try the shell game here of well 21bet.com is different that 21.co.uk blah blah blah. It is all the same. Take responsibility for your actions and please don't underestimate the knowledge of our members here. Just sayin.'

My suggestion would be to perform a thorough audit and negate all loses from those games and give that money back to your players. If they won money, tough titty for you, that should be a "lesson learned" on your end - pay for your mistakes.

It will be interesting to hear how the MGA handles these sorts of problems. Whether or not they would yank the license of someone who is a "bad actor" i.e. someone's whose company in the past has used pirated software from elsewhere.

 

[ThePOGG]

My suggestion would be to perform a thorough audit and negate all loses from those games and give that money back to your players.

I've yet to see any operator who's been caught like this return losses to player. The first one that does will be the first one to make it off our Blacklist.

TP

 

[dunover]

I've yet to see any operator who's been caught like this return losses to player. The first one that does will be the first one to make it off our Blacklist.

TP

You've more chance of Freaky Affs paying you for your UK players.

Seriously though, the only way I can see this happening is the MGA being informed of this officially and forcing the operator to do so. Mind you, with the bribery and chicanery you find there I wouldn't hold much hope that any action would be taken against the aggregator.

 

[thr0b]

It's bizarre that a major outfit was naive enough to think that somehow getting one of the biggest provider's games for super-cheap wasn't too good to be true.

 

[ThePOGG]

Seriously though, the only way I can see this happening is the MGA being informed of this officially and forcing the operator to do so.

I've kept quiet on this front I don't think it's my place to say too much - but this has been acknowledge by the MGA and I've been informed it has been passed to their Investigations department.

For what it's worth, I've worked with the MGA on a reasonable number of cases and where full cooperation was possible I've always found their rulings to fall in line with common sense. I cannot speak to the rest of their infrastructure as that is beyond my knowledge, but their Player Support and Legal departments have always been upright and very helpful within the bounds of what they can legally do.

TP

 

[Casinomeister]

And people still think that a license from the banana republic called Malta has any weight/significance? The dirt that this so called regulator (money collector) has on its hands is so massive that you would have to hire quite a few novelists to write it down.

Yeah - that's a bit rich, and comments like that are not helpful here. Sure, years ago the Malta licensing agency (LGA back then) was a black hole when it came to player complaints - most of this is covered in our MGA review. But really how massive was that?? Not enough content for a couple of novels

And that was then - this is now. The MGA is responsive, fair, and probably one of the most proactive and solid licensing jurisdictions at the moment. Like thePogg, Max and I have been in contact with them over the past few years, and I have nothing but good things to say about them. If you have evidence of "dirt", please start a new thread about that so we can address that fairly and separately from this. Please don't start the drama here. Thanks!

 

[Harry_BKK]

Well I had another look at 21bet(dot)com.

The casino games are not run via the MGA license, only the Sportsbook is licensed by the MGA. The rest is run under a Curacao license.

They have a license for "Type 2 Gaming Services" which is sports betting etc.. for comparison, I have put the MGA details next to the ones from Guts. Only Type 1 Gaming Services is for casino games.

In essence, they show themselves as an MGA licensed site but the majority is run via Curacao. Big scam this is, nothing else. No wonder they created a separate legal entity for the UK market as they would not have gotten away with such a scam.

I am at the same time baffled that the MGA does not require sites like 21bet to show clearly what part of the site is run under their license. How many players know what the difference is between Type 1 and Type 2 Gaming Services?

21bet screenshot



MGA License



Curacao License

 

[ThePOGG]

The casino games are not run via the MGA license, only the Sportsbook is licensed by the MGA. The rest is run under a Curacao license.

They have a license for "Type 2 Gaming Services" which is sports betting etc.. for comparison, I have put the MGA details next to the ones from Guts. Only Type 1 Gaming Services is for casino games.

This is a very good point and one we will be looking into in terms of reviewing from now on. If an operator displays an MGA seal but their casino games (as we're a casino focused service) are not covered by this license this will be detailed and they will no longer receive MGA licensing scores.

For this case I suspect this will limit what the MGA can do, however as the MGA seal is displayed specifically on the casino sections of the site this may not be a total bust.

TP

 

[Harry_BKK]

This is a very good point and one we will be looking into in terms of reviewing from now on. If an operator displays an MGA seal but their casino games (as we're a casino focused service) are not covered by this license this will be detailed and they will no longer receive MGA licensing scores.

For this case I suspect this will limit what the MGA can do, however as the MGA seal is displayed specifically on the casino sections of the site this may not be a total bust.

TP

Only fair to the player because anyone with an issue will suddenly find out that MGA is not the authority to handle the complaint.

I also have a feeling their Malta address is just a post box or shell address and they actually sit in a different country. On the MGA license, it says 'Valletta Buildings', 2th floor, suite 7, (note - 2th ) yet on their site they write "20, Valetta Buildings, 4th Floor."

There are so many companies registered on the 4th floor, which can only mean that the building is either huge or it has people sitting on top of each other or it is an address for shell companies. I took a look on Google Maps and it is definitely not huge.

If they are indeed on floor 2 in suite 7, then it can be anything from the size of a closet to a banket hall.