Online Casinos

[spearmaster]

Unfortunately, GPRS is not widespread in the US yet... LOL... in Europe and Asia it is definitely commonplace.

 

[jigga]

those playing4keeps peole, do they work for virtual or something?

 

[unicorn40]

You would almost think so.

 

[mary]

Yes, they do. It's an affiliate site and gets paid for players who they direct to virtual.

 

[jigga]

is that all? but technically all portal sites then work for the casinos they promote being an affiliate. Or is it that they ONLY promote virtual?

 

[unicorn40]

Yes,but a lot of forums don't promote Virtual because of the track record they have.There is a couple of forums who have cancelled the promotions they had with Cirrus because of this,for the sake of trying to make sure the members don't get screwed in the end.

 

[murder1]

Im not promoting anything. Go back and read my emails. I am just a player who loses more times than win. Some of the regular members can vouch for me.

 

[unicorn40]

murder1 unless you are a mod at p4ks,i think we were talking about them promoting Cirrus.....not you personally.Unless i missed something,which i have habit of doing...

 

[case]

I've sent several emails to English Harbour concerning a question about one of the items in their T&C. None of my emails bounced, and the return address is valid and has been otherwise successfully used.

I have received some unrelated, promotional emails from them, but no response to mine.

The point is more-or-less moot as far as I'm concerned -- there are, after all, several other choices in the field . But I am curious whether I'm just a statistical outlier. Have any of you experienced similar problems with them?

 

[tim5ny]

Hi people! Been playing a bit at Slots.com. a pretty nice Playtech casino. Good support, and hit two Royals on their 4-hand aces and faces. One on 25 cent game, and the other on nickels. Got alot of good playback on their video poker. I,ve been trying other software instead of Microgaming lately. All I ever played before was MG...but it gets too expensive. At least Playtech has nickels, dimes, and pennies.

 

[jpm]

WTG tim5ny! Were you playing the 4 line aces & faces when you got those royals? That game on Playtech has been royal crazy for me as well. A month or so ago I had 3 royals in under a week on that game, all playing quarters (betting full of course). I've had way better luck there than on MG.

Something interesting I've noticed, maybe you have as well. When playing the 4 line A&F or JoB games at Playtech, and I get dealt 2 pair, I can pretty much count on getting at least one full house on the 4 lines. On MG power poker versions of the same game, this rarely happens.

 

[jpm]

Well, I'm now definately into week #4 of waiting for my 3 digit withdrawl from Black Widow. Yes, the same Black Widow Casino that proudly proclaims on its home page "Free Drafts & Fastest Online Casino Payouts"

If these guys are the fastest, then my withdrawls from other casinos should be taking months! But of course, they aren't. And when I asked for a status update on my cashin over the weekend, they told me that the accounting department has been unable to process my withdrawl yet and they have no idea when it will be processed.

Again, I'll say this is a big red flashing WARNING light that there is a problem at this casino. And its probably a cash flow issue. You simply can't keep offering all of these wonderful bonuses to everyone and expect to make money. I am sure its a 'taking from peter to pay paul' situation and that is usually the beginning of the end. Too bad really, since they have some really great promos.

 

[goldpicks]

OK these guys have a full page add in Online Gambling magizine and claim to be an editors "choice".

They offer "too good to be true" type bonuses and their download software looks like mosts Java software.

My instincts say do not play here, but I was wondering if anyone had played there and had any feedback, good or bad.

Thanks.

 

[Casinomeister]

Hopefully, I can get an answer for you this week. I'll keep an eye out for these guys. Pop me an email with your casino account number; this might help.

 

[Casinomeister]

I'd like to hear some views concerning what level of responsibilty a software provider should have towards players.

I am a firm believer that software providers should be held accountable for their licensees, and advertisers who promote any casino should be aware of the level of this sort of support.

This is a non-regulated industrymost, and the buck has to stop somewhere.

 

[jpm]

Thanks Bryan. The info should be in your mailbox now.

(Message edited by jpm on June 16, 2003)

 

[glodge]

Speaking from not only an affiliate's perspective, but also from a players point of view, I sincerely believe that if a software provider is going to give & or allow a company & or an individual to operate a casino with their software, resposibility towards a failed veture or an operator that skips town ( vitually speaking ) must lay back on the software provider.

These days it's a competitive business, gone are the days when an operator could open the door & be guaranteed to make it a success.

Giving this, I feel it's time the software providers took the added iniative of educating their Licensee's, not only in marketing but also in the entire gambit pertaining to the every day running of an online casino business.

I think if this type of forward thinking resposiblity was conducted by some of these software providers, we would not only see a vast improvement in the calibre of operators, but also in the quality of casino venues.

Lastly, the likes of Microgaming & other do background checks ( criminal as well ) on interested parties wanting to set up an online casino. If a software provider is not doing this, I would be very suss on the provider.

In closing we are not talking about kitchen table poker games, people deposit big dollars in this industry & IMHO it's about time the industry, realised where it is & what it's all about. If a software provider is not prepared to veto & stand by its approval of a licensee, then it should not be giving the software to the operator in the first place.

 

[cipher]

I enjoy a fairly decent reputation for getting all over casinos when and if they do not pay up or worse yet they are found to be cheating. But I'm really pleased to be able to pass on some solid information with regards CARNIVAL CASINO (Playtech).

Quite simply said, these people are genuinely courteous, thorough and absolutely concerned that everyone of their players are well informed and taken care of.

I have not experienced better customer service in the six years that I've played on the Internet. Moreover, every contact that I've had with upper level management at Carnival demonstrates to me that these people are in it for the long haul.

 

[cipher]

I enjoy a pretty good reputation for getting all over casinos when and if they do not pay or worse yet they are found to be cheating.

But I'm really pleased to be able to pass on some solid information with regards CARNIVAL CASINO (Playtech).

Quite simply said these people are genuinely courteous, thorough and absolutely concerned that everyone of their players are well informed and taken care of.

I have not experienced better customer service in the six years that I've played on the Internet. Moreover, every contact that I've had with upper-level management at Carnival demonstrates to me that these people are in it for the long haul.

 

[cipher]

I don't know of a case in at least the last six years that I know of where a casino has gone under without there having been strong signs of a lack of due diligence on the part of the software provider and licensing authority where they might exist.

Moreover, if the industry itself would simply establish strict criteria and guidelines for adequately screening and investigating the back grounds of their prospective licensees they would cut in half the fraud that is being perpetrated on nearly a weekly basis.

The buck does indeed stop with the providers of the software as well as the licensing authorities.

 

[jpm]

I'll second that cipher! Carnival is a sister casino to Club Dice and I've had good luck (perhaps my best luck!) at both of these casinos. And so far, never a problem cashing in my winnings and getting them like clockwork in 4 - 5 business days. :yes:

 

[case]

I think this is a very interesting question. I've tried to think of examples from other industries in which the software provider and the service provider are not the same entity. I havent been able to think of any very good ones, but my suspicion is that the software provider is not typically on the hook for the actions of entities that use the software. If, for example, XYZ corp makes banking software and FBN Bank absconds with your nest egg, XYZ corp might be sympathetic, but I doubt youd get much more than that from them. Of course, the parallel is inexact at best, at least in the US, since the government provides protection for most bank customers. If the software had some defect which permitted someone in the bank to bail out with your funds, perhaps you could sue the software provider (and Im sure that would happen, in the US).

Also, even though Microsoft products contain known security holes, I dont think its a high-percentage play to go after them for damages to your business occasioned by those holes. Read the EULA and weep, as it were.

I think an interesting approach would be to go completely in the other direction. Imagine three entities: casino, software provider, cashier. The cashier holds your funds (in escrow), but transfers them piecemeal to the casino when you gamble. Ideally, each bet is transferred as it is made with any winnings immediately transferred back. The casino has access to the funds only within the context of betting. At any time, you may request your funds back from the cashier, with the casino completely uninvolved. Heres how Id see the rights breaking down:

The casino may allege fraud only within the context of a game (He cheated). Such an allegation, made in good faith (yeah, thats a tricky one perhaps made with reasonable evidence) could cause the cashier to freeze the disputed funds pending resolution. The casino may decline any wager *before* it is made. Once its resolved, they have to transfer the results back to the cashier. The casino may bar any patron, or decline particular bets from particular patrons, but only before the bets are made. None of this rolling back winnings BS.

The cashier is responsible for ensuring that transactions into and out of the escrow accounts are not fraudulent. The cashier may allege CC fraud, identity theft, etc, and pursue normal legal redress for these (just like a bank, for example). The casino need not worry about chargebacks. The cashier must.

The software provider is responsible only for supplying software that provides fair games. By fair, I mean games that are not deceptive (though they may have terrible payoffs). For example, the VP must emulate a shuffled 52-card deck (for games without special cards), and cannot alter card draw probabilities. The games should all pass muster under some established terrestrial venue (I vote for Vegas).

Bonuses could be handled in several ways:
Casinos could provide non-cash casino chips. Such chips would convert to cash when the WR were met. Or such chips might never be transferable out of the casino. You can use them to bet, and the winnings are yours, but not the chips themselves.

Casinos could follow the 32Red model. Once youve wagered K times your deposit, the casino gives you some bonus in cash (so you get the bonus only after meeting the WR, but you get it free and clear).

Or casinos could find some other method of spiffing their customers using some method not open to the sorts of abuse that they now apparently try so hard to avoid. Given that the above scheme would no longer allow them to void winnings, theyd pretty much have to find something better, I think.

I think this scheme would provide a much more secure, predictable and reliable experience. You would be gambling at the casino, not on it. I think bonus hunting would become a thing of the past, but so would outright theft by casinos of patrons funds. There would be less opportunity for advantage play, but less opportunity for bending over, also.

Right, I don my peril-sensitive sunglasses. Flame on.

- Case

 

[goldpicks]

No ones used them, seen them, or cares?

 

[mrracetrack]

Goldpicks....

Here is a link to a lot of info on this casino...

Old / Expired Link

 

[glodge]

I understand the method to your reasoning, pertaining to the software developer XYZ used in comparision to the bank.

And it's to the best of my knowledge that the BIG boys, eg Microgaming have provided a funds resolution in every case, involving a MG casino that goes bust.

Yes it's a labyrinth.

I still stand by my opinion that the software developer should have an ethical obligation to veto its product to the licensee.

A couple of problems of seperating everything as in, ( casino ) - ( cashier ) - ( escrow or bonded account ).

Firstly lets use Virtual Casino Group as an example. This group owns it's own E-funds processing company. Other such as MadBonusCasino IMHO have a their own E-funds processing company also.

At the end of the day, there is nothing stopping a casino from setting this up.

As unfortunate as it is, I think the days of this industry being self regulating are coming to a close.

Will this be a good thing or a bad thing, I don't honestly know, time will tell I guess.