While US players are criticised for continuing to play in the current climate, those casinos that still pretend all is well with the US market are just as much to blame. Rather than pull out all of a sudden with no notice, they should pull out NOW, and in an orderly manner. They know that during this month and next, things are going to get a whole lot harder than they are now, and any easing will have to await the debates about reversal of UIGEA, or relaxing the zeal with which is is pursued. It is casinos that hang on to the bitter end that are going to look bad. Had Roxy decided last month that payments were becoming a big headache, they could have acted in a much longer timeframe, and as well as sending affected players an E-mail, they could have placed a notice on the message of the day page, which currently active US players would see.
While some players may have had zero balance, they may have still had comp points, and were probably still waiting for their last withdrawal.
Is it not possible to lock banking, but still allow access to the account? - this is a rhetorical question; Grand Prive have done just that to an underage player, who can still access the casino, but cannot deposit or withdraw the 70 credits still there till she is 21.
The E-mail posted by Cynthia is an example:-
Dear Cynthia
Thank you for choosing RoxyPalace.
We would like to take this opportunity to Thank You for your patronage and loyalty at RoxyPalace.
Please be advised that the Casino recently made a decision that we would no longer accept wagers from players residing in The United States.
With this we would like to inform you that we have locked your gaming account, as you reside in the US.
Again, we'd like to thank you for choosing RoxyPalace online casino.
Sincerely,
RoxyPalace Customer Support
This was indeed sent, but only 2 days before closure, and also "after the fact". It doesn't say the account WILL be locked, but has been locked already. Cynthia was not informed of the balances on account and comp points available. This MAY be zero, but how is she supposed to know now she can no longer check.
I can see no reason why ALL players could not have been informed through the general promotional mailer system as a note on the twice weekly newsletter, with a clickable link for further details for those US players interested. Message of the day could also have carried notification.
This is a case of the casino choosing not to use methods that would notify the entire player base, not being unable to. Instead, they chose normal E-mail, despite the risks of non-delivery that they cite as their excuse as to why players were not notified when they should have been.
Sadly, I don't believe they were sent and not delivered, I had a similar issue last year when I was repeatedly told I had problems with my own systems, spam filters, or ISP when I didn't receive the newsletters. It turned out they had been switched off on my account and never sent, but I was never informed, and CS didn't seem to consider this possibility. It took a public posting here to get the rep to admit that my newsletters had been stopped, I suspected this, but damned if I could get CS to admit it!
Now this has come back to haunt them, if they were more upfront with players about stopping their promotion feeds, I would be more inclined to accept external problems as an explanation where players fail to get an E-mail on other matters, such as this.