Software Complaint Slot machine malfunction means I've missed out on potentially thousands

[OnnSleachy]

Hi everyone, I’ve got a bit of a long story and wondered if anyone had experienced anything similar in the past.

I was playing a game called Devil’s Nightmare on Foxy Bingo (a reputable UK betting site owned by Entain). After winning a considerable amount of money over the weekend of the 17th to the 19th of September, I decided to do one last high stakes spin on the game.

To my delight, the game triggered the bonus feature (‘Unlimited Free Spins’ bonus) which pays out a large amount of money. Since my stake was the highest permitted, I was in for a big payout; anywhere between £750 (the minimum that could be won from the bonus feature) and £250,000 (the maximum payout of the machine). From my previous experiences that weekend, the feature pays out an average of £1000 - £3500 if the highest stake is played.

Suddenly, as the bonus feature began to play out, the game crashed and I was taken to the home screen. Usually, I could simply reopen the game and the session would resume, however this time it did not. After contacting their customer service, they explained that they could see the unfinished spin on my account and advised that I should open the game in a different browser, and different device. To my dismay, none of this resumed my spin.

I then asked them to investigate this which they said they would, however shortly after this I noticed that the value of my stake had been refunded to my account.

They then told me that my stake had been refunded and the case was closed. I sent an email demanding that they investigate this and escalate it to their game providers, which they agreed to do (after I told them that I would take it to the UK Gambling Commission if nothing was done). It has now been 2 weeks since the spin malfunctioned and 10 days since it was escalated to their game providers, and no progress has been made

Now, I am fully aware that a malfunction voids a spin, and the game I was playing states this clearly. However, surely this cannot be the case if such a high winning bonus feature is triggered? I refuse to believe that there is not a record of the feature being won in their game providers logs. I’d hate to accuse such a big name casino of refusing to pay a customer due to them winning a large amount, but I can’t help but suspect some foul play here.

Has anyone ever experienced anything similar to this and if so, what was the outcome?

Thanks a lot in advance.

 

[RichyJ75]

As far as I was aware, I thought the final win amount was predetermined from the initial spin and the following was just visual effects for entertainment. Therefore the final win amount would have been known once thr feature landed? I am sure they would know, unless of course it was a genuine malfunction.

 

[RichyJ75]

However, I did get the bonus up on Black Knight on a £500 cash club machine. First free spin landed wilds on reels 2 and 3 so was looking at a good return, but whilst adding up it froze and locked the screen. Manager turned it off and back on, no feature and no winnings. He had no option other to return the £2 stake. I was seriously not happy!! Unfortunately they can void all win during malfunction, which is seriously frustrating.

 

[OnnSleachy]

As far as I was aware, I thought the final win amount was predetermined from the initial spin and the following was just visual effects for entertainment. Therefore the final win amount would have been known once thr feature landed? I am sure they would know, unless of course it was a genuine malfunction.

Thanks for the response. I was thinking the same, surely it can't be too hard for them to find this number in their game logs. I don't see why they're making me wait this long for the outcome; I suspect it's a mind game to get me to spend more money in the mean time.

However, I did get the bonus up on Black Knight on a £500 cash club machine. First free spin landed wilds on reels 2 and 3 so was looking at a good return, but whilst adding up it froze and locked the screen. Manager turned it off and back on, no feature and no winnings. He had no option other to return the £2 stake. I was seriously not happy!! Unfortunately they can void all win during malfunction, which is seriously frustrating.

That sucks! I very much feel your pain. I suppose the physical machines don't need to store previous results (even though they very much should). There's no excuse for not paying up when when its played over the internet though.

 

[JGslots]

That looks like a CR studio game. I have also had exactly the same situation with that provider.

It was on Coral, again part of Entain. I triggered the bonus, it crashed. My stake was £2 and they was unable to determine the result and told me it was a malfunction.

They refunded my £2. I told them that this was not a satisfactory conclusion, they eventually awarded me £50 as a gesture of goodwill.

My advice would be to request a goodwill payment based on your previous play and to NEVER, EVER, play a CR studio slot ever again. They’re VERY glitchy.

 

[JGslots]

Not many places have CR studio studio games, I think they are designed in house by someone at Coral, but they do have a few on Sky Vegas too.

 

[OnnSleachy]

That looks like a CR studio game. I have also had exactly the same situation with that provider.

It was on Coral, again part of Entain. I triggered the bonus, it crashed. My stake was £2 and they was unable to determine the result and told me it was a malfunction.

They refunded my £2. I told them that this was not a satisfactory conclusion, they eventually awarded me £50 as a gesture of goodwill.

My advice would be to request a goodwill payment based on your previous play and to NEVER, EVER, play a CR studio slot ever again. They’re VERY glitchy.

Thanks for the response. It's nice to hear from someone who's experienced something very similar, even though the outcome isn't exactly what I wanted to here.

My fear is that unless the goodwill gesture is at least £750 (the minimum I could have possibly won from the spin), its going to be a bit of a disappointment for me. I just cant imagine any company handing over that sort of cash as a good will gesture, regardless of the circumstances.

After this stressful two weeks I will for sure be staying clear of any Entain owned sites after this.

 

[thr0b]

Not many places have CR studio studio games, I think they are designed in house by someone at Coral, but they do have a few on Sky Vegas too.

All the same group. It’s their house brand. Games all play the same, feel the same, and are dull as ditchwater.

 

[satchnz]

All the same group. It’s their house brand. Games all play the same, feel the same, and are dull as ditchwater.

Learned something new today. I always thought it was “dull as dishwater”.

The original simile, dull as ditchwater, dating from the 1700s, alluded to the muddy water in roadside ditches. In the first half of the 1900s, perhaps through mispronunciation, it became dishwater, that is, the dingy, grayish water in which dirty dishes had soaked.

 

[spoo42]

Cant really add much else thats already been suggested, other than I agree that CR games games can be very flakey! I play the free 'battles' on coral and gala spins, and the times they just hang mid-bonus or mid-spin , or some other issue ive lost count. I never play them for real money too as i just cant trust itll resume correctly. I mean, some of their newer output is a little nicer or more interesting , but still buggy as so i wont touch them!

 

[maxd]

... I’d hate to accuse such a big name casino ... but I can’t help but suspect some foul play here.

FWIW there are as many complaints against big name casinos as there are against small casinos. The only difference is the big guys have enough cash to promote they hell out of themselves and insulate themselves from the hoi polloi. "Big" seldom translates to "better" or "more trustworthy" or even "respectable".

In my experience some of the worst offenders are the biggest and richest operators. I'm looking at you 888, WillHill, Ladbrokes, etc. Not that they do anything worse than the small and hungry guys but because they have the cash to make the consequences of their shite behaviour go away. And so they get to carry on as they please, year after year, decade after decade, while the smaller operators pulling the same tricks and refusing to change their ways tend to get wiped off the map in due course.

 

[hubbadubbadingdong]

I have had this happen on a couple of providers - Casino has to contact the 3rd party host provider of the slot and if you are in luck they will still show a game in progress and they have to force close the game - Once this is done and re-opened on your end this should resume back into the bonus.

 

[Reelsoffun]

In my experience, coral Have never been able to deal with broken game rounds very well, and usually just give stake back which is a kick in the teeth when you have part seen your bonus win. I no longer play at coral, ladbrokes etc because of stuff like that and people are right about CR games they are buggy as hell and crash a lot, avoid them if I were you esp if playing them higher than min bets!

 

[OnnSleachy]

FWIW there are as many complaints against big name casinos as there are against small casinos. The only difference is the big guys have enough cash to promote they hell out of themselves and insulate themselves from the hoi polloi. "Big" seldom translates to "better" or "more trustworthy" or even "respectable".

In my experience some of the worst offenders are the biggest and richest operators. I'm looking at you 888, WillHill, Ladbrokes, etc. Not that they do anything worse than the small and hungry guys but because they have the cash to make the consequences of their shite behaviour go away. And so they get to carry on as they please, year after year, decade after decade, while the smaller operators pulling the same tricks and refusing to change their ways tend to get wiped off the map in due course.

This makes complete sense. I always thought they would have third party auditors to stop stuff like this going on but it seems they can get away with a lot considering their market dominance. It was somewhat satisfying to read that Entain recently paid out £17 million for ignoring obvious problem gamblers, if they ever get their licence revoked I'll be popping open a bottle of champagne

 

[OnnSleachy]

I have had this happen on a couple of providers - Casino has to contact the 3rd party host provider of the slot and if you are in luck they will still show a game in progress and they have to force close the game - Once this is done and re-opened on your end this should resume back into the bonus.

Thanks for the response. I assumed this would happen when I first contacted customer service regarding the issue, but now they've refunded the stake and kept me waiting for two weeks I don't have much hope for seeing the outcome of the game :/. Fingers still crossed though

 

[OnnSleachy]

In my experience, coral Have never been able to deal with broken game rounds very well, and usually just give stake back which is a kick in the teeth when you have part seen your bonus win. I no longer play at coral, ladbrokes etc because of stuff like that and people are right about CR games they are buggy as hell and crash a lot, avoid them if I were you esp if playing them higher than min bets!

This doesn't fill me with hope but will probably soften the blow when they deliver the bad news. Will stay away from them for sure!

 

[MahoneyKnows]

Something similar happened to me where support said to reopen the game - if that didn’t work to clear cache/cookies, try different browser - so on and so forth…. None of that worked… eventually I played the game at the same stake the same night and the very first spin triggered what I thought I had lost.

 

[J47kly]

Did you ever get a conclusion....I'd like to know?