Warning - OceanParkCasino.com

[portia]

OceanParkCasino.com is a Brand new Casino offering a 100% Early Bird Bonus. But.....
They say they are part of the VideoPokerClassic group that used to be called VideoPokerPalace and under that name they are on No Pay Lists on several watchdog sites. They are listed with the OPA as a No Payer. They use iCrystal software.

OPA Mary : Can you confirm this ?

 

[mary]

Yes, Videopoker Place just plain didn't answer emails, as I recall.


Dns Admin (template COCO-502465)
f-1@usa.net
Beachtower Dr.
Vancouver, BC V3L 1G1 CA

Domain Name: oceanparkcasino.com
Status: production

Admin Contact, Technical Contact:
oceanparkcasino .com (COCO-967368) skyles@trickler.com
N/A
Zone Contact:
Tyler Warcup (COCO-1000274) tylerwarcup@email.com
N/A

CORE Registrar: CORE-11

Record last modified: 2001-04-04 00:45:20 UTC by CORE-11
Record created: 2001-02-23 19:11:21 UTC by CORE-11
Record expires: 2002-02-23 13:22:53 UTC

Domain servers in listed order:

ns0.icrystal.com 209.17.131.33
ns1.icrystal.com 208.181.10.1

 

[mary]

From the icrystal web page:

Investor:
Key Milestones

iCrystal Development Milestones

1999

Softnet Industries is established.
Launch of Video Poker Palace, and the Company's first licensee.
The Company reports that the first casino client Video Poker Palace is generating revenues with Softnet earning a fee as to 40% of net gaming revenues.
Softnet signs second casino licensee.
The Company reports that the name change to iCrystal has been completed. The new trading symbol is ICRS and the company continues to trade on the NASD OTC market.
iCrystal releases its new world class corporate website at www.icrystal.com.
iCrystal releases second licensee site, QuickDraw Casino.
iCrystal Inc. releases its third licensee casino site, BlackJack Castle, www.blackjackcastle.com, a specialty site dedicated to the blackjack player.
Launch of Triple Luck Casino, www.tripleluckcasino.com, a casino package dedicated to three-hand video poker.

2000

iCrystal Inc. announces the filing of the Form 10-SB, pursuant to Section 12 (g) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
iCrystal became a fully reporting company under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 in April 2000.
iCrystal, Inc. Registration Statement on Form 10-SB clears comments from SEC.
iCrystal Inc. Announces Agreement With American Amusements (a leading developer of software geared towards Video Lottery Terminals and electronic gaming applications) to adapt their gaming software to allow iCrystal to then license it for use via the Internet.
iCrystal's Master Licensee, DCI Inc., has entered into a joint venture with Manihi Inc. of Costa Rica. Manihi brings a strong international marketing background to the Master Licensee, along with financial support to aggressively market their licensed sites.
Announces the release of the '2001 Millennium Edition Software Packages' and releases www.VideoPokerClassic.com and www.VideoPokerSaloon.com
iCrystal, Inc. Develops Lottery platform software for international interests.
iCrystal, Inc. announced the release and issuance of a high performance, security enhancing, business management utility 'Crystal Access'.
iCrystal announces the release of another '2001 Millennium Edition Software Package' www.IbuyLotto.com an International Lottery Site facilitating premiere lotteries of the world.
iCrystal, Inc. announced the successful completion of the Smart Download technology.
iCrystal, Inc. gains a revenue increase of 691% for the third quarter of 2000.

For more information on investing with iCrystal Inc, please e-mail investor@icrystal.com or call 1-888-992-5021

 

[jetset]

Manihi Inc out of Costa Rica owns VP Classic and VP Saloon (with whom several players had payout problems if I remember correctly) and they are growing. Another of their new ones is Pink Lady. And Blackjack Club.

 

[mary]

Yep, they must be expanding, if you go to the Promos section you'll find them offering $100 bonuses for two other sites.

Looks like we need to work up a list and send 'em an email about unresolved VPP complaints.

 

[big_smalls99]

Ive actually won quite a hefty bit of cash on videopokerclassic, so i dont see the problem with their software? I got payed also, promptly.
I've heard from others that the management team has changed. Any more info would be appreciated!
Thanks
John

 

[colly]

This bonus is a bit on the nose and id effect really only a useable 10% bonus!

A warning on how this bonus works-If you deposit 100 they give you 100 however for each bet you make 10% comes from bonus and 90% from your deposit. If you win a wager 100% added to the "your deposit" .

If you work out the maths it is damn near impossible to use the deposit bonus in continuing play more to more than 10%. I played here before i knew that- got up to nearly 250 $ in wagers played and when I went to bet next couldnt do so as the bet had to be 90 of deposit and of the 75 left apparently 72.50 was "bonus money". In reality this is NOT a matching bonus that is usable and you can only really use 10% of it due to the winnings 100% wagers being used first.

Apparently though you can cash out your wins to the extent of "your deposit" at any time. If you play here cashout immediately after a win and continue to do so.

regards
Colly

 

[mary]

Sounds like a promotion that will confirm players' worst fears about online casinos--design something that looks good, get the deposit, and then make it so confusing and restrictive that the player can feel ripped off. Not going to build a base of repeat players with this one, in fact, it sounds like it is designed to anger and frustrate customers and generate OPA complaints!

Maybe we should issue "Bad Bonus Design" awards or alerts for deceptive advertising.

 

[colly]

An update on this. I wrote to the casino eexpressing my dissatisfactioneith the comment that the bonus was not an effectively true matching bonus. While there rule works fairly on the automatic 10% deposit bonus it would not work without a very large initial win on a matching bonus.

I recieved an apology from support and they added an amount to my account to apologise for the confusion. With this amount I was able to play and cashout ahead.

I have written to them suggesting they make a clear refernce to the terms to all players to avoid potential frustration and inevitable lost customers.

I hope they sort this out- the software is nice and seems fair (on VP anyway).

regards
Colly