WestCasino Moving to Curacao – Possible Run for It?

[Takemoney201]

Just a heads-up for everyone: WestCasino, operated by Goldwin Ltd, has recently announced some significant changes. They've stated that the company will cease operations, surrender its license, and transfer the domain westcasino.com to a third-party operator.

I'm hearing a lot of concerns about non-payments from this casino at the moment. On top of that, they're asking for ridiculous verification steps, such as metadata on documents and pictures, which is causing delays. It feels like they're stalling on purpose.

Seems like they’re planning to move to a nice "sunny" Curacao license, known for its lax regulations, where obligations toward players can be easily dodged.

Anyone else having issues with WestCasino recently?

 

[conker]

@Takemoney201 most of your post appears to be speculation. However, I am sure to Casinomeister team will keep a close eye on what is going on at WestCasino and update their review accordingly. They are in the Grey Zone as it is, there is only one step below, and that is to fall into the fiery rogue pit.

It will be interesting to see if other forum members have any further information.

 

[dunover]

I wouldn't read too much into 'moving license' as the Cup-o-cocoa one is effectively about the same as not having one anyway.

 

[Takemoney201]

I understand your point, but my post is based on data from other casino websites where players have made public complaints about WestCasino. Here’s an example of one of the verification requests being quoted:

“New photo of your Passport. All four corners of the document should be visible, and we require that you send the original photo taken by your smartphone/camera, containing the complete EXIF Metadata from the device, without it being resized, edited, or changed in any way."

“New photo of your Passport in hand. All four corners of the document should be visible, and we require that you send the original photo taken by your smartphone/camera, containing the complete EXIF Metadata from the device, without it being resized, edited, or changed in any way.”

Many casino players don’t even know what EXIF Metadata means or how to provide it, which is leading to confusion and delays.

Also, there’s a big post on this forum about Goldwin, which has a sister site with similarly rough terms. In my opinion, CasinoMeister could do with an update on WestCasino, as it seems to be slipping under the radar.

 

[Guntis]

I think they overcomplicate things - essentially you just need to take a photo with a phone or camera and send it without any modifications.

EXIF data will be attached automatically unless this option is disabled. For example, you can adjust these settings on a Samsung phone so that no time, location, etc is attached. If nothing is attached, they'll likely refuse such photos.

 

[jasonuk]

They wouldn't be the first operator to move from a high-regulation (MGA) to a low-regulation (Curacao) environment, and a large part of this will be in how they manage such a transition.

Saying that, it's rarely for a good reason - and similar transitions have seen a string of non-payments, or worse straight up lying to the customer. In one bizarre case, the operator still held the MGA license, but used it as a front to mislead customers - affiliates pushing the MGA license front and centre even though most transactions were processed under their Curacao "license".

 

[justdoit]

if allbritish move to Curacao they need to change their name to AllCuracao Casino

 

[Takemoney201]

I quote from another site

"
Also, I would like to inform you that the current operator of WestCasino.com is ceasing operation and that the domain and brand have been sold to a different operator. The change of operator will be effective starting October 01, 00:00 GMT Time."



All players have been informed of this change and were asked to confirm if they wish to transfer to the new operator or not. From what I see this specific player hasn't expressed their choice yet."


So Westcasino is sold what will happen to the players funds in this case?

 

[jasonuk]

There should be an orderly wind-down of the previous operator and all funds returned to players, but if they are selling the domain and haven't provided contact details (given the transition happens tomorrow) then there's a genuine risk that they'll disappear into the night and the remaining player funds will be lost.

 

[jasonuk]

There should be an orderly wind-down of the previous operator and all funds returned to players, but if they are selling the domain and haven't provided contact details (given the transition happens tomorrow) then there's a genuine risk that they'll disappear into the night and the remaining player funds will be lost.

For reference, posted earlier today: Westcasino scams me and confiscate 7000 euro. - Casinomeister Forum