1 February 2015

The Best and Worst of 2014

The only awards that matter…

It’s been one hell of a year – and these are the awards to prove it.

Complete 2014 Awards

13 February 2015

Special Edition
International Casino Exhibition 2015 – London Affiliate Conference – London

Dear Reader,

And here we go again – Casinomeister’s annual ICE and LAC report. It’s an awesome bit of news – so if you’re into London pubs, hanging out with meister members, chillin’ at conferences, and trippy people, then this newsletter is for you. Read on…

Reportingly yours,

Bryan

London Trip 2015

A little fish, a little chips…

…and by jove, I believe I got my share this year. Well, I almost did. Within minutes of my arrival in Trafalgar square – after dropping off my bags at my hotel, was an annual pilgrimage to the Sherlock Holmes Pub. It was right across the street from us – us being Max and me.

We had plenty to discuss – one thing of which was our absolutely twisted schedule. For the past several years, we have been attending the International Casino Exhibition and the London Affiliate Conference, and they are timed to follow one after the other – firstly the ICE, and then gracefully blurring into the LAC. We are guys who don’t like to break from tradition and our usual schedule. This year our daily planner was turned upside down – oh woe the traditionalists.

And since it was a weekend late afternoon – the Sherlock Holmes was a bit too crowded. So onward beer soldier, to the Chandos Pub on St. Martin in the Fields. It was crowded, but nice – the Fish n’ Chips were good, but actually hit the spot.

Even though it was packed, we had chance luck when two ladies left a little nook in the corner open – right next to the fireplace by the window overlooking the St. Martin in the Fields church. Ever listen to the sound track from Amadeus? I’m pretty sure much of it was recorded there.

We sat in the pub, and finalized our plan – I had several missions: one to meet with Playtech and to once again plead Sylvia P.’s case (the woman who had $1.8 million confiscated from a progressive win by Joyland Casino). I was hoping to once again bring this into the lime light for the umpteenth time – I still feel that someone needs to act on this. I was also to meet with eCOGRA to see if they were aware of the alarming fact that some Digimedia casinos are equating “advantage play” with “fraudulent play” and are confiscating deposits of bonus “beaters”. Then there were a load of new casinos wanting to come on board with the Baptism By Fire. And of course, the Meister Meeting was on the horizon as well.

We also planned to visit a few pubs.

We finished our beers and headed to Oxford street to find a Samsung store. I was in dire need of a new battery for my Samsung Galaxy II which I’ve had for a little less that three years. We were met by the sales guy who was a bit more than smug stating that no one has the Galaxy II anymore – it’s been discontinued thus the Samsung store doesn’t carry batteries for them. “You must be shitting me – so I’m supposed to throw a €450 phone into the trash?”

“Well,” he explained, “actually that phone has a sell-back value at about 20 quid.”

Unbelievable. This mirrored my experience last year at a Target in San Diego when I was looking for a case for my phone. The teenaged clerk told me that I needed a new phone – no one has a galaxy II anymore. Crikey! It’s only a couple of years old!

And this is the generation that is supposed to be concerned about climate change and the limits of our resources. Freaking mind-boggling. Yeah, lets throw our obsolete phones in the trash. Thank you consumerism run-amok.

Anyway from this point, we got a bit lost on the train trying to reach Greedygirl at the Olympia Hilton Hotel – ended up in Gunnersbury. So, we headed then back to Leicester Square, met the ever amiable Adnan from Affiliate Republik, and part of the team behind LatestCasinoBonuses at Waxy’s Little Sister. This was a prelude to Joy King Lau, home of some of the best Chinese food ever.

It was great catching up with Adnan, he had just launched Slots Million – which is currently in the Baptism By Fire section at Casinomeister. And hard to believe, we finished every bit of Chinese that we had ordered. There is always a decadent bit of food left over – something that only the privileged or gluttonous can accept – this time, only enough for a cat in the kitchen to lick off our plates was left. Outstanding food.

The London Affiliate Conference is always a great show – and this year they had a huge turnout. Unfortunately, we only had a limited time there – but it was good. If you are into drinking and eating, it was really the place to be. Quite a few booths sported drinks of all sorts – and I get it. Ply the affiliates with liquor and make a great bargain. But most of the time, you’ll find me hanging out at the Paddy Power Guinness bar.

I have to admit though – they now have competition with the Beer & Bizz Meeting Point Video Slots, Affiliate Republik, Mr Green and Euro Partners all chipped in for this. The bar had 15 kegs of London Pride, Moritz, and Paulander – and was drained in a day. Yay affiliates! Way to go!

But all of this schmoozing and boozing can be a bit tiresome – well at least the solicitations get a little old. I have to say, the LAC has become split into two categories – casino affiliate and binary affiliate. The binary industry is just plain dodgy in my opinion, and I’m glad they separate the two: the dark and sinister looking binary stands were located upstairs, and the colorful festive casino affiliate stands were downstairs. I find the binary sales people pushy in-your-face opportunists. For some, this isn’t a problem. For me and a number of others, it’s bullshit.

But I digress.

So – Max and I met Erik of Casino Lenny and Thrills Casino. They seem to be pretty squared away. They’re Nordic facing and have a pretty good following in the forum. They should be entering the Baptism by Fire section any day.

Quasar Gaming would like to do more on the site – if you are into Novomatic games, you really need to check them out. I hope to see some exclusive Casinomeister promos for our members in the near future.

Max and I met up with the Fortune Lounge guys. We briefly discussed some of the issues of recent past – one current issue is their bonus terms that equate bonus “abuse” as fraudulent play. But more on this later in this newsletter (that’s what I wanted to talk to eCOGRA about).

In fact, the LAC was pretty much a two-day power meeting fest – so I’ll just finish it up here:

Energy Casino wants to BBF. Unfortunately they take no players from Denmark, France or Finland – they seem like a bunch of good guys.

RedStar, a Microgaming casino which is semi-focused on the Russian market is wanting to come on board via BBF.

Monte Carlo Casino – connected to the land based Monte Carlo Casino, and to the Everest Group is wanting to come on board via BBF.

In a nutshell, the two day affiliate conference was too short. No time for pubs.

Ran into a rep for the Revenue Jet casinos, recipient for Worst Casino Group 2014, and he thanked me for the coveted award. He said that they had a new strategy – that they were going to start paying players. So that’s nice to hear. I hope to see this pan out.

Betfair is ready to make a move to get out of the rogue pit – more on this in the next couple of weeks.

Betspin is ready for the BBF – that’s good to know since they have also been getting great reviews in the forum – so their mission is partially complete.

Max and I met Richard from SIA whom we meet just about every year at the Ship and Shovel pub in Charing Cross. This year, because of the flip-flop of schedules we chose a pub near the official conference hotel – The Hilton Olympia.

After making a few wrong turns, and a couple of right ones, we found it: The Scarsedale Tavern. This is an absolute gem of a pub – two fireplaces, it was cozy and “gemütlich”. Don’t believe me? Click their link and check them out.

In the middle of all these two blurry days was the iGaming Awards Dinner, where I was to award Best Casino Global and Best Casino US Facing for the player’s choice awards. Unexpectedly, Casinomeister’s Forum won the Lou Fabiano Player Community Award. There is a bit of irony in this since Lou was banned from our forum some years ago during the CAP meltdown of 2011. Well in light of the award, I changed his account from banned to dormant. So thanks for those who voted for the Casinomeister forum as the best player community in the world. RIP Lou.

Voice from the past – ICE 2008
For the first time ever, it was a relatively short and painless queue to collect a badge for the exhibition hall. Once inside, it was clear that the exhibition was huge. The first item on the agenda was to hook up with Max Drayman, my high speed complaints and player grievance manager.

We found each other in the swirl of suits (Max and I don’t wear suits) and made our way around the expo hall. We met up with several operators and affiliate managers while making our rounds. Even stopping by some of the booths to chit chat and make our acquaintance.

From there, it was lunch at the Prince of Wales pub (which is right around the corner from the West Brompton tube station). Fish and Chips – I love them. We had a nice chat about Casinomeister, the industry, the Pitch a Bitches, and perhaps a bit about you my dear reader. Our members are what makes Casinomeister what it is.
And a trip to London wouldn’t be complete without the obligatory meeting with Simmo! at the Hippodrome. (at press time I’ve come to realize that it was probably the Empire) This time he was all excited about three-card-poker – the fun lasted about an hour. 500 quid later it was time to call it a night and mosey on back to Trafalgar Square – my pillow was calling me.

The first day of the ICE was a good one. Even though the queue was massive – once in, it was all good.

I had a chance to sit down with Playtech and pleaded – again – the case for Sylvia P. who had her progressive win of $4.4 million chopped in half by Joyland Casino. She only receive half of it and is still owed $1.8 million – at least in my opinion.

This has been one of the most excruciating experiences of mine (and especially hers) since I have been running this site for the past almost 17 years. Her experience is documented here.

Playtech heard me out – on why I feel that their casinos that enforce withdrawal limits on progressive wins are acting in an unethical manner. Playtech confirmed that when a progressive win is hit, the funds go directly to the player’s account. This is where their involvement ends though. It’s up to the casino to process this payment to the player. What I have issue with is when a casino, Joyland for instance, enforces a $9K a month withdrawal limit on $4.2 million dollars – especially when these funds were not theirs to begin with. It’s absolutely criminal what they did. They kept about half via a dodgy arrangement made by a manager using a private hotmail account. What happened to the missing $1.8 million? I feel that Sylvia should still be paid this amount – with interest. And I also feel that Joyland Casino should be audited for the year that those funds went missing to find out who pocketed this money. This is far from over in my opinion.

From Playtech we met up with EGO affiliates – the people who manage Slotsmagic. There was a massive problem last summer/early fall when their WMS games were “hanging”. They happily told me that WMS found the glitch – and it’s been eradicated. So this is great news for everyone. There is nothing more frustrating than seeing some of the best slots online hanging in the middle of a spin. Glad that’s fixed!

Voice from the past – ICE 2013
And then lunch – Max and I had to head out once again for some deep fried battered fish. We had to prep ourselves since we were scheduled to have pints with some of the guys from Sports InterAction at the Ship & Shovel pub by Charing Cross. This is another one of our yearly pilgrimages. Some people chose to pilgrimage to holy sites like Mecca and Lourdes – we choose pubs in London.

It was mirth all around – and after a couple of hours, Max and I mosied on to the Salisbury pub at St. Martin’s Lane meeting Ed Ware and co. What an awesome pub – famous for its etched Victorian glass and amicable ambience. When it’s dark and rainy outside, this is where you want to be. There always seem to be famous faces about since this is in the theater district – we spotted Nigel Havers – who slipped out at a moment’s notice.

The Meister Meeting 2015
Waxy O’Conner’s Dargle Bar: This was by far the best attended yet. Perhaps it was because the LAC began before the ICE, but I think not. There were way more players at this one, and we got a chance to meet some faces for the first time that are regular Casinomeister fixtures in our forum.

Big time kudos for Guts Casino who flew Nifty and his wife out to London. Meeting Nifty29 was an absolute pleasure – and it was a great deal of fun to hang out with the guy, even though it was for just a few hours. Dunover was there as well – a great bloke. Tirilej graced us with her presence – she is an awesome person to meet after bantering on the forum for the past several years. Vinylweatherman made it to the train on time – so he was hanging around – it was fun seeing Nifty and VWM converse in real time.

It was really a great show – and a massive thanks go to Club World Casino for sponsoring the whole thing, and to Karolina who kept us all in line. It was a night to remember.

And if you couldn’t make it this year, I hope to see you next year on Tuesday 2 February 2016. Be there or be square.

More ICE

It was massive – and a bit overwhelming. Some of the booths were just beyond the scope of normalcy. Take Playtech’s for instance – two stories, at least 180 square meters or so, and about 160 employees. Figure hotel expenses, flights, materials, supplies, construction costs – it must have been a staggering amount of money invested in this one show alone. And that is one booth – erm, I guess you wouldn’t call it a booth. Photographic proof here.

Moving on – met up with Tex Reese from eCOGRA that is now getting more involved with the UKGC and is actually expanding some. I briefly discussed why the Brightshare casinos were removed from the Accredited list last month – how they were equating advantage play with fraudulent play, and had confiscated the deposits of at least one player because of this. She has already responded back to me with possible suggestions to give the casinos a chance to change this. Nevertheless, this seems to be only a characteristic of the Digimedia brands. I haven’t seen this unacceptable term at any Vegas Partner casino, GoWild, 32Red, or any other stand alone Microgaming casino. So it looks like this is a problem that Digimedia specific.

List of accredited Digimedia casinos here.

Max and I had our yearly briefing with the Kahnawake Gaming Commission. Each year it gets better – the KGC is setting the standard for what a Gaming Commission is there for: protecting their licensees – protecting the players. If you have any doubt about this, please read their latest early report here: Player Self Limitation and Self Exclusion Summary
2014 Dispute Resolution Summary Statistics

Voice from the past – ICE 2008
We also met briefly with Andrew Beveridge and Tex Reese from eCOGRA who have been instrumental on making great strides for players. It’s a shame that there are still some individuals who have knee-jerk opinions about organizations that step forth to better this industry for the player. eCOGRA has done a hell of a lot of work, and they really make a difference for casino operator accountability.

The rest of the afternoon was a blur in a sea of people and casino booths. One impressive item – the new Lara Croft: Tomb Raider game due out from Microgaming soon. The graphics are absolutely awesome, and the bonus rounds bring online slots to another level. Hell, who needs land based slots when you have slots like these. When it’s launched, you’ll see what I mean.

On Wednesday, Max and I had an awesome lunch with the guys from iNetBet – the conversation always seems to turn towards Sergio Leone, Michael Caine and gangster films. To which are always the questions, “What is the most memorable scene? What is your favorite line?”

And these guys have a surprise for players in the near future. Stay tuned to find out what this is. It’s been in the works for some time, and I think it’s revolutionary. But we’ll see, won’t we?

Lunch was followed by a semi-crawl to Trader Vics where we indulged in some girly drinks and man talk. Met the operator for Main Street – and he said he’d really like to come back on board at Casinomeister. Problems in the past were that non-US players had a extremely high play-through requirement for bonuses. Well, since many RTGs are not accepting UK players, it’s a bit redundant, so they will probably be coming back on.

Then of course the traditional 32Red dinner – recipients of the Best Casino Group 2014 and Best Customer Service 2014. We met in the American Bar of the Colony Grill Room – which was packed. Dinner was scrumptious (had the pork chop – I think), but whatever – I remember it was damn good whatever it was. We stayed until closing. Massive thanks, 32Red!

Thursday: There’s a pub between Embankment tube station and our hotel (The Grand) which is a haunt of ours – the Ship & Shovel. In between pubs, dinners and conferences, this is where you can find Max and me. Did I mention we like pubs?

Before meeting the revered and admirable Micki Oster for a much anticipated dinner at the Shard, Max and I found a pub: the Bunch of Grapes Pub by London Bridge. It was pretty much packed, and we decided that Brits like pubs too.

After a couple of pints, up to The Shard we went where we met Micki from the KGC, Jetset, and others from both the KGC and Sports Inter Action . The Oblix restaurant in London’s tallest building has a view that is stupendous – especially at night. At 32 floors high, you feel like Peter Pan flying over the Tower Bridge.

The acoustics within the restaurant is a bit cacophonous – the ceiling is too low – but the food made up for the din. Besides the company, the meal was awesome – I recommend the crab cakes and lamb chops.

Evening turned into night – met some friends at the Hippodrome – and relinquished myself to the pillow in my hotel room.

And that was it. A very informative and productive trip – especially for our forum members who will be benefiting from a number of projects that a couple of webmasters and I are putting together. This will be a very good and big year for Casinomeister.

And I hope an even better year for you, my dear reader. I hope this newsletter has made a difference in your day.

Voice from the past – ICE 2001
I’ve had a couple of weeks to contemplate my experiences of the Interactive Casino Exhibition and would have to say it was overall a satisfying experience, but it was too small. It was great seeing the faces behind the websites and emails I’ve been in contact with over the past couple of years, but the ICE could have been bigger. There were perhaps only about twenty-five booths; that was it. I was also surprised by how many “newbies” were in the business, people who have never visited the forums of Casinomeister, Winneronline, Got2bet, or other quality gaming information sites. This was scary. It goes to show that many of these vendors have not done their homework when it comes to finding out what is “really” happening in the online gaming world. It was the “oldtimers”, people who have been in the business for a while, who knew about our sites, and consequently, understood the importance of sites like ours. This new budding industry has a lot to learn.
Photographic proof of the events can be found here.

3 March 2015

WORD FROM THE MEISTER

Yo yo yo…

Yeah, I’ve been pretty busy as of late – working on some updates to the site – two of which most everyone will appreciate.

PAB section: We are revamping the PAB section so that the PABs will be displayed with their status, and other pertinent information that you will find of interest. This will allow the PABers to see what’s up, and it will appease the nosey peeps who want to make sure Max is on top of things.

C2O – is getting ready for a relaunch. What this is is Casinomeister’s 2nd Opinion – a handy dandy tool you can use in your browser that gives you the status of any known casino while visiting its website: is it accredited? rogue? is it in the reservation? BBF? This tool will “tell all”. In the past, we made it available only to our forum full members and above. Well it looks like we’ll be making this available to everyone – so stay tuned for that.

Another thing I’ve been highly involved with is the relaunching of GoneGambling’s forum. If you enjoy Casinomeister’s forum – you’ll love he new and improved GG forum. We’ve switched from the 1990’s proprietary forum software to vBulletin – which many of you are familiar with. In fact, if you’re in the States, you will probably want to sign up there since there are many more US facing casinos at GG. GoneGambling is mostly visited by US traffic – so if you’re in the States, you will probably really like it there. You can check out GoneGambling’s new forum out here.

NEWLY ACCREDITED CASINOS!!

SlotsMillion passed the Baptism by Fire with flying colors – they have a massive selection of slots, to include NetEnt, Playtech, Microgaming, Betsoft, BetOnSoft, Leander, NextGen, and Rival. European facing not yet UK licensed yet. Read SlotsMillion Review. 8.6 Meister points – not too shabby!

GoWild Casino is back. 30 free spins no deposit required. Check out their accred page GoWild Casino Review.

And now for the humor…

Smith climbs to the top of Mt. Sinai to get close enough to talk to God. Looking up, he asks God, “God, what does a million years mean to you?”

God replies, “A minute.”

Smith asks, “And what does a million dollars mean to you?”

God replies, “A penny.”

Smith asks,” Can I have a penny?”

God replies, “In a minute”.

ha ha ha

A.S.A. DISCUSSES MOST COMPLAINED ABOUT ADVERTS IN 2014

Tasteless Pistorius advert racked up a record number of complaints

The UK advertising watchdog Advertising Standards Authority revealed the worst ads in terms of complaints in its review of 2014 published this week.

Attracting the most complaints by far, and establishing a new ASA record at 5 525 complaints, was the tasteless but publicity-grabbing Paddy Power campaign with the slogan “money back if he walks” that was flighted during the legless Olympian runner’s trial for murdering his girlfriend (see previous InfoPowa report).

The ASA subsequently banned the advert because it “brought advertising into disrepute”.

Some way behind on the complaints list was an advertisement for Booking.com, which was the subject of 1,768 complaints, mainly objecting to its use of the word “booking” as a substitute for a well-known swear word. In that case the company was found not to be at fault.

The Sun newspaper also came in for a battering with 1,711 complaints about its advertisement offering subscribers a chance to win a date with one of its famous page 3 topless models. In that case the complaints were supported on grounds that the offer was “demeaning to women and objectified those offered as prizes”.

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa

More news here.

27 March 2015

WORD FROM THE MEISTER

Just a quickie…

Yes it’s almost time for Spring cleanup. We have some really cool things being reluanched in the near future, so keep an eye out for some special announcements coming you way. In the meantime…I’ve been highly involved with is the relaunching of GoneGambling’s forum. If you enjoy Casinomeister’s forum – you’ll love the new and improved GG forum. We’ve switched from the 1990’s proprietary forum software to vBulletin – which many of you are familiar with. GoneGambling is mostly visited by US traffic – so if you’re in the States, you will probably really like it there. You can check out GoneGambling’s new forum out here.

NEWLY ACCREDITED CASINOS!!

Tivoli Casino passed the Baptism by Fire and is now in the Accredited Casino Section. European facing – licensing jurisdictions: Malta, UK, and Denmark! Read their review here. 8.5 Meister points – not too shabby!

And to celebrate: 171 No Deposit Free Spins – Casinomeister Members Only

And now for the humor…

Harlow was fixing a door and he found that he needed a new hinge, so he sent his wife Mary to the hardware store. At the hardware store, Mary saw a beautiful teapot on a top shelf while she was waiting for Carl, the manager, to finish waiting on a customer.

When Carl was finished, Mary asked how much for the teapot.

Carl replied, “That’s silver and it costs $100!”

“My goodness, that sure is a lottamoney!” Mary exclaimed. Then she proceeded to describe the hinge that Harlow had sent her to buy, and Carl went to the back room to find it.

From the back room Carl yelled, “Mary, you wanna screw for that hinge?”

Mary replied, “No, but I will for the teapot.”

This is why you can’t send a woman to a hardware store.

ha ha ha

METROPLAY-666BET U.K. LICENCE SUSPENDED

Gambling Commission review now in progress following suspicions that the licensee is “unsuitable.”

Industry observers were speculating Friday on the possible licence infractions behind the UK Gambling Commission’s announcement that it had suspended its licensing for Metroplay Limited, trading as 666Bet.

In a statement issued Friday, the Commission advised:

“The Gambling Commission has commenced a review under section 116 of the Gambling Act 2005 (the Act) and, under section 118 of the Act, has decided to suspend Operating Licence No 000-039112-R-319435-001 (Metro Play Limited) while that review takes place.

“The Commission has decided to commence a review because it suspects that Metro Play Limited (the Licensee) is unsuitable to carry on the licensed activities (section 120(1)(d) of the Act) and considers it appropriate to suspend the licence with immediate effect pending the conclusion of the review.

“In accordance with section 118(4)(c) of the Act the Licensee is authorised to settle any outstanding winning bets that it has accepted in reliance on the above operating licence and return any outstanding balances to customers.

“The suspension is an interim measure, the need for which will be kept under consideration whilst the review takes place.”

On Saturday morning both websites were down “for maintenance”.

Last September 666Bet acquired Metro Play from DMG Media and transferred its sports betting operation from Novigroup to the EveryMatrix platform, which powers the Metro Play site (see previous InfoPowa reports).

On making the acquisition, the Isle of Man-based 666Bet revealed that it would keep the MetroPlay branding, although the staff would not be needed.

666Bet made an almost meteoric rise in the industry after launching in June 2014, hitting the media headlines with a series of high profile football sponsorships and management statements voicing big ambitions regarding expansion and acquisitions.

More info here

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa

More news here.

16 April 2015

WORD FROM THE MEISTER

Actually…

This is a SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT! We have just relaunched an AWESOME browser widget that will revolutionize how you surf the Internet looking for that “just right” casino. It’s called Casinomeister’s 2nd Opinion (or C2O for short). What this is, is a widget that you upload into your browser and when you visit a casino webpage, it will tell you whether a casino is listed as an Accredited Casino, Rogue Casino, in the BBF, Reservation, No-can-do list – whatever the status of that casino is at Casinomeister it will let you know.

Awesome, right? Well you can thank Simmo! for creating this – and this is for all members, not just a select few.

So what are you waiting for? Check it out here.

And we have a special forum set up for comments, questions, and updates here.

Never be in the dark again.

NEW SLOTS FORUM – yep that’s right. After nearly 17 years of running this site we have set up a special forum that is primarily focused on slots. Do you like to prattle on about slots and how wickedly mind-blowing they are? Do you like to whine about how cheating software has got your panties tied in tangled knot? Well you need to delve into here and blab away.

NEWLY ACCREDITED CASINOS!!

Tivoli Casino passed the Baptism by Fire and is now in the Accredited Casino Section. European facing – licensing jurisdictions: Malta, UK, and Denmark! Read their review here. 8.5 Meister points – not too shabby!

And to celebrate: 171 No Deposit Free Spins – Casinomeister Members Only

And now for the humor…

A farmer got pulled over by a state trooper for speeding, and the trooper started to lecture the farmer about his speed and, in general, began to throw his weight around to try to make the farmer uncomfortable.

Finally, the trooper got around to writing out the ticket, and as he was doing that he kept swatting at some flies that were buzzing around his head.

The farmer said, “Having some problems with circle flies there, are ya?”

The trooper stopped writing the ticket and said – “Well yeah, if that’s what they are – I never heard of circle flies.”

So the farmer says, “Well, circle flies are common on farms. See, they’re called circle flies because they’re almost always found circling around the back end of a horse.”

The trooper says, “Oh,” and goes back to writing the ticket. Then after a minute he stops and says, “Hey… wait a minute, are you trying to call me a horse’s ass?”

The farmer says, “Oh no, Officer. I have too much respect for law enforcement and police officers to even think about calling you a horse’s ass.”

The trooper says, “Well, that’s a good thing,” and goes back to writing the ticket.

After a long pause, the farmer says, “Hard to fool them flies though.”

ha ha ha

12 June 2015

WORD FROM THE MEISTER

Seventeen years!!!

That’s right – June marks Casinomeister’s launch date – and it’s been seventeen years since we first uploaded our humble pages. It was started up as a hobby – little did I know that Casinomeister would become what it is today – one of the leading websites that deals with online gaming. And what a long strange trip it’s been.

Putting this into perspective, 40% of our members were either in elementary, or high school when Casinomeister was launched; 5% were still in diapers. Traffic has picked up a bit since 1998 – in the summer of ’98 we were getting between 20 – 35 visitors a day, now it’s in the kagillions :).

Even though Casinomeister has evolved from a simple little website to what it is now, it has not wavered from its original mission statement:

“Trust is what it’s all about. Our mission at Casinomeister is to provide solid information; information that enables players to make smart choices. Since trust is spawned by information, the more players know about online casinos, the more at ease and safer they will be.”So there you have it. We will continue to do the same for the years to come – so far, it’s worked out pretty well.

NEW ACCREDITED STANDARDS AND POLICIES

A couple of changes…

One addition to the Accredited Standards:

Must disclose all “sister” or related properties when applicable. If players are bound by terms that are enforced across a group of casinos, these casinos must be identified in an obvious place on the casino’s website. For example: if a player is allowed only one sign up bonus for a group of casinos, these casinos need to be listed in the bonus terms and conditions (or an equally noticeable spot). If a player self-excludes from one property, the casino needs to identify all related properties that are affected by the exclusion as well.
This is to eliminate confusion that some players are having when either accepting bonuses from one casino in a group, or when self-excluding themselves.

Also, for a casino to be eligible for the BBF, it must be in business for a minimum of two years. This is to protect our members from online casino cyber face-plants due to inexperience and other unforeseen deal-killers. There is more about this here.

BIERFEST!!!

It’s easy, all you have to do is identify this image – explain what it is and what it has to do with Casinomeister. The first person who correctly identifies this image and explains its importance wins 10 liters of Bavarian beer or $50 – depending on your choice and/or if you are in a beer unfriendly jurisdiction.

So what are you waiting for? Post your answer here. (one answer per person please).

OUR FORUM

Meister Minions!

There is a new user group in our forum: Meister Minions. These are members who volunteer to fulfill two very important roles at Casinomeister:

  • Providing intelligence on casinos which assists us in keeping our database up to date.
  • Being champions of the Casinomeister brand, spreading the word via the Internet and offline of the Casinomeister community and its usefulness as a resource for players.

The roles will increase as time goes on.

Meister Minions will be expected to refer members, share articles and postings in social media, and basically help out by spreading the love.

This is open to Fully Registered members and above. Once you have been promoted to a Full Member, you can join via the Permissions Groups in your profile here. Once you have been accepted you will be given access to our Meister Minions special forum where we will collect information and give instructions.

Why join? well if you have ambitions of becoming part of the Casinomeister Advisory Group (CAG) then you will give yourself the best chance of being invited to this exclusive group by proving yourself as a Meister Minion.

Most importantly, we will be holding monthly draws awarding active contributors with really cool prizes. So don’t be shy. For more information, please check out this thread in our forum.

NEWLY ACCREDITED CASINOS!!

Redstar Casino passed the Baptism by Fire and is now in the Accredited Casino Section. European facing – Microgaming, NYX, Play’n GO, GameOS, Xpro Gaming! Payouts within hours! Read their review here. 8.5 Meister points – not too shabby!

And now for the humor…

An explorer in the deepest Amazon suddenly finds himself surrounded by a bloodthirsty group of natives. Upon surveying his situation, he says quietly to himself, “I’m screwed.” There is a ray of light from the sky and a voice booms out: “No you are NOT screwed. Pick up that stone in front of you and bash the head of the chief.” So the explorer picks up the stone and proceeds to bash in the head of the chief. He is breathing heavily while standing above the lifeless body. Surrounding him are the 100 native warriors with a look of shock on their faces.

The voice booms out again: “Okay…….NOW you’re screwed!”

ha ha ha

19 June 2015

WORD FROM THE MEISTER

CASINOMEISTER’S WEBCAST

17 Years of Casinomeister!! We’re celebrating our original launch date by having a Bierfest. As you probably know, we do this every year, but this one is the best one since it’s happening right now!

Also, I describe a bit about the C2O – Casinomeister’s 2nd Opinion widget that was relaunched last month thanks to Simmo!. Using this widget allows you to figure out what the status of an online casino is: Accredited, Rogue, Reservation, BBF, etc. It’s an awesome tool.

All this and more here!!

NEVER BE LEFT OUT IN THE COLD!! Subscribe to our videos here!! You’ll be automatically emailed whenever a video is uploaded!! I guarantee that these videos will make you a smarter, better person.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxINDZBTw0M
https://www.youtube.com/user/casinomeister

BIERFEST!!!

Win 10 liters of BEER!!

It’s easy, all you have to do is identify this image (it’s near the end of the webcast) – explain what it is and what it has to do with Casinomeister. The first person who correctly identifies this image and explains its importance wins 10 liters of Bavarian beer or $50 – depending on your choice and/or if you are in a beer unfriendly jurisdiction.

So what are you waiting for? Post your answer here. (one answer per person please).

NEWLY ACCREDITED CASINOS!!

Redstar Casino passed the Baptism by Fire and is now in the Accredited Casino Section. European facing – Microgaming, NYX, Play’n GO, GameOS, Xpro Gaming! Payouts within hours! Read their review here. 8.5 Meister points – not too shabby!

And now for the humor…

A man took his wife to the rodeo and one of the first exhibits they stopped at was the breeding bulls.

They went up to the first pen and there was a sign attached that said,

“This bull mated 50 times last year.” The wife playfully nudged her husband in the ribs and said, “He mated 50 times last year.”

They walked to the second pen which had a sign attached that said, “This bull mated 120 times last year. ” The wife gave her husband a healthy jab and said, “That’s more than twice a week! You could learn a lot from him.”

They walked to the third pen and it had a sign attached that said, in capital letters, “This bull mated 365 times last year.” The wife, so excited that her elbow nearly broke her husband’s rib, said, “That’s once a day.You could REALLY learn something from this one.”

The husband looked at her and said, “Go over and ask him if it was with the same cow.”

ha ha ha

22 June 2015

WORD FROM THE MEISTER

Amsterdam Affiliate Conference 2015

Actually better known as the Affiliate Super Show – but AAC looks better than ASS. Nevertheless, it was a pretty good show. It was held in Amsterdam – which of course makes this one of the best conferences of the year, but its success (for affiliates at least) is the low-key networking possibilities that Amsterdam has to offer.

For once, there were no real pending issues that needed to be dealt with by me or Max. No scandalous activities to cover, no forum meltdowns to blather about. It was a quiet conference where Max and I met up with a few operators, some new – some old, and in essence – we had a fantastically good time.

The thing that is so amazing about Amsterdam is its worldliness. For centuries, it has been a pivotal place where cultures fused together. This is obvious just by the cuisine – some of the best Thai, Chinese, and Indian food can be gormandized. And then there is the selection of beers, the architecture, the curiosities. Finally the art – the Dutch national museum, the Rijksmuseum, celebrates the art and history of the Netherlands. You could easily spend several days there – it’s by far one of my top-o’-the-list museums in the world.

But besides the museums, there are the pubs. We normally stay around the corner from the Red Light district at the Grand Krasnapolsky, and it’s here that a myriad of pubs lay in wait.

The Proeflokaal Wynand Fockink is a great place to start. They have a wild assortment of homemade liqueurs – flavors from walnut, to Nutella, coffee, raspberry and banana – there is something for every palate. It was us and some of the guys from Affiliate Republik that began one magnificent crawl from here.

And this delicious aperitif will only make you hungry, and what’s a pub crawl without the obligatory visit to The Bird – one of the best of many great Thai restaurants in Amsterdam. From there we hit a number of great pubs – Cafe Pleinzicht and then up around the corner to the Cafe Old Sailor and then on to a few more.

One topic which was covered in depth: which starship captain is better – Captain Picard or Captain Kirk? Personally, I admire the wit and intellectualism of Captain Picard, but Captain Kirk woos me over with his manly swagger, brawling demeanor, and “always-gets-the-girl” magnetism.

If you take a look in the forum, please note Max’s avatar – you’ll see which side of the fence he is on.

We finally ended up at the Europub, where late night wind-downs were met with the usual suspects. This was a typical night in Amsterdam.

The conference itself was relatively good. There were the same conference peeps – which is a good thing – but the expo floor seemed to be semi-devoid of many affiliates – specifically new affiliates. Max and I spoke to one casino rep who had a perfectly positioned stand close to the entrance who said he didn’t make a single new deal by close-of-business on the last day. There just aren’t that many new faces. Max pretty much summarizes the same observation here.

One thing that was an important event during the Amsterdam trek, was the “meeting of the minds” – Simmo!, Conker, Max, myself and NeilW – this was to finalize the organization of the Meister Minions main mission and function – to collect information on casino payouts, and we were to come to grips on how to organize the data and publish it. Well you can see an example of the results here – Vera and John’s casino page. It’s a success!

If you’d like to become a Minion and help us out, please check this out here.

Food highlights: one of the best breakfasts ever – Greenwoods on Singel street. We had to wait nearly an hour it seemed – outside in the rain, but it was well worth it. I had the Omelette special – it was outstanding. It’s a really small place – be prepared to wait in line.

Thanks to Simmo, our annual trip to the Balti House was a complete success! It’s a yearly treat for us happy few. One of the best Indian places in Amsterdam – they never disappoint.

Lloyd Aptor from Casino Cruise treated me and Max to an all-you-can-eat Sushi restaurant ShabuShabu – absolutely brilliant. Totally efficient high tech – you order from a tablet at your table and are given two hours to eat as much sushi as you want. The service is prompt, friendly, and acquiescent.Onward with the conference: Max and I visited Energy Casino’s booth – Norbert was there and we had a nice chat. One thing he brought up was that we should include a place in our forum where iGaming reps can post changes to their terms and conditions. I thought this was an excellent idea – and we have now implemented this in our forum here. Energy Casino, Videoslots, and Jackpot Factory have unutilized this so far – hopefully other casinos will be using this as well.

We also met with Market-Ace who are interested in getting Virgin Games listed back in the accredited section. The only reason they were removed is because they let their casino rep account go dormant. They are back and active – so they are listed again.

We met Marius from RedBet casino – who ensured us that all persons who sign up via Casinomeister will be treated as a VIP player. Which is great news since fantastic treatment of players is really what this industry should be all about, right?

And of course here was the Paddy Power Guinness bar – where a number of obligatory jovial jocularities were shared. Thanks Paddy – always a marvelous booth.

All in all, a decent conference.

But besides the pub crawls and awesome food – the highlight of the conference was the Intertops wind-down session. It was primarily a canal cruise that lasted a bit longer than the originally planned 45min – 1 hour. Max and I sat on that boat for about four hours languishing in the Amsterdam-esque decadence that surrounded us. It was an amazing trippy ride.

Hidden gem: Max and I visited a pub that Max stumbled upon two years ago during our 2013 trek. Cafe Belgique, Gravenstraat 2. They have an enormous selection of Belgian beers that will blow your mind. My choice was Kwak. And the ambiance and decor was gemütlich. Definitely worth your while if you happen to be visiting Amsterdam.

Photographic proof here.

31 July 2015

WORD FROM THE MEISTER

Whoa…

In case you haven’t heard…this happened this past week:

U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION BUSTS LINKED TO ONLINE CASINO OWNERS

But the questionable online gambling conduct of the defendants is probably the least of their worries.

Reports Thursday in the Israeli media linked a major Securities and Exchange Commission scandal in the United States with the online casino industry, impacting a dozen online casinos in the Affactive, Netad Management and RevenueJet groups, which have abruptly ceased business, leaving both players and affiliates unpaid.

Industry insiders were not surprised by the revelations, given that the online companies involved have become notorious for bad conduct, in particular ripping off winning players, spamming, search engine manipulation and even alleged DDoS activity.

The SEC transgressions involve fraud, money laundering and identify theft allegedly perpetrated through “pump-and-dump” style white collar crime in penny-stock manipulation schemes. The unlawful activity allegedly took place over several years and generated illegal income of around $2.8 million.

It also led to the arrest in Israel earlier this week of Gery “Gabi” Shalon and Ziv Orenstein at the behest of the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York. The duo have been detained without bail pending extradition to the United States.

During the arrests, a search of Shalon’s residence found two million shekels (about USD $520,000) in cash.

It is understood that a third suspect, American citizen Joshua Samuel Aaron is on the run but is believed to be somewhere in Russia.

All three men are known by a number of aliases and are in their thirties.

Bloomberg News linked the indicted individuals to the 2013 hacking of the JPMorgan Chase & Co. investment bankers, when gigabytes of financial information, including customer-account data were stolen.

Describing the fraudulent “pump and dump” stock market activity, a statement from the SEC disclosed:

“Aaron and Shalon allegedly wrote and designed the e-mails, Shalon allegedly disseminated them, and Orenstein allegedly provided essential operational support by handling brokerage accounts using numerous aliases.”�

The SEC charges have also resurrected reports last year that Affactive was involved in hacking inactive online publications in order to manipulate and boost Google rankings for its casinos, allegations which Affactive spokesmen have denied.

Read the allegations in detail here,

and here,

and here.

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa

More news here.
All I can say is “I told ya so.” I’ve been warning players and affiliates about these guys for years, and it’s no surprise whatsoever to see this happening. Is you were foolish enough to patronize these guys, well – I don’t think you’ll see a dime coming to you. What did you expect what would happen?

And good riddance to them. The iGaming playing field is a much better place now. It’s free from the bullies, and free from some of the worst properties that have polluted this industry.

BAPTISM BY FIRE!!

Casino Room is giving it a go, and so far – so good. Lots of great comments – not too many discouraging one. You should check this out here.

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And now for the humor…

A five year old boy comes to visit his grandparents and notices his grandfather sitting on the porch, in the rocker, wearing only a shirt, naked from the waist down. “Grandpa, whatcha’ doing? You’re weenie’s out and everybody can see!” he exclaimed.

Grandpa looked off in the distance, not answering.

“Grandpa, whatcha’ doin’ sitting out here with no pants on?” he asked again.

Grandpa looked at him and said, “Son, last week I sat here with no shirt on, Just watching the cars go by…. and I got a stiff neck. This is your Grandma’s idea.”

ha ha ha

25 November 2015

Berlin Affiliate Conference – 2015

Achtung baby! I swore that this year I would not attend a conference on my birthday – and this year both the BAC and EIG were being held during not only my birthday, but during German school vacation. The family wanted to go to someplace warm – so Berlin was off of the agenda. And as the dates got closer, the family discussions got a bit more heated – no one could agree on where to go (we have two teenagers btw). Exasperated, the wife and I took a train to Berlin for a couple of days leaving the kids home alone. Everyone was happy.

So I missed the EiG for the first time in years. But I met a number of people who said it was actually better than last year. That’s good news since many people thought that the EiG conference was on its last bit of oomph.

Trailing the EiG came the BAC which had moved from festive and sunny Barcelona, to dreary Berlin. But business is business, and the iGaming sector believes that this is a good move. So I’ll just bitch and moan insistently boo-hoo. I miss my flip-flops and summery attire. But I digress…

It took me and Conker about 45 minutes to find the exhibition hall from the metro station. The exhibition center (Messe in German) is astonishingly massive – so when attending in the future, make sure you pin-point the spot ahead of time, and figure out your walking path.

We arrived all sweaty and miffed – we had actually walked in an enormous circle. So much for our stupid Google maps.

Within the hall, it appeared a bit cramped, sort of narrow, but there was a lot of foot traffic. I spoke to a few affiliate managers and they seemed to be happy that there were a number of affiliates to do business with. One major letdown was the absence of the Paddy Power Guinness stand. This is where I make meetings – if any. More sniveling from me.

This time ’round, I was meeting up with a couple of people concerning a new project that I have in store – you should know about it in about a week or so. 🙂 We had to make use of other people’s booths.

Later that evening, we had a very enjoyable dinner with the folks from Club World and Intertops. Dinner was served at the Soho House Berlin which at one time was a Jewish department store, then the headquarters for the Hitler Youth, then offices for the Central Committee of the Social Democrats, and then after the wall came down it eventually became a private club. It was a wonderful evening with many friends some of whom I had not seen in a while.

Voice from the past – CAP (BAC) 2008 As soon as we arrived, we were invited for lunch by the Red Flush folks on a yacht moored in the harbor…okay I thought, what the heck. I was hungry anyway. So we sat on this yacht with a few of the usual suspects (Simmo!, et al) and chit-chatted about this and about that. It was sunny – which was not in the forecast, but not sunny enough to get sweaty all over.

My wife mentioned to Martyn Beacon (Red Flushes aff manager) that in German “Red Flush” implies a woman’s menstrual period. He remained unmoved – proud of the name. And then showed us his t-shirt of which he was even prouder. Emblazoned on the front: Queer Beacon. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Insert Halloween and a couple of weeks of catch-up.

MIGS REPORT 2015

Malta iGaming Seminar

Sounds like a boring title, but this event was far from what could appear on the surface as a mundane, tedious conference. You know, the ones where you’re prying your eyes open with toothpicks while listening to some suit talk about the empowerment of “blue sky thinking” or placement synergy. This was a week of insightful and delightful experiences – and overall, one of the most productive conferences I’ve attended since last year’s MiGS 2014.

There is a lot to tell, like my meeting with the player support officer from the MGA, my sit-down with a couple of new casinos that are ready to come on board, and my experience with the NetEntertainment development team – learning what it takes to create and launch a slot game. But first Malta.

Pre-seminar:

I had the pleasure of doing a bit of sightseeing on the island thanks to Magnus of VideoSlots and family. We started with some great sushi at Cafe Sakura – they were just closing their lunch kitchen but remained open for us famished few. Kudos for them. It was really pretty good. From there, we took the ferry across to Valletta – an intriguing town seeped in history. We piled into one of these golfcart tours taking a nighttime tour of the old town. Very touristy , yes – but we learned quite a bit from our guide speaking about the different invasions and religious sects that have gripped the country for the past several thousand years.

We ended the evening at Wigi’s, one of the best restaurants on the island. The owner goes out daily for freshly caught fish and produce from local growers. It’s an awesome place – I’ve been there about three times, and I highly recommend it.

The following day, our friend Silvia took us to Gozo – which has some of the most ancient ruins anywhere on this entire planet. The Ggantija temples: these neolithic structures are built from massive stones dating back about six thousand years – predating just about all free standing structures in the world to include the Great Pyramid of Giza. Absolutely amazing.

And then there was the evening walk though the silent town of Mdina: a medieval walled city. Game of Thrones fans would recognize the gate, and courtyard from the first season as the setting for King’s Landing.

We had a very pleasant dinner at The Sharma, an restaurant specializing in a delicious blend of Moroccan, Arabian, and Indian cuisine. It seems to be a favorite amongst the locals to include many iGaming folk. This too, I highly recommend.

The following day was again – splendid. Marius from Redbet and I drove on to San Anton Gardens, which are located by the presidential residence. The garden grounds are utilized for growing vegetables and herbs – very practical instead of the common garden plants which are more or less an aesthetic appeasement for the public wanderer.

Alas, one major bummer was the zoo – there is a zoo which has no noticeable attendant, and the animals are in shocking condition. One large goat-like animal was lying in the dirt with an open belly wound festering with flies – clearly dying. No one was around to care for the animal. There is also a pen about 100 square meters in size with a herd of deer, most of whom are in several states of deterioration. One large buck sitting listlessly – its haggardness was a polar opposite of what one would expect of the prince of the forest. It was not only heartbreaking – it’s inhumane and scandalous. I didn’t take pictures, but if any of my Malta friends care, they should make a visit and take some photos and post them at Facebook or something equivalent, and convince the city to care for these poor animals. No animal should be treated like that.

MiGS – Day 1

The MiGS was held at the Corinthia St. George (not to be confused with the other two Corinthia hotels on the island – traveler advisory note), which is a decent four star – a little worse for wear: the complimentary breakfast was a little disappointing (no bacon!!), and the bar is quite small – but the conference area was just fine.

Commencing right after breakfast, Sue Schneider took the podium and made a statement that underscored the atmosphere – “You all know what to do – get busy.” That was the major difference here at this conference compared to many others that I’ve attended. It wasn’t a how-to step-by-step sales pitch; it was about how to improve, and how to use other people’s experiences to facilitate what you’re trying to achieve.

One of the highlights of the morning was a panel discussion entitled: “A Century of iGaming”. Sue Schneider – moderator. Veterans of the industry: Mark Blandford – Sportingbet PLC, Franz Wohlfahrt – Novomatic, Paris Smith – Pinnacle Sports, Pontus Lindwall – Betsson AB, and Calvin Ayre formerly of Bodog. Each individual had at least 20 years of involvement in the iGaming realm, and they shared their thoughts and experiences which was a nice trip down memory lane for me.

Pontus Lidwell mentioned that when they first started Betsson, they planned on ten employees; they now have over 2600. Paris Smith started as an intern thinking that the industry would last about ten years. Franz thought that “fair competition” would be in place within five years. At the moment, the online gaming industry is about as cohesive as a room full of wild dogs and cats.

One topic: what has been the greatest frustration? Both Calvin and Mark mentioned that one of their earliest frustrations was just trying to make things work. Pontus – no one had confidence in the different companies that were getting involved – which brought up thoughts of mine: this was the catalyst for Casinomeister in 1998 – to list the legit companies, and to expose the rogues.

Further frustrations: double standards in both Europe and the US, how monopolies are protected by the government. I think most gamblers can relate to this. One of the main reasons why online gaming has not been 100% regulated across all states that allow land based casinos and lotteries, is because of the quarrelling between the governments and land based casinos. The monopolies are protected by certain politicians who don’t understand the industry – or are just plain misguided – or stupid.

Another frustration – one that I can relate to: regulators that don’t understand the nuts and bolts of the industry. Most regulators are hired in from other jobs: ex-cops, human resources, lawyers. They have no clue about casino management, player expectations and behaviors, casino marketing, bonuses, casino math, etc. And this industry is twenty years old? So far, there is one jurisdiction that can boast of having people who know this business and players more than anyone else – Kahnawake. More on this later.

Sue asked for the panel to look back and discuss what they would have done differently. Calvin would have invested more in technology, Franz would have invested in a gaming association – which brings up the question – why isn’t there one? After nearly twenty years, there are no collective online gaming associations that include a majority of software providers and casino operators. In my opinion, it’s never too late for a move in this direction. The Americans have the AGA, which is massive. What do the online casino operators have? What formidable professional association lobbies for online gaming in the European Parliament? Or in North America for that matter? No one – really.

The panel was asked the question, “Is there more room for innovation?” The answer was a resounding “yes”, but this industry has always been innovative. And one thing that is perplexing to me – if only California would open up and become a real regulatory body. Just imagine what silicone valley could generate. We could be playing slots while our flying cars are on auto-pilot. Unfortunately, too many people are arguing over how much of a piece of the pie everyone gets.

Calvin mentioned one thing that I think is relevant to the entire discussion: “Players don’t need as much protection as governments claim they need.” Governments want to protect their monopolies, their business, and tax revenue. Seriously, players are the last thing on their minds. I know, over the years I’ve listened to enough blabbering. The online casino industry has always been a self-regulating one. Governments just screw everything up – especially for players.

And come next year, those players who reside in the EU will be getting a rude wake up call. After April 2016, casinos licensed and or operating in the EU will be required to ask where their players funds are coming from. So you, as a player, will be sending in not only your IDs and phone bills, but declaring what your occupation is and what is your source of income. Some players may not have an issue with this, but I have a feeling that many will. It’s far too intrusive – many gamblers are protective about their identities. It’s another example of a ridiculous nanny-state that we’re in.

Afterwards, I met up with the Player Support Officer from the MGA. He was eager to get a dialogue going with me – he’s been in contact with Max since last February. He’s fully aware of the not-so-awesome awards that the MGA (or LGA back then) has received over the years: Biggest Disappointment of 2008 and Sitting on One’s Hands award for 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011.

I explained the importance of being transparent in the gambler’s eyes. They need to know that if there is a problem, that the problem will be taken seriously and dealt with fairly. I mentioned that Kahnawake is the only regulator that publishes their yearly Dispute Resolution Summary Statistics and Player Self-Limitation and Self-Exclusion Summary Statistics. The KGC becomes transparent; it’s obvious that they are active, fair and efficient. If they weren’t we’d hear something by now.

So, the impression that I have is that the MGA has finally gotten its act together. Thus their Casinomeister rating is being raised from mediocre to good. This will affect the scores across the board for casinos registered in Malta

Moving on….

The lunch laid out was quite good – better than the breakfast. Lots of pasta, vegetables, and the deserts were marvelous. Sitting arrangements were a little tight if you were a straggler. But all ‘n all a pretty decent eating experience. Kudos for the organizers!

Voice from the past – MiGS 2014 Proper branding is also something to keep in check. Many search engines include branding in their algorithms ranking the length of domain name renewals, press releases, news worthy inclusions. Are the brand names appearing in trade show sponsorships? In other words, how are the brands “investing” in the industry?

One example of a branding faux pas: Gambling.com. Back in the day, it had a huge following to include free games, playing with “ludos” (gambling.com’s free chips), a complaint center (Gambling Grumbles) and other odds and ends. When it was sold back in 2004, it was more or less turned into a casino directory. It lost its branding and tanked SEO-wise. Since then, they have revamped the site, but even so – it’s not the same.

So I guess I won’t turn Casinomeister into a directory as planned. Drat!

I didn’t make the special networking events – I was that busy. All of course but the harbor cruise. This was absolutely awesome. The Maltese harbors are absolutely gorgeous as the sun sets. I’m already looking forward to next year’s cruise.

The following day, I met with the casino reps from Cherry Casino and EuroLotto who are keen to come on board. It had completely slipped my mind that Cherry Casino was once an accredited casino when it was with Betsson. Since it still meets the rigid standards of our accreditation policies, I feel that reinstating their accreditation should not be a problem. They have had no PABs over the past couple of years. All seems well from here – welcome back Cherry Casino, and I’m looking forward to putting Euro Lotto into the Baptism by Fire.

Thursday was fantastic: Andrew Crosby, the Senior Account Manager from NetEnt, had invited me to join him and the development team at the Portomaso Casino. I arrived and found NetEnt’s developer crew playing slots in the second-hand smoke laden VIP lounge. Novomatic has introduced a gaming lounge-chair that Homer Simpson would covet – the game controls are located on the armrests. If you’re too lazy to push the spin button right where your hand is, you can use a foot-button. I’ve heard that there is a Porta-John version in the making, but I could be wrong about this.

The boys were doing their homework – studying the games and just have a good bit of fun.

Break-time was over – we all meandered into a conference room of sorts where there were a number of people – I discovered that these were the creative teams from a handful of NetEnt casinos – Leo Vegas, Mr. Green, Casumo, Unibet, and Comeon. They were waiting for the workshop to begin.

What I had stumbled in on was a brilliantly orchestrated competition between this handful of operators. Their mission: to create a unique slot via coaching from the NetEnt slot designers and creative folk, and their internal casino team collaboration. The following day, each team was to pitch the slot to the entire group, and the entire group would vote on the best slot. Whichever slot would win, that casino would work in collaboration with NetEnt to release the game in 2016.

To begin, there were a few presentations on creative development and casino math. It was truly engaging if you’re interested in slots – which probably you are. And honestly, if you’re intrigued by game design and functionality, you ought to read Addiction by Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas – an absorbing book about the evolution of slot games and casino layouts – and how these designs are meant to engage the psyche of the gambler.

During this time, I also had the chance to see a demonstration of the new Guns and Roses slot game coming out in the near future. G&R fans will love it – and I’m sure serious slot players will too. It is an actual labor of love from its project manager – who spoke of being turned on to G&R as a young lad. I thought his eyes were welling up when he talked about his slot, but I may have been mistaken.

After lunch, the casino teams got busy, and I sat in on Mr. Green’s brainstorming session. Lots of awesome ideas, and with their end result I was sure that they had a winner. I’m not saying what their theme and design was in case they want to use it in the future – but I would absolutely rave about it.

Which got me to thinking – what slot features do you hate? I’ve started a forum thread – it would be great if you’d give us your input.

I ended up staying with Netent for dinner – thus I missed the MiGS ABBA cover band – oops, oh well. If they had a Ramones cover band, well that would have been a different outcome.

Speaking with one of the administrators from NetEnt, I spoke about the recent surge of fake Netent sites that have been popping up. I asked about how can one tell whether or not a site has pirated games or not. Simple: if they do not offer a play for fun mode, then it could be a sign that the software is bogus. Any different naming conventions (e.g. Gonzo Deluxe etc. – NetEnt would not do this unless it was standard). If the site is in Russian or any Eastern language. That also could be a sign that the site it counterfeit – so check to ensure its reputable operator. Redstar Casino is Russia facing, and they are amongst the Accredited Casinos. So just to ensure a fair game, stick to the bona fide NetEnt casinos here.

Kudos and thanks to Andrew Crosby who was instrumental on making this a gratifying and illuminating experience for me.

And that’s about it. If I forgot about anything, I’ll let you know in subsequent newsletters. The bottom line is that last week was an awesome week. I have to chalk up MiGS being one of the most productive and enlightening iGaming conferences that one can attend.

Kudos to Sue Schneider, Andy Jones, Ramona Mifsud, Aj Thompson, and everyone who made this event how it was. Looking forward to next November.

3 December 2015

WORD FROM THE MEISTER

Casinomeister USA

Yes, it’s finally here – Casinomeister USA – Casinomeister for the US resident. Here we have information on online gaming in the States to include US licensed casinos New Jersey and Nevada. We also have dog racing and horse racing for those living in about thirty states. We also have the following:

  • The online casino status for each state of the union – and links to contact the politicians that need to be convinced that online gambling is a part of the 21st century
  • Personal blogs for members
  • Casino warnings that pertain to US players
  • An awesome newsletter that is US focused
  • Webcasts
  • US Online Casino News

So if you’re in the States, come check it out. At the moment, it’s bare bones, but as the US begins to open up, the site will grow as well. Please come and be a part of it. Thanks! http://casinomeister.us

BAPTISM BY FIRE!!

Eurolotto is in the Baptism by Fire and as looking forward to you having a go. Sister site to the accredited Cherry Casino, they offer not only casino games but – you guessed it – lottery tickets! Come check their forum thread here.

And now for the humor…

John O’Reilly hoisted his beer and said, “Here’s to spending the rest of me life, between the legs of me wife!”

That won him the top prize at the pub for the best toast of the night!

He went home and told his wife, Mary, “I won the prize for the best toast of the night.”

She said, “Aye, did ye now. And what was your toast?”

John said, “Here’s to spending the rest of me life, sitting in church beside me wife.”

“Oh, that is very nice indeed, John!” Mary said.

The next day, Mary ran into one of John’s drinking buddies on the street corner. The man chuckled leeringly and said, “John won the prize the other night at the pub with a toast about you, Mary.”

She said, “Aye, he told me, and I was a bit surprised myself. You know, he’s only been in there twice in the last year. Once I had to pull him by the ears to make him come, and the other time he fell asleep.”

ha ha ha

BETSSON AFFILIATE DEFRAUDS COMPANY

Malta court freezes assets and denies bail

A Betsson employee was charged in a Malta Court today for defrauding the company of Euro 153,000.

Christiaan Alexander van Dalen (41), who was employed by Betsson Services Ltd as a key affiliate manager, is accused of claiming commission on artificially inflated customer numbers generated by using the details of account holders to open fictitious new accounts.

Despite van Dalen pleading not guilty to the charges of fraud, money laundering and other computer-related offences, the court ordered he and his wife’s assets be frozen and denied bail.

The court was told by Inspector Jonathan Ferris from Malta’s Economic Crimes Unit that van Dalen had created websites for online casinos and was “retagging” players from Betsson under his name to create commission for himself.

The commission proceeds were transferred into digital wallets and then into van Dalen’s Neteller account and his wife’s HBSC account. It is thought that some of the money currently unaccounted for was used to buy a property in the Philippines.

Magistrate Charmaine Galea ordered the director of prisons to ensure van Dalen has no access to any IT facilities to prevent him from tampering with evidence.
Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa

More news here.

23 December 2015

WORD FROM THE MEISTER

Hiya reader! I’m just winding down, ready to take a bit of a Christmas break. There is no snow yet, but the house is warm, the food plentiful, libations are abound, and I have plenty of things to tide me over until I decide to get back to work. From Casinomeisterland to you – Happy Holidays!!

NEW BITCHIN’ WEBCAST!!

Casinomeister’s Christmas Special – 2015
Who’s been Naughty or Nice? Find out on our jovial festive webcast!! here .

NEVER BE LEFT OUT IN THE COLD!! Subscribe to our videos here!! You’ll be automatically emailed whenever a video is uploaded!! I guarantee that these videos will make you a smarter, better person.

And now for the humor……

From the archives…
A man and his wife are sitting at the kitchen table, which is next to the window. The man’s name is Rudolph, and since he is Russian, people call him “Rudolph the Red.” Rudolph looked out the window and said to his wife, “Oh look honey, it’s raining outside.” She looks out as well and says, “No, I think that is snow.” He looks at her and says, “Rudolph the red knows rain dear.”

<groan> but I just had to tell it!

ha ha ha