The babe in the background is my creative director's concept of Jane. He's a fairly generous guy...so this is mostly likely kind. Jane has done a number of articles on the subject of on-line gambling for The Prescription.

Picking a flame war with the GameMaster was probably not her
brightest idea.
-GM

GameMaster,
Your casino Golden Palace (she meant to say Global-Player) is a joke. How in the world you gave that casino a 90 rating is beyond me. You say you know nothing about slots but in all honesty a big part of that casino is slots. Its a rip off to say the least. It took me longer to download then to spend the 30. bonus and 100. of my own. The only reason I even went to that casino was based on your rating review. I played black jack as well and the dealer won every hand. How surprising. Well I play casinos all over the net and that is the worst I have ever seen. Yes it makes music and sounds, yes its great for graphics. If I wanted to play sounds and look at pictures I would use the Encarta CD. For gambling it is bad. Thanks for the review. And no casino needs to worry about that place. After one visit they will have no return business. The down load took longer than the entire experience. That's a real shame.

yours truly,
one very disappointed player

If I were you, and I am sure you take the good with the bad, I would think twice about having that casino on my front page. I will not delay in telling my experiences to the gambling world.

Hello,
I gather, now, that you're referring to Global-Player Casino. Let's look at your complaints. First, you said you lost at the slots. I have never and will never recommend that anyone play slots, whether 'real' or cyber. In my review, slots were only mentioned, but they did not make up any part of my score. You simply shouldn't play slots, even if, as you say, "a big part of that casino is slots". You further state that you lost "every" hand at Blackjack. Well, first of all, Blackjack is a game of skill; how well do you play it? Secondly, how many hands did you play? Even the best player has losing streaks, but that doesn't automatically mean s/he was cheated. I understand that you're upset about losing, so if that makes Global-Player "the worst", then so be it. But my reviews are based upon unemotional analyses of the odds offered by the casino and, quite frankly, Global-Player has some of the best on the net, at least when it comes to the games which can be so analyzed. I don't know if they cheat or not and have never stated otherwise. But, I've also received a lot of feedback from readers who have had satisfactory experiences there, so my feeling is that they are legitimate. But only you can decide where you should risk your $$$. As for telling your experiences to the "gambling world", please do so. I'll be posting this in my "GameMaster Advisor" section, but I think most of our readers believe that what happened to you isn't a result of cheating on part of the casino. I'm sorry that you're disappointed with us, but I learned a long time ago that gamblers prefer to blame other "outside" factors for their losses, rather than looking inward to their own shortcomings, so I'll never expect satisfy everyone. As for having their ad on my front page, until I get real proof that they're cheating, it's going to stay.

Thank you for taking the time to reply as wasted as it was. Not once did I accuse that site of cheating. I said they were in house favor, and they are. If you don't like it, get out of the reviews. I guess you only want to hear good reviews. I find your attitude unprofessional and the customer service lacking as much. My review of you in one word would be, poor.

You need not reply, as far as I am concerned you and your site are already deemed unreliable and unprofessional. Freedom of speech is such a wonderful thing.

Yes, freedom of speech is a wonderful thing. I'm exercising that right now. I find it amazing that you just discovered that "they were in house favor"; aren't all slots? There's nothing here for me to like or dislike and I feel no need to get out of the review business just because you lost playing at something I specifically recommended against. I listen to all reviews, but I, nor no one else, was there when you played, so we have only your word for this. What did you expect me to do, get your $$$ back? I tried to get some additional information about your experience and this is the reply I received. If you think I'm unprofessional, that's fine; you're entitled to your opinion. I'm entitled to mine also: you lost and you want to blame someone other than yourself. And, as soon as someone points that out to you, they are "deemed unreliable and unprofessional".

LOL.
That's to funny, I am posting this on the nets boards so they can get a laugh as I did.

Hey, go for it. If you tell the whole story, the vast majority of people who read it are going to ask you why you're surprised you lost while playing slots. Make sure that you tell them that you went there "only because of the GameMaster's review" and also tell them that my review also says "don't play the slots". You evidently think that a high rating by me guarantees that someone is going to win. All it means is that the potential for winning exists, IF one plays the games where an advantage can be gained. My web site is full of information to help you do that, but you obviously have chosen to ignore it. So, post away and let's see who laughs last.

Dear pain in the butt,
I have played slots at many many casinos on the web. To say the least I rarely ever loose at slots on any machines, these machines are set more in favor of the house than any machines I have ever played on any casino on the net. You are the so called " information expert" and at the rate in which that house was set I brought this to your attention because of your ability to give advice. Not abuse the people who bring these concerns, questions, events and happenings to your attention. A professional way to handle my situation would of been to say,

Dear Ms ect,
We have heard good things about the casino you visited and we are sorry you have had a bad experience at one of our Top Rated Casinos. We have had many satisfied players report to us about the casino and this is the first negative we have heard. Please continue to read our reviews and check out the facts on the slot machines as I have so posted on my site. We believe you will find this information helpful. As far as the casino we will gladly continue to review its progress and any further comments that may come to our attention. Thank you so much for taking the time to view our site and for your feed back. We appreciate your patronage.

Now, that is a much more professional answer than saying, well miss, your a poor black jack player and your crying in your milk because you lost. Your such an idiot for playing slots in the first place. I am surprised you did not call me a dumb blonde.

I run my own web site, a very large one at that. I know how word of mouth can hurt. Your insults and unprofessional manner show yourself to be nothing more than an egotistical reviewer who gets his or her nose tweaked if they are challenged. My only regret in this unfortunate circumstance is that I took 5 moments in wasted time to write you at all.

Okay, I gather what you're saying that it's all in the approach one takes when addressing another person. Alright, I buy that. Let's look at your original message:

In the first place, you didn't even get the name of the casino right! Look, there are people out there who own casinos which I've basically trashed in my reviews and they respond by trying to trash those to which I've given good reviews. So, how am I to tell who you are when the message starts: " Your casino Golden Palace is a joke. How in the world you gave that casino a 90 rating is beyond me. "

Do you think that warrants a reply of "Oh, thank you for writing"?

You then continue: " The only reason I even went to that casino was based on your rating review." In my review, here's what I say about the slots at Global Player: Slot Machine: There is one in a quarter denomination and, while I cannot recommend playing any slot in any casino, this is very well done. As I mentioned before, you may choose to play "X" number of games and it will do it automatically for you. I ran a sequence of 100 hands at 75-cents a pop and lost $23.75 in the process and, while that's a very small sample, it implies a casino edge in the 15-20% range. Fun, though.

So now I'm wondering who I'm dealing with. A person writes me, says they lost $$$ because of my review and it's obvious that either she didn't really read it, or she chose to ignore my advice. You state that I am a so called " information expert", but you went against the information I provided. That's fine; you're an adult and you may do what you want. But don't complain to me if you choose to ignore my advice and it doesn't work out for you.

I go to great lengths to assist my readers who have had problems with casinos; just read my message board and the GameMaster Advisor section of the site. But, like any other human being, I respond in the way that I'm approached.

In any business that depends on its readers, customers,ect. to fund the source yes I believe a nicer reply would of been in order. Maybe I did come off a bit sarcastic but it was not my intention to take it out on you. As a business you need to know that from time to time you are going to have some people not agree with you and perhaps even be dissatisfied with you. When this happens do you fuel the fire?? or do you simply try a different approach as not to loose them. One lost customer turns into hundreds, but I am sure you are fully aware of that.

Yes actually I do think "thank you very much" would of been a nicer reply just for the fact that I took the time. Lets do each other a favor. I am a nice person, I am not a nut case and I am frustrated at this point with this entire situation. So lets just let it go. Thank you for writing back.

sincerely
Jane

Yours for winning,
The GameMaster
2/25-26-27/2000