The Warning List
December 15, 2003
Casinos Using OddsOn
Software
A casino named FortyPlusCasino.com recently folded up their tent in the middle of the night, leaving most customers unpaid. This is not the first casino that used OddsOn software to go out of business, but in the past all of the customers were paid off. Well, evidently the people behind OddsOn have had enough of that, because this time the boss over there basically said they were just as surprised as the rest of us that Forty Plus Casino's owners closed up shop, leaving a lot of players unpaid, consequently there's nothing they can do about it.
Any software supplier in the casino business that receives on-going royalties and or processing fees from the casinos that use their software must be willing to provide a "safety net" for the public or suffer the consequences of their failure to do so. If you look around here for a few minutes, you'll see what happens to software companies that don't accept that responsibility; they get boycotted and typically end up suffering a considerable loss of business.
Sure, the casino software companies have every right to claim innocence when a client casino of theirs goes belly up, but they have to keep in mind that players have every right to not do business with them in return. So, in the case of OddsOn Software, it's our recommendation that you not play at any casino that uses this software, in spite of the fact that some of them have a good reputation in the marketplace.
Until OddsOn steps up and does the right thing, which is pay off the customers of Forty Plus Casino, you should avoid playing at these casinos:
Englishharbor
Silverdollar
Caribbeangold
Aposte
Superslots
Millionaire
Casinobleublancrouge
For a lot more information on this situation, visit our friend, the Casinomeister at www.casinomeister.com/
March 18, 2003
Update: October 22, 2003
The AngelCiti Group of Casinos
This group, which has undergone a cosolidation and name change, used to consist of six casinos that use Real Time Gaming software, but now all of their old URLs will send you to SharkCasino.com. This change is apparently only cosmetic in nature because they seem to still be up to their old 'tricks' of not paying people, etc. What's below still applies, although I do believe some players got at least a portion of the $$$ they were owed.
It all began with an e-mail solicitation offering a 200% bonus, which in and of itself should raise some warning flags. But, because this group had worked diligently to prove itself to be worthy of players' trust, quite a few very experienced Internet gamblers deposited large sums of $$$. A major appeal of the casinos' solicitation was this: "you can play everything from Blackjack to Bingo, from Caribbean Stud to Craps, from Roulette to Video Poker and still get this amazing 200% offer. Just put in coupon code PMF3K and the 200% bonus will automatically be deposited into your account." The offer had wagering requirements of 10 times the amount of the deposit, plus it had an upper limit of $1000 for the bonus, even though 80% of it was "sticky" (could not be cashed out). To break it all down, a player that deposited $500 would receive, in effect, a $200 bonus, but s/he would have the use of $1500 in total "bankroll", which would probably cause most to over-bet and lose their deposit.
Because many casinos do not allow play at Blackjack or Roulette to qualify for the wagering requirements of a bonus offer, this one had a lot of appeal, so it attracted a lot of deposits. You can probably guess what happened when the participants that played at Blackjack and won tried to cash out. Yep, the casino claimed that wagers in Blackjack did not count, so they returned the original deposit but kept the winnings! However, they did not return the deposits of those who lost while playing Blackjack under this promotion, which is obviously a no-lose situation for the casinos. The casinos then changed (retroactively) the terms and conditions for this promotion in order to justify their theft, which is despicable behavior by any measure.
Well, they are going to lose; they're going to lose a lot of business because players are not going to stand for actions like this. From our point of view, the casinos in this group are heading rapidly toward our Blacklist and they can stave that off only by paying, in full, every player that participated in this promotion.
Here's a list of casinos in this group: AngelCiti Casino
Here's a list of casinos in this group:
AngelCiti Casino
StarBright Casino
WelcomeToOurCasino.com( the name alone should be a warning!)
Vacation Casino
Emazing Casino
Road Runner Casino
June 3rd, 2002
Casino Bar (www.casinobar.com)
Update: June 26th, 2002. The owners of Casino Bar hired a mathematics professor as an "expert witness" to refute The Wizard of Odds report on their Blackjack game and you can read all of what he had to say at the Wiz's site. But before you go, I have some comments on this as well:
As anyone should have expected, Casino Bar's expert concluded that the game he played was fair. What he did not say in his report was whether or not he played the "real-money" Blackjack game or the "play-money" game. That's strike one.
The casino's expert did, however, agree that the Wiz's reported results were "extremely unlikely under the hypothesis of a fair dealer". In other words, something like what happened to the Wiz can't happen in a fair game, although he added a disclaimer in which he tries to basically say the Wiz's idea of how they're cheating is faulty. Well, the Wiz didn't set out to prove how they were cheating, just that they were cheating, period and he obviously did that. Strike two, Professor.
The casino's expert ran a lot of sims where the dealer dealt "seconds" and determined that such a game would show a long-term return for proper play of only 93.8%. He then goes on to state "the average return of a player in Casino Bar is 97.6%", and that indicates there is no cheating, because it's pretty close to the 99.8% return that the rules imply. Okay, Professor, consider this:
1. That 97.6% figure was provided to you by Casino Bar and I saw no evidence that it has been audited by an independent third party. Now, Professor, do you think they would post on their site that the overall pay back on their BJ is 93.8%, especially when the rules they offer would yield a theoretical 99.8% pay back? The Wiz had a return of 95.7%, which is closer to 93.8% than it is to 99.8%. Think there might be something wrong here?
2. Okay, so let's say for the moment that the Wiz is either a lousy Blackjack player, or he was just unlucky. At what point in his report did the Wiz say Casino Bar was cheating all the time? All I recall him saying was that the game was not random when he played there, as his data proves. The 97.6% may, indeed, be a legitimate figure, but it does nothing to prove that the Casino Bar Blackjack game is dealt in a random manner all the time, every day, 24/7. I'm sorry Professor, but that's strike three and you're outta here. But thanks for playing and we have some lovely parting gifts for you.
Those are my thoughts on the matter, so now go see what the Wiz has to say: www.thewizardofodds.com
The following is the original story on Casino Bar. Posted June 3rd, 2002.
We were contacted by the Wizard of Odds (www.thewizardofodds.com) who asked us to participate in the collection of data for the Blackjack game offered by this casino. The Wiz had a suspicion that they were dealing "seconds", which is a subtle way of cheating the players. Unless s/he knows what to look for, all a player will notice is a decline in his or her bank balance as play progresses. The usual, "5 blackjacks in a row for the dealer" and other such indicators don't apply here, but as I've said many times before, it's easy to cheat at Blackjack, but it's all but impossible to hide that cheating from a determined investigator.
Here's how Casino Bar apparently does it: If the player has elected to stand with a hand that totals 16-21 and the dealer's first two cards total 12-16, which means he must hit, the classic "seconds" strategy kicks in. The dealer "peeks" at the next card (this is usually done in single-deck games when the cards are dealt by hand, but here, it must be done by the software) and if that card will bust his hand, the dealer gives himself the next card by sliding it out from under the top card. Now, that second card may still bust the dealer, but he has greatly improved his chances. Of course, if the top card will help the dealer, he takes that and then plays out the hand normally. That's why this is so tough to detect, yet easy to verify once you know what's going on. The dealer will still bust with stiff hands (12-16), but not as often as expected and that's a cinch to calculate with the highest degree of confidence. We had one of our "operatives" record the dealer's first hit card whenever the player stood with a total of 16-21 and the dealer's two cards totaled 12-16. The data our operative collected was for 224 hands with those specific qualifications , which occurred in over 500 total hands of play.
As an example of how this can be analyzed, if the dealer has a two-card total of 16, there are only 5 cards that will help him: the Ace, 2, 3, 4 and 5, which means there are 8 cards he can draw that will cause him to bust. Consequently, the dealer should bust a hand of 16 roughly 8/13ths (61.5%) of the time. In our sample, the dealer had a sixteen 37 times and busted it 10 times (27%) with the next card that was dealt. We had expected to see that happen at least 22 times. When the dealer has a two-card total of 15, there are six cards that help him and seven cards that will cause him to bust. So, in a reasonable sample of play, we'd expect the dealer to bust 7/13ths (53.8%) of the time. In our sample, the dealer had a fifteen 45 times and busted it only 10 times (22%). We expected to see that happen 24 times. I'll be the first to admit that any test like this is subject to statistical variation, but all the evidence points to this being a non-random game, so you should keep that in mind if you're thinking of playing here.
Our operative videotaped his 500+ hands of play and if the casino involved would like to dispute the evidence, we'll be happy to show it to any reputable authority, such as the OPA or the Internet Gaming Commission or the gambling commission of Venezuela, where Casino Bar claims it's licensed. Casino Bar also owns Casino on Air (www.casinoonair.com/) and we did not check their game, however, common sense tells you it should also be avoided.
May 1st, 2002
One Click&Play Casino
We received this from a reader:
"I would like to request that you add One Click & Play Casino
(1cnp.com) to your Blacklist. They are truly a scam operation. Their
"bonus" simply doesn't exist. You can never cash it out and you are not
told this until you make a deposit. You are also not told that you have to
play a large amount of action at $5 a pop before you can withdraw any of
your original deposit (if there's anything left). Of course if you make
another deposit they will give you a whole lot more phony bonus money AND
increase the action requirements by many times."
In addition, we have heard that this casino is not paying the sites that
have advertised it, claiming that the "bad" postings about it has hurt
their business. You may draw your own conclusions about these guys.
February 20, 2002
Club Monte Carlo
(www.clubmontecarlo.com)
Once upon a time, this casino warranted a good review from us (89 points of
100), but something is evidently going wrong with them, because we have
heard from several readers that they can't get any response to their
requests for withdrawal. The amounts involved are relatively small (under
$2000) and that's not a good sign. They use Radiate software. We suggest
you stay away from this casino until they begin paying or at least give
their customers the courtesy of an answer to their e-mails.
December 6, 2001
Casino Merlin
(www.casinomerlin.com)
This casino, which uses Real Time Gaming (RTG) software has been delaying
payments to big winners recently. One player that contacted us says he has
been owed $15,000 for over two months now. Claiming problems with their
"credit card processor", the casino hasn't even credited back the player's
initial deposit to his credit card. That is not a good sign.
November 18, 2001
The CyberCroupier Group of Casinos
(http://www.cybercroupier.com/)
This company operates 5 casinos that use Boss Media software and it appears they have a certain amount of contempt for people who gamble at their casinos. I use the word "contempt" because this language has recently been added to the Websites of their operations:
"I reserve the right to end or modify any promotion at anytime, disqualify any player attempting to abuse such promotions and in the event of bonus abuse, void bonuses earned. I also reserve the right to levy a 6% administration charge against any player found to be abusing casino promotions."
So, not only can the casino manager end the promotion at anytime for any reason (admittedly, I have no problem with that), but it's the casino manager who will decide just what constitutes "promotion abuse". And then, if you are deemed to be an "abuser", the manager is going to keep 6% of your deposit!!!
Needless to say, there is nothing on the site that defines promotion abuse, which basically means this person may do as s/he sees fit. What has actually transpired is that some players were not only "locked out", but they were informed that previous bonuses granted to them as far back as 1 October 2001 would be deducted from their most recent deposits, along with a 6% "administration" fee. We all need to send them a message that such actions are unacceptable and the best way to do that is not play there.
Boss Media, the software provider, was contacted about this and their attitude is that they supply only the software and the licensees are free to do as they wish in regard to marketing and promotions. That's fine, but they need to remember that players have choices as well and we recommend that you make the choice to avoid these casinos:
Men's Vegas
Women's Vegas
Oriental Casino
Riverboat Casino
MiniVegas Casino
November 8th, 2001
Casino Heat
(www.casinoheat.com)
Only Winners.com
(www.onlywinners.com)
Both of these operations (the first, an RTG-powered casino, the second a
GSS-powered casino) are refusing to pay big winners, claiming that the
players' names appear on a "negative database". While they are returning
the original deposits, refusing to pay someone after accepting their
account (and $$$, of course) is completely unacceptable. I guarantee you
that if these players had lost, there would have been no mention of a
negative database, so this is just a fraud. We recognize that casinos may
do business with whomever they choose, but the refusal should come when the
customer opens an account, not after they have gambled and won. We
recommend you stay far away from these casinos.
August 12, 2001
1Casino.net
We were contacted by a reader who had played here and won, yet got a song
and a dance when he asked for his $$$. This is what the reader told us:
"If you can recall, I let you know about a 100% match play bonus where I
won $1000 by way of depositing $500..getting matched $500 and winning a bet
for $500. As of yet I have still not been paid. When I called today, I
guess I spoke to the owner who told me that the Canadian credit card
clearing house skipped town on them with my money. The guy said that
1Casino.net was going to stick by their customers and pay back all the
deposits that were lost by the fraudulent clearing house...I believe it was
called Firecash. He said that no matter what, he would pay by Sept. 15th."
Blaming the credit card processor is one of the ways some casinos try to
stall on paying their customers and that is simply unacceptable, especially
if it's Firecash, which has a good reputation in the business. The casino
is open and apparently still taking new players' deposits, which makes this
even worse. We recommend you steer clear of 1Casino.net until the player
is paid.
Update: November 6, 2001:
We received word from the player involved in this that s/he had been paid in full.
August 3, 2001
Arcada Casino
(www.arcadacasino.com)
A player hit a $100,000 jackpot at this casino on July 23rd and has not yet
been paid.
This casino uses Gaminglogix software and, while the software company has
become involved in the resolution of the situation, the winner remains
unpaid. Other casinos using this software are:
newcitycasino.com
lucky-winners.com
kingsfull.com
automaticbet.com
autosportsbook.com
silvervegas.com
We recommend you avoid all of these until this winner is paid.
July 23, 2001
All Casinos Using MGM Systems Software
In an independent study of this software, both we and The Wizard of Odds
have come to the conclusion that the games offered by this company are not
random in nature. We checked the Joker Poker game and the Wiz checked the
Joker Poker game, as well as the Blackjack game. The results of our tests
are simply too far off the scale to be considered "fair".
As of July 23, 2001 the Casinos using MGM software are:
www.transnetcasino.com www.lazaruscasino.com www.vinocasino.com
www.moonpalacecasino.com
www.masterblackjack.com www.casimodopalace.com www.axelcasino.com
The software company's Website is at www.mgmsystems.com
May 22th, 2001
UG progressive slot machines
If you play at casinos that use Unified Gaming software, stay away from their progressive slot machines. Within the past few months, two players who have hit $50,000+ jackpots on the "Dazzler" slot machines have been forced to wait far too long to be paid. In fact, if you are a "high-roller" who wins over $5000 at U.G.-powered casinos, you could have a hard time getting paid promptly. However, we do believe that all players eventually received their $$$.
May 15th, 2001
Magic Oasis Casino
Magic Oasis Casino (www.magicoasiscasino.
com) has apparently found a new
way to scam players. From reports I've seen to the Online Players
Association, what happens is that players go in, play, win and then are
locked out of their accounts. The reason for the lockout, so the casino
says, is that the player's name has appeared on a "blacklist" at the Online
Casino Manager's Association Website.
The players are told that their original deposit will be refunded, but all
winnings have been confiscated. At least one player who was blacklisted by
Magic Oasis Casino had the manager of another casino check the list to see
if his name was actually on there and it wasn't.
We recognize that casinos have a right to protect themselves from fraud,
but we think this situation is simply a case of a greedy casino operator
run amuck. For example, we haven't heard of any players who lost $$$ at
Magic Oasis Casino getting their deposits returned!!
Until this situation is clarified, we suggest you stay far away from Magic
Oasis Casino.
December 14, 2000
Rated Player Casino
(www.ratedplayer.com) is apparently not responding to
its customers in regard to pay outs, credits, etc. There may be some
reasonable explanation for this, since they have done a pretty good job of
customer service in the past, but why take a chance that you could be next?
December 18, 2000:
It appears that this operation has gone out of
business, but even if it hasn't, we cannot recommend that you play here.
