Online Casino Cautions - Joyland Casino & Colosseum Casino
Published: Friday, August 19, 2005 Online-Casinos.com
ONLINE CASINO CAUTIONS
Should players pay for a casino screw-up?
Hottest dispute in casino-land this week swirled around Joyland Casino, a Playtech-powered operation owned by Crown Solutions Gaming and licensed in Antigua.
It seems that casino personnel screwed up in setting the comp points formula, and when this was discovered a week later sought to limit the damage by changing transaction records and confiscating winnings, assuming that all would be OK if they merely returned deposits.
The casino claimed that it had only targeted what it quaintly described as *comp abusers who had only played no-risk games* but this was clearly not the case as player reports came in.
This did not sit well with players who had gambled under the T&Cs and demanded to paid out in full for their patronage, and the issue was then further exacerbated by inoperable contact numbers on the site and, it is alleged poor to non-existent communications.
As the dispute built up a head of steam from growing numbers of players, the casino tried to communicate with some complainants by phone (usually not welcomed by online gamblers) leaving garbled messages but no return call numbers.
A week into the furore Joyland made a belated appearance on a message board to present its case that return of deposits was all it needed to do, and that certain players had taken advantage of its error on the comp points.
This was strongly rejected, with players presenting their cases to the contrary.
As we went to press the row continued, damaging reputations and business.
When does inefficiency escalate to deceptive marketing?
Another casino catching flak this week was Colosseum Casino, an MGS-powered operation that, unusually for a Microgaming licensee is not regulated by eCOGRA.
Players have noted with some acerbity that Colosseum has a habit of sending out personalised promotional emails only to inform the gambler that it was sent to him/her by mistake - often after he or she has wagered - and that this absolves the casino from meeting its obligations.
This has happened so frequently to some gamblers that they now take the precaution of calling the casino before they put their money down to ensure that they haven't been the subject of yet another "mistake."
Several players have made the point this week that to err is human...but not consistently and with a long history. Some go so far as to say that this "mistake" is so repetitive that it can be classed as deceptive marketing.
Or is it just rank and ongoing inefficiency at the marketing agency for Colosseum that is causing such an outcry and so much bad feeling amongst the customers?
