Online Casino Cautions - Largo Casino
Published: Friday, January 21, 2005 Online-Casinos.com
ONLINE CASINO CAUTIONS - LARGO CASINO
Not the old audit excuse again?
RTG-powered Miss Millions Casino.com is deploying the old and very irritating *audit* excuse for slow payments to players, according to several complaints this week. This has often been the precursor to major disappointments in the industry, and caution is advised.
Another reason for being very cautious around this operation surfaced as we went to press, when players awaiting payouts started receiving an extraordinary email from this casino. If the comments on waiting for investor cash ring a bell (remember Kiss?) please hoot!
QUOTE In the last few weeks, we had to absorb some hard losses. We checked every winning and tried to find any problems by taking these winnings under fraud control. Meanwhile we also had to pay some players, the total of the amounts we had in our accounts.
We now know the reasons for these losses, so our investors will deposit more money in our accounts, and, as soon as the money is in, we will send your payments out to you. UNQUOTE
Ghosts of the past
Royal Dutch Casino.com underwent a complete change of software and ownership before re-launching earlier this (January) month, but it seems the ghosts of the past continue to haunt it. One player who reports that he has been trying to get a $2 700 payment due to him since June 2004 is not having a great deal of luck with the present management so far either.
After a number of excuses, Royal Dutch is denying responsibility on grounds that they have not been able to verify this claim through the old software logs, e-processor or owners, who will apparently not cooperate. And the present management claim that the accounts handed over to them do not reflect the transaction claimed by the player. The casino has so far not been prepared to disclose to independent parties seeking to check the facts any details on the former owners, e-processors or the player logs.
Rubbing salt into the wound, a casino manager has branded emails allegedly sent to the player by the casino *fabricated* despite full email headers being revealed. And in a new development, the Royal Dutch CEO, one Daniel Giordano has made the astonishing threat that he intends to sue the player! Negotiations are continuing, and InfoPowa will be reporting further on this case.
Another player had a happier experience after persevering with a bonus dispute. Royal Dutch casino staff had disallowed the bonus on the grounds that he had played excluded games before meeting the W/T on "allowed" games, yet nowhere in the T&Cs was this a requirement. Fortunately, casino management redressed the wrong and awarded the bonus.
Destination unknown
Few were surprised, or for that matter saddened by the news this week that RTG-powered Destination Poker.com is closing. This operation and its manager Jeffrey Wallace earned notoriety in a surprisingly short space of time last year following some pretty questionable bonusing decisions and lingering accusations that it had a common ownership with Connect To Casino - something that Wallace fiercely denied. The ructions led to an ignominious award in the just-released Casinomeister Annual Awards - that of "Worst New Casino of 2004".
February 18 is the closedown date, and it appears that the finale is being managed in a reasonable manner, with players being advised that they should play through their remaining account balances or cash-out in terms of the T&Cs. Customer services will be available for 10 days following the closure, but if players haven't cleared their accounts by February 28 their funds will be kept by the casino owners, who remain undisclosed.
Hasta la Largo
It appears that fate has finally caught up with Largo Casino and it's similarly Wager21-powered sisters Goldbetting and Lady Dream. This week the indications were that the three casinos - scene of much questionable behaviour and consequent player acrimony in 2003 and 04 - were no longer operating.
