Casino Cautions: Chartwell Online Casinos

Published: Thursday, January 12, 2006 Online-Casinos.com

INTERNET CASINO CAUTIONS: CHARTWELL ONLINE CASINOS

Chartwell in the dog box

It has been common knowledge in the online casino gambling industry for some time that turnkey gambling software provider Chartwell Technology (based in Calgary, Canada with sales offices in London, England and big ambitions in Europe) has a conscious "hands off" policy when it comes to any dispute between online casino players and its online casino licensees.

The management has itself outlined this policy in both personal discussions and in writing as:

"Unlike many other software suppliers Chartwell Technology is strictly a software development company and only license the use our products for a variety of online applications. We do not participate in any aspect of the daily operations of our customers business, which includes hosting, customer support, database and money management."

That may have washed in the early days, but online casino players expect more responsibility and help today.

After a number of complaints in recent weeks, several online casino portals has cautioned its members about the dangers implicit in such a policy.

Bye bye Gala bingo

Gala Bingo has apparently (and precipitously) withdrawn its online Bingo operation according to Internet events unfolding this week. The move has left players furious at the sudden disappearance of the service which was allegedly operated by the St. Minver gaming company. Initial reports suggest that individual emails were not sent out informing players in advance.

The website notification does not mince words: "If you have previously registered with Gala Bingo, your account has been operated by St Minver Limited. Please contact them at support@bingoresponse.com. This is a significant development which has meant that we have parted company with St Minver, our former Bingo partner. As such we regret that you are unable to play Bingo with us until next month, and ask for your patience and understanding until then."

The UK's leading online bingo portal, OnlineBingo.co.uk, reacted by reportedly cancelling its promotion of Gala Bingo and has provided alternative bingo venues for players. Affiliates of Gala Bingo are currently searching for answers that have thus far not been forthcoming from either Gala or St. Minver concerning login areas, earnings and statistics.

Legal threats overcome slow-pay "technical difficulties"

Front Room Casino should be treated with caution until such time as the management communicate with the many online casino and poker players who are experiencing bonus-related problems with this relative newcomer.

During the recent holiday season the casino was offering a GBP 100 bonus to "any player" that made a GBP 100 deposit and played it through 10 times. Over three weeks on, players who took the offer and met the T&Cs have still not been paid, and in many cases the management has simply stopped responding to email enquiries.

More fortunate online casino and poker players have managed to get a response, but it was not encouraging: it uses "technical difficulties" as a reason for the delayed payments, but when threatened with legal action by several UK players payments miraculously appeared in Neteller accounts!

Unfortunately, this happens to be an operation powered by Chartwell Technology so there can be little expectation of assistance from that quarter.