Online Gambling

Protecting players from spammers and other unethical sites is part of running an standup and ethical online gambling directory.

Now usually, I can make one post about a particular site and feel that my readers have been sufficiently warned about that site. Well, not so with these guys. I warned my readers about a two months ago about these sites. But because they just keep on spamming, I feel the need to again post about these spammers. Just yesterday I got yet another email from them after repeatedly, and I mean repeatedly, asking to never be contacted by them again, ever, for any reason.

So players — do yourself a favor and stay away from all 888-branded Sites (888.com Casino-on-Net, 888.com Pacific Poker, 888Ladies.com, 888Sport.com), Littlewood Casino and Poker, and GameOnQuickPlay.com. And affiliates can save yourselves some headaches by avoiding Uffiliates.com.

All of the following sites have been blacklisted at The Online Casino Gambling Directory: 888.com branded sites (888.com Casino-on-Net, 888.com Pacific Poker, 888Sport.com, 888Ladies.com), Littlewood Poker, Littlewood Casino, GameOnQuickPlay.com.

Why blacklist these sites? All of these properties are promoted through an affiliate program called Uffiliates.com, who are IMO spammers.

From time to time, I audit a sampling of the online gambling sites that are listed at The Online Casino Gambling Directory. I do this to see for myself how easy or difficult the process is for signing up, downloading, grabbing a bonus, playing, making a deposit and (hopefully) making a withdrawal. I also test customer support using all the channels that the site may offer — email, live chat, and/or phone support in some cases. The result of my experience is the major contributing factor in the star rating that is assigned to the sites at The Online Casino Gambling Directory.

Another way that I ensure that an online gambling site is on the level is through my experience with the site’s affiliate program. An affiliate program allows a person to earn income from referring players to the site. If the affiliate program is run honestly, smoothly, and effectively, you can be pretty sure that underlying online gambling that they are promoting is legit.

OddsMaker.com ’s affiliate program is ReferIncome. ReferIncome owes me over $400 for referring players to OddsMaker.com from January 2007 – October 2008. ReferIncome sent me a check for the wrong amount on 28 November 2008, which bounced on 04 December 2008 (costing me $10 in bank fees). Repeated emails to Linda at ReferIncome have resulted in repeated “the check is in the mail” responses. In addition, I have requested on several occasions that someone call me to discuss this issue — yet no has stepped up and given me a call.

My experience with ReferIncome leads me to believe that players at OddsMaker.com — the site which ReferIncome promotes — will meet with the same result, i.e. players will not be paid their winnings. Thus, as a warning to all potential players, I have added OddsMaker.com to my blacklist.

If you are owed money by ReferIncome or OddsMaker.com, please drop me an email and let me know.

Villa Fortuna Casino, along with eight other Microgaming sites that were promoted by Grand Prive Affiliates, have been blacklisted at The Online Casino Gambling Directory for breach of contract with its affiliates.

• Grand Prive Affiliates contracted with affiliates to have affiliates refer customers to various Microgaming sites (Bella Vegas, Fortune Junction, Jackpot Wheel, Jupiter Club, Lake Palace, Road House Reels, Casino Grand Bay, Grand Bay Poker). In exchange for referrals, affiliates were to be paid a percentage of the lifetime revenue generated by referred players (see bottom page at the above link).
• Weeks ago, Grand Prive Affiliates went out of business, while the sites that they were associated with, and to which affiliates referred players, remain operational. However, the sites are no longer paying affiliates for revenue generated by previously-referred players. This is theft and breach of contract.
• Villa Fortuna Casino, while not an original part of the eight Grand Prive-branded group of sites, is being run by the same outfit as that which operates the eight Grand Prive sites.

The net-net of all of this is that, in my opinion, these sites are not to be trusted with your money. If they are willing to steal from and breach their contract with affiliates, there is sufficient evidence to think that they are perfectly capable of doing the same to its players.

Trust me on this one… I’ve been in this business for years. Stay away from these nine sites.

Besides, there are plenty of other top-rated, trustworthy Microgaming casinos and Microgaming poker rooms available to you.

(Please note: Microgaming casinos and Microgaming poker rooms do not accept players from the United States. Wherever you live, please check your local, state, and provincial laws before you gamble online.)

NoXWin operates a casino, poker room, and sportsbook. Recently, they and their affiliates began emailing me at various email addresses on the theonlinecasinogamblingdirectory.com domain.

• On 29 Oct 08, I initially asked to be removed for their mailing lists.
• On 03 Nov 08, I repeated my request, outlined my domains that I wanted removed, sent that email to multiple email addresses on the noxwin.com and noxaffiliates.com domains, and gave a date of 13 Nov 08 by which I expected to be removed from their mailing lists.
• On 18 Nov 08, I again received email from the noxaffiliates.com domain (specifically, tom@…).

I can only conclude that the noxwin.com properties condone spamming, as their noxaffiliates.com affiliates clearly do. Thus, I have blacklisted both the noxwin.com and the noxaffiliates.com domains, bringing the total number of sites on the blacklist to sixteen.

Lucky Ace Casino and Lucky Ace Poker have been blacklisted at The Online Casino Gambling Directory. These two sites are the casino and poker arms of Lucky Ace Affiliates, which have repeatedly spammed various email addresses that I own. My colleagues have reported them as spamming them as well. In addition — and here is the real problem — they do not respect unsubscribe requests to their email lists.

So, my advice is to stay away from both Lucky Ace Casino and Lucky Ace Poker — unless you like spam, that is.

Hi folks — steer clear of Silver Sands Casino, the newest addition to the online casino blacklist at The Online Casino Gambling Directory. This online casino has been very slow to respond to emails that I have been sending them since January 2008; and even when I do get a reply from them at all, it is an auto-response that does not address issues that I raised with their property. In addition, the site owes be approximately $114, which they also refuse to discuss.

There are plenty of accredited online casinos out there, so there is no need to take the risk of being swindled by Silver Sands Casino. Look to the 5-star-rated eCOGRA casinos for the most trustworthy online casinos in the industry.

Playing for real money at online gaming sites carries a certain amount of risk. Some sites are less than honest, and you may find a handful that do not pay up when you are owed money. Unfortunately, I have found just such a site — Mayagaming — and it has today earned the right to be the inaugural entry into The Online Casino Gambling Directory Blacklist.

Mayagaming operates a Casino, Poker, and Sportsbook. This outfit owes me over $250 USD; I have been trying to collect this money since July 2007, and repeated emails go unanswered. Chats with their live help support staff refer me to the same email addresses that I sent my emails to in the first place.

It is surprising to me that this site will not pay up, since I had been playing at Mayagaming since the beginning of the year, and was paid money owed to me in June 2007 with very little hassle. I wonder what happened? I invite a representative from Mayagaming to fill me in.

Put simply, do not play at the Mayagaming properties. There are plenty of other casinos, poker rooms, and sportsbooks out there.