Another Internet gambling company, this time GamblingSoftware.com (GSS), is taking a drubbing over problems related to player bonuses as one of its casinos has folded and left 189 players in the dark.
A few months ago, Golden Palace online casino was hard hit with allegations that it had cheated customers out of their rightful bonuses and earned a black eye from the bad press that ensued. Gambling Software faces a similar situation following the recent failure of its licensee site, Players Fortune
Casino (PFC).
There are a few differences. Golden Palace remains in operation, although the company has had to effect a number of changes in how it handles its player bonus programs. Players Fortune Casino, on the other hand, "accumulated an unrecoverable debt to players by offering simultaneous radical promotions targeted to new players over a period of two months," as explained by GSS Business Development Manager Mark Waters in a press statement.
"As the owner of his own business, the owner of PFC requested access to the backend bonus administration, which GS allowed," Waters said. "When the bonus programs PFC initiated resulted in bankrupting their account, and it became clear that PFC was unable to meet its obligations, GS shut down the site on October 26th, 2000."
As a result players were stiffed for nearly $100,000.
GSS officials were unprepared to deal with the situation, Waters admitted, and had no plan of action in place. The company wanted to do its best by the players and made a couple of quick decisions. First, they returned all player deposits; then they decided to pay out 15 percent of all winnings that were owed to players PFC accounts.
"We've always tried to put our best foot forward," Waters said, calling the whole situation a learning experience. As a result, GSS officials have informed their licensees of the consequences and risks involved with aggressive promotions, as well as setting up more restrictive policies and procedures regarding promotions. Among the changes implemented: Installation of stricter guidelines for bonuses, with more checks and balances put in place to prevent a repeat of the PFC situation and ramped up customer
service, which was brought in-house for greater control.
Waters added, "We definitely learned from our mistakes. But, we weren't the ones that ran the bonus program. We never earned a dime off the revenue (brought in by PFC). There were no revenues. We didn't even receive the full license fee for the software."
GSS has more than 40 licensees. Player's Fortune is the only one of the 40 to fold in such a manner.