Stiffed by Wild Vegas Casino after waiting a month for news
I joined Wild Vegas Casino on January 15, 2014, and enjoyed my no deposit bonus so much that I made a $100 deposit from my credit card and received a whopping $500 bonus to go with it. A few hours later, I hit a royal flush on dollar Double Double Bonus Poker for $4000. The bonus rules limited my winnings to $1000. But when I spoke to a host, Amy Jones, who called me immediately after I attempted to cash out, she said that I could cash out for a total of only $1500, of which the casino would keep $500 to reclaim their bonus. That was in the rules, and I understood. However, she also said they had to refund my $100 deposit to my credit card, which left me with the expectation of receiving a $900 check. This is not right. You are allowed to win 10x your deposit, so I should have received my deposit back and a $1000 check. No use arguing with Amy, so we agreed on everything: I finished my playthrough and had that confirmed, then I withdrew $1500 from the casino.
As background, I should say that I m not new to dealing with cashouts at online casinos. Several years ago, when I had a lot of free time on my hands, I hit a jackpot at a Microgaming casino for $17,000. I had the money direct deposited into my checking account, the first $9,000 within two weeks, and the other $8,000 in the third week. Later on, I hit a $20,000 jackpot on another Microgaming site. That took a month to collect, but the casino kept in touch with me the entire time, and they returned my calls and email questions right away.
I had faith that Wild Vegas would pay me, but every time I visited the cashier and looked at my transaction page, it appeared that the manager was taking his time approving the withdrawal. Finally, by the end of January, it was approved, and after I emailed the casino a half dozen times, I finally received a call from Amy saying it would take three more weeks to process the withdrawal. I kept watching my transaction page, and noticed that my credit card withdrawal was now being referred to as a "non-collected CC withdrawal." When I made the deposit, my credit card was approved, and the casino received that information. Occasionally I make other deposits in online casinos, and although MasterCard is not the preferred credit card for deposits, mine has always paid when it approved a purchase. I was being set up, but was too trusting to know that.
Amy Jones called me on Monday, February 3, a2014, to tell me that my credit card deposit was "uncollected," insinuating that my card had not completed the transaction. Therefore, according to Amy, I was simply playing on bonus funds when I hit the royal flush, and Wild Vegas would not be paying me the money I won. I took a photo of my credit card statement and sent it to Amy to show that a $103 charge was paid to a company I never heard of on January 17. I have since examined old credit card statements and learned that the casino does not put their name in the references. Each group, such as Cool Cat and Wild Vegas, has an innocuous sounding reference name and number so the credit card company does not limit my online gaming deposits. Amy said that the reference number and name were not matched to the ones her group uses, so she now claims the deposit was unpaid.
I figured out what transpired. I cashed out on January 16, and in order to avoid paying my winnings, the casino never sent its final request for the $100 from my MasterCard. My card company said it was authorized on January 15, placed on a hold and then never collected. So I am screwed.
I will stick to land-based casinos from now until the U.S. legalizes online gaming so it will be regulated by our laws. The worst aspect of this win I anticipated is the plans I made to take my husband away for Valentines Day. I made reservations and paid for the first night at the hotel, in addition to spending $150 on concert tickets. The money I won was to be our spending money on the trip. Now we cannot afford to go.
I intend to spread the word about Wild Vegas so that no one else gets the runaround I got over a relatively small collection. Wish those old Microgaming casinos would come back. They did not give bonuses, but you could collect your money anytime, and if you won, you did not have to meet playthrough requirements! Look out everyone and don't get taken by this ruse.
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