Not knowing how to quit is a premier character trait we admire so much; history is rampant with achievements of resilient individuals. In sports, it’s a necessary feature; no Stanley Cup or Ironman Triathlon has ever been won by knowing limits. When it comes to business, progressive companies are built around teams that simply won’t take no as an answer and keep on digging; they know too well there is always more when you go deep enough. For this formula to work as it should, though, motives need to be right — no middle ground there.
On the other hand, there are people and organizations which just cannot stop doing the wrong things, for all the wrong reasons; history is full of them, too.
Unfortunately…
On occasion, so is the iGaming industry. Particularly when it comes to intransigent online casinos striving to repeatedly bend regulations and use any opportunity for their benefit, having players’ interest way, way too low on priorities’ list (if any).
We’re not pondering on first-timers here; anyone can make a mistake, correct it, learn and be better for it. No, this time, we’re focused on the repeated offender, the casino which seems to not know when enough is enough.
More than a year ago, on June 1, 2018, we put PokiesWay Casino in the LCB rogue reports’ spotlight for running suspicious software and fake games under the auspices of Curaçao license. We elaborated in detail on infractions found and warned global online gambling community.
As it turns out, a year later, PokiesWay Casino appears to not know when to quit. Well, neither do we.
Practicing resilience from fundamentally opposite angles — PokiesWay to “exploit a vulnerable community,” while LCB to protect the iGaming industry — we meet again, in yet another rogue report.
And we’ll keep meeting until something changes. As is the case with any vigor, every new effort will be worth twice of the previous one.
Of course, dealing with Curaçao licensed casino is a breed on its own, due to tolerant licensing procedures, no vetting or quality control measures, and lack of institutionalized players’ protection by Curaçao Internet Gaming Association (CIGA).
The outcome is the iGaming license with debatable, even dubious reputation focused more on quantity than quality (though exceptions to this rule are notable).
However…
It seems that PokiesWay Casino’s operations and practices might have been too much even for CIGA’s loosen standards. Inquiring on their license at automated validator on the official CIGA site, our investigative team has been informed about casino’s invalid operating status.
As explained by CIGA, the icon with an exclamation mark has been given when “the operator is either not licensed by Curacao eGaming, or operation has been suspended due to non-compliance.”
Looking to learn more about possible suspension at the official CIGA’s notices page, we met no such information available at the moment of these writings.
Quite the undetectable Curaçao license was not found on PokiesWay website either.
Examining the content, though, we did meet with Terms and Conditions (T&C) often associated with questionable casinos. To be more precise...
T&C of PokiesWay are identical to T&C of WPokies Casino, another casino we spotted and reported recently.
Resembling twins, these two T&Cs match each other absolutely in wording, phrases, syntax, typos, layout (evaluated under similar typographic parameters in font, size, page), and data in terms of money and percentages (to be fair here, one single percentage differs).
The only alteration in these two T&Cs are (a) in overall text length (49 words, to be exact: PokiesWay has two clauses less), and (b) in two additional countries potentially impacted by PokiesWay operations.
Too coincidental or not, it’s telling.
Meanwhile, as they practice what they preach in such T&C, this casino will not be held, at any time, responsible for just about anything that may or may not happen while patrons play online.
In case of any grievances, players agree to indemnify, defend and hold PokiesWay “harmless from and against any and all costs, expenses, liabilities and damages.”
Following well-established pattern — as we risk to repeat ourselves, resembling copy/paste in two rogue reports, but facts are facts — articles 3.2 and 3.3 of PokiesWay T&C state: “In addition to these Terms and Conditions, the Company reserves the right to institute certain rules of play which shall also apply to you and be binding upon you with respect to your participation at a Casino. You hereby agree to be bound by such additional rules of play, as if they were specifically incorporated into these Terms and Conditions. We reserve the right to limit or refuse any bet, stake or wager made by you or through your account for any reason.”
Last but not least, if players by any chance contaminate their devices by any virus or other destructive code originating from the casino, it’s up to them to handle the consequences.
Patrons facing such impunity may come from all around the world, except for…
Israel, the United States, South Africa, Italy, Denmark, France, Spain, Bulgaria, Belgium, Singapore, the UK, Turkey, and China (quite an interesting choice in the last two countries, both having strict bans on online gambling).
But, only in the case of France and Spain are IP addresses blocked for residents by the casino; for the rest of the countries from the list, players can access website unhindered.
And then, we arrive at the pinnacle of fraudulently conceived operations at PokiesWay — fake games.
Monitored by our engineers and Content Managers since last year, this online hub continues to run games from reputable providers using fake domains, such as:
These servers are confirmed as fake in numerous reports we already conducted, as well throughout our cooperation with game providers.
Striving to not only substantiate our findings but to empower players to conduct such due diligence personally, snapshots below are instructive.
Also, it might be prudent to underline that “online casinos licensed by Curaçao CANNOT offer Novomatic or Aristocrat software,” as we already reported. Thus…
It appears our bet from last year was spot-on on both accounts — we’re looking at the casino with somehow nonexistent license featuring fake games.
What makes PokiesWay case so significant are not so much the findings nor the roads which may take honest players to no man’s land but stubbornness and intransigence. It might be safe to assume the ownership group is aware of malpractices; various general online resources have also issued either warnings or revoked guarantees.
Yet again, PokiesWay continues operating with a deliberate intention and dedication to build casino’s future on players’ back no matter the consequences or previous reports.
Such a real-life story — not something someone overheard somewhere — should be, therefore, embraced as the…
Fundamental prompt for all players to conduct due diligence thoroughly before deciding on the online casino!
Equally so, here at LCB, working together with our online community, we shall continue to exercise inability to quit on our quest for rogue casinos, particularly for repetitive offenders like PokiesWay Casino.
We got both the clocks and the time, resources and knowledge, strength and determination, but most of all…
We got the purpose of doing the right thing and delivering more value to the player while making the global iGaming industry a better and safer place.