Grand Eagle Casino brazenly pockets progressive jackpot

Curaçao "licensed" Grand Eagle Casino, a member of the Genesys group of Saucify casinos, has been caught pocketing the funds from a $46,000 progressive jackpot win after denying payment to its winner.

The case came to light on the Casino Listings forum where member Gemneye73 posted her experience of being gypped by the casino's shady rules after hitting what she thought was a life changing win. Gemneye73 first approached us for help after seeing that her account at the casino was locked shortly after winning the Dream Wheel progressive jackpot at Grand Eagle on Friday January 12, 2019.

gemneye73 wrote:

I recently won the $46,000 Great Wheel progressive jackpot on Friday. I received free spins, met playthrough requirements and then forfeited. Obtained 10 credits through loyalty points - played through etc and also made a deposit. I attempted to log in this morning only to find that I couldn't. I contacted their chat support to be told that I breached their T&Cs due to more than one account, my account has been locked. Except, I don't have more than one account.

The jackpot win in Gemneye73's account

After stringing the player along for a couple of weeks and changing its story a couple of times, the casino finally settled on the excuse for not paying up that Gemneye73 had broken their terms by claiming two free chip or no deposit bonuses in a row before depositing and playing with her money. According to our understanding of the casino's terms, the player did indeed break the rules because she played with a mixture of winnings from the last free chip and her deposited funds.

However it is unconscionable that the casino both allows players to claim multiple free chips in a row without depositing in between, and furthermore allows players to deposit after claiming two free chips in a row. They do this in full knowledge that it is against their rules and therefore the player will never be able to withdraw any money should they win. There is no excuse whatsoever for this. The Genesys group of casinos have been operating for a decade or more and thus we can only conclude that they have deliberately chosen not to put in place the simple checks that would prevent this type of situation from occurring.

Aside from trapping players in circumstances in which they can never win, Grand Eagle have gone one step further and opted not to return the jackpot money to the progressive jackpot pool.

Like most pooled progressive jackpots, the Dream Wheel jackpot is funded by players who contribute a small percentage of each wager to the pool every time they play the game at various casinos that offer games from the provider Saucify (formerly known as BetOnSoft). Such pooled jackpots are considered "player funds" that are in effect a liability that the casino or software provider carries until it is inevitably paid out to a winner.

In regulated land casino jurisdictions such as Nevada, there are strict rules that govern what a casino may do with player funded jackpots, to the point that even old games may not be retired without the jackpot either being won or redistributed to other games.

As you can see from the graph below that has clearly not happened in this case. In fact it is reasonable to conclude that the next winner of the jackpot, who won around $11,500 on January 21, was short-changed by roughly $43,000 (the $46,000 win less the $3000 re-seed amount).

Our jackpot tracker shows the phantom win that was never paid

Of course we are not talking about a rolled gold land casino jurisdiction here, we are talking about the regulatory joke that is the small Caribbean island known as Curaçao. Grand Eagle's operating company, Genesys Technology N.V., is "licensed" through Curaçao Interactive Licensing N.V., a master licensor authorised by the government to collect fees from prospective casino operators.

This jurisdiction is set up to be a regulator in name only. Instead it is something more akin to a simple license fee collection business. If a casino operator pays the fees, they are "licensed", it is as simple as that. There is no regulation of the conduct of Curaçao licensees, there is no player dispute process or independent arbitration service, and there is nothing to compel this crooked casino operator to return the progressive jackpot funds to the pool for others to win. Nothing, that is, except for a good public shaming. Time will tell in that respect.

Our final word goes to a representative of Genesys Technology N.V. who, when questioned by Casino Listings about the return of the jackpot funds, provided this response on January 22:

Quote:

In regards to the progressive win going back into the progressive jackpot amount, I have questioned this with higher management, I will provide you with feedback once I received it

We're still waiting.

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