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AskGamblers - Player friendly or Casino friendly??


J_B_T

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AskGablers has been one of the most "trusted" sites for online casino reviews and player experiences as long as I can remember. They were supposed to be Player friendly, but somehow it seems like they are more leaning towards Casino friendly.  

First of all, they tend to delete reviews after a while (experienced it on my own skin), and remove anything that might cause problems for the casino itself, especially if its a big one.

Second, every casino you open, first you see a list of praises (The box with Player Reviews which even has a smiley attached) and all positive reviews. That is already decieving info, since not everyone scrolls down to read all the reviews. They also make sure that every casino, no matter how shitty it is, always has more positive then negative things listed.

Third, their info about the casino is often wrong and doesn't match the one of the casino itself. Restricted countires, withdrawal frame, mobile or no mobile app, and similar. I know they are not to blame if casino doesn't process a withdrawal within the timeframe, but still.

Fourth, and most important, they made it so that Casino can reply to your review, but you can't reply back. So what does casino PR managers do after a bad review??

Basically whatever they like. They take advantage of that as much as they can, and as much as they are obviously allowed to. No matter how bad your review is, if they reply as they usually do like "Hey, we are so sorry for the bad experience you had with our casino, please contact us on email and we will correct any potential mistakes. Apologies" the review loses weight and has no real effect. Instead, player who is about to join the casino and stopped by to read some reviews first, will actually think that the casino will deal with all their issues. Classic contra-effect. 

I for example, submited a negative review, and they responded to my post in the same manner pretending that they will correct it. My first 3 emails were not responded, and then after they did respond, a whole month later, they simply wrote, there is nothing that can be done, and stopped answering my mails. And there was no way for me to show that my issues mentioned in the review still weren't resolved. 

There are some other things bothering me as well about AskGamblers, but i'll stop myself here. 

Second opinion anyone?

 

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I think it's pretty obvious Askgamblers is just another affiliate site. Some of the casinos they have are questionable, very questionable. And if you look at their rewards for 2018, it just gets a whole lot worse.. Just look at best games, casinos etc. Just very weird choices, that basically no one else has. 

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That site is a noob trap.

When I first started it seemed legit but the more you learn about slots and get some experience from various online casinos it becomes apparent that AskGamblers doesn't really have a clue. Their games of the year, casinos of the year. Making crappy promotions out to be great value with overenthusiastic write-ups delivered to them by the casinos. 

 

Very Roshteinesque.

TM

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3 hours ago, dirtystack said:

That site is a noob trap.

When I first started it seemed legit but the more you learn about slots and get some experience from various online casinos it becomes apparent that AskGamblers doesn't really have a clue. Their games of the year, casinos of the year. Making crappy promotions out to be great value with overenthusiastic write-ups delivered to them by the casinos. 

 

Very Roshteinesque.

TM

Very Roshteinesque. Well said :D

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23 hours ago, J_B_T said:

AskGablers has been one of the most "trusted" sites for online casino reviews and player experiences as long as I can remember. They were supposed to be Player friendly, but somehow it seems like they are more leaning towards Casino friendly.  

First of all, they tend to delete reviews after a while (experienced it on my own skin), and remove anything that might cause problems for the casino itself, especially if its a big one.

Second, every casino you open, first you see a list of praises (The box with Player Reviews which even has a smiley attached) and all positive reviews. That is already decieving info, since not everyone scrolls down to read all the reviews. They also make sure that every casino, no matter how shitty it is, always has more positive then negative things listed.

Third, their info about the casino is often wrong and doesn't match the one of the casino itself. Restricted countires, withdrawal frame, mobile or no mobile app, and similar. I know they are not to blame if casino doesn't process a withdrawal within the timeframe, but still.

Fourth, and most important, they made it so that Casino can reply to your review, but you can't reply back. So what does casino PR managers do after a bad review??

Basically whatever they like. They take advantage of that as much as they can, and as much as they are obviously allowed to. No matter how bad your review is, if they reply as they usually do like "Hey, we are so sorry for the bad experience you had with our casino, please contact us on email and we will correct any potential mistakes. Apologies" the review loses weight and has no real effect. Instead, player who is about to join the casino and stopped by to read some reviews first, will actually think that the casino will deal with all their issues. Classic contra-effect. 

I for example, submited a negative review, and they responded to my post in the same manner pretending that they will correct it. My first 3 emails were not responded, and then after they did respond, a whole month later, they simply wrote, there is nothing that can be done, and stopped answering my mails. And there was no way for me to show that my issues mentioned in the review still weren't resolved. 

There are some other things bothering me as well about AskGamblers, but i'll stop myself here. 

Second opinion anyone?

 

They are the worst of the worst. I know a guy whose winnings were frozen by a casino for no reason for 3+ months and AskGamblers dismissed his case. He won it in the end through IBAS, but ye, they are pro-Casino. Absolute scum they are. 

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On 03/05/2019 at 02:05, Slotspinner said:

lol askgamblers and casinomeister have always been casino first, hated them since start for that fact

You are right about Ass-gamblers, but you couldn't be more wrong about Casinomeister...I love this forum here, but there's not nearly as much valuable info as there is on that site, let alone the PAB - an amazing dispute function purely for the players, and not just for the Casinos 'accredited' on that site. It's the most player friendly forum out there.

Don't know how you came to that conclusion, perhaps you should give them another look.

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3 hours ago, TrustworthyC said:

You are right about Ass-gamblers, but you couldn't be more wrong about Casinomeister...I love this forum here, but there's not nearly as much valuable info as there is on that site, let alone the PAB - an amazing dispute function purely for the players, and not just for the Casinos 'accredited' on that site. It's the most player friendly forum out there.

Don't know how you came to that conclusion, perhaps you should give them another look.

the little time i spent on CM i came across several scamming casinos they advertised at that time, so thats that for me

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5 hours ago, TrustworthyC said:

You are right about Ass-gamblers, but you couldn't be more wrong about Casinomeister...I love this forum here, but there's not nearly as much valuable info as there is on that site, let alone the PAB - an amazing dispute function purely for the players, and not just for the Casinos 'accredited' on that site. It's the most player friendly forum out there.

Don't know how you came to that conclusion, perhaps you should give them another look.

Casinomeister are siding with the Caisnos too. In fact, they get paid quite a lot to advertise certain shady sites there. I know a guy who goes to their meet-ups in London every year in a certain pub. 

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1 hour ago, Slotspinner said:

the little time i spent on CM i came across several scamming casinos they advertised at that time, so thats that for me

Hmm, ok, if i would see shady casinos being advertised or was scammed by one of the casinos they had on their site, i also would be wary, but i've been a member there for about 9 years, and for me it's the opposite.  I can count on one hand the times (now known to be) shady operators were there, and they were either not shady yet. or they were given a chance to get on board and resolve player issues. 

They have info on a LOT of Casinos, doesn't mean they condone them, they only actively promote 'Accredited Casinos', and i'd be very surprised if you found a shady operator in that list, ever.

Maybe you should give them another chance (no probs if you dont wan't to, but i just spoke up as i would speak up for any site i respect and use for my own betterment)

 

21 minutes ago, Ziggy said:

Casinomeister are siding with the Caisnos too. In fact, they get paid quite a lot to advertise certain shady sites there. I know a guy who goes to their meet-ups in London every year in a certain pub. 

So, this guy that goes there and drinks with them, says they are shady? And he still wants to drink with them? Every year? What a weirdo. 

I can tell you i went there too, 2 years ago, and the people that were there was a healthy mix of cool forum members, casino reps, and the CM team of course..it was amazing, and very informative. Your post is full of hearsay and conjecture i.m.o..

Maybe you just wanted to add some drama? 

Look, i'm all for outing certain forums, and/or notify fellow players about shady places to steer clear from, but when you diss CM like that, you are doing the opposite.
Maybe in the future CasinoGrounds will also be a place that has everything a newbie player needs, to get going in the Online Gambling world, but that is not yet the case - for all the missing info, and the proper help in case of disputes etc., they are much better served at a place like CM, or thePOGG.

 

 

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2 hours ago, TrustworthyC said:

Hmm, ok, if i would see shady casinos being advertised or was scammed by one of the casinos they had on their site, i also would be wary, but i've been a member there for about 9 years, and for me it's the opposite.  I can count on one hand the times (now known to be) shady operators were there, and they were either not shady yet. or they were given a chance to get on board and resolve player issues. 

They have info on a LOT of Casinos, doesn't mean they condone them, they only actively promote 'Accredited Casinos', and i'd be very surprised if you found a shady operator in that list, ever.

Maybe you should give them another chance (no probs if you dont wan't to, but i just spoke up as i would speak up for any site i respect and use for my own betterment)

 

So, this guy that goes there and drinks with them, says they are shady? And he still wants to drink with them? Every year? What a weirdo. 

I can tell you i went there too, 2 years ago, and the people that were there was a healthy mix of cool forum members, casino reps, and the CM team of course..it was amazing, and very informative. Your post is full of hearsay and conjecture i.m.o..

Maybe you just wanted to add some drama? 

Look, i'm all for outing certain forums, and/or notify fellow players about shady places to steer clear from, but when you diss CM like that, you are doing the opposite.
Maybe in the future CasinoGrounds will also be a place that has everything a newbie player needs, to get going in the Online Gambling world, but that is not yet the case - for all the missing info, and the proper help in case of disputes etc., they are much better served at a place like CM, or thePOGG.

 

 

I didn't say that he said they were shady - I myself am saying that they are shady. And in regards to the disputes, give me a break - yes, they will mediate, however, they always look at everyone as if they are: a cheat or a gambling addict. 

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Its a poor site, i tried using the forums on there and when i tried to make a post about the evolution/monopoly stealing money the admins deleted it before it ever got on the forum, so yeah they are absolutly useless and in the pocket of casinos not the gamblers.

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18 hours ago, Ziggy said:

I didn't say that he said they were shady - I myself am saying that they are shady. And in regards to the disputes, give me a break - yes, they will mediate, however, they always look at everyone as if they are: a cheat or a gambling addict. 

Well i guess you don't know what you're talking about then..do you have any clue how much money was claimed for the players using the PAB service? You seem to be judgemental and biased on this topic, which is fine, you probably could say the same thing about me...

I can't force you to re-assess them, but i'm fairly sure if you would actually read the forums attentively, you'd come to a different conclusion. but then again, most people nowadays don't have the patience to read, they just want answers to their imminent questions, and don't really care about self-education. CM made the Online Casino world a safer place for almost every gambler on this forum, without them even realizing it...(i'll just say in my opinion, to not stir the pot some more -but i do believe it is a fact) and i have saved myself a lot of money, just reading and learning.

Askgamblers, as with many other affiliate sites, pretending to be something else, don't usually give a toss about the players. Also, Askgamblers was bought by Catena Media, - which is just a money making machine - fairly recently. They are a corporate institution, and aren't open to, or acting for the players. CM is the opposite. You can talk to the man himself, despite his being busy all the time, and to me that should point out a key difference in the two sites. To compare them is like the 'ole apple and egg (purposely didn't use oranges, to express how far apart they actually are:)) 

 If you're really interested (but i somehow think you aren't) you could do some research...

 

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22 minutes ago, TrustworthyC said:

Well i guess you don't know what you're talking about then..do you have any clue how much money was claimed for the players using the PAB service? You seem to be judgemental and biased on this topic, which is fine, you probably could say the same thing about me...

I can't force you to re-assess them, but i'm fairly sure if you would actually read the forums attentively, you'd come to a different conclusion. but then again, most people nowadays don't have the patience to read, they just want answers to their imminent questions, and don't really care about self-education. CM made the Online Casino world a safer place for almost every gambler on this forum, without them even realizing it...(i'll just say in my opinion, to not stir the pot some more -but i do believe it is a fact) and i have saved myself a lot of money, just reading and learning.

Askgamblers, as with many other affiliate sites, pretending to be something else, don't usually give a toss about the players. Also, Askgamblers was bought by Catena Media, - which is just a money making machine - fairly recently. They are a corporate institution, and aren't open to, or acting for the players. CM is the opposite. You can talk to the man himself, despite his being busy all the time, and to me that should point out a key difference in the two sites. To compare them is like the 'ole apple and egg (purposely didn't use oranges, to express how far apart they actually are:)) 

 If you're really interested (but i somehow think you aren't) you could do some research...

 

Actually, I do know quite alot about mediation and Casinomeister platform isn''t doing a good job, for UK players at least. Do contact IBAS and ask them how many cases a year are refered to them after CM PABs. 

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4 hours ago, Ziggy said:

Actually, I do know quite alot about mediation and Casinomeister platform isn''t doing a good job, for UK players at least. Do contact IBAS and ask them how many cases a year are refered to them after CM PABs. 

If they aren't doing a good job in your opinion right now, as far as players for the U.K. are concerned, then you have to blame the UKGC., as they have imposed conditions and limitations for all the Casinos that are under their wings, regarding the handling of complaints. But maybe ask the U.K. players on CM where they went before the UKGC finally got of their ass? (and they are still not doing a great job, i.m.o.) For everybody else, or U.K. players that don't necessarily play at UKGC licensed Casinos, CM is still doing a great job. Also, if you visit places like CM, the whole idea is that you learn to do your own research, and don't end up playing in clipjoints (regardless of where they are licensed) so that you don't end up needing mediation.

Almost every relevant problem can be prevented. And that's what CM taught me, and 1000's of other players. Where do you think some of the more knowledgeable streamers got their info? I'm pretty sure CM at least contributed in some way. And of course there is a huge difference in 'being shady' and 'not doing a great job for U.K. players'

But let's give it a rest. We can certainly agree to disagree on their usefulness, but I would appreciate it If you could please refrain from calling them shady, as they are far from it.

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
  • 4 months later...

I got banned for Casinomeister yesterday, for 'trolling'.

Formulating questions regarding licensing in holland, and the risk for players in holland are exposed to ( they are not restricted from making an account, but are in violation of T&C if they do !?). This combined with questions on T&C that changed, obviously after my complaint, that had the same 'update date' and version number.. 

I cannot copy paste the link, because I'm banned, obviously after intervention by... It is extremely worrying that asking questions that should be of no concern for operators, with evidence they can provide to debunk/overturn my statements even strengthening their own credibility?

Its incredible how shady this online gambling business is... Maybe there are a few genuine and honest providers.

I'm btw happy to start a new topic with my question, as I put on casino meister.

If a review or complaint site or service claims to be unbiased, transparency of funding, and legal obligations because of funding should be public.. It will verify and underline their independent position..  e.g. for ThePogg: they do not want to disclose funding: some research:  they have only 2 employees that rotate in shares of multiple companies, and have used a offshore construction in Malta.  You can never rule on the hand that feeds you. There is no reason why they should not give clarification if they are a real independent overwatch? 

Thanks and regards,

 

JW

 

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On 02/05/2019 at 23:43, J_B_T said:

AskGablers has been one of the most "trusted" sites for online casino reviews and player experiences as long as I can remember. They were supposed to be Player friendly, but somehow it seems like they are more leaning towards Casino friendly.  

First of all, they tend to delete reviews after a while (experienced it on my own skin), and remove anything that might cause problems for the casino itself, especially if its a big one.

Second, every casino you open, first you see a list of praises (The box with Player Reviews which even has a smiley attached) and all positive reviews. That is already decieving info, since not everyone scrolls down to read all the reviews. They also make sure that every casino, no matter how shitty it is, always has more positive then negative things listed.

Third, their info about the casino is often wrong and doesn't match the one of the casino itself. Restricted countires, withdrawal frame, mobile or no mobile app, and similar. I know they are not to blame if casino doesn't process a withdrawal within the timeframe, but still.

Fourth, and most important, they made it so that Casino can reply to your review, but you can't reply back. So what does casino PR managers do after a bad review??

Basically whatever they like. They take advantage of that as much as they can, and as much as they are obviously allowed to. No matter how bad your review is, if they reply as they usually do like "Hey, we are so sorry for the bad experience you had with our casino, please contact us on email and we will correct any potential mistakes. Apologies" the review loses weight and has no real effect. Instead, player who is about to join the casino and stopped by to read some reviews first, will actually think that the casino will deal with all their issues. Classic contra-effect. 

I for example, submited a negative review, and they responded to my post in the same manner pretending that they will correct it. My first 3 emails were not responded, and then after they did respond, a whole month later, they simply wrote, there is nothing that can be done, and stopped answering my mails. And there was no way for me to show that my issues mentioned in the review still weren't resolved. 

There are some other things bothering me as well about AskGamblers, but i'll stop myself here. 

Second opinion anyone?

 

@J_B_T See my post above, in addition for askgamblers: I've raised similar concerns in there Forum feedback, with crystal clear evidence of duplicate reviews, all by new accounts ( created- 1 casino review- zero activity after).

Also suggested an edit for Trada casino review page: removing ' accepts dutch players', as it is illegal and even in violation of Trada terms ( players at risk of not getting paid if they win big, combined with criminal prosecution by NL government). Ofcourse rejected, referring that NL is not restricted in Trada terms. I cannot believe why players are not protected.. This is deception, by its very definition. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I mean the very thing that you HAVE to enter at least 150 characters in the "What do I like about the casino" section speaks for itself. Also, there is a strong suspicion that Askgamblers allows certain casinos to enter fake positive reviews..so every time a real player posts a bad review, they will just follow up with 3 positive ones in return and reduce or even cancel any damage. 

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@J_B_T Catena Media, a company that has strong connection with gambling operations, and in fact runs several, is current owner of Askgamblers.. They even state the 'use of the site for marketing at request by customer'.  To my knowledge its role/ownership, is anything but clearly presented on the site.. nor do they report any conflict of interest.. Real tradecraft, in my opinion, and many gamers will not be aware of this.. 

Nothing wrong in using this as a marketing tool, but it should be made clear for visitors, as they claim 'player driven'.. 

below is copy past of section, that can be fined here: https://www.catenamedia.com/app/uploads/2019/08/Catena_Media_Interim_Report_Q2_2019.pdf

"

WHAT BROUGHT REVENUE
DOWN IN THE SECOND QUARTER

Second quarter revenue turned out below our expectations. There are four primary causes:

  • May and June are traditionally weak months for sports

  • New, rapidly implemented regulations in the UK

  • Regulatory impact in France

  • Large player winnings at casino, which had a negative

    impact on the revenue sharing

  • Still no improvements in Sweden

 "

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On 05/05/2019 at 16:43, TrustworthyC said:

If they aren't doing a good job in your opinion right now, as far as players for the U.K. are concerned, then you have to blame the UKGC., as they have imposed conditions and limitations for all the Casinos that are under their wings, regarding the handling of complaints. But maybe ask the U.K. players on CM where they went before the UKGC finally got of their ass? (and they are still not doing a great job, i.m.o.) For everybody else, or U.K. players that don't necessarily play at UKGC licensed Casinos, CM is still doing a great job. Also, if you visit places like CM, the whole idea is that you learn to do your own research, and don't end up playing in clipjoints (regardless of where they are licensed) so that you don't end up needing mediation.

Almost every relevant problem can be prevented. And that's what CM taught me, and 1000's of other players. Where do you think some of the more knowledgeable streamers got their info? I'm pretty sure CM at least contributed in some way. And of course there is a huge difference in 'being shady' and 'not doing a great job for U.K. players'

But let's give it a rest. We can certainly agree to disagree on their usefulness, but I would appreciate it If you could please refrain from calling them shady, as they are far from it.

I too,am a member of Casinomeister and I too think they are NOT a heavily casino friendly site over the clients.They are a well established site with players and contributors from all over the world. Because they tend to have contacts with so many casinos I believe a few shady ones slip through the net,including Slotty Vegas and they seem to have a soft spot for Trada,who I believe are as shady as hell based on my experiences. But overall CM is a good site and one which CG should look to for both pros and cons as it continues to grow. There is never only one correct answer,there  can be a few. 

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