Golden Palace - Online Casino Review

Golden Palace Casino

December 20, 2004

OverView

Golden Palace has been online since 1997 and has been steeped in controversy almost from their inception. They are licensed the Kahnawake Gaming Commission, Mohawk Territory of Kahnawake, Canada. They use Playtech software, however they started off with Microgaming, switched to Aqua (which isn't around anymore), and then ended up with Playtech about a year ago. Their browser casino is done is flash and is available for Mac users as well. Members of the IGC and ICRA. Customers can reach their support through email, phone (in North America), and Live Chat. However, Live Chat is available only through the casino itself – you won't find it through their website.

In May 2000 Golden Palace was with Microgaming and fell into a bit of a quagmire. According to the message board on WINNERonline someone at Golden Palace was using the credit card numbers that people had used to deposit to buy computer equipment. This was just the start of the mess. Then there was the controversy of lock-outs for bonus hustlers. Apparently the ability to lock out bonus abusers was not in their terms and conditions and they did it after the fact by confiscating the whole lot and not even paying back the deposit. As we all know – locking out a bonus hustler is ok as long as you do it after you pay out what you owe. In addition they were caught posting security messages and advertising as if they were a player from the same IP address. (In other words they posted a message from the casino on a message board and a few minutes later posted again, only posing as a player.) They also double billed customers (which is actually easy enough to do when you're working on your billing system and someone in programming makes a mistake and doesn’t properly QA before going live – and yes I am speaking from experience here).

Golden Palace wasn't going to go down without a fight. By July 2000 they had switched their software to Aqua and had started to give a no deposit bonus of $50 to get back all of the customers who left when the mess started. Things were going smoothly until 2002, when Aqua started to go in the red. In 2003 Aqua ceased to exist and Golden Palace switched to Playtech. Since then it's been smooth sailing with a great reputation.

Speaking of fighting Golden Palace is a bizarre company famous for its guerilla marketing. It all started off in 2001 when they sponsored a boxing match and had the boxers fight with Golden Palace tattooed in henna on their backs. They like the body paint thing a lot. You might remember them for people streaking (yes, both men and women – but the women wear pasties) at sporting events such as the Olympics with Golden Palace henna tattooed on their chest.

The website welcomes you with the "Virgin Mary Grilled Cheese Song", done to the tune of "Do they know it’s Christmas". I wonder what Bob Geldoff would think of that (he's the guy who organized Live Aid and someone I think is an absolute genius). It welcomes you with this song because they bought the Virgin Mary Grilled Cheese that was auctioned off on eBay for $28,000. If you think that is a lot they bought the grandpa ghost walking stick from eBay for $65,000. Makes you wonder what odd thing you might have in your house that could interest them…
As if that isn't enough, they are also huge supporters of various charities using their name, money, and eccentric advertising expertise to raise money. They've sent Cabbage Patch versions of President Bush and Ellen DeGeneres to raise money for the Red Cross. They bought celebrity signed staplers from Staples and used them to make money as well. (The sandwich and the walking stick are also used to make money for charity). Basically this is the most charitable company I have come across online.

They even sent my boss a doll (they are an affiliate on one of his sites). Basically, their marketing department is insane. Yet it works, as they've more than made up for their previous sins through their charity work.

Deposits

They accept purchases in US Dollars (USD), UK Pounds (GBP), Euro (EUR), Hong Kong Dollars (HKD), and Chinese RenMinBi (CNY). All of their transactions are done in US dollars only (which is fantastic for the UK with the way the exchange rate is going!). All conversion fees will be credited to your Real User account - no cost to you.
They offer a wide range of deposit methods:

• Citadel – available to North American players only
• MyCitadel -
• Credit card
• NETeller
• CentralCoin
• FirePay
• Money Transfer
• Bank Wire
• 900 Pay / 900 Pay Plus

Withdrawals

The withdrawal conditions seem pretty basic, but there are a few that don't make much sense at the moment since I haven't yet opened their software…

The minimum withdrawal is $20 – fair enough. However it’s this bit that I don't get – "Any balance of $10 or less is reversed into your play account; an existing balance of less than $20 (for a period of month) is subject to an automatic reversal." You'd think that if the minimum withdrawal was $20 then anything under that amount would be reversed automatically. And how are their withdrawal methods set up where you can have something in withdrawal for a month? My guess is this refers to the fact that they may require further information from their security department for withdrawals on your first deposit. This could take 5 – 10 business days to be requested and approved once received. The maximum withdrawal is $4000 per week. If you withdraw more than that (people withdraw more than that!!!???) then you will get the money in subsequent weeks. The fact that they even have this rule makes me wonder who's depositing in their casino – and can they give me some money? J

You can withdraw via the following methods:

• myCitadel
• FirePay
• NETeller
• Wire transfer
• Bank draft

There are probably requirements for the wire transfer and bank draft but there's no information regarding this on the site.

Terms and Conditions

Be careful when depositing and playing. They can void your winnings and confiscate your balance if: the name on your credit card doesn't match the name on your account (my credit card still has my maiden name on it), you make a withdrawal request before meeting your wagering requirements (I hate terms like this one – just reverse the damn thing and don't threaten), you reside in an area where participation in online gambling is illegal – this makes me wonder about the US players….  The rest of their conditions make sense, don't cheat don't let anyone else use your account etc.

Don't win big if you want to remain anonymous "By accepting any prize and/or winnings from the Company, you consent to the use of your name and/or likeness for advertising and promotional purposes without additional compensation except where prohibited by law. Further, you acknowledge and agree that you may be required to attend a public relations event at the direction and expense of the Company, without further compensation to you." Considering their advertising practices I could just imagine how they could handle this one.

Don't leave your account hanging. If you don't log in for 180 days your balance is gone. Sayonara. Don't make malicious comments about them if you want to remain anonymous – they will hunt you down and make you sorry. It says that, truly. Ok, it says "if you make untrue and/or malicious comments with regard to the Company's operation, the Company reserves the right to publicize your actions together with your identity and e-mail address, as well as to circulate this information to other casinos, banks, credit card companies, and appropriate agencies." Which only leaves me wondering what the other appropriate agencies could be?

Bonuses

They offer a lot of bonuses that change monthly, so what is listed below may not be on offer when you go to their site. However, I'm certain they will have something else to replace it.

• 200% bonus for initial sign up – up to $200.
• Tell a friend - $20 per name and 20% of their initial purchase of $25 – $100.
• 15% Money Wire Transfer Bonus – deposit via wire transfer and receive an extra 15% bonus up to $450.
• Weekly Online Surprise Bonus – given at random while you are playing.
• Comp Points - $10 bet = 1 point. 100 points = $1

The following bonuses are given according to a schedule (check the site for details):

• Hard luck bonus – bonus given to the top 10 biggest losers on the site.
• 10% cash back on losses
• 50% bonus on all purchases – min. $50 max $500
• 15% cash back on losses

Promotional Terms and Conditions

This can't be true. It just can't be. The wagering requirements are the lowest I have ever seen, only 4X deposit + bonus (i.e. you deposit $50 and receive $50 bonus you have to wager $400; $50 + $50 = $100 * 4 = 400).

And now I know why. It’s a confusing sticky bonus and your withdrawal request must be for an amount above your bonus amount. "All PLAY BONUS credits are for wagering purposes only. No cash-in will be honored for an amount less than the PLAY BONUS. Upon your FIRST cash-in (regardless of the number of deposits), any amount up to the equivalent value of the PLAY BONUS will be deducted from your play balance or winnings prior to settlement. The first credits wagered will be deducted from your deposit(s) rather than from the PLAY BONUS." What all of that confusing language means is if you get a $50 bonus from them, then you must cash out a minimum of $70. Golden Palace will then deduct the $50 you received as a bonus and pay you out $20.

Don’t even think about playing Craps, Roulette, Baccarat, or Sicbo until you have finished meeting your wagering requirements or your balance is 0. If you play them beforehand you may lose your winnings, your bonus credits, and your account may be locked. Not something worth the risk.

Once you receive a bonus play it quickly! You have 14 days to play and cash out or they will come in and take that bonus from you.

University students shouldn't even bother "All promotions are available only once per person, family, household address, e-mail address, credit card number, and environments where computers are shared (university, fraternity, school, public library, workplace, etc.)." My old casino should have had that rule. We had a few university students that were a nightmare…

Overall I'd say their bonus terms are really harsh. They sound great in the beginning as the wagering requirements are so low, but what's the point of a bonus you can't cash out? Of course they're willing to give you a $25 bonus for giving them a name. You can't cash it out. On the other hand if you're playing for the sheer joy of it then this is the place for you because their bonus selection is fabulous.

Download version

I kept trying to download the site and my stupid internet explorer kept blocking the download. I went into my options and changed my security settings to low and it's still being blocked. I scrolled down the page and clicked on download now again and this time it worked. I went to their cashier and Israel isn't on the list of countries. They allow Iran, Iraq and Kshystan but no Israel. I'm not making a political statement about this. I just noticed that Israel isn't on the list and they were. I decided to check out their live chat and received this "Thank you for your inquiry. Unfortunately, this service is currently temporarily closed." So much for service 24 / 7. I sent the query via email and received a response within the hour. Sure enough Israel isn't allowed to even deposit. How rude. They could allow for wire transfer or Neteller deposits or something. They could also have posted it in their terms and conditions. I have to say being able to only review their play for fun will take a lot of the fun out of doing this review.

I started with the slots. They don't allow for multi-play but they do have a nice feature for those of us who don't want to squint. You can choose "Play close up on slots" in your options menu and only see the main game itself instead of the whole slot machine. You also have a large card option for the card games. I especially liked their multi-line slots games. The first line spins, then you can choose which of the 3 results you want to hold (you can choose all 3 or none or whatever), then it spins again for all 5 lines. The ones you hold stay and the others come up with any combo that comes up, kind of like multi-hand poker. I did pretty well with this feature and it was fun. It gave the slots game more of an edge, as if you can put some sort of strategy to a game that is purely random.

Golden tour slots have a nice bonus round where you pick your clubs and then the golfer swings with the clubs you picked. Alchemist Lab slots is an obvious rip off of Lord of the Rings, complete with a gold ring with writing on it that lights up red when you win. I had a great win on that one (see pic). The bonus round gives you the chance of making gold (see pic). I did get the bonus in Goblins Cave (see pic). I love bonus rounds, sometimes they are more fun than a good win. Ok, maybe that's taking it too far, but I still love bonus rounds. Triple Profits allows you to grab bags of money and add it to the scale (see pic). The graphics on Win a Million Dollars game annoyed me. All of the people graphics were of white men smiling. What, women aren't millionaires? You can tell that men designed these games not realizing that women might be playing them. Never mind, it's a universal problem with online casinos.

I wandered around the casino a bit, playing a hand of multi-player baccarat (minimum 0), war, poker, and blackjack. I stayed in the Blackjack for awhile with Khyle, a bartender from the US who was also playing for fun. This was the first time I have encountered someone else in a multi-player game online (not including the live dealer casino).

I would have liked to try their live dealer games, but they are only available for the play for real players. Same goes for the progressives. One of the annoying things about wanting to play for real and not being able to are these pop ups they have every time I have a nice win. They keep asking me if I want to play for real, and the answer is yes I would love to play for real, but you won't let me! Couldn't they program their software to not do that?

Browser version

They have the largest selection of games I have ever seen in a browser casino, every table and card game, a multitude of progressives, and slots. The games themselves are well designed with nice sounds and graphics. The play is smooth. The nicest browser casino I have seen yet.

Overall

I couldn't deposit and I don't know how their games are for real as opposed to playing for fun. The truly strange thing is that their customer service didn't have a clue why Israeli's can't deposit on Playtech's new software. They did give me the URL of a Golden Palace old download site with old software that does allow Israeli's to deposit. I'm not going to judge that one though, as there would be no point. Most of the world uses their new software. The customer service help was friendly and honest, which I appreciate. (I always appreciate when someone has the wisdom to admit they don't know something.) The designs are nice, pretty, and have a good selection, but they don't offer as many features as other casinos. On the other hand they do offer live dealing – but I couldn't give you an opinion on that as I wasn't allowed to deposit. I also can't give an opinion on their progressives for the same reason. The games were missing automatic play or multi-play or whatever you want to call it in their slots games. I also would have liked more options in the card games.

At the end of the day all of their insane advertising won't make up for crappy games. Fortunately their games aren't crappy. My largest win was $120 on slots. I never went lower than $100 without a few nice wins pushing me back up again. The highest I got over my original balance was $25, but as I was playing for fun I took larger risks than I would if it was my money.  I played for several hours and had a lot of nice wins. Even still, I there was no thrill to it as at the end of the day, I couldn't deposit. Overall, if I was actually able to deposit, and the game-play was similar enough to the play for fun, I would rate Golden Palace an A- / B+ (they would have been a strong A if they had the multi-play feature in slots and their Live Help was working when I checked it).