Piggs Peak - Online Casino Review

November 11, 2004

Overview

Piggs Peak is an online casino based on a land casino in Swaziland, Africa, which is nice as so many online-casinos have no face to the name. The software is Microgaming. There's a mildly obnoxious pig coming out of a chip on the upper left corner of the web browser. You can deposit in either US dollars, Pounds Sterling, or Euros. They have 13 progressive slots games, multiple versions of Blackjack, Video Poker, Pai Gow and more in their browser Flash Casino. They have even more than that in their download casino. I used their LiveHelp several times while checking out the site and it was amazingly fast and the customer support was incredibly helpful. The casino operates in Kahnawake, Canada and is licensed under the terms of Kahnawake Gaming Commission. They take their gaming extremely seriously and support gamblers anonymous, have their payouts reviewed monthly by PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc., are members of IGC, and been certified as fair gaming from eCogra. You must be over 21 to game in this casino. If they suspect you are younger they will request proof – that means all of you math university students better wait until you’re a little older to play here.

Depositing

They have the usual options for depositing:

Neteller

FirePay

Visa / Mastercard / Diners / Delta

Citadel

Click2Pay.

If you happen to be one of the lucky people left in the world who owns a credit card that allows for online gaming deposits they will accept it. However, banking regulations forbid them to credit back to a Visa or MasterCard so if you deposit that way you will get your money back via Neteller, Check, or ACH. They also have a limit to the amount of cards you can use (6) and a limit to how much you can deposit per card per day ($2000). Nothing too shocking there.

Withdrawals

Their withdrawal page is a little misleading as it doesn't show FirePay as an option (but I checked and it is). They have the following options for withdrawal:

ACH

Wire Transfer

Check

Neteller

FirePay

Cashing out can be a bit of a hassle, depending on your method of deposit. If you deposit via credit card you will have to submit a lot of documentation to receive your funds. In addition to faxing or emailing your documentation (copy of credit card, utility bill, photo ID) they will send you forms to your home for you to fill out and send back. It is a long process, so if you plan to deposit via credit card we recommend you contact their customer service to start the process when you deposit. This will expedite your cashout when you're finally ready. Also, they have some hefty fees on some of their withdrawal methods (wire transfer and check).

They say that they cash out in 24 hours, but in almost every sub-section they give an additional timeline of 2 – 3 days for processing. In their fraud prevention section they mention sending a transaction history to your home for you to sign and return before sending your cash out. Citadel and Click2Pay are online checks and as such are generally paid via ACH.

Terms and Conditions

One thing struck me as bizarre "Due to time-sensitive processing issues with FirePay transfers, no FirePay reversals will be accepted on any account during a player's first month of gaming at the casino. Should we receive any FirePay reversals on an account in this first month period, all winnings will be lost, even if the reversal is settled." So I wrote into their LiveChat (this feature is AMAZING, I can't say that enough!!!) to ask what that means. If you deposit via FirePay MAKE SURE YOUR ACCOUNT IS WELL FUNDED. If you have a chargeback (even if it's not your fault) they will take away all of your winnings.

Bonuses

They have a few bonuses for new players. 30% of your first deposit, maximum bonus $300, no deposit bonus of $15, and deposit $30 through Neteller and get $50.

The interesting thing about the no deposit bonus of $15 the wagering requirement is more – always check those terms!!!. Not only that but you have to deposit $10 before you can cash out! Considering that, plus the minimum cash-out is $50 I'd say they don't lose much money on this one.

They also offer a lot of monthly promotions such as:

10% alternative deposit bonus minimum deposit $100
Weekly raffle with various prizes if you deposit $50 on certain days and play
Weekend Tomb Raider promo minimum deposit of $25 and you must play the game during the time period
Something called Turkey Run which is only sent to the Dollar Players (no idea and afraid to ask)
A complicated Big Bucks Bonanza bonus where you have to make $200 in deposits to get a 25% bonus but $100 of those deposits have to be deposited in their preferred method (i.e. not credit card)
And finally $250 bonus for depositing $1000 via Neteller, FirePay, Click2Pay, or Citadel

Promotional Terms and Conditions

Their wagering requirements are pretty basic, 15X the bonus plus deposit. i.e. if you deposit $50 and you get a $50 bonus you have to wager $1500 ($50 + $50 = $100 * 15 = $1500). Danish players – they make you work harder but at least they say it in a funny way: ” you're too clever for us!" Be prepared to wager 30 times the bonus plus deposit amount.

They exclude virtually everything from their wagering requirements: Baccarat, SicBo, Red Dog, all Blackjack game variations, all Poker variation games, Craps and all Roulette games. This just seems ridiculous and extreme to me. On top of that they want you to request to have your bonus removed before if you want to play any of the excluded games!

If you take advantage of the free money bonus and use it to game make sure you cash it out immediately after fulfilling your wagering requirement. They reserve the right to take it back if you leave it in your account for over 7 days!

Now this was one that really struck me. For most withdrawal methods "The minimum cash-in is $50." You can deposit $30 but you can only cash out $50? Now what are the odds of that? To be fair, the minimum withdrawal for Neteller and FirePay is $20. I guess they really want you to use Neteller or FirePay!

And finally their spam policy. This one was funny. They don't share their information with anyone except their associated companies and affiliates. Who else would they share their information with? Personally I would prefer a policy that stated they shared their information with no one, not even associated companies or affiliates.

Signing Up

Easy and painless. I clicked on "Instant Play" and a new window opened. I followed the directions and chose to open a real account. After filling out the forms I was done. I was given a login name when I finished. I wrote this down for my records (I need it to claim bonuses and such). I then went back to the main browser and clicked on the $15 no deposit bonus. That should be credited within 24 hours. It was credited within 12 hours, very efficient.

I then deposited $30 through Neteller. After, I went to the $30 + $50 promotions page and signed up for the $40 signing bonus and the $10 deposit through Neteller bonus. I now have a total of $95 to play with for a deposit of only $30!

All of this gives me a pretty hefty wagering requirement.

$15 no deposit bonus * 20 = 300

$30 + $50 = $80 * 15 = 1200

TOTAL = $1500 to wager before I can cash out. The only games that count for their wagering requirements are slots and keno. How fun will this be?

Playing – No download

Now no offense to you slots lovers, but I like games that make you think, and slots isn't one of those games. I've just played for 10 minutes. I tried the Major Millions progressive slots and when I lost 4 in a row I switched to the Fruit Fiesta. For a slot game this wasn't so bad. The colors were nice and the sound was ok. I had slightly more luck with this game, but I can tell you now the idea of making my wagering requirement seems impossible. Impossible and about as much fun as sticking needles in my eyes.

So, I switched to the regular slots. I tried the Crazy Chameleons. That was nice and colorful but again I had no luck. Back to the progressives, I decided to try the Wow Pot. There's not a chance in hell I will get anywhere near my wagering requirements. Now I know why their bonuses are so good. They never have to worry about actually paying you.

So I switched around and tried all of their progressive slots. Finally I get to Treasure Nile. Immediately I saw how this one was different. The sounds of birds and water and chanting bring out the exoticness of the game. I also liked how the slots itself was larger than most of the other games, which is better for aging eyes. I bet max ($4.50) and won $1. Not a lot, but better than nothing.

I went back to regular slots and tried Monster Mania. Pretty colors, but looks too much like a kids game for my taste. No luck there either. Off to Thunderstruck, nice sound and cool-Nordic-dungeons-and-dragons-I've-seen-The-Life-of-Brian-too-many-times-to-count graphics. Again, no luck. Seeing any patterns here? Flower Power – same. My balance is now $63 (I haven't received my $15 no deposit bonus yet, so I started at $80). I need some luck soon or else this will be a very short article…

Download

After spending some time enjoying the browser Flash version I decided to try the download version. I went back to the homepage and clicked on "Free download". I entered the requested information (name and email) and submitted. The page could not be found. Twice. Three times. Time for LiveChat again. Schalk was my customer service knight in shining armor. Apparently my security settings and Active X controls were set too high. I enabled a few things and sure enough, worked like a charm. The download was completed in about the amount of time it took for me to write these 3 sentences. Fantastic! Once the download was finished I logged in with my account information (no need to open a new account) and was able to play immediately, same balance and all.

Ok, excuse my excitement but this is the first casino I've ever played in the download version. Wow. This is nice. I can totally understand why someone would prefer this to the browser version. The tabs in the main lobby make it easy to find where you want to go. I also understand why it took no time to download the casino. You have to download each game after that. (Ok, that isn't totally true – the other games are downloaded while you are playing, so you only have this problem for the first few games depending on how often you switch).

I went straight to the Tomb Raider Slots because there's a lot of hullabaloo about it right now and it took over 5 minutes to load. But oh so worth it! My first spin that I won more than I bet! The sound is better, the spins are smoother and the graphics are fuller and just better than the browser version. After losing a few in Tomb Raider I decided to switch again, which of course meant waiting another 6 or 7 minutes to download another game.

Finally I tried Vinyl Countdown. Cute game. Has a 50's diner sock-hop feel to it. I spun and won. I spun and won again. Then I spun and actually won $22.75. That made me happy.

Now that my bankroll was up again I decided to look around for a game with a low minimum bet. Here's my theory, the lower the bet, the more chances I have to win with my bankroll. If I have $80 and I can make 50 cent bets then I have to lose 160 times in a row to lose my bankroll. On the other hand if I have $80 and I make $10 bets then I only have to lose 8 times in a row to lose everything. To lose 160 times in a row is unlikely, losing 8 times in a row is totally possible. I found the game I was looking for in Skull Duggery. The minimum bet is 45 cents and you have 9 lines to win. The graphics are cute, very Pirates of the Caribbean.

Time to try expert mode. I went back to Vinyl Countdown since it brought me luck before. In the corner of the options there is a button that says "Expert". Now I can do automatic spins. In the "Options" I choose to spin 5 times, I set the time I want the spins to go, and to have it stop if a jackpot is won. I finish and won again! I really like this game!!! I entered with $70 and now I have a balance of $101! I won again!!! My balance is now $131!!!! I now have $50 in winnings!

Now I'm wondering how much I've wagered, time to look for my gaming history. I can't find it so back to the Live Chat. OK, this is one thing that the browser has that the download doesn't. There's no link to live chat from the download! How terrible is that??! I go back to the browser and go to Live Chat from there. Now it's Jason at my service. Their systems only update your game play 45 minutes (approx.) after you play so I had to wait to get my information. There is no place to see your game history, you have to request it. On top of that I found out that once you accept a bonus you have to meet the wagering requirements. You can not cash-out if you are ahead and just lose the bonus. If you decide to cash out you can get your deposit, but you will not receive your winnings until you meet your wagering requirements. That surprised me. It makes sense though, from the casino side. This is a business after all.

Back to the games. What a ride. I got up to $250 with some nice wins in Tomb Raider and then lost it all. I tried to follow my theory and stick with the cheap games but it gets boring and you can't win big that way so I decided to mix it up. Of course, when you decide to wager larger bets you also take the chance of losing it all quickly, which is what happened.

Overall

Their customer service is fantastic. The browser games were fun and fast, but no comparison graphics or sound wise to the download version. You also have a much larger selection in the download casino. A lot of the slots games in the download casino also have short movies before playing, which are nice. Skull Duggery was my favorite slot game, not for the payouts, but for the bonus round where you get to choose a pirate to walk the plank. Tomb Raider gave me the largest payouts for my win. Expert mode is great, allowing you to set things up the way you would like it. Automatic play is fantastic for slots, keeping your wrist from being a victim of carpal tunnel. At the end of the day my game play was as follows:

Wagered: $807.30

Gamed: 785

Which means I got a little past halfway on my wagering requirement (I knew there wasn't a chance in hell I would be cashing out) and I enjoyed playing 785 spins on the slots machine.

I tried to find out how many games I won during my game play but their customer service doesn't have access to that information. In fact their customer service didn't have access to much of my actual game play. I had no way of finding out my odds, and I would have liked to know that without having to keep a record myself.

I was reminded (from my boss – not their customer service) about PlayCheck. You don't really notice the little red check in the upper right corner of the screen. It would be helpful if they added a link to Playcheck in their Menu list. Their customer service also should have mentioned it. Surprisingly, Playcheck wasn't very helpful at all. I selected All Games and was given a list that didn't include my amazing wins from Tomb Raider, it didn't even include most of my game play. Also, when I selected Tomb Raider it didn't include everything for that game, it only included my amazing win session. Same thing with Skull Duggery which was the last game I played on the site. Because it didn't work properly I can't tell you things I would like, such as how many games I lost in a row or my odds.

I had a great experience at Piggs Peak. Overall I would give it a B-. (Had PlayCheck worked properly and I been able to cash out it would have been an A).

Play now at Piggs Peak