The situation at English Harbour (+Free Bonus Link)

[LinusKS]

This is partly from memory, so if I've got anything wrong, please feel free to correct me.

About a month ago, a poster on CasinoMeister accused EH of fixing their doubling game.

Several of us tried the game out for ourselves, and were able to confirm the game was indeed "fixed," returning 2:1, instead of 1:1.

After a couple of days, the software was updated, and results returned to normal.

A couple of days after that, the casino offered a statement through Bryan, the owner/webmaster of CasinoMeister:

[ QUOTE ]
...We have concluded our review of the game play and randomness for all Video Poker games.

...We have found, taking several sample sets over different and varying lengths of time, that they yield in our opinion, a non biased distribution of the cards.

We trust, that we have responded adequately and any doubt in peoples' mind are put to rest...

[/ QUOTE ]

However, later that day, Michael Shackleton ("The Wizard of Odds") posted.

[ QUOTE ]
Yesterday, May 2, I was made aware of the issue possible irregularities in the doubling feature of Odds On software... Until we have had a chance to review the log files we can neither confirm nor deny the accusations.

[/ QUOTE ]

Shackleton is a paid consultant for EH, and certifies the fairess of their games.


Two days later, Shackleton confirmed the English Harbour games were indeed fixed, but it was because of a software bug.

[ QUOTE ]
According to English Harbor problem was caused by a buggy software update on April 13, which was automatically corrected by a subsequent update on May 2...

Although both English Harbor and myself believe that April 13 to May 2 was the only period affected we will be scrutinizing earlier logs to make sure....

[/ QUOTE ]

EH sent the bug to The Wizard, and to a CM moderator. Both said they're satisfied with EH's explanation.

No additional logs were disclosed, to my knowledge.

The thread has subsequently been closed.




Whether you believe English Harbour's explanation is up to you (although I'm curious whether you do). But it's worth noting that there've been at least a half-dozen cases of casinos offering fixed games to the public, and none - that i know of - of poker sites doing the same.

This is also the only case - again, that I know of - where a casino wasn't subsequently rogued for offering a fixed game.

The bottom line is that if you're thinking about playing at a casino - whether for bonus or otherwise, you're not in Kansas anymore. Casinos do not operate like poker sites.

You may not just be playing against a house edge - you may be playing against an actual doom switch, as well.


Now the promised bonus link (from a former employee of a Costa Rican based internet company: http://carlhutton.eponym.com/blog/_a...4/1981778.html

[IggyWH]

One of my more bonehead moves happened at EH. I busted the signup bonus and I was given their daily double. It seems like you can only win this when you bust.

So they gave me the bonus amount again and I ran to VP. After not getting crap and getting abused on doubles (way before this above thread's time period), I had something like $5 left. I went to a multi-line slot machine with farm animals and crap and ran it up big, increasing my coin sizes as I went along.

Eventually I had my amount back up to $280 and decided to give $90 spins a couple tries. I ended up going bust trying to hit a big score.

[Freakin]

Was it proved that they deliberately rigged their software?

You know how well they took care of everyone in that situation, right?

They paid out all losses on doubles during the affected time period, plus 20% for inconvenience to all players affected.

They did this within 48 hours of finding out what had happened, and did it without any players having to contact them.

They should not have been rogued, and they were not.

Mistakes happen.

Freakin

[IggyWH]

I'm not one to side with casinos often, but the EH group in whole has been very good to me. As Freakin said, they went over and beyond what they had to do to fix the problem. They even made things public. I got to give them the benefit of the doubt.

I also dig their software.

[TheBloke]

I agree they cleaned up better than some would.

But the point is, they screwed up and were highly incompetant. Anyone who has ever coded for a big company knows that you have proper test cycles, release procedures, etc. And yet they seem to have managed to release unfinished code into their production casino. That sort of rank incompetance is unbelievable in an industry where any mistake has a direct $ cost.

I dont believe they cheated, but I'd never play there again.

[LinusKS]

Freakin, EH did not come forward voluntarily; in fact, they denied the problem at first.

As far as whether it was intentional, I dunno.

The Wiz and the folks at CM seem to accept the bug story. I'm skeptical. But what do i know?

[TheBloke]

just an aside, wouldnt this thread make more sense in the Internet forum? Lots of people play without bonuses and they should know too

[LinusKS]

I'll cross-post it.

PS - it's "Shackleford," not "Shackleton." My bad.

[TheBloke]

ok cool

[Punker]

The "bonus link" gives one of the most unpleasantly wrong impressions of Costa Rica I have ever read in my entire life. As a foreigner living here, I was actually offended by this misrepresentation of the country.

However, I do believe his story to be at least partially true; I have been to Oficentro and many casinos/sportsbooks are located there. There is certainly no shortage of shady companies of that nature in Costa rica.