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Golden Palace and Microgaming break ties

22/10/2000

Golden Palace to use new software supplier

Golden Palace Online Casino, one of the largest operators in the Internet gaming market, is no longer involved with Microgaming Systems, the company that supplied Golden Palace's gaming software since the site went live in May 1997.
According to Fred Faust of Rolling Good Times, a Golden Palace official said the site stopped using Microgaming's software on 6 October. He said Golden Palace has a new outside supplier for the gaming software but declined to release its name. It is unclear whether Golden Palace or Microgaming terminated the relationship, which also occurred at other online gaming sites that are owned by Golden Palace's parent company.
Golden Palace has been at the center of dispute focusing on ?bonus abuse?. The casino defines bonus abuse as either violation of the specific rules of a promotion or violation of a promotion "in spirit". Golden Palace and its affiliates have been accused of seizing funds from players whom they claimed were guilty of "bonus abuse."
In one case, a group of 11 former players at Golden Palace claimed that they were owed more than $160,000 by the casino. In July, the Kahnawake Gaming Commission, which licenses Golden Palace, ruled against the group, in favor of Golden Palace.
This complaint was also investigated by PricewaterhouseCoopers, South Africa, the accounting firm that "audits" Microgaming's gaming software. The PricewaterhouseCoopers report, paid for by Microgaming, was not released to the public but according to articles posted recently on ThePrescription.com by ?Spearmaster? and Winneronline.com by Steve Adkins, the PricewaterhouseCoopers report was favorable to the players. However, neither article revealed how they knew the results of the report.
Although the Kahnawake Commission absolved Golden Palace and agreed with the casino's definition of "bonus abuse," other players have complained about having funds seized by Golden Palace and its affiliates over this issue.
Adkins, who started an organization this summer called the Online Players Association, posted a letter on Winneronline last month where he alleged that Golden Palace was still seizing funds in "bonus dispute" cases and said, ?It is Microgaming's duty and obligation to make sure this type of behavior by one of its licensees is not tolerated.? He continued that if the matter was not dealt with by 15 October, the Online Players Association would ?call for an immediate boycott of all Microgaming casinos.?
Golden Palace denied that the PricewaterhouseCoopers report had anything to do with his company's change in software providers.

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