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Gambling Software Will Pay 15 Percent of Players' Winnings at Closed Casino

The site, Players Fortune Casino, closed Oct. 26, 2000, after less than three months in operation. To lure business, the casino had offered bonuses that were far more generous than it could afford to pay.

When it folded, Players Fortune stiffed its players out of thousands of dollars. Because Gambling Software handles accounting and customer service for its licensees, some of the players demanded that Gambling Software cover the obligations of Players Fortune.

Gambling Software refunded the original deposits of players who requested a redemption. It initially refused to pay any of the players' winnings.

In response, the Online Players Association recommended that players boycott all licensees of Gambling Software, except those specifically endorsed by the OPA. Gambling Software says its has more than 40 licensees.

There is disagreement over how much the players are owed. Steve Adkins, president of the OPA, told RGT Online that the total is about $170,000. Mark Waters, the director of business development and a co-founder of Gambling Software, said the amount is closer to $95,000.

The company had been in discussions with the OPA. But Waters told RGT Online today that his company is no longer talking to the OPA.

"Essentially it's extortion," Waters said of the OPA's demands. "All they want to do is have us pay their players. What we intend to do is pay a percentage to all the players. We should have done that in the beginning. We've made a few mistakes along the line here."

The percentage that he referred to is 15 percent. That's the percentage of Players Fortune's gaming revenue that the casino was supposed to remit to Gambling Software as a royalty fee.

Waters said the money will be sent to 189 people who had gambled at Players Fortune. Thirty-five of them were represented by the OPA.

The following is the text of the email that Gambling Software sent this afternoon to the 189 players, personalized with each player's name and dollar amounts:

"Dear [Player Name],

"GamblingSoftware.com has moved the Customer Support Department for their software Licensees in-house to increase quality control. I am the Manager of Customer Support and will be handling all payouts in regards to Players Fortune Casino.

"GamblingSoftware.com, as the former software Licensor to the owner of the now defunct Player's Fortune Casino, www.playersfortunecasino.com, is hereby paying you 15% of the outstanding winnings due to you that are eligible under the bonus program they were wagered.

"Although GamblingSoftware.com is not contractually responsible for these outstanding funds, we are sending you this portion of winnings as a gesture of goodwill and an effort to compensate you for the funds owed to you upon the closing of Player's Fortune Casino. The figure of 15% is based upon GamblingSoftware.com's performance-based compensation for ongoing services, as defined in the contractual agreement with the owner of Player's Fortune Casino.

"Your total outstanding winnings are [total amount due], 15% of which is [total payout from GS], for which a check is being mailed to you.

"I am confident that our implementation of stricter Accounting policies regarding promotions and our in-house Customer Support improvements will help avoid future problems. If you have any questions or concerns, I would be pleased to address them. Kindly forward inquiries to: pfc@gamblingsoftware.com.

"Yours truly, Debbie Neckles, Manager, Customer Support, GamblingSoftware.com

"The Millennium Building, Gore Street, St. George's, Grenada, W.I."

In postings later this afternoon at Winneronline.com, several players complained that the 15 percent was too little and that Gambling Software had misrepresented the amounts that they had been owed by Players Fortune. The totals should have been much higher, they said. A couple of players said that the amounts were correct.

"This is a major victory for the OPA," Adkins said in a post. But in another one, he said, "However the settlement is not approved by the OPA and the Boycott is still strong."

Waters told RGT Online, "I think it's a moral victory for the OPA, and that's fine. I don't have a problem with that. I think that's a positive. I think we did the right thing.

"But we didn't fold into the extortion. We didn't say, 'OK, we're going to pay you $20,000 and we're not going to pay anybody else anything. It had to be across the board.' "

Players Fortune was owned by Alex Orphanou of North York, Ontario. He couldn't be reached for comment.

Waters said Gambling Software made a mistake by allowing Players Fortune to run bonus programs that it couldn't afford to support. He said the casino closed without paying his company $40,000 of the initial $100,000 licensing fee.

Since the Players Fortune debacle, Waters said, Gambling Software has implemented far more stringent controls of the bonus programs that its licensees can use, and has moved customer service inhouse.

Gambling Software was founded by Waters and Ehren Richardson. Waters said they started in San Antonio, Texas, in 1997 and moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, early in 1999. In September 2000, they relocated again, to St. George's, Grenada.

Tom Somach contributed information for this story.

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