Action Online Casino saw its debut in 2003 in the heat of land-based casinos going virtual. It was one of the first casinos to present online gambling to the general population. The casino was founded by the CEO David Belfiore and the gaming software was produced by Playtech Software. Moreover, Action Online was licensed by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission. Unfortunately, while trying to gather as much information as possible on Action Online in order to deliver a high-quality review, we realized it had been shut down. The latest piece of information we managed to find dated back to 2007.
Action Online Was Quite Questionable
It may not exist anymore, but this doesn’t stop us from reviewing how they used to work and the way they treated players in the early 2000s. During the research, it was easy to realize users weren’t happy with the way casino operates. It looks like people behind it really wanted to change online betting for the better and they started the whole project ambitiously. Sadly, they failed to live up to the standards they created.
Like with many rogue casinos, customer support working for Action Online was highly selective. Users claim they were responsive at the beginning and were more than eager to help when it came to depositing. The problem was with what would happen after you won, or to be precise, what wouldn’t happen. Upon winning any casino game, Action Online would require ID verification from their users. The issue appeared when the communication ended right there. Once they were provided with an ID, they would never reply, leaving players incapable of withdrawing the money they won. Most of the time, even the fax line was busy (yes, fax machines were a big thing back then). And if you tried to send an e-mail, you would receive a fail notice, which means the e-mail address never even existed, or that it was disabled.
Games and Software
All of the games in this casino were produced by Playtech, one of the world’s biggest online gaming manufacturers. Action Online offered video poker, slots, and other typical gambling games for a virtual casino. You could consider this one of the best assets Action Online used to have. Playtech has been on the market ever since 1999 and have continuously been proving themselves at how good they are at making games. Any casino that decides to buy software from them is granted to have a lot of variety. Playtech literally has any game you could think of in its offer. It is a leader in slots, poker games, live dealers games, and sports betting platforms. Considering how good software Action Online offered to its players, it is quite sad they couldn’t secure transparency and fair betting to their audience.
How Was Action Online Licensed and Regulated?
As we’ve mentioned before, it was licensed by Kahnawake Gaming Commission based in Canada. Nowadays, they count as a responsible body that regulates online casinos all over the world. However, back in the 2000s, they were fined for illegal gaming, so we believe this didn’t help Action develop the reputation of a legitimate online casino. Kahnawake Gaming Commission still exists nowadays, however, it is still quite weak in comparison to other licensing bodies out there.
User Experience
In this online casino review, it is pretty difficult to fully determine how happy the users were with this casino. The overall impression though is that they were far from satisfied. Action Online had high ambitions, they wanted to set the standard and distinguish themselves from the competitors. They had offices in Hong Kong, London, and Mexico and wanted to incorporate more gambling games such as Bingo Hall and Scratch-off games.
Players were obviously very enthusiastic about this gambling site, buy it failed to deliver in the end. One of their strongest assets was the customer service. It was available 24/7 yet still not responsive enough. This left the impression of a fraudulent website, and the word spreads fast on the internet. Combine this with slow withdrawals, or even none at all, and you’re officially a rogue casino.
Moreover, it also came to our attention that a lot of players tried contacting Playtech in a desperate attempt to withdraw their money, as Action Online was unresponsive. However a software developing company can’t really do much in this case, as they only sell their product, and from there, they don’t have much to do with the casino.
Pros and Cons
Action Online’s strongest quality was the software. If it was produced by Playtech, we can only imagine they were up to the latest standards of the online betting community. The customer service, although constantly available, was lackluster. They didn’t respond to many of the complaints, nor did they have the will to deal with unsatisfied players. Consequently, most of the problems were left unresolved. Unfortunately, it is impossible to find out anything about the terms and conditions of Action Online, so there is no way to tell how good or bad they were. The casino had a permanent license from a body that was legally struggling in the 2000s, so we assume it didn’t encourage much confidence.
Our Verdict
If Action Online existed today, we would definitely mark it as a rogue casino. They weren’t responsive and withdrawal was nearly impossible. Moreover, the casino simply disappeared, and players probably never managed to pull out their money. There’s no questioning they would never succeed in today’s online gambling community.
Casino Rating
- Complaint Resolution — 1/10 stars
- Jurisdiction — 1/10 stars
- Software — 8/10 stars
- Cashout Time – 1/10 stars
Luckily, Action Online doesn’t exist anymore, but we are still rating them with 3 stars out of 10. They were doing everything a typical rogue casino would do. They took money from players, had questionable licensing, and unresponsive customer service. If you ever stumble upon an online gambling website behaving similarly, our piece of advice would be to stay as far away as possible. Every gambler deserves a fair play, so make sure to always do your research and read reviews on which online casino to trust.