Have you ever thought to yourself whether there’s an online casino that would dare steal your identity, install viruses on your computer, and steal your money? You haven’t? Well, maybe you should have because here is one casino that did all that and more. Ministering Angel Casino existed long back in 2008, and although it is gone, we honestly believe this is a story that needs to be told. We hope no casino would do this nowadays, but we also believe you need to realize what you could be up against when it comes to online betting. Apparently, the casino was located in Panama, where it was allegedly licensed too. However, we discovered this to be nothing but a lie, and we found out its real location, as well as the people behind it.
First Impression
Unfortunately, there is not much we can say about this. The casino existed for only a brief period of a couple of weeks, and there are absolutely no remnants of it on the Internet. We even tried searching for some screenshots and had no success.
Luckily, a couple of veteran gamblers who got acquainted with this casino website over 10 years ago agreed to share their knowledge online. According to their words, the website was made by a 20-year-old amateur who had almost no experience in IT. So we can agree it probably looked quite undone, and according to many, as if it came straight out from the 90s. Given the unfortunate lack of insight on what this casino’s website looked like, our first impression stays limited. All we can say is that the casino was a fraud by all means.
Games and Software
You would think that people behind Ministering Angel were smart enough to at least upload some decent casino software by well-known manufacturers on their website to create a false image of security. However, this was not the case. All of the software was produced by themselves, or as they liked to say it, “by their own developers.” The games were poorly done and completely in favor of the casino, which translates as — get ready to lose all the money you invested. The casino operator promised they’re bringing some new, never before seen software into the online gambling world, and that they’ll be spoken about within a year. Of course, these were all lies in order to deceive and convince players into giving it a try.
However, they did have an addition to their software many casinos didn’t though — a virus. This was one of the many casino’s offers that, unfortunately, players weren’t even aware they were getting! All jokes aside, upon downloading Ministering Angel’s software, a Trojan virus would be installed on your computer without you even noticing. Everything in this casino was dedicated to illegal purposes, and we’re just glad that the online gambling community had them shut down within weeks.
User Experience
Thankfully, not a lot of general gambling population got tricked by this casino. A couple of users decided to take the fall and test Ministering Angel to check whether they were the honest, evolutionary guys they claimed to be. However, the first thing they found out was that the website wasn’t located in Panama at all, its real location was in Serbia. For all of those not familiar with it, it’s a country located in Southeast Europe and the online casinos are regulated by the local authorities. Which means that if a Serbian online casino wanted to work internationally, it would need to be licensed by one of the international jurisdictions. Ministering Angel did claim to be licensed by Panama though, but that license is still not even close to something like an MGA one, but it is still a gaming license. However, this was another lie — the casino was completely unlicensed and likely no licensing body was even aware of its existence.
And when the owner was asked why he wouldn’t obtain the MGA license, his response was that it was costly. Would you feel safe betting in an online casino which can’t even afford a good license? If they couldn’t spend approximately 10 000 USD for good licensing, we highly doubt they could have paid out their players either.
Another hilarious thing about Ministering Angel were its terms and conditions. They looked fine and fair, had they not simply been copied from BelleRock Entertainment. You probably know that BelleRock operates seven online casinos and online sportsbooks. The creator of Ministering Angel Casino was so ignorant he even forgot to omit the BelleRock name from the terms and conditions, making it obvious everything was simply duplicated. And that’s when all the players immediately knew that everything was fake.
And then player complaints began. One gambler won around 30 dollars and for a moment believed Ministering Angel was decent. Credit cards weren’t one of the options for withdrawal so the only way to collect the money was through an e-wallet called Epay, operating from Panama. The user was happy there were no delayed payments and thought she would receive the money promptly. Her contentment was cut short when she found out she needed a debit card for Epay with a fee of almost 35 USD. What did it mean? — The money would be going back to Ministering Angel one way or another. Also, Epay was busted as a scam with too many reports of stealing peoples’ money. And considering there was no customer support for this casino, nor live chat, she had no way of collecting her money. She even tried to get in touch with the owner, but he never replied.
The Casino Was Operated by a Group of Hackers from Serbia
Upon further investigation, users found out who were the real people behind Ministering Angel — a group of hackers. The Trojan they installed into the computers of players along with the gambling software was so malicious it could completely steal their identity. So the hackers could’ve easily created fake passports, IDs, stolen money from bank accounts, etc. The users even found out the actual website of the entire group with all the information of services they provided.
Also, the logo for the casino was paid with money from stolen credit cards. And once the company that made the logo found this out, they immediately canceled all business with Ministering Angel.
Pros and Cons
We know what you’re thinking, is there really a point for this section with Ministering Angel? It was operated by criminals, and it was completely illegal, so here’s a list of all the horrible things this casino did:
- Unlicensed and lied about the license
- Unknown, self-made software
- Operated by a group of hackers
- Stole players’ money
- Installed viruses on players’ computers
- Tried to steal identity and credit card information
- Falsely claimed TST certification
And so on, there’s a lot more to say, but we believe we’ve covered the basics.
Our Verdict
Rogue is an understatement. To us, this casino was completely illegal, criminal, and fraudulent. And we could not be happier that it never properly saw the light of day.
Casino Rating
- Complaint Resolution — 1/10 stars
- Jurisdiction — 1/10 stars
- Software — 1/10 stars
- Cashout Time — 1/10 stars
Overall, we rate Ministering Angel with 1 out of 10 stars. It never really managed to steal that much money from players, and it lasted shortly, which is a great thing. So to always stay safe, make sure you always do your research on an online casino before you start to gamble. Happy betting!