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Winward Casino: An Advantage Player’s Worst Nightmare
Winward Casino was blacklisted due to their unethical and unfair treatment of advantage players. They’ve confiscated player winnings in the past, justifying it under their definition of “fraudulent,” despite not having anything stated on their website regarding advantage play.
Furthermore, they’ve exhibited unprofessional, unethical, and borderline rogue behavior on multiple occasions in the past.
Since then, they’ve invested efforts into improving their management and customer support and resolving old player complaints. However, although we can’t say that “too little has been done too late,” there’s still a lot of work to be done on Winward’s part.
Namely, they must either inform the advantage players that they’re unwelcome at their casino or preferably, fundamentally change their attitude.
General Information
Winward Casino is operated by Fifth Street and is a part of the casino group under the Revenue Giants affiliate program. They hold the Master license provided by the government of Curaçao.
The Winward Casino has been blacklisted by a portion of the online gambling community due to their unfair treatment of advantage players. Namely, there have been multiple instances in the past where they confiscated the players’ winnings and closed their accounts.
Although the casino invested efforts into improving their management and are generally more responsive now, their unfavorable view of advantage players is still a problem they need to overcome.
First Impression
Our general first impression of the Winward Casino is quite good.
The casino site is decent and appears professionally designed with the focus on easy navigation. It is apparent that the Winward Casino invested significant efforts in developing their site.
From the homepage, you can use the sidebar on the left-hand side to quickly browse through the different categories. Currently, Winward Casino provides: Slots, Live Casino, Classic Slot, Table Games, Live Dealer games, and Bingo. Alternatively, you can scroll down and choose from the featured games from each category on the homepage itself.
Winward’s homepage features recent winners as well. You can see what games other people are playing and get an idea of what payouts you can expect. Transparency is always welcome, and we view the addition of “recent winners” as a positive thing.
Moreover, the Winward Casino also prides itself on the safety and security of their website and their payment process. The official Norton and McAfee security seals should give you peace of mind. They attest that your personal information will be protected while playing on this site.
All in all, our first impression is that Winward seems intent on providing a good, comprehensive user experience for their players. The website is well-organized and visually appealing, making it easy to find and enjoy your favorite games.
One thing to note: there is no mention of advantage players and/or sanctions against them anywhere in the Winward’s terms and conditions.
Bonuses
Interestingly enough, Winward doesn’t take the in-your-face approach when it comes to their deposit bonus. They do provide a 200% first deposit bonus up to $200, but they don’t flaunt it around. It’s part of the casino’s “Welcome Package,” which amounts to 675% worth of bonuses across your first 5 deposits.
However, all of the bonuses and promotions Windward provides are sticky. That means you can never withdraw them; instead, they are removed from your account balance during cashout. Furthermore, all of the bonuses are accompanied by the wagering requirements of 35x deposit + bonus.
In addition, after you register an account at the casino, they will automatically grant you 25 free spins. Moreover, the maximum withdrawal limit for the free spins is $100. However, you must first fulfill the ridiculous wagering requirements on the winnings from these 25 free spins. The WR for the sign-up free spins is 20x of the winnings.
Additionally, they offer generous daily bonuses and give you the opportunity to learn more about them in the “Promotions” section.
Games and Software
Winward offers an extensive selection of games from the leading software providers in the industry. Namely, their software is powered by Rival, Microgaming, Pragmatic Play, and other well-known industry giants.
Slot and video poker players rejoice! With over 720 unique, high-quality slots and over 100 video poker variants, Winward’s game selection is guaranteed to satisfy your gambling needs. The pristine graphics and remarkable audio make for immersive, exhilarating gameplay.
Of course, don’t forget to check out Winward’s daily bonuses and promotions. They might encourage you to try out different games and increase your chances of winnings by a decent margin.
Additionally, playing at Winward allows you to take advantage of their “Races” feature. These are mini-tournaments hosted by the casino, which offer additional rewards to the top players of the selected game. The “Races” games change regularly, so make sure to check often.
Apart from slots and video poker, there’s also a decent number of table games available at this online casino, as well as a handful of live games. And lest we forget — Bingo.
From a pure software and games perspective, Winward does a phenomenal job. They’ve opted for trusted software providers known for fun, exciting, and unique games. There’s something for every type of player and enough of variety to keep you entertained.
In that regard, we have to do Winward justice and commend them on their software.
User Experience
Overall, the user experience for Winward Casino is mixed. Although, it would be unfair not to mention that it’s been leaning towards good in recent years.
There is still a decent amount of player complaints online, but the vast majority of them were promptly resolved. Winward’s management has undoubtedly improved over the last few years. They are showing the willingness to resolve issues their players might be experiencing.
Furthermore, they have even repeatedly proven that they’re prepared to right their past wrongs, by reopening and resolving past issues. This is praiseworthy and certainly a big step in the right direction.
However, we can’t simply overlook the reason why they’re blacklisted in the first place. The main problem with Winward Casino stems from their unethical, and some would say unfair, treatment of advantage players.
Advantage players are gamblers who use the very nature of the games themselves to gain an edge and improve their chances of winning. Think of card counting in Blackjack and similar methods.
Although not technically illegal, casinos can reserve the right to ban advantage players and bonus hunters. However, this is a delicate matter, and Winward’s management has shown a severe lack of competence in dealing with this issue in the past.
Namely, they didn’t have (and still don’t) any written rules against using any forms of betting strategies to gain an advantage. Still, they have, on multiple occasions, confiscated the winnings of alleged advantage players.
Advantage Players Beware
To further illustrate the point, we’ll give you several examples of advantage players who’ve had some rather unpleasant dealings with the Winward Casino.
One of the players who played at both Winward and Slots Village was dumbfounded to find out she had to choose between her winnings. She was told she had to “play” her $2.4k winnings at Winward in order to be able to withdraw the $439 at Slots Village.
Whether or not she was aware that both casinos were under the management of the same group is irrelevant. The notion itself is ridiculous. It’s like telling the player “you won yesterday, you can’t win again today.” It’s unethical, and in essence — rogue behavior.
But it gets worse. After weeks of debating that seemingly led to nowhere, the casino ultimately presented an ultimatum. The player in question was given an option to claim all her winnings, but only after admitting, in writing, that she was a fraudulent player. She complied, but still never received any money, and the casino went utterly silent. They didn’t respond to any further inquiries from that player and closed both of her accounts.
In another instance, after not processing the withdrawal request at first, later, Winward only paid the player in question their initial deposit and wiped the rest. The reasoning was the same, and as an alleged advantage player, the casino made the player’s winnings void.
During their email correspondence, the player informed the casino that they were going to file complaints. The Winward representative responded in the worst way possible, by saying: “Oh, I’m so scared.” Childish, unethical, unprofessional, and bottom-line rogue.
Winward’s attitude towards advantage players hasn’t improved much since then. So if you’re one of them, it’s best to find a more welcoming casino to play at.
Pros and Cons
| PROS An extensive library of games by leading software developers (Rival, Microgaming, Pragmatic Play, etc.)Great website UX, easy on the eyes and simple to navigateCustomer service greatly improved and is open to resolving old issuesMinimal number of unresolved player complaints9 different payment methods Supports five languages (English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese) | CONS Poor attitude towards advantage players and jackpot huntersKnown for confiscating funds of advantage players in the past, closing their accounts, and being unresponsiveUnethical and unprofessional behavior from Winward’s representatives No Live Chat option |
Our Verdict
Whether there have been core management changes or the pre-pubescent boys that used to run Winward’s operations finally matured remains unclear. However, one thing is certain: something changed, and thankfully, for the better.
The casino’s customer support is much more responsive, proactive, and willing to invest efforts into resolving their players’ issues. Moreover, the management seems more professional and open to dialogue and discussion.
However, there’s still some work to be done here. Namely, they haven’t formulated anything in their terms and conditions that would warn the advantage players against playing at Winward Casino yet.
Although, in light of recent changes, we’re inclined to believe they’d pay out your winnings but still terminate your account immediately after. And that’s the best-case scenario, though still an inconvenience that would force you to find a new casino to play at.
So why not just find a better one in the first place and spare yourself the headache?
Casino Rating
Customer Support: 7/10
Cashout Time: 5/10
Software: 9/10
Jurisdiction: 6/10
Total: 7/10
