What happened to Cherry Red Casino? Why did it disappear overnight? Read our review and find out their story.
Cherry Red was an online casino established in 2008 operating under the jurisdiction of Curacao. It was a part of Rushpod Investments NV, a well-known rogue group of casino operators. Its website looked like virtual Las Vegas. It was indeed fantastic with animated graphics, appealing videos, and sophisticated music in the background. Cherry Red offered a wide variety of the favorite RealTime Gaming games. So, how it became one of the blacklisted casinos?
General Information
Several things made Cherry Red an unscrupulous gambling operator. First of all, it was one of the rogue members of the Rushpod Investments NV group. Casinos from this notorious consortium have a long history of slow payouts (often in installments) and other payment issues. Does Rushmore Casino sound familiar to you? Well, Cherry Red was its sister platform and operated in the same way as the well-known Rushmore. That doesn’t surprise us since these two scam sites were managed by the same group. So, if you ever see a casino that is a part of this group, stay away from it. Find another one with a good reputation instead.
Fortunately, this casino was closed in 2012. One thing that confused us was the reputation of the group it belonged to. In the beginning, the sites of this conglomerate were reputable and often described as professional ones. On November 2012 all platforms were shut down without any information provided. We don’t know why they let their reputation go in ruins. They are still paying out the winnings to their players, but the process is extremely slow.
Secondly, Cherry Red didn’t obtain a regular license. Like its sister sites, it was operating under the jurisdiction of Curacao (which can be considered as not having a license at all). As the gamblers know, there are several licensing bodies that should be avoided. Curacao is definitely a lousy issuer of the casino licenses. Playing at a casino registered in Curacao, you are playing with your protection. Should you ever have any complaint about a casino’s malicious practice, you will be all alone. There is no players’ protection, and you will be fighting against the will of the casino. Why would you spoil the fun dealing with some amateurs?
First Impression
Browsing the Cherry Red’s website the users felt like opening the doors of a casino in Las Vegas. It had great visuals, flash animation, and exciting background music. Attractive girls were advertising exclusive promotions or games. The main colors were red and black, and the overall experience was enjoyable. All the information was easy to find. Going back in 2012, we could say that this was one of the best sites regarding the interface. It looked so professional outside that no one could ever imagine them being so bad inside.
Games and Software
Cherry Red offered a wide variety of popular RTG games including Baccarat, Video Poker, Blackjack, Craps, etc. There were all types of slots, table games, and video poker games on the list of this casino. There was a fantastic selection of slot machine games like Skeet Shooter Slot, Pirates Gold, and more. This casino’s list of slots included progressive jackpots as well. You could play in a downloadable version, and Cherry Red also supported the instant play flash version for those who prefer playing directly from the browser.
Speaking about its software provider, it is one of the best players on the online gambling market. RealTime Gaming offered a safe and secure gaming platform to its players. They have a decent range of favorite games in their catalog. The players’ personal and banking information is secured. RTG takes seriously the question of fair and random gameplay, so the games it offers are all TST-certified.
Bonus and Promotions
Cherry Red Casino was very generous what concerned the bonuses and promotional offers. It welcomed its new players with the exclusive 400% bonus up to $2400 available only for slot players. For those who preferred other games, it offered specific game bonuses (for blackjack or video poker). Besides, there were various weekly and weekend bonuses.
When you see a casino with such a generous welcome bonus, make sure you read the bonus terms and conditions. The enticing offer often turns out to be a scam. The possible kind of issues you may have varies from one casino to another. The most common practice is a denial of withdrawal, payments in installments, or multiple checks of the documentation. So, before claiming any bonus, read bonus terms thoroughly.
Depositing and Withdrawal
When it comes to banking options available, Cherry Red has various options to choose from. For depositing the players could use their debit or credit cards issued by American Express, Diners Club, EcoPayz, JCB, MasterCard, and Visa. For those who didn’t want to use a card, there were other methods available like Bank Transfer, Neteller, Skrill, and eWallet.
Withdrawal options were somewhat limited and included Cheque, Neteller, Visa, Skrill, and ACH. As for the other sites from the Rushpod Group, the withdrawal limit is $2000 per week. This is the clause that many users complained of because they couldn’t get their money for months.
User Experience
If we look at the overall gaming experience, the players enjoyed playing at Cherry Red Casino. As previously mentioned, its website and selection of games were very attractive, and users were enticed to sign up at the site. However, it appeared to be professional only from the outside. Having dug deeper, we found several reasons to blacklist this casino, as also did the most reputable watchdog sites. The casino is closed at the moment, but if they renew their operations and come back on the market, you should avoid it at all cost. As well as all the other rogue casinos from Rushpod Group.
Speaking about complaints, there are still many unresolved ones. Most of them are related to payment issues and poor customer service. Some players didn’t get paid at all for some bogus reason. Others were waiting for months to receive the whole amount. The winnings were always capped at $2000. Although Cherry Red promised the cashout time within ten working days, in real life, it took forever.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Excellent choice of RTG games
- Huge bonus offer and attractive promotions
- Fine-looking and functional website
Cons
- Low withdrawal limit
- Slow payments in installments
- Non-reliable license
Our Verdict
Cherry Red is the perfect example of the online casino that seems professional and legit on the first sight. It promises you the unforgettable gameplay along with the lucrative bonus offers. It would be great if you want to play for fun without winning. However, if you win something, you can not be sure whether you’ll receive your money or not. If Cherry Red deigned to pay, it would be in small increments during many months. In the case of the jackpot, it would take years.
To keep on safe gambling adventure, please choose one of the recommended casinos you can find on the web. There are many lists of trustworthy and rogue casinos, so check out on which side is a casino you are likely to join.
Casino Rating
Customer support: 1/10
Cashout time: 2/10
Software: 8/10
Jurisdiction: 0/10
Total: 3/10