Palace of Chance has done a lot to improve their business practice and to recover their reputation, but we still cannot recommend this site.
The casino is owned by Gambling Wages, which is part of the Virtual Casino Group. All the casinos which are members of this consortium are famous for overly attractive bonuses and are among blacklisted gambling platforms because of continuous withdrawals and predatory Terms and Conditions.
General Information
Palace of Chance was established in 1998. They don’t provide any information about the license on their website, but upon additional research, we managed to determine that it was issued by the jurisdiction of Costa Rica. They have been in the rogue pit for many years, because of inadequate and impolite customer support, extremely slow payments, and absence of a license. The casino operators have tried repeatedly to get this casino out of the blacklist since 2013. However, these numerous attempts to become more player-friendly have always ended in failures.
The platform supports USD currency and such banking methods as MasterCard, Neteller, Visa, eCheck, wire transfer, and Cheque. The players from the US and Australia are free to use the Players Rewards Card, a unique banking option that allows to consolidate all the payment methods in one place. There is a $40 withdrawal fee and possibly additional commission for international transactions.
The minimum withdrawal limit is $100, and the maximum is $2500 per week (but might vary). The minimum deposit is $30. There is also a maximum win limit, which is 10x the deposit.
First Impression
The website is very simple, fast, and user-friendly. The black and white background with royal patterns and logo gives the high society vibe. The home page contains only the central banner spinning new games and bonuses, general info about the casino, and links to the site’s sections.
Palace of Chance has an interesting “Gambling Questions” section, something like a blog with articles on various topics, as well as tips for wise gambling and money management, FAQ, game tutorials, etc. A section like this is not so common among online casinos and only adds to the image of a serious casino the gambling platform tries to promote.
You can read in several places that they consider themselves one of the best casinos in the online gambling world, boasting with enhanced security, amazing bonuses, gambler protection, and genuine software. All in all, there is nothing on their perfect site that would indicate that this is a casino that was blacklisted due to serious fraudulent business practices.
Games and Software
The platform uses the software of Realtime Gaming. You can either play online or download Palace of Chance. There is a significant difference between these two versions since the download version has almost twice as many games. The online version has no jackpots and offers only several Video poker games more.
The software is regularly audited by TST, which guarantees fairness and transparency. The SSL encryption and McAfee protects your online privacy.
The biggest assortment of games is represented in the Online Slots section, with almost a hundred and a half virtual slot games. You can choose among many Table games, and in the Specialty section, you will find Fish Catch, Keno, American and European Roulette, and more.
Bonuses and Promotions
There are many bonuses offered at this casino. You get the unlimited 200% New Player Bonus for your first deposit. The wagering requirement is 30x(d+b) for Bingo, Keno, Slots and Scratch Cards and 60x(d+b) for all other allowed Video Poker and Table games. The maximum winning limit is 10x deposit, which means that in case you wager $100, no matter how much you win, you might withdraw up to $1000. The casino restricts some games for playing with this bonus. The bonus is sticky, so you can never cash it out. Apart from it, there are Daily and Monthly Promotions.
Comp point system grants 1 point per $10 wagered, 100 points are worth $1, but there is a minimum of 1000 points you need to collect before you can redeem them for deposit cash. The VIP program has four levels: Jade, Pearl, Ruby, and Diamond, each offering set of benefits such as additional comp points, cashback, free chips, and more.
User Experience
The site representatives can be reached via a 24/7 live chat support, telephone line (toll-free only for the US), and email. In the past, the customer support used to be one of the weakest spots of this casino. Players often complained about slow and confusing responses or no replies at all. In cases of problematic withdrawals, which were numerous, the staff could even become rude and openly insult the customers. Besides, there are records of email spamming with offers and promotions, while the staff is ignoring players’ inquiries.
Except for the poor and often impolite customer support, this casino was blacklisted many years ago because of the extremely slow payouts and the absence of a license. The payments took months to process, and lame support only made things worse.
The first time casino operators attempted to recover the casino’s reputation was in 2013. For some time, they were very close to getting out of the rogue pit. They worked on customer support quality and raised the maximum withdrawal limit from $2000 to $2500 per week. Unfortunately, the complaints started piling up again. However, although the minimum withdrawal limit is still low, the Costa Rican license is considered very weak, and the problems still occur, a significant number of issues has been resolved.
What has remained unchanged from the dark past of Palace of Chances are restrictive and confusing terms and conditions. Bonuses are almost too good to be true; their terms are often not explained well or are hidden in several places throughout the website. There are lists of restricted games and countries, which can vary for different bonuses. Maximum withdrawal limit can also differ according to the terms and conditions, but they, obviously, don’t specify how much.
Minimum withdrawal limit of $100 is quite high, and on top of everything, the $40 fee might apply for each transaction. One of the most controversial T&C clauses is common among members of the Virtual Casino Group, and it allows the casino to delete your account for any reason, without previous warning. In this case, it can also confiscate any winnings on the account. Since this site doesn’t have a proper license, this means that you cannot do anything in case one day you find your account deleted and all your deposits confiscated.
All the casinos belonging to the notorious Virtual Casino Group are infamous for slow processing of withdrawals and creating issues with verification documents to dodge payments. Their obscure and unfriendly terms and conditions and poor customer support contribute to this.
Pros and Cons
PROS
- Good software
- slightly improved business practice
CONS
- Notorious affiliates
- predatory terms and conditions
- bad license
- slow payouts
- poor customer support
Our Verdict
This casino has a good gaming platform, guaranteed online security and is showing signs of improvement in the domain of customer support and the withdrawal speed. In spite of all this, the Palace of Chances casino is still associated with the notorious Virtual Casino Group, known for unethical business practices. The main problem is their predatory terms and conditions and Costa Rican license, which is as good as not having any license. Until they resolve this, we can’t recommend this casino.
Casino Rating
Customer support 2/10
Cashout time 1/10
Software 10/10
Jurisdiction 2/10
Total 4/10