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After many years spent on blacklists due to pirated software usage, the Twist Casino has finally gone down. In this article, we examine this casino and its close relation to Russian criminal groups.
Rogue Casino Review: Twist Casino
The Twist Casino opened in 2009. They are very secretive about their ownership, but from what we’ve managed to dig out, Global Tech Software Ltd. owned them before they shut down. It also seems that their sister casino is the Vulkan casino — one of the most notorious casinos operating in the online gambling world. The Twist Casino was licensed by the Cyprus government before it was closed. However, its main problems were stolen software, mostly from Novomatic, and its questionable license. They are now out of business, and the site isn’t working anymore.
General Info
The casino was available in English and Russian and used the US dollar as its currency of choice. Furthermore, the SSL technology encrypted and secured their site, which guaranteed the privacy of their players’ data. The banking options were Visa, OkPay, Skrill, Moneta.ru, MasterCard, Paysafecard, WebMoney, BitCoin, EZIPay, Roboxchange, wire transfer, and checks. Also, some of the cashout and bonus terms depended on the chosen banking method.
On the other hand, the maximum withdrawal limits were $5000 per day, $10,000 per week, and $20,000 per month, which sounds good — almost too good to be true. There were also deposit limits, the minimum being $0.01–$20, and the maximum $150–$5000. Moreover, the cashout time was around 4 working days. In addition, the site favored certain banking methods by setting more beneficial cashout options and bonus terms for some methods. So for example, your minimum withdrawal limit was $20 if you used a credit card, and only $5 if you used Skrill e-wallet.
And lastly, players from the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Switzerland, Germany, Israel, Estonia, Spain, United States Minor Outlying Islands, the Netherlands, Italy, Latvia, and Turkey were not allowed to bet on this site.
Bonuses
This casino had some good bonus offers. The first deposit bonus awarded you with 250% up to $300, with a wagering requirement of 35x. Also, the minimum deposit that would trigger it had to be $10.
But that wasn’t the end since the subsequent deposits were also awarded with extra 20%–80% to your balance. The trigger amount for this casino bonus was $20, with the wagering requirement ranging from 15x to 30x, depending on the player’s status.
Twist casino had a variety of daily bonuses, weekend promotions, a birthday bonus, lottery, tournaments, and bonuses which awarded deposits made via SMS.
Moreover, there was a VIP program with 12 levels, through which you progressed depending on the total deposited amount. And once your total deposited amount reached $5000, you would become eligible to enter it.
First Impression
Their old-fashioned site in blue tones wasn’t so fascinating and reminded us of the bluish sites of the criminal Vulkan casino family. You can easily recognize them by their peculiar logo, representing a tornado swirling with playing cards, with golden stars in the background.
Furthermore, even before the site went down, players complained about server errors, dead links, and crushes. The English language was one of the official languages of the casino, but not all features on the site were translated from Russian. This too tells us that the operators hailed from Russia, and only confirms our suspicions of their relation to the Vulkan club.
Games and Software
The game providers for this casino were Quickspin, Slotopaint, Playtech, Belatra Games, Booongo, Novomatic, and Russian Igrosoft. You could have played in demo mode or for real money. Sadly, there was no download version available, but you could have played their games on your mobile (Android and iOS) browser.
Slot machine games were in the majority on this site, but you were also able to choose from Roulette, Card, and Video games. Here are some of over 300 games which were stolen and featured by this casino: Caribbean Stud Poker, Heads or Tails, Pontoon, Around the World, Wild Viking, Blackjack Surrender, Knockout, and many more.
Moreover, the software this casino used was pirated, which is the primary reason why it was blacklisted. Every experienced gambler knows why playing hacked games is dangerous. Not only that you can get a broken RNG, which means that the game odds can be changed, and most probably not in your favor, but using someone’s product without paying for it is called stealing, and by playing at such a casino you’re basically participating in a crime. Besides, if the casino is ready to steal from software companies, what makes you think they won’t dare to steal from you?
User Experience
The site had 24/7 customer support, over live chat, e-mail, and telephone line (for the UK and Russian customers only). There were reports that the staff was attentive and professional but also that the website’s problem gambling protection wasn’t working.
Also, according to the existing reports, this casino had nasty terms and conditions. Despite the officially displayed maximum withdrawal limit of $20,000/month, we found several players complaining of having difficulties of withdrawing even minimal amounts, like less than $50. It turns out that the actual maximum withdrawal limit wasn’t fixed, and it depended on the amount deposited. This rule was very well hidden in the casino’s terms and conditions, of course. Moreover, it was obviously used to disfavor the low-rollers and protect the casino from paying a lot to those who didn’t deposit significant sums. And this is just disgraceful.
Moreover, their affiliate programs also seem to be very problematic. The Vulkan group of casinos became notorious, primarily due to pirated software. However, their involvement in many other criminal activities in general, as stated by the Ukrainian Cyber police from Kiev, was also part of the reason for it.
Pros and Cons
PROS:
- It is out of business
CONS:
- Pirated software
- Predatory terms and conditions
- Rogue affiliates
- Poor license
- No problem gambler protection
Our Verdict
Twist Casino is on our blacklist mainly because of pirated software. On the other hand, the Cyprus license can hardly be called a legitimate gambling license, so the players were hardly protected from their predatory terms and conditions.
And to make things worse, a very similar site to the Twist Casino came up online on a different domain quite recently. With the same name and logo, very similar web design, and the site being in English and Russian once again, it would only seem that the operators of the Twist Casino didn’t give up after all. So in the end, we advise you to stay as far away as possible from the Twist Casino and any related website unless you want to easily waste your hard-earned money.
Casino Rating
Customer Support: 6/10
Cashout Time: 8/10
Software: 1/10
Jurisdiction: 2/10
Total: 4/10
