Bitcoin.com Video Poker $1M jackpot misleads player

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Cryptocurrency site Bitcoin.com have recently begun promoting bigger progressive jackpots, paid out with Bitcoin Cash (BCHABC). Their promotional materials advertise a Video Poker jackpot starting at 4000 BCHABC ($1 million approximately at press time), but as CalvinAyre.com has learned, there’s a bit of misleading information to that promotion.

An anonymous user reached out to us about their recent experience with the site. After seeing Bitcoin.com’s promotional materials, the user decided to make a deposit and try for the jackpot. It’s a pretty standard deal for a progressive: The jackpot starts at 4000 BCHABC, and steadily increases until a player gets a royal flush, at which point it pays out.

Betting starts at 0.001 BCHABC, and users have to bet 5 credits ($1.25) at a time to be eligible for the top prize. At all times, the betting page prominently displays “JACKPOT: 4000.00 BCH,” regardless of the betting amount.

They have also emailed their registered customers about this new jackpot, and every email has this line in reference to the Video Poker jackpot, with no mention of a required betting amount:

VIDEO POKER — 4,000 BCH | $ 1.1 Million

This user hit a Royal Flush, but was disappointed to see he was only paid out a little more than 4 BCHABC ($1050). As it turns out, the full 4000 BCHABC jackpot are for 1 BCH wagers at bet 5 (or $1300 per bet). Since he was only betting 0.001, he won 4000 times 0.001, which turns out to be 4 BCHABC.

He quickly wrote to them to see what had happened, but was given a fairly boiler plate response. After pointing out the misleading advertising, that he had $2,000 in search of this jackpot, and only getting paid out $1,050 as a grand prize, the site’s head of support wrote back:

“We would be more than happy to offer you a loss bonus, as we do with every player of our games but it is 3% of your total losses.”

I haven’t done math for quite a while, but 3% of a $2,000 loss comes out to $60. Our anonymous user was expecting north of $1 million, and he’s still nearly $900 in the red.

Their support also explained that the potential win amounts should be clearly displayed after a wager has been set, but that’s only half true. “JACKPOT: 4000.00 BCH” is always displayed on the page, regardless of the current wager amount, or progressive cumulation. The paylines are always displayed as credits, regardless of the wager amount, so it’s easy for a player to expect to be paid 4000 for a royal flush, and not 4000 times their wager amount.

Considering Bitcoin.com is less likely to have hardened casino players than traditional online gambling operators, this is information that can be considered pretty misleading.

As of the moment, the anonymous user is seeking out how he can take further steps against the crypto promotion site. It appears they aren’t willing to do more than credit the user $60 for his time and trouble, and he strongly believes their promotional material set him up for a bad time.