Several Caribbean land based casinos are hosting what is evidently a confidence trick posing as a casino game. The game is promoted at casinos in Antigua and in the Dominican Republic and possibly in St. Maarten and other locations as well. The name of the game varies but they all work essentially the same way.
The operators of these games use a combination of psychological pressure, sleight of hand, plain old lies, and ultimately physical intimidation to con unsuspecting tourists out of thousands of dollars in a matter of minutes. Their behavior and rapid spread across the Caribbean strongly suggests that they may well be linked to organized crime.
Grand Princess Casino in Antigua calls their game Super Rainbow Jackpot. tripadvisor.com has several negative posts from victims of the Grand Princess Casino in Antigua. You can find them here –
Antigua: Grand Princess Casino - Traveler Reviews - Avoid Casino, especially Rainbow Jackpot Game - TripAdvisor
Antigua forum: Scams at the grand princess casino in Antigua - TripAdvisor
Here’s one of them –
July 5, 2006
We encourage you to visit Antigua and the fine resorts, including the neighboring Jolly Beach Resort. It is an absolutely beautiful vacation destination. However, we HIGHLY recommend that you avoid the Grand Princess Casino completely during your visit. In our opinion, the Rainbow Jackpot game at this casino is virtually criminal and was our only lasting negative impression of the wonderful island of Antigua.
This game involves players randomly scooping numbered ping pong balls from a bin with a long pole. The game will appear very easy initially and then turns absolutely impossible as players approach the jackpot.
The apparent reason for this is because numbers on the balls are often not as they appear to the player. The numbers on the balls are so small and widely spaced that the very quick glimpses of the ball that the dealer gives to the players can make the ball’s number appear to be much different. The way the ball is rotated as it is displayed to the player can make the number appear far different than it is. For example, if a ‘12’ ball is a beneficial number for the player to draw; the dealer will show 12 as the player begins working toward the jackpot. However, this doesn’t mean the player is actually drawing a 12 ball. They may be drawing a 12 ball or any ‘losing number ball’ from 120 to 129’ or a losing ‘112’ ball.
These ‘losing’ balls are rotated to appear as a ‘12’ ball in the early stages, as they are quickly flashed by the dealer. Few players are going to question the dealer at this point, when they appear to be doing well’. This keeps the interest of the player and encourages them to invest more bets since the jackpot seems easily obtainable. No winnings are paid until the jackpot is reached, but the sunk cost of bets as the player works toward the jackpot are lost. As the player nears the jackpot, the jackpot grows, but the amount required for each bet also grows. The increasingly attractive jackpot prize distracts players from the actual size of new bets and sunk costs of prior bets.
As the player closes in on the jackpot, if a ‘losing 120’ ball is drawn, it will be shown as the losing ‘120’. If you review the odds posted far above the player’s head, you will see how very few ‘winning’ balls are really in the bin. If by chance, the ‘winning’ 12 ball is drawn at this point, it will be rotated to appear as a ‘losing 2’ or even claimed to be a ‘losing 112’ and displayed so quickly that it is not humanly possible for the players to clearly see that it was, in reality, the winning ‘12 and not ‘112’. The ball is VERY quickly tossed back into the ball bin and lost in the mix. This scam cycle continues so that the player NEVER reaches the jackpot. The player eventually quits or runs out of funds, at which point all costs of mounting bets to reach that point are lost.
When I plainly caught the dealer in this scam, he obviously denied it, refunded a few prior bets and give us a few free plays to try to keep us at the table. Fortunately, we caught the scam far earlier than many other unfortunate guests and were robbed of ‘only’ $60 versus thousands that could be very quickly be lost. We did not attempt any other table games at the resort, but the slots did not pay out to anyone in our group of 15.
It’s a shame that such an unfortunate situation is allowed to exist and sour this otherwise wonderful vacation experience in Antigua.
You should also be aware that the Grand Bay Casino next to Sandals at Dickenson Bay is owned and operated by the same persons as the Grand Princess.
There are quite a number of casinos in the Dominican Republic which host essentially the same setup. The web site
Super Keno Game | Dominican Republic Casino Fraud | superkenoscam.com has extensively documented the details of this fraud. A complete overview of the game and how it is played is given here –
Super Keno Game | Dominican Republic Casino Fraud | superkenoscam.com
Around 50 victims have documented first hand accounts of their experiences here –
Super keno scam
Here's just one of the postings -
Comments by N & S on Saturday, December 01, 2007 at 14:32
Just returned from Barcelo Premium (Breezes) Punta Cana AI resort. We decided to go to the Casino when the nightly show & band was rained out. Normally my wife and I don’t gamble, but we got Black Jack coupons at the resort to prompt us to go and try it out. When we arrived, they gave us $10 to try out a complimentary game of “Bonus Bingo”. The dealer “Pete” from Boston was great...we were so glad to talk to an American. The game description was vague in the beginning but seemed straight forward when we started to win. Got to 97 points and were really encouraged, especially by Pete our Dealer. We thought we had the $800 jackpot and this would be the night that turned a so-so vacation into a memorable one. Well, we kept drawing balls and they were Doubling the Jackpot and the Bets and started to get worried, but again encouraged that we were soooo close and we’d bail out. Anyway, exactly like everyone else describes we were worried to lose $2,000 in bets that it started to exponentially double triple & so on until we were spending over $30,000 just to try to get the last 3 points that we needed to turn this around. Another young couple at the resort lost over $15,000 that night!! It was a NIGHTMARE...we were scared about complaining, about accusing a scam, about anything.
Before we read on this site the day AFTER returning, we were accepting that we got greedy and gambled on the win but how can you gamble on something that you can’t ever win!! If anyone has information or support, please contact us. Thanks!
United States
The government of Antigua has received many complaints from victims of this fraud but refuses to take any meaningful action. Since they get a significant percentage of all gambling proceeds they may not be entirely objective in their response. The Antigua Gaming Commission is responsible for regulating all land based and online gambling on the island. Clearly they are falling short in protecting those who use these facilities. Anyone contemplating wagering in Antigua is urged to carefully consider the risks before making any financial commitment.
Please, please do your fellow travelers a big favor by letting them know the dangers.
Thank you for your time,
Hans
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