The following was posted on the North Carolina BBB website :
BBB Alert: Hundreds of Online Gamers Accuse Charlotte-Based Online Gaming Site of Foul Play
6/10/2008
Media Contact: Janet C. Hart, CFEE (704) 927-8617
173 Players from 40 States and Canada File Complaints with BBB
Charlotte, NC – June 10, 2008 – Charlotte-based Netwinner.com’s marketing slogan is “You Play. We Pay!” Unfortunately, more than 170 gamers who played and won prizes on Netwinner.com have not been paid.
Hundreds of people from across the United States and Canada eagerly took Netwinner up on the
“You play. We pay!” offer and played Banko and Moneywheel on
NetWinner.com: Play free online games! Win big prizes!, racking up thousands of points that they expected to redeem for cash, debit cards and/or store gift cards ranging in value from $25 to a few hundred dollars. However, when they tried to redeem the points they had spent months accumulating, the players waited to receive debit cards and gift cards that never arrived.
As the total number of unhappy Netwinner gamers grew, the President of Netwinner, Mr. S. Allen Dean, issued a statement to Netwinner’s online gamers saying that the company was not in a financial position to fulfill the cash, debit card and gift card prizes for which players have redeemed points. He said that Netwinner had two options: close the gaming website down or restructure the prizes. Netwinner opted to restructure the prizes, stating that the Terms of Service that every player agreed to allowed the company to change the rules of the game at any time. Instead of giving guaranteed prizes to every player who reached certain levels of points, Mr. Dean said that prizes would be given away in daily drawings. Mr. Dean added that Netwinner would double the points that each player had to redeem and redeposit them back into the players’ accounts; thereby, increasing the chances that players had to win prizes through the drawings.
Netwinner gamers cried foul! The Better Business Bureau of Southern Piedmont has been inundated with 173 complaints filed against Netwinner by online gamers from 40 states and Canada who allege that Netwinner is not fulfilling the prizes as promised. Netwinner countered by accusing the gamers of fraud. The company claims that some players cheated and unfairly accumulated large amounts of points by playing multiple games at the same time or by using automated “robot” programs to accumulate points.
Maureen Duran, a Netwinner player from Kannapolis, NC who claims that Netwinner owes her $275, discounts Netwinner’s position. She said that she did not cheat to win and that it was not possible to play multiple games at the same time. Maureen said her husband also played games on Netwinner and that he is owed even more.
“Netwinner has been responsive to some of the complaints received by the Better Business Bureau, but the central issue is that Netwinner changed the rules after the games had been played and the gamers feel they are entitled to receive the prizes they won under the previous rules,” said Tom Bartholomy, President & CEO of The Better Business Bureau of Southern Piedmont. “Before offering the games and prize structure, Netwinner should have determined how high their potential payout liability for the games might be,” Bartholomy added. “At the point that the financial payout became greater than the company could bear - or when Netwinner determined that players were accumulating more points than anticipated through whatever means they were using to win - the games should have been halted.”
The Better Business Bureau has the following information on file about Netwinner, LLC. Corporate offices - 1427 South Blvd, Suite 200, Charlotte, NC 28203. Mailing address - 105 East Morehead Street. Charlotte, NC 28202. Principals – President & COO, S. Allen Dean (704) 995-2345, Mark Cottman (980)253-3301; and Jennifer Hinson, (704) 400-1936. Website –
NetWinner.com: Play free online games! Win big prizes!.
The issue of prize fulfillment may be the reason that traffic to
NetWinner.com: Play free online games! Win big prizes! has been decreasing dramatically over the past few months. According to
www.siteanalytics.compete.com/netwinner.com, the number of visitors to
NetWinner.com: Play free online games! Win big prizes! peaked in January, 2008 at slightly more than 200,000 visitors and declined to 99,358 in May, 2008. The total number of visits to
NetWinner.com: Play free online games! Win big prizes! peaked in January, 2008 at slightly more than 2.25 million visits and declined to 922,571 visits in May, 2008.
The Better Business Bureau has information you can trust. We urge consumers to call the BBB toll-free in NC and SC at 1-877-317-7236 or visit
www.bbb.org to obtain a free Reliability Report on a company before doing business with them.