Canadian Gambler Sues Online Casino Over Jackpot Worth Over 220,000 Dollars

Victor Janicki, a retired lawyer from Kelowna, British Columbia, has filed a lawsuit that could have a big impact on offshore internet gambling in North America. The Canadian gambler claims he was cheated out of a jackpot worth 220,500 dollars.

The casino in question is BetOnline.ag, an offshore online casino based in Costa Rica and officially registered in Antigua. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the online casino is owned by a company called Visionary iGaming, which is based in San Jose, Costa Rica.

The gambler from British Columbia was playing live blackjack at the respective casino, betting around 40 dollars per hand. He also added another dollar on the side bet which could have triggered the jackpot win in case he was dealt three 7s of diamonds from a six-deck shoe in one hand.

The gaming session took place on February 23rd and, according to the retired Canadian lawyer, at around 1pm Lady Luck struck: the gambler was dealt two 7s of diamonds and was announced by the dealer that he was eligible for a massive jackpot win.

But then everything seemed to fade away, Janicki says his computer screen went black for around 10 seconds, something that did not occur previously when playing this game at the respective casino. Then, when the broadcast resumed, the lucky Canadian was greeted by two casino employees who announced to him that the jackpot win was his.

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Then Victor Janicki says he entered a table chatroom to enquire about how he would get paid. That’s when things took a turn for the worse as he was told there had been a mistake and that he never won the jackpot in the first place.

In the next two months the Canadian gambler tried to contact BetOnline.ag and Visionary iGaming to request a copy of the video recording of the respective gaming session but his request was denied.

Then, at the beginning of April, Janicki received a message from the casino containing a video which appeared to represent a re-enactment of the hand which led to the jackpot win. In this representation of events, the dealer did give the gambler two 7s of diamonds and told the player that he was eligible for the jackpot win.

However, in the video sent to Janicki, he was never even dealt a third card as the dealer was dealt a 10 and an ace and won the hand. The retired Canadian attorney says that this had never happened during actual gameplay and that the video is a fake.

That is when Janicki decided to file a lawsuit against the casino and it seems a fist verdict is expected around June 13. Journalists at the Las Vegas Review-Journal tried to contact BetOnline.ag regarding the case but received no response.

Source:

“Canadian gambler files suit over $220K jackpot“, reviewjournal.com, May 13, 2023.