You MUST sign a contract to enter the casino. The receptionist will tell you it is for "Data Protection" but in reality it gives the casino the authority to sell your personal data to other companies. This includes advertising phone calls. See the attached photos of the contract.
I signed up by phone to play Omaha poker. I was told on the phone there is an OPTIONAL straddle. After I start playing, I'm told I MUST play at least 3 hours if I want to leave with more chips than I started with. After a few rounds I'm told there is a MANDATORY straddle of 50 euro for all players. Except for one who never straddles. Then I'm told there can be a double straddle for 100 euro. I've played poker at over 100 cardrooms around the world and I'm pretty sure this is illegal in the EU.
I came to Murcia because it is the corporate office of Grupo Orenes who manages a couple casinos in the Canary Islands. I met with Gregorio, the second highest executive in the corporation that management repeatedly tries to steal hundreds of euro from customers in Maspalomas Gran Canaria.
He acted shocked and promised to look into it. One month later I text him and am told he is still looking into the situation and offers me "a hug". I told him I don't want a hug. He gets upset from that comment and tells me I am banned from all of Grupo Orenes casinos.
Here's the review that I left for their casino in Gran Canaria:
I witnessed three different employees giving cash game poker players hundreds of euros less than they should have received. Theft? They insist that you color up your chips at the end of the night AT THE TABLE. But they don’t use chip racks and they make “mistakes”. One time they gave me 250 euros too little. Another time at the cashier window they gave me 200 euros too little (because they count without using chip racks unlike every other casino in the world). And a German guy went to the bathroom at the end of the night and the manager Nicole shorted him 300 euros but only gave him an additional 250 euro. On top of all the other dealer mistakes that happen several times each night, they don’t do side pots first which causes winning players to fold and makes counting the pot much more difficult. I asked three times to square up the table since 5 players were on one side of the table and 4 on the other. Finally after 20 minutes Nicole laughs at me saying I have plenty of room and I’m just being a “drama queen”. There is just no professionalism here. Later she lied and said she said it softly so other players could not hear the insult.
They give out free food and expect the players to share tortillas from the same plate! I told Nicole that Covid is still around and she laughed and said it’s Spanish tradition to share food like this! Nicole wrote to me two months later "I'm not putting a gun in nobody's face to share the food if they don't want it. And maybe you didn't notice, but since you complain about it, I made the effort to bring more plates so anyone can have one for themselves.”
One dealer was sneezing dozens of times while waiting to deal. She was obviously sick. She blew her nose several times and then sat down to deal cards without washing her hands. Disgusting.
Dealers try to bully you into giving tips even though the rake is up to 30 euro per hand. I told Nicole and she laughed and said “This is Spain - they have to try”. Dealers don’t tell players who tip it’s their turn to show their cards first. This leads to many arguments.
Here’s what Nicole wrote to me:
“…. I consider myself an educated person, since I can't unfortunately say the same from you, since the last week when you left when I was try to speak with you in kind terms and you just walk away giving me your back as a response. Not to mention that I'm not that bad ad English, and I knew perfectly that you was about to call me stupid that time and I let it pass since I can understand your disappointment some times. But those are gonna be my last explanations. "
If you like abuse, come to...
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