PokiesWay Casino Goes Down in a Storm of Pirated Games

The last few years have not been easy for Australians who prefer playing at online casinos. Ever since the government made an uncompromising legal move driving out many operators, who otherwise decent, could not meet new, harsh requirements and stay on the market. And when most good guys are gone, who does that leave us with? Rogue groups, of course, however discouraging this fact might be. The latest among these crooks is PokiesWay.com, a site that looks fine on the surface, but with suspicious software and license! In fact, we thought the platform seems full of fake Novomatic and Aristocrat games, the likes of which we have already seen before, at another disgraced Australian-facing venue called 24Pokies.

Since the two casinos both serve the same market, have similar names and most importantly, use the same pirated games launching from an identical fake source, one could reasonably assume they are associated in some way, perhaps owned by the same company? However, Pokies Way is supposedly operated by VICTORIA TECH LTD, while 24 Pokies bears the label of AUSSI POKIES LTD, both licensed and regulated by Curacao through Antillephone N.V.

Something Just Doesn't Add Up

At first glance, everything looks absolutely fine. Unsuspecting players, who have nowhere else to go, might be further encouraged by the (empty) promises of Pokies Way - fast payouts, best games, unmatched bonuses. But! As any wise ol' gambler will tell you, online casinos licensed by Curacao CANNOT offer Novomatic and Aristocrat software. So, either the license is not real, or the featured games are forgeries, but we are willing to bet it's actually both. They also have some Net Entertainment, Merkur Gaming and EGT slots that look nothing like the genuine games should.

Let's Look at the Evidence

In the screenshot below, taken from the Aristocrat Miss Kitty slot, you can clearly see the operator opened up a fake server - https://ogs-gl-usnj.nyxop.net/ - and made it look similar to the official NYX OGSplatform server: https://nogs-gl-stage.nyxmalta.com/. The difference between the two is still very obvious to a trained eye:

Net Entertainment's popular game Aliens is hosted on a pirated source https://netent-static.casinomodules.com/nt/demo.html?key=test&language=en&game=alien which, if real, would not have the 's' in the URL:

For evidence of Novomatic lookalikes, we chose non other than the Book of Ra slot to show you why the one offered by this rogue site cannot possibly be genuine. Clicking on the game to try and load it, a new window pops up with a version hosted on a known pirated domain http://grandx.pro/, as can clearly be seen in the address bar:

As for Merkur Gaming, maybe they thought a provider so sparsely found across the industry won't be familiar enough for players to spot a possible fake product. Dragon's Treasure uses the same strange server as Novomatic knock-offs: http://grandx.pro/:

Another provider they have on offer is EGT - the game we played is 20 Super Hot, a very good copy of the original, which the brand hosts on a domain http://egtgames.info/. The real EGT server is actually http://egtmgs.com.

Last year we exposed an Aussie brand aiming to cheat and exploit a vulnerable community disadvantaged by a mass exodus of reputable operators. Now we warn about yet another dishonest casino attempting exactly the same. Don't be fooled by their sweet words, because they have nothing to back them up. Instead, what you will most likely get is a broken RNG that won't work in your favor. LCB remains dedicated to exposing rogue operators with our detailed Warning reports. Dealing with the growing rogue menace is an urgent task we must accomplish together.