So far, I’ve only played at slot machines in arcades.

In a forum I once read that online game shops have quite a high payout rate. One day I had the idea to try out an online game store. Without further ado I registered at StarGames.com and paid 50€ by credit card. After a short exploration of the “arcade” I played the well-known game “Book of Ra” at a vending machine. After only a few turns on 20Cent I already had free spins and so my 50€ became 70€. Satisfied I went to bed and started a new attempt the next day.
This time I played “Dolphins Pearl” and some other games. I always played on 20Cent. But after about an hour my credit was used up and I swore to never play online again.

I didn’t play for a few weeks before I got bored one evening and paid 20€ with my credit card again. But before I knew it, my 20€ were gone. At least seven times I deposited 20€ that evening, but without winning big amounts.
The tricky thing about the payment with the credit card is that one does not see how much money one has actually gambled away and with the next credit card invoice, the bad awakening comes. On the first statement it was 250€, without me having paid anything.

In the next month I started to gamble again. I only ever deposited €20 into my account because as a new member you have a limit on transactions. Having reached this limit, it was no longer possible to make a deposit this month. This certainly saved me from making any more deposits. Every time I got my credit card statement, I told myself that I would never play online again. But because it was so comfortable and you don’t have to leave the house, I started depositing money and gambling again and again. Once in a month it was 500€ and I paid 20€ again. I discovered a new game at StarGames called “Garden of Riches” and for the first time I had the luck to win a bigger amount. There were free spins all the time and each time I won an impressive sum. At the end of the evening I was paid 520€, so I was “plus minus zero” for the first time. At the first payout you have to show proof of identity and so I sent a copy of my ID by mail to StarGames. After two days, I received a confirmation email in which I was told that my proof of identity had arrived and that the payment would be processed as quickly as possible. After two more days, I received another e-mail in which it was written that the payout had now been initiated and that I would have the money in my account within the next few days. When I looked two days later it was already there. The payment by bank transfer went very well and without complications.

As a new player, you can only pay out three or four times a month, so that you immediately gamble away smaller amounts. So it often happened that I gambled away an amount of 170€ on the same evening. After that, of course, you are angry. You often think about being blocked, but I haven’t done it yet. Again and again I deposit money and play. But mostly without much success. I change the machines, change the games. Sometimes you’re lucky and win 50-60€ at a machine, you gamble them away again, because it’s not worth it to be paid out. So far I’ve tried all kinds of games, but haven’t won much yet. Anyway, I have paid out much less than I paid in. I’ve been playing online for about 3 months now and have made a loss of about €1,000.

Experience report written by Lars, 27 years, from Eschwege