GoldenPalace.com
Encyclopedia
GoldenPalace.com is an online casino
, hosted at Mohawk Internet Technologies, which is located in the Kahnawake Mohawk
Territory near Montreal
. They are well-known for their publicity stunt
s. They are also known for large 'bonuses' which must be waged a comparatively excessive fifty times before claiming. On several occasions this has led to controversy when the site refused to pay players seen to be only playing in order to claim the free money and not for the entertainment value. One key incident led to the site's former software provider, Microgaming
, terminating their agreement. This led GoldenPalace and its sister casinos to move to rival Playtech
software in 2003. It is currently restricted for players in the United States.
to wear temporary tattoo
s on their backs promoting the site. GoldenPalace.com has been accused of far more disruptive stunts. The casino sponsored serial streaker
Mark Roberts in several of his escapades, including his "performances" at the 2003 UEFA Cup
final and Super Bowl XXXVIII
in 2004; at both events, he wore a temporary GoldenPalace.com tattoo. Individuals sporting temporary tattoos for the casino have also disrupted other sporting events, including the 2004 Summer Olympics
and the 2006 Winter Olympics
. Famed free climber Alain Robert
also wore such a tattoo when he climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge
in 2003.
In less controversial acts, it sponsored both Roberts (who was fully clothed) and former NBA star Dennis Rodman
's participation in the 2004 Running of the Bulls
as a fundraiser for multiple sclerosis
charities. It also has sponsored several competitive eaters and competitive eating
competitions, one of which was profiled on the A&E
TV show Airline (a grilled cheese sandwich eating contest, likely referring to a sandwich with the image of the Virgin Mary that the casino purchased). It also sponsored the da Vinci Project
's attempt to fly a reusable manned spacecraft
for the Ansari X Prize
, and was the cash prize sponsor on The Surreal Life: Fame Games
.
, mostly for bizarre items. For example:
Online casino
Online casinos, also known as virtual casinos or Internet casinos, are online versions of traditional casinos. Online casinos enable gamblers to play and wager on casino games through the Internet....
, hosted at Mohawk Internet Technologies, which is located in the Kahnawake Mohawk
Mohawk nation
Mohawk are the most easterly tribe of the Iroquois confederation. They call themselves Kanien'gehaga, people of the place of the flint...
Territory near Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
. They are well-known for their publicity stunt
Publicity stunt
A publicity stunt is a planned event designed to attract the public's attention to the event's organizers or their cause. Publicity stunts can be professionally organized or set up by amateurs...
s. They are also known for large 'bonuses' which must be waged a comparatively excessive fifty times before claiming. On several occasions this has led to controversy when the site refused to pay players seen to be only playing in order to claim the free money and not for the entertainment value. One key incident led to the site's former software provider, Microgaming
Microgaming
Microgaming Software Systems Ltd is a privately held Isle of Man based software development company which claims to have released the first genuine online casino in 1994. The company is one of the leading software providers to the online gambling industry, with just under 100 casinos listed on its...
, terminating their agreement. This led GoldenPalace and its sister casinos to move to rival Playtech
Playtech
Playtech Ltd. is a gaming software development company founded in 1999. The company provides software for online casinos, online poker rooms, online bingo games, online sports betting, scratch games, mobile gaming, live dealer games and fixed-odds arcade games online.-Playtech gaming software and...
software in 2003. It is currently restricted for players in the United States.
Legal
The casino is owned by a Curaçao corporation named Hambledon N.V. Some websites claim this company to be operating in a criminal manner and have accused Hambledon N.V. of dishonoring their contracts and debts.Promotions
The casino has paid many boxersBoxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
to wear temporary tattoo
Tattoo
A tattoo is made by inserting indelible ink into the dermis layer of the skin to change the pigment. Tattoos on humans are a type of body modification, and tattoos on other animals are most commonly used for identification purposes...
s on their backs promoting the site. GoldenPalace.com has been accused of far more disruptive stunts. The casino sponsored serial streaker
Streaking
Streaking is the act of running nude through a public place.-History:On 5 July 1799, a Friday evening at 7 o'clock, a naked man was arrested at the Mansion House, London, and sent to the Poultry Compter...
Mark Roberts in several of his escapades, including his "performances" at the 2003 UEFA Cup
UEFA Cup
The UEFA Europa League is an annual association football cup competition organised by UEFA since 1971 for eligible European football clubs. It is the second most prestigious European club football contest after the UEFA Champions League...
final and Super Bowl XXXVIII
Super Bowl XXXVIII
Super Bowl XXXVIII was an American football game played on February 1, 2004 at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas to decide the National Football League champion following the 2003 regular season....
in 2004; at both events, he wore a temporary GoldenPalace.com tattoo. Individuals sporting temporary tattoos for the casino have also disrupted other sporting events, including the 2004 Summer Olympics
2004 Summer Olympics
The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...
and the 2006 Winter Olympics
2006 Winter Olympics
The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XX Olympic Winter Games, was a winter multi-sport event which was celebrated in Turin, Italy from February 10, 2006, through February 26, 2006. This marked the second time Italy hosted the Olympic Winter Games, the first being the VII Olympic Winter...
. Famed free climber Alain Robert
Alain Robert
Alain Robert , is a French rock and urban climber, from Digoin, Saône-et-Loire, Bourgogne, France...
also wore such a tattoo when he climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge
Sydney Harbour Bridge
The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a steel through arch bridge across Sydney Harbour that carries rail, vehicular, bicycle and pedestrian traffic between the Sydney central business district and the North Shore. The dramatic view of the bridge, the harbour, and the nearby Sydney Opera House is an iconic...
in 2003.
In less controversial acts, it sponsored both Roberts (who was fully clothed) and former NBA star Dennis Rodman
Dennis Rodman
Dennis Keith Rodman is a retired American Hall of Fame professional basketball player of the National Basketball Association's Detroit Pistons, San Antonio Spurs, Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks. Born in Trenton, New Jersey, he was nicknamed "Dennis the Menace" and "The...
's participation in the 2004 Running of the Bulls
San Fermín
The festival of San Fermín in the city of Pamplona , is a deeply rooted celebration held annually from 12:00, 6 July, when the opening of the fiesta is marked by setting off the pyrotechnic chupinazo, to midnight 14 July, with the singing of the Pobre de Mí...
as a fundraiser for multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis is an inflammatory disease in which the fatty myelin sheaths around the axons of the brain and spinal cord are damaged, leading to demyelination and scarring as well as a broad spectrum of signs and symptoms...
charities. It also has sponsored several competitive eaters and competitive eating
Competitive eating
Competitive eating, or speed eating, is a sport in which participants compete against each other to consume large quantities of food in a short time period. Contests are typically less than 15 minutes in length, with the person consuming the most food being declared the winner...
competitions, one of which was profiled on the A&E
A&E Network
The A&E Network is a United States-based cable and satellite television network with headquarters in New York City and offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, London, Los Angeles and Stamford. A&E also airs in Canada and Latin America. Initially named the Arts & Entertainment Network, A&E launched...
TV show Airline (a grilled cheese sandwich eating contest, likely referring to a sandwich with the image of the Virgin Mary that the casino purchased). It also sponsored the da Vinci Project
Da Vinci Project
The da Vinci Project was a privately funded, volunteer-staffed attempt to launch a reusable manned suborbital spacecraft. It was formed in 1996 specifically to be a contender for the Ansari X PRIZE for the first non-governmental reusable manned spacecraft. The project was based in Toronto,...
's attempt to fly a reusable manned spacecraft
Spacecraft
A spacecraft or spaceship is a craft or machine designed for spaceflight. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, planetary exploration and transportation of humans and cargo....
for the Ansari X Prize
Ansari X Prize
The Ansari X Prize was a space competition in which the X Prize Foundation offered a US$10,000,000 prize for the first non-government organization to launch a reusable manned spacecraft into space twice within two weeks...
, and was the cash prize sponsor on The Surreal Life: Fame Games
The Surreal Life: Fame Games
The Surreal Life: Fame Games is a reality television series that was originally broadcast on the VH1 cable network. A spin-off of the VH1 show, The Surreal Life, the show assembles ten alumni of the show's 6 prior seasons to compete in a ten-week competition that takes place in Las Vegas, with the...
.
Bids at Internet auctions
GoldenPalace.com is also well-known for its winning internet auctionsAuction
An auction is a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bid, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder...
, mostly for bizarre items. For example:
- On July 22, 2004, GoldenPalace won its first bid, buying a David BeckhamDavid BeckhamDavid Robert Joseph Beckham, OBE is an English footballer who plays midfield for Los Angeles Galaxy in Major League Soccer, having previously played for Manchester United, Preston North End, Real Madrid, and A.C...
missed penalty kickPenalty kickA penalty kick is a type of direct free kick in association football, taken from twelve yards out from goal and with only the goalkeeper of the defending team between the penalty taker and the goal.Penalty kicks are performed during normal play...
ball for €28,050. - On November 23, 2004, the site paid $28,000 for a grilled cheese sandwich purportedly displaying an image of the Virgin Mary.
- On March 3, 2005, they paid $650,000 for the naming rights of a recently discovered monkey species. The GoldenPalace.com MonkeyGoldenPalace.com MonkeyThe Madidi titi, or the GoldenPalace.com monkey is a titi, a kind of New World monkey, discovered in western Bolivia's Madidi National Park in 2004.-Distribution:...
was officially named Callicebus aureipalatii, "aureipalatii" literally translating into "Of the golden palace". - On March 30, 2005, the casino paid Terri Iligan $15,199 to change her name to "goldenpalace.com".
- On May 5, 2005, it paid €188,938.88 ($244,524.73) to German student Benjamin Halbe for a VWVolkswagenVolkswagen is a German automobile manufacturer and is the original and biggest-selling marque of the Volkswagen Group, which now also owns the Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, SEAT, and Škoda marques and the truck manufacturer Scania.Volkswagen means "people's car" in German, where it is...
Golf car which formerly belonged to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now better known as Pope Benedict XVIPope Benedict XVIBenedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...
. With over 8.5 million visitors, the auction became the most often viewed auction on eBay.de. - On June 30, 2005, Karolyne Smith sold the right to permanently tattoo their domain nameDomain nameA domain name is an identification string that defines a realm of administrative autonomy, authority, or control in the Internet. Domain names are formed by the rules and procedures of the Domain Name System ....
on her forehead for $10,000 US or $15,000 US. - In 2006, it paid US$75,000 for William ShatnerWilliam ShatnerWilliam Alan Shatner is a Canadian actor, musician, recording artist, and author. He gained worldwide fame and became a cultural icon for his portrayal of James T...
's kidney stoneKidney stoneA kidney stone, also known as a renal calculus is a solid concretion or crystal aggregation formed in the kidneys from dietary minerals in the urine...
.