Emucasino and Wazdan’s Prosperity Pearls
On October 26, 2021, a lucky Emucasino player won NZD 13,770 in the Prosperity Pearls slot from Wazdan Limited. Unfortunately for them, the winnings resulted from an in-game bug and were forfeited.
Before we continue, a brief explanation is required. Prosperity Pearls is one of the many slots from Wazdan’s Hold and Win series. In the Hold and Win bonus game, the player gets three respins and a chance to win various prizes, including jackpots. Filling the entire game area with prize symbols awards the grand jackpot of 1000x or more depending on the game.
The Emucasino player received a payout exceeding the grand jackpot almost 11 times! Specifically, they landed a white pearl symbol with an incredible multiplier of x10946. However, white pearls may award payouts only between 1x and 10x, as stated in the game rules. Due to the visual discrepancy, it was easy to identify the bug.
An interesting detail: in public discussions Wazdan is represented by Volt Entertainment B.V, which also signed the incident report. Unlike the Maltese Wazdan legal entity, Volt Entertainment is registered in Curaçao, a jurisdiction known for much looser regulation of the gambling industry.
Throughout its history, Volt Entertainment used to provide white-label services, affiliate solutions, and even supported the launch of similarly named Volt Casino that ceased to operate in 2020.
Today, Volt Entertainment is tasked exclusively with supplying Wazdan games to online casinos. These games can be seen in the “Our Games” section on the Volt Entertainment website, while the name of Wazdan is not listed anywhere. The name of Wazdan does not appear in the incident report either, despite the abundance of other details.
Although we are aware of various interaction models between online casinos and game operators, the presence of such a highly specialized partner raises questions for Wazdan. As seen in Emucasino’s case, Volt Entertainment handles Wazdan’s faults and is even authorized to investigate bugs in their slots.
However, Volt Entertainment maintains a much lower public profile than Wazdan. Open the Curaçao Commercial Register and you will see that the company is managed by eMoore N.V., a specialized registration service for those wanting to open a gambling entity in Curaçao. It is a mystery who is actually running Volt Entertainment. As you might expect, there is no information about the Volt Entertainment management on its website either.
This type of registration is common in the gambling industry, so nothing is surprising here. However, do not be surprised when playing or installing Wazdan slots on your website reveals that you are dealing with Volt Entertainment, a company that is not regulated in any way and does not have specific duty holders.
Likewise, It is noteworthy that Wazdan possesses resources for hosting casino games, as evidenced by their license from the UK Gambling Commission, but relies on Volt Entertainment.
LTC Casino and Wazdan’s Power of Gods: Hades
The Emucasino incident revealed another vital detail: Wazdan games may contain vulnerabilities. This information can bring massive profits for those with proper skills ready to act maliciously. After the attackers narrowed the search to Wazdan titles, it didn’t take much to find a bug.
Next, the question arose of where to exploit the bug with minimal risk of detection. The choice fell on LTC Casino – an anonymous crypto casino with instant payouts.
The attackers created an account, made a deposit, and immediately proceeded to the vulnerable slot – Power of Gods: Hades, another Wazdan’s creation employing the Hold and Win mechanics. Despite the success during the preliminary testing, they couldn’t replicate it. After a bumpy start, the attackers blackmailed the casino and demanded their deposits back since losing money was not a part of their plans.
Still, they were confident about their findings. To exclude possible external factors, they closed sunk accounts and continued to play the same game on new ones, since it is allowed by the LTC Casino terms. In total, they made about 50,000 spins in Power of Gods: Hades without placing a single bet in any other game. If you have ever played at an online casino, you realize that this approach has nothing to do with pleasing gameplay, especially when you lose.
But this is only true if you are not certain that the game is guaranteed to pay off. When they finally managed to trigger the bug, it was easy for them to win the grand jackpot of x3000 three times throughout 13,000 spins. According to Wazdan’s statement, the probability of hitting the grand jackpot in Power of Gods: Hades is 1:166000. Thus, the odds of hitting three grand jackpots in such a short period are virtually non-existent.
This was the only information that LTC Casino managed to get from Wazdan. The developer ignored all other issues, including the request to conduct a detailed analysis of all rounds and sessions on the player’s accounts, not just the winning spins. The studio even refused to disclose the volatility level at which the game was played. This information was of key importance for the casino’s investigation after the provider turned down its own.
The reluctance of some providers to target themselves is understandable since this entails reputational damage and possibly even substantial restitutions. Wazdan has shown that they are not averse to such practices either, leaving troubleshooting to their shell operator Volt Entertainment, which avoids mentioning the head company and prefers a vague “us”, and refusing to conduct a detailed investigation when it is obviously needed. Indeed, it is much easier to conceal a bug that does not have such a visual reflection as in Prosperity Pearls.
Conclusion
If you are interested in the Power of Gods: Hades bug, we hate to break it to you. Most likely, it was identified and silently fixed by the developer. Furthermore, it is impracticable to exploit bugs without special software. Such software was also used in this case, as evidenced by thousands of non-stop spins, impossible through the in-game autospin feature, and the sessions of 16 hours or more. Few players can sustain this pace, but computers are perfect for it.
Crucially, no one knows what bugs remain in Wazdan slots. They pose risks for both casino operators and players. For casinos, it means that they may pay out illegitimate winnings without much help from the provider. And if you are a player, the situation is not much better. Don’t be filled with enthusiasm when you win big in Wazdan slots, as your winnings may be a result of an in-game error. What’s more, such bugs may work both ways. In other words, the RTP may be much lower than expected, but you will never know about it.
