This is going to come off as a massive rant - but I just need to vent right now, so if you're not interested please stop reading.
First off, I don't blame anyone but myself. I'm 40. I work for minimum wage and when I go to the supermarket I look for the reduced items stuff. Money is tight at the moment. I take responsibility for my own actions good and bad. BUT. I f*****g hate the sneaky psychological tactics used by online gambling companies. At least high street bookmakers are quite stoopid and basic in their tactics. I cycled round my local area today and saw all the betting shops with balloons outside and their workers hanging in the doorway like P*********s with plates full of buscuits trying to entice (what I imagine head office sent them in an email as "housewives, 18 year old teenagers, new muppets, etc") in to their shops. Grand National day!! It's simply all SO much fun! Here, take a balloon, have a buscuit. All the usual sweaty grey skinned men crouched over the FOBTs had been tazered out the place so as not to show these new marks what the true end game is.
They're like f*****g heroin dealers on the high street!
Anyway, I've been mostly gamble free since about early 2010 - Roulette was my poison. I've had maybe 7 or 8 relapses since then, but all minor compared to the true daily horror of back in the day. Last Monday was one of those times where I had an uncontrollable urge to scratch and I figured it had been so long I could try £30 safely. Win or lose, walk away. So, figuring I was probably self-excluded from most online sites I could remember I googled a new one. Deposited, played, lost.
Old feelings, old nagging itch. Deposited another £50.
Lost.
Managed to go to bed and leave it.
Got an email from the site on Thursday telling me they can't confirm my age so I need to send a photo of my passport or driving licence, and there's a bonus waiting for me if I do.
I do it, stupidly, still smarting from the £80 loss and figuring it's free money bonus so why not?
Another email, hours later, thanking me for providing the information. Here's my bonus... Play. Lose. Deposit another £50. Lose.
Now really angry, guilty, drunk, sensing a big win was just around the corner and knowing full well what I was doing, but simply unable to go to sleep a drunk loser I deposited £100. Lost. £150. Lost. £200 - Won. Won big.
Went to sleep feeling very clever that thank god I hadn't just left it and followed my "gut". Yes, now I'm a winner and very clever again. (All those old lies).
Got an email from the site this morning - (I'm paraphrasing) - "Sorry, we see you've previously self excluded in 2010. So all bets are void. We won't be paying you out".
I've just come off their "live chat" and it's unbe*******ingleavable. Not only are they not going to pay my winnings, they're not going to refund my deposits either! Despite the fact that they were quite happy to let me deposit over and over again EVEN ONCE they'd requested and approved my passport!!!
So, guess who's the massive P***k now?! Me! I haven't got the money to take these ******** to court to challenge it. They're based in Malta.
Anyway, rant over. The point to the post is that if you ever feel the urge to bet - please realise the s**m companies you're dealing with - even if you "win" you still lose, and if you keep losing they'll never stop you depositing until you try to withdraw.
I agree, that's low behaviour from them.
The only way to win is not to gamble. Remember the big bosses of these companies aren't shopping on the reduced shelf. They make money from other people's misery - yours and mine in fact! Why play that game?
Stay strong.
Despicable of them to keep the money you have deposited. Since it appears they should not have allowed you to even deposit potential gambling money with them again under any circumstances (at least for the self exclusion period). Maybe an email to their chief exec explaining the situation could be an option for you ? You never know. If the boss has any sense or business scruples there may be a slim possibility of a refund. They may look at it from the point of view that it news got about they may lose some possible trade from other customers.
Whatever happens, don't chase the losses on other sites or in the High Street.
Take Care
......
hi I would ask for the deposits back if I were you. keep the emails you had from them inducing you to deposit. Contact the Gambling Commission. Were the deposits made by debit / credit card or paypal ? you can contact the issuing bank of the debit / credit card used to make deposits (you can do this even if it's a debit card) & request a chargeback of all the deposits you recently made. Visa has a strong chargeback scheme. You were depositing on the basis that if you won then you could withdraw; I suspect the site were fully aware you were self-excluded, they recognise that you are a CG & therefore unlikely to win. If you had indeed lost (far more likely) you wouldn't have made a withdrawal & they would have kept all of your money. So it's win - win situation for them, and just illustrates what crooks and charlatans these betting sites are. Do you have a transcript of the chat where they told you they would be keeping your deposits ? if not then go back to chat ask for your winnings and or deposits back & without telling them copy / paste what they say on to word or wordpad when the chat's finished. as you need evidence. keep all emails etc mentioning bonuses. Then collate all the evidence together if you need to send it to your bank. Ring your bank requesting chargebacks of all deposits made since you were self-excluded, and when you won (against all the odds) they refused to payout.. You can get further advice re your chargeback claim at the consumer action group. forum (found via google). Google the gambling commission in order to operate online in the UK (even if based elsewhere) they need to have a licence given to them by the Gambling Commission. Ask the GC to revoke their licence and / or investigate, as the betting site should a) not have accepted any deposits from you if you were self-excluded b) not sent you promotional emails inducing you to bet with them c) the fact that you won & didnt lose means that you should be entitled to your deposits back. (even if you had lost, you may well have been entitled to the deposits back).
Hi davey,
Thanks for the response. I agree with you, but I've decided just to let it go. The memory and reminder of it is worth more to me than getting the actual money back.
I understand that everyone's gambling issues are as individual as they are, for me personally I can go months (sometimes even years) without betting on roulette, but there's always that one moment... and god alone knows why... maybe it's a full moon, maybe it's a skull full of booze, maybe it's a smug feeling that I'm doing well in my life and can ride my luck, or opposite - things are going so bad I deserve a lucky break... etc... who knows?! But soon as I let my guard down I try that "cheeky tenner" that ends up with me in a cold sweat following a spinning ball I think I can control, palpitations of excitement and panic in equal measure... always ending with my card being declined and my bank account drained of 100's/1000's.
So I'm keeping this memory raw - to remind myself that although I can't win because I can't stop, even IF I do win, they'll still find a way to not pay me!!!
Thanks, molehole
Surley if the bets are void the deposits have to be returned?
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