Hi,
about 2 months ago i sent an email to ***** ***** requesting that they close my account permanently, never to be opened again, and remove me from mail lists.
Ca. 1-2 weeks later, i receive an email from them informing me that they have prepared a bonus for me, telling me to log back in.
I quicly response to them, that i had requested the account to be closed permanently, and they responsed that they could re-open the account, so i could get the bonus.
Foolish as i was, i told them that they could re-open the account, and ultimately this led me to lose several thousands more on this Casino.
Isnt this a violation of the Self-Exclusion rule?
What is the point of requesting a casino account to be closed permanently, never to be opened again, if the casino can just give you a bonus and re-open the account and also allow the customer to make more deposits, and lose more money?
I have also requested several times after this that i want my account closed, however they will just throw bonuses at me, and ask me again "Do you really want the account to be closed?".
I will then play with the bonus, and lose it, and request once more to close the account, but they will just throw more bonuses at me.
I would like to know what my rights are, and/or should ****** ****** be allowed to get away with this?
** Edited by GamCare staff - references to specific gambling website removed
Hello Meghli,
I'm sorry to hear this. It does sound as if you really felt that this operator didn't take your request to self-exclude seriously at all.
First of all, it'd be good if you could contact the body that regulates them and report this. In this case, they are based abroad, so they are not regulated by the UK Gambling Commission, but by the Directorate of Offshore Gaming of Antigua and Barbuda:
http://www.antiguagaming.gov.…alValidator.asp?ID=2287110810
As this site is also GamCare certified, I have also forwarded this to the relevant department within GamCare.
Secondly, I wonder if it would maybe be more effective for you to block gambling sites on your computer, using one of the following:
It's great that you're still here, persevering, despite this disappointing experience. We are here for you if you want to talk about how you're getting on, on a one-to-one basis.
0808 8020 133
http://secure.gamcare.org.uk/netline/
All the best,
George
i have now sent the same message to the Directorate of Offshore Gaming of Antigua and Barkuda.
I probably wont be imbursed for any losses, but the casino shouldnt be allowed to bear the GamCare logo when they obviously dont care about responsible gaming, nor should they be allowed to even run a casino in my opinion.
I received a response from them today actually in regards to this:
"I am writing to you regarding your latest e-mail related to self-exclusion issues with your account.
I would like to inform you that your account with username ******* is closed as per our Responsible Gambling policy and your details are removed from our mailing list.
I would like to inform you that after checking all our records about your account you requested several times account closure mainly based due to no luck.
You had a chat conversation on the 16th of august with one of our customer support representatives about your account closure request. You asked to close your account indefinitely.
You mentioned various reasons: 1. I am not winning any money here, extremely bad chance, 2. the software is very slow at certain hours and it’s not client based and 3. Customer support.
The reasons you are mentioned is the luck of luck and number of service-related issues that you are not satisfied with. At that point of time we deemed your request as a service-related problem as there was no indication given of you having gambling problems.
As a VIP player you have many benefits in Winner Casino and that is why we tried to boost you luck with our promotions and free bonuses.
Our apologizes for any inconvenient caused."
They are obviously trying to cover their tracks, and i responsed:
"In response to this:
****** ****** is obviously trying to cover their tracks here.
When i asked for the account to be closed permanently, never to be opened again, you are supposed to do what the customer asks you to do so, whether or not he/she provided you with a reason for this.
After requesting this, i received an email confirming that the account was now closed.
And for your information: most of the time, probably all the time, if a customer asks to have his/her account closed permanently its probably because they are in fact losing more money than they would want to/can handle.
Especially if you see that a customer is losing alot of money, and asking for the account to be closed indefinately."
It's been over a week and still no response from either Gamcare regarding this issue who have certified this casino, or the Directorate of Offshore Gaming of Antigua and Barkuda who have regulated this.
A casino breaks the self-exclusion rule and there is no action taken?
The casino just keeps avoiding addressing the issue, or trying to push the blame onto me, here is what i last received from the casino:
"Dear Eirik,
As we value all our customers, we always ask them for reasons behind their decision for account closure requests, as every single feedback matter to us and helps us strive to a better customer service for all our clients. We use this feedback as a tool to improve, that is why we have implemented this in handling customers that want to terminate their stay, as was the case with your account. We have further reviewed your request and would like to point out that:
- On 16th of August 2013, when you have requested to close your account, our customer support representative have asked you about reasons behind your decision and you have stated that you don’t have enough luck on the games, you are not winning enough and also that you are not happy with the service provided.
All our customers that have closed their accounts due to any reason not related to our responsible gambling policy have the possibility to reopen them in order to try their luck again and especially if they have felt that service is not on a good level, we are doing everything possible to apologize for that and to give them more chances to win in our casino by offering special bonuses, available exclusively for them. We believe that not a single customer should be unhappy with our customer service and that is why every single feedback received is taken into consideration.
- On 26th of October, 2013, you have requested self-exclusion and we have taken immediate actions to close your account as per our responsible gambling policy. You have also been informed that you will not be able to reopen your account in the next 6 months. 26th of October 2013 was the first time when you mentioned problems with your level of gambling and as a socially responsible company we have closed your account on the spot.
We hope that the above information will be sufficient for you and we believe to have resolved the issue.
Best regards,
Winner Casino Compliance department"
Again and again, they are not addressing the real issue here, so i replied to them:
"It may be that you asked for a reason, but if you have any clue as to have gamblers think (which you should, when you run a casino), then if you just ask for a reason, they will blame it on the luck etc.
I was never asked if it had become a problem for me, or if i had any troubles gambling.
You keep ignoring the fact that you did in fact re-open an account AFTER a customer has specifically asked for the account to be closed permanently, and the ability to have the account re-opened removed.
If someone was not having a problem with gambling, they would most surely not ask for a permanent account closure, and the ability to have the account re-opened removed.
You have not honored this, and you keep evading the truth here that Winner Casino did in fact not honor my request to close the account permanently, and also i specifically asked for the account not to be re-opened.
Do you know what permanently even means?"
This email was sent five days ago, and there has been no answer.
They do not care about the customers at all, and the GamCare certified doesnt put any comfort in me, nor should it give any players any comfort, if the casinos can just violate the self-exclusion rule, re-open an account after i specifically requested that they close the account permanently never to be re-opened again.
Gambling addicts are a fragile people, and especially those who have lost alot of money, if they just hear the words "free", or "bonus", they'll quickly take this offer.
However, if a player goes as far as sending the Casino an email asking for a permanent account closure, and request that they do not open the account ever again, and the casino confirms that the account has been closed, and they still send you bonus offers, and re-open your account, there should be some action taken.
Im not gonna rest easy until i see that either Gamcare or the Directorate actually do something about this.
If nothing is done, il assume that the certifiers, and regulators are also in bed with the casinos.
Content removed by Forum Admin.
All i know is the casino doesnt care 2 cents about honoring self-exclusions, i will post this to the complaints section of antiguagaming, however im 99% sure that they will not grace me with a come-back at all.
I'm really sad to hear about this.
Have you thought about s***g this website instead?
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