888 Casino PT - Player's account is involved in problematic practices.

Good afternoon, I João [removed by Casino.Guru admin] need help with 888 Casino and Golden Park, I am a compulsive high risk gambler, already self-excluded by SRIJ and I have been followed for a few months at CAT in Matosinhos at the request of SICAD, I am full of debts because of gambling, at the time I didn't even think about it and now I can barely support the bills, I managed to get away from gambling and I have even reported situations of illegal gambling to SRIJ. The problem is that I need to chase funds from houses that have acted incorrectly towards me. Now that I'm more up to speed on the subject and have even done compliance, KYC and AML training, I've managed to realize that both 888 Casino and the license have acted incorrectly towards me, even behaving in a way that can be considered illegal under Portuguese gambling law... they allowed me extremely high deposits without even doing a KYC, without knowing the origin of the funds... they never even tried to talk to me about anything other than enticing me and encouraging me to deposit more money, with bonus offers, VIP account managers, messages, emails... as you can see from the statement I'm about to send you, you can see a clear behavior of addiction and gambling addiction, in fact, you can even see in 888 Casino the evolution of deposits, which started at 40€, 100€, 200€, 500€, 1000€, 2000€ and then it was always deposits this high... there are even deposits of 3000€. And everything is fine with this company! I am looking for help in trying to reach an agreement with the casino, otherwise I will be forced financially to expose this entity to the maximum for dishonest practices! Enticing players and failing to protect them! It's not normal to allow deposits of more than €11,000 in a regulated Portuguese casino without a single check! What has been done here is inhumane and not in line with what SRIJ and APAJO are trying to convey about regulated casinos. This was anything but regulated and legal, it was the destruction of a human life. While other houses like BetClic, Casino Portugal and so on took action to prevent such high deposits and I even had my account blocked, at 888 Casino no action was taken. This casino ruined my life and almost drove me to suicide. The casino has dishonest practices such as enticement through messages, emails, calls, introduction to VIP account managers and a VIP club with bonuses and promotions. All this is considered illegal in

Portugal.

888 Casino entity

"The right to supply and operate remote gambling in Portugal was granted to 888 Portugal Limited under the terms of License No. 016 issued by SRIJ - Serviço de Regulação e Inspeção de Jogos."

Dear joaomarsh20,

Thank you very much for submitting your complaint. I’m sorry to hear about your negative experience with 888 Casino PT.

Please allow me to ask you a few questions, so I can better understand the situation. 

• Do I understand correctly your account in the 888 Casino was blocked as a result of your registration in the register of self-excluded persons with SRIJ?
• Could you please advise whether you asked the casino to refund your lost funds already? With what result?
• Could you please share your communication with the casino? Send emails or chat transcripts to my email at tomas@casino.guru, or post screenshots here

I hope we will be able to help you to resolve this issue as soon as possible. Thank you very much in advance for your reply.

Best regards,

Tomas

Yes, until then they let me deposit as much as I wanted, the deposit amounts in question are not even allowed by law in Portugal without proof of the origin of the funds. I've already tried several times to find a solution with the casino, and the case has already been reported to the Portuguese gambling authority SRIJ.

Thanks for the explanation.

Please note we don't consider the measures you cite as mandatory for online casinos. If the Portuguese licensor considers the player shouldn't be able to deposit a certain amount without verification unlawful, you'd do best to contact the licensor directly.

From our point of view if you are struggling with your gambling the best this to do is to request a self-exclusion in any online casino in which you have an open account as soon as possible. Unless you inform the casino about a gambling problem you won't be protected. For casinos licensed under SRIJ the national register should offer protection for you, and for casinos outside Portuguese license I would recommend you self-exclude separately in each online casino, using for example our self-exclusion tool: https://casino.guru/global-self-exclusion-initiative/assistance-tool

Other resources that might be useful:

I strongly recommend reaching out to centers in your country that specialize in addressing gambling problems. You can find some of these centers by referring to the following link (https://casino.guru/problem-gambling-help-centers#cnt_203=true)

As part of our Global Self-Exclusion Initiative, we've partnered with BetBlocker, a UK-registered charity providing a free service to support people worldwide. You can find more information about our initiative here (https://casino.guru/global-self-exclusion-initiative) and about BetBlocker here (https://betblocker.org/).

BetBlocker, which supports seven languages, is quick and easy to install on multiple devices, taking just 2 minutes. Once installed, it blocks access to over 84,230 gambling websites and runs quietly in the background. The service can be used anonymously and helps individuals manage their access to gambling safely and appropriately, whether that means complete restriction or limiting access during vulnerable periods. 

Additionally, BetBlocker includes a list of 824 gambling information sites. These sites primarily inform users about and advertise gambling services. You can choose to include these sites in your restriction by ticking a box. However, if you have an ongoing complaint against a gambling operator, do not check this box, as it will prevent you from accessing the Casino.Guru website as well.

Please let me know if there are any other circumstances I might not have considered, otherwise the complaint will be closed.

Tomas, you don't consider the complaint to be well-founded, but the truth is that for CEG there are reasons for a refund, and Casino Slott has even failed to respond to the regulator within the time limits.

Thanks for the reply.

As the Portuguese version of the casino is licensed by the SRIJ https://www.srij.turismodeportugal.pt/pt, the CEG jurisdiction might not be relevant in the situation.

I wish I could be of more help. Even though we couldn't assist you in this situation, please do not hesitate to contact us if you run into issues with any online casino in the future.