Amok Casino - Player is asking for a full deposit refund.

Good day

I know that 99% of the time I don't have a chance with my complaint. Nevertheless, it is very important to me to put up a topic for discussion that will certainly also be of interest to many other players.

It is about whether online casinos are allowed to accept players from Switzerland or not. The legal situation in Switzerland has been as follows since January 1, 2019. It is not illegal for players to gamble at overseas casinos. But he has been banned from offering games in Switzerland without a license since January 1, 2019. Gambling is not permitted and illegal in Switzerland for providers without a license. I know that many casinos write in their terms that it is the player's sole responsibility to find out about the legal situation. I think that's wrong. It cannot be that the responsibility is transferred to the player and the casino violates applicable laws. A country's law still prevails over the terms and conditions of an online casino. I'm sure you agree with me here.

Many terms and conditions state that the user is responsible for checking the legal situation and whether playing is allowed. But especially in the case of Switzerland it is more complicated. The electorate has approved a law that bans gambling in Switzerland without a license for foreign casinos.

1. It is illegal to offer gambling in Switzerland and for Swiss people.

2. It is not illegal to gamble in foreign casinos.

3. The casino is blacklisted by the Swiss judiciary (Zugangssperren (admin.ch).

It is also interesting why it is not possible to create an account from Switzerland in hundreds of other casinos.

In this sense, I have not made myself liable to prosecution and have not violated the terms and conditions.

Most casinos (including Amok Casinos) have a black list of countries you cannot play from. Simple question: why is Switzerland not on this list?

After the amendment of the gambling law on January 1, 2019, the MGA sued Switzerland and was not successful. They are still not allowed to offer any games in Switzerland without a license.

With this in mind, I would like to ask you to clarify the situation and to claim back my losses since January 1st, 2019.

Thank you very much

Dear Mister_Schweiz,

Thank you very much for submitting your complaint. I’m sorry to hear about your negative experience. We accept the situation when the casino allows players from any country to open an account as long as they don’t use this as an opportunity to later cancel the player’s legitimate winnings. Simply said – if the casino allows players from restricted countries (or in this case from a country they do not have a license for) to deposit and play, they should pay out their winnings as well. If the player loses their winnings willingly by their own choice, we don't think they are entitled to a refund. Unfortunately, we have no authority to enforce the legality of Switzerland's rules.

Therefore, I would like to emphasize, that we investigate further and help only those players, whose funds (or winnings) have been confiscated due to being from a restricted country. Nevertheless, it doesn’t seem that this is the case here, but feel free to correct me if I am wrong.

Please, if there is anything else, we could help you with, do not hesitate to contact us, otherwise, we will reject this complaint. Thank you for understanding.

Best regards,

Kristina

Good day

I accept that Casinu Guru decides which complaints they treat in general and in particular. In many casinos it is certainly as you say.

However, it is not about enforcing Swiss laws, but about checking whether Amok-Casino has violated their own terms.

2. We will not allow registrations from certain jurisdictions ("Excluded Territories") these include, but are not limited to: Afghanistan (...) Zimbabwe; or any other jurisdiction where your registration and participation in online gambling would conflict with any applicable local laws or regulations.

It is only about the terms of AmokCasino. They say they don't allow creating an account. contrary to the terms, they allowed it and thus violated their terms. In some other similar cases on the subject you have investigated the matter.

In so many cases, the casino makes it difficult for players to play because they allegedly violated terms (bonuses, misrepresentations, withdrawal limits, wagering...). but it is important that Amok also sticks to their own terms. If it were formulated differently, I would accept it. If it were to say that players are not allowed to register from a country where gambling is not allowed, then the case would be clear. However, it is clearly stated in the terms that the casino will not allow registrations. Therefore, they have violated their own terms of use. I ask for a refund of my lost bets since January 1, 2019. With this in mind, I ask the casino to reimburse me for the losses since January 1, 2019 and to revise the terms and conditions so that there are no misunderstandings.

It is true that many casinos clearly state in their terms of service that the responsibility lies solely with the player. But here it is a little different: Amok writes in its terms that the casino does not allow you to register from a country in which foreign gambling is prohibited. They allowed it anyway. Although when registering I stated that I was from Switzerland and I also submitted numerous documents showing this. the error lies in the wording of the terms.

I just refer to the codex of casino guru. here it says:

Requirements for both 'fair casinos' and 'fair and safe casinos' For a casino to be classified as a 'fair casino' or a 'fair and safe casino' by our review team, it must not allow players from restricted countries to create an account and play. The check for restricted countries must be done during the account creation process.

If it were worded differently, I wouldn't have had a chance. It cannot be that terms only apply if it is to the detriment of the players.

I am sure that you will reject and close my complaint. a question. Will you close the complaint now?

a) ...because Casino Guru only deals with cases where winnings are not paid out?

b) ...because my complaint is definitely unjustified?

kind regards

Thank you for your reply, Mister_Schweiz. I understand your point of view, but as I said, casinos can accept players from any country as long as they don't use it as an excuse to confiscate their winnings. Of course, the casino should block such players automatically and ideally, accept players from certain countries only if they hold the necessary license.

However, if you created your account and lost your deposits fairly and by your own choice, we don't think you are entitled to a refund. You could lose your money/deposits the same way in any other casino. I am sure that if you won more money than you deposited and the casino would confiscate them, you would want your winnings to be paid out, and not deposit refunded, am I right? I am sorry but have to approach each similar case equally - if the player from a restricted country lost their deposits fairly, they are not entitled to a refund, and if such player accumulated winnings, the casino should pay them out and close their account.

We share more information regarding this topic in our Fair Gambling Codex.

I am sure you understand we cannot punish an offshore casino for not following Switzerland's laws and expect that the casino is the only responsible subject here. In this case, I can only recommend that you do more thorough research before creating an account and choose to play in casinos that accept players from your country and hold the necessary license if that is your preference.

Unfortunately, after gathering all the necessary information we are forced to reject this complaint. Sorry we were not able to help you with this one, but please, do not hesitate to contact us in the future, if you run into any issues with this or any other casino and we will try our best to help.