Big Lucky Casino - Player's account should be closed for responsible gambling.

NOTE: This complaint is about www.biglucky.com, but since the casino in question is not on your list yet, I have used their sister casino BigBoost as a reference.

Hello Gurus,

I suffer of a severe bipolar disorder and am psychosis prone, and these make me extremely vulnerable to problems related to excessive gambling. I have dealt with White Star B.V., the group operating this and several other casinos before, providing them with official documents from a doctor stating that I am in an extremely vulnerable state that exposes me to danger when it comes to, for example, gambling. I have gone through relentless back and forths with this casino group, explicitly begging them to ban me from all of their casinos - present and future.

Yet again, they have failed to protect me and let me play in the casino. I lost 135 EUR due to this. Please Gurus, help me get my money back.

Dear yoyeli,

Thank you very much for submitting this complaint. I'm sorry to hear about the problem you're experiencing. Please allow me to ask you a few questions to clarify your situation.

• Could you please specify if you informed Big Lucky Casino of your problem and requested to be self-excluded?
• Did you create your account at Big Lucky Casino only after you self-excluded at their sister site?
• Have you passed the full KYC verification?

I have checked the casino's Terms and Conditions, and this is what I found:

14.3 Due to technical necessity, all of White Star’s brands and websites ("White Star Brands") are operated independently of each other; should you wish to effect a Self-Exclusion across all White Star Brands you must do so by submitting a Self-Exclusion request via each White Star Brand website/customer support email address, or by specifically instructing us to do so on your behalf via email sent to a White Star customer support email address, which provides us with sufficient information to be able to identify your accounts across all White Star Brands, following which your Self-Exclusion request will be actioned in a timely fashion for all existing White Star Brands with which you have previously created an account. 

According to clause 14.3, all brands operated by White Star function independently due to technical limitations. As such, a self-exclusion request submitted through one brand does not automatically apply to others. In order for a self-exclusion to cover all White Star brands, players are required to either submit individual requests to each brand’s customer support or provide sufficient information via email for the operator to identify all associated accounts and apply the exclusion across them.

This clause also clarifies that such exclusions apply retrospectively—that is, only to accounts already created at the time of the request. Any new accounts registered after the self-exclusion was processed would not be covered and would require a separate self-exclusion request.

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

Best regards

Veronika

I have passed full KYC verification. I signed up with Pay n Play, which automatically conveys all my personal information to the recipient and thus, acts as a KYC process simultaneously. I have used the exact same method across all White Star casinos. Furthermore; I am very well aware of their Terms and Conditions. I have, however, had numerous exchanges with this group both:

a) Begging to be self-excluded from all of their casinos, including future ones. I have begged time and time again. They have either ignored me or answered something completely irrelevant.

b) Further solidified my claims that this need is urgent and that allowing me to access their casinos is highly immoral by providing the casino with medical records showing that I suffer of a severe bipolar disorder and psychotic episodes, rendering me incapable of making smart decisions.

I have informed the casino group. I did not know Big Lucky was a part of it. They do NOT work indepently; the staff is exactly the same as are all the terms and conditions. They try to dodge responsibility. Attached you find one email I have addressed to their site BigBoost earlier this year. Along this one I have PLEAD MULTIPLE TIMES TO BE EXCLUDED EVERYWHERE. If needed, I can send a lot more of those emails as well as my medical records.

Adding to the case:

• The casino answered my plea for a refund with a standardized reply that falsely indicated that I had already made claims for a refund on BigLucky before and that they had already told me no. This is simply not true and prompts me to think that my case has never even been adequately analysed. The proof is undeniable; I have, since 2023 sent upwards of fifty emails begging them to protect me in the future. This is, without a doubt, proof that I have asked them to block me in all casinos in future as well. It should go without question that they would do so.

• The casino refuses to provide me with instructions to a more formal complaint procedure or information regarding as to how to proceed with the regulatory authority. They dodge questions and quit chats. All in all, very irresponsible and shady behaviour.

I will happily provide Guru with all the proof and information needed to proceed.

Please help.

Furthermore:

It is not reasonable to ask the player to register first and then ask for self-exclusion.

For Finnish players this would mean depositing since that is the only way to register, and as the casino is insisting to treat players like this, they certainly would not return the deposited amounts. This is basically fraud they are committing. Also; I would argue that begging for hundreds of messages for the casino group to self-exclude you on future casinos as well does constitute as proof enough that I have done everything in my power and that their rules simply do not apply here.

They owe me the 135 EUR for certain.

Furthermore, the Finnish terms and conditions state the following:

14.3 Teknisistä syistä johtuen, kaikki White Starin tuotemerkit ja verkkosivustot toimivat itsenäisesti ("White Star tuotemerkit"); jos haluat asettaa itsellesi itsesulun kaikissa White Star -brändeissä, sinun on tehtävä se lähettämällä itsesulkemispyyntö jokaiselle White Star -brändin verkkosivustolle/asiakastukeen erikseen, joko sähköpostiosoitteen kautta tai voit myös niin halutessasi ohjeistaa meitä tekemään niin puolestasi, lähettämällä White Star -asiakastukeen sähköpostin, joka antaa meille riittävästi tietoja, jonka avulla voimme tunnistaa tilisi kaikissa White Star -brändeissä. Tämän jälkeen itsesulkeutumispyyntösi käsitellään mahdollisimman pian kaikkien olemassa olevien White Star -brändien osalta jolle olet aiemmin luonut tilin.

I have without a shred of a doubt given the casino group adequate information for them to be able to identify my account on all existing sites and those to follow. I have also provably begged to be thoroughly self-excluded, with no room for any other interpretations. As registration has always been possible only through Pay n Play, my personal details have been forwarded as they are in the governmental databases, so this further leaves no room for error. Furthermore; as you must pay to register, it should be self-explanatory that my medical records and explicit pleas would be enough to warrant a total self-exclusion.

I do believe that my case is valid and that I have done everything I can to self-exclude. Furthermore; as registering needs a deposit, these rules are unfair to begin with.

Further proof:

their sister site Paratiisi already refunded me on the 10th of January under the pretense that BigBoost and Raketti had known about my gambling addiction before hand. They also tried to lie that the payment provider had blocked me and they had no clue of my gambling addiction. When I threatened to contact Brite, they suddenly refunded. These crooks need to be shut down.

Thank you, yoyeli, for the detailed update and for sharing further evidence with us. I truly appreciate your persistence and understand how distressing this situation must be for you, especially considering your vulnerable state and the history you have had with this casino group.

I’ve carefully reviewed the documents you submitted. I understand your position and the argument that you have made every possible effort to protect yourself by reaching out to the group multiple times with clear and urgent self-exclusion requests, both for existing and future casinos. As stated in the Terms and Conditions, however, self-exclusion requests are only applied retrospectively to existing accounts, not to new ones opened after the request. For that reason, I must ask you to please clarify:

• Did you explicitly request self-exclusion from Big Lucky Casino or contact their customer support directly regarding this matter?

This detail is critical in determining whether the casino failed to act on a specific self-exclusion request or whether the issue falls within the limitations outlined in their rules.

I reached out after registering but you have to deposit in order to register. Still: the most important factor here is that I had repeatedly asked the casino group to ban me and they even admitted to having access to these emails in the chat.

I would like to add; the casino, by default, demands the player to register in order to be self-excluded. This an only be done via a deposit, exposing gambling addicts to a severe situation.

If Casino Guru thinks this is fair and by the book, you are sending a message that you side with casinos when they abuse people and are totally for the unfair treatment of players. I will surely take note of this and expose Casino Guru as the patron saint of abusers and of course I will gladly tell casinos taht they should further side with you as you seem to love crapping on players.

Sorry, but I am furious, as I have provided proof that I have sent hundreds of emails literally begging to be protected. Yet it seems that you side with the casino that can set up whatever rules they want to intentionally abuse players.

"Hei ****,

Kiitos viesteistäsi. 

Kuten jo aiemmassa viestissä kerroimme, emme voi ennalta estää tiliäsi tulevilla uusilla kasinoillamme, sillä Suomessa ei tällä hetkellä ole käytössä kansallista itsesulkujärjestelmää - mikä on erittäin valitettavaa. 

Meidän käytäntömme on suunniteltu varmistamaan, että kaikkia pelaajia kohdellaan reilusti ja että ylläpidämme vastuullisen pelaamisen ympäristöä. Häviöiden hyvittäminen pelaamisen aikana ei ole yleisesti mahdollista, sillä kaikki tapahtumat katsotaan lopullisiksi. 

Tapauksen osalta päätöksemme on valitettavasti lopullinen."

They sent me this. So basically they are telling me that they can not block people before hand because there is no nationwide self-exclusion system in Finland. Even if there was this would have nothing to do with them, as they are Curacao-based. Can you not see how they are trying to worm their way out and trying to deceive people? A system where you have to deposit to get self-excluded is unfair. So is the fact that they are trying to pose as they are Finnish and have a Finnish license.

https://www.vixio.com/insights/gc-curacao-issues-first-new-look-licence

I will post this here as I think it's pretty significant. Is this the publicity the Curacao license wants?

Congratulations to Ross Parkhill for leading a company that abuses people; me and clearly one more person on this very site have presented medical records and literally begged to be self-excluded, yet their casino group prides themselves in abusing people despite all of their efforts to protect themselves.

And if this message gets censored, that's a sign in itself. The people deserve to know that this is the kind of license Curacao is, and these are the kinds of people it celebrates.

Dear yoyeli,

Thank you again for your continued engagement. We genuinely understand how difficult your situation is, and we acknowledge the effort you have made to protect yourself from gambling-related harm.

After a thorough evaluation of all the information and evidence shared, we must respectfully conclude that we are unable to uphold your complaint.

As stated in the casino’s terms, each brand under White Star B.V. is operated independently due to technical limitations. While it is clear that you reached out to the casino group on multiple occasions and made repeated and urgent requests for self-exclusion, we have not seen evidence that a specific exclusion request was submitted or applied to the Big Lucky brand prior to your registration and deposit.

We understand and sympathize with your point that registering via Pay n Play effectively requires a deposit, which complicates the process for vulnerable players. Of course, we would like to see every casino not allow players to open new accounts when they have previously closed their accounts due to gambling problems, but many casinos usually engage in a verification check prior to a withdrawal, so it is only then that they check all relevant information and find out about any restrictions for a certain player. I can agree with you that the casino could have set its responsible gaming and self-exclusion measures more strictly, but this is not an industry standard, and there are no self-exclusion or responsible gambling tools rules applied universally to all online casinos. Unfortunately, at this point, there is not much that can be done in regard to the funds you have deposited and lost in this casino.

I can only recommend that you contact the licensing authority, as they have better tools and options to help players, and they are able to investigate such cases more thoroughly.

Furthermore, I strongly advise that you seek Professional Help with Gambling Addiction. You can find Gambling Help Centers for your location here, and another recommendation is to use Apps and tools to block access to gambling at a global level that you can find here.

Due to the aforementioned reasons, this complaint will now be rejected. Thank you for your understanding, I am sorry we could not be of more help on this occasion. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you run into any issues with this or any other casino in the future.