Booi Casino - Player’s account has been banned.

I signed up with Booi as they were advertised to irish players on your site and Ask Gamblers. I deposited no issue and got a withdrawal. I then deposited again and tried another withdrawal of 47 euros. I was asked for ID. I sent in my passport. The withdrawal seemed to be going okay then I got an email saying account banned?

When I went on chat I was told it was due to not being a resident of Ireland? This is obviously absurd as I have live in ireland for 10 years, logged on from an irish ip, deposited with an irish skrill and irish bank.

They claimed I wasn't a citizen or resident of Ireland which is absolutely rubbish. They then said the account was banned and they would return the deposit.

They have not returned my last deposit and have not responded to me stating I can send my Proof of address and irish bank details.

Please help

Dear Richard,

Thank you very much for submitting your complaint. I’m sorry to hear about your negative experience. Please allow me to ask you a few questions, so I can understand the whole situation completely.

Could you please confirm that you have created an account from Ireland, and you haven’t used a VPN (Virtual Private Network) to alter your location, when opening the account? Your confirmation is essential for this case and I’m not asking this to get you in trouble, I’m just trying to understand how the casino handles its own rules.

If there’s any relevant communication, please forward it to petronela.k@casino.guru. I hope we will be able to help you to resolve this issue as soon as possible. Thank you in advance for your reply.

Best regards,

Petronela

No VPN. I can provide all details of my ISP and location etc if needed as long as they are kept private.

I will email you screen grabs from my chat with the casino. It’s absurd just a heads up.

rich

Thank you very much, Rich, for your reply and email. I will now transfer your complaint to my colleague Matej who will be at your assistance. I wish you best of luck and hope to see your problem being resolved to your satisfaction in the near future.

Thank you.

Hopefully I receive a more professional employee then Daniel on your forum.

My experience all round with your site thus far have been very very negative.

Does complaints on this site actually ever get dealt with? This has been 4 days now and there seems to be now action....

Hello Richard.

I am sorry that you needed to wait a bit. These days we have a large number of complaints, so I hope you understand it. I need to say that I understand the casino position, you logged to our website 19 times and only two times was your IP from Ireland. Probably the casino has the same data. Could you somehow explain it?

Hello,

My son is handling my two complaints with you due to the stress all this has caused t has given me anxiety. IS THAT OKAY WITH YOU.

I am the only one who has logged in and played at BOOI. I understand the sites are blocked in some countries including UK.

If you read my issue complaint with BOOI it is to do with them not understanding gambling laws in my country and resident status.

I will not be dealing with these complaints anymore and it will be my son as I am just getting too much anxiety. This will be my last login from my home IP which you can now trace.

Are you at anypoint going to get the casino involved here?

I don't mind if your son takes it over.

I am pointing out on the fact that we identified your IP as UK's IP. I guess the same did the casino. Do you have any explanation about why this happened? In your other complaint, you declined to make a verification call with the casino. I understand why the casino insists on such verification, and the only way how to get over it is to follow the instructions from casino. (in another case, you should do a verification call) in this one, we will see what the casino will ask for after we contact them.

It's like you have a friend in the US and you are sending him letters, but your return address is from Russia, and you told to him that you are living in Ireland. He would not believe you until you give him some proof. And not only the old photo of you somewhere in Ireland. Something fresh and which 100% prove that you are currently living in Ireland.

Richards son here.

Incredibly unprofessional response and shows a lack of understanding and intelligence on your part. Also completely irrelevant.

It is not regulation to request a player to make a Skype call and to share a private Skrill page with the casino. That is an invasion of privacy and against GDPR. I also think borders on illegal.

Richard has provided his bank card and two proof of addresses to GGBet. YOU CANNOT HAVE A BANK CARD UNLESS YOU LIVE IN THAT COUNTRY. YOU CANNOT GET POSTED PROOF OF ADDRESS WITHOUT AN ADDRESS This is laughable.

I cannot logon to either of the sites from my location so my IP has never even come into question with either of these sites. Any logins will be from my fathers static IP.

So far all I have witnessed here is a site that has no understanding of KYC procedures and seems to make up rules and not condemn anything a casino does and simple tells the player to do anything the casino says.

It is disgraceful and GG put my father and others health at risk for no valid reason. You seem to have approved of this.

I’m astounded and not surprised my father had been given anxiety by this.

Hello, Richard's son. (what's your name?)

I am trying to help you, but it is not easy when you constantly undermine our work.

As I explained, there was an irregularity of the IPs, that we detected. Its not only about UK's IPs address. The Irish IP address was always different. (which is far from "static IP" and indicate VPN service).

I believe this was the reason why casino blocked the account. We can ask the casino, but I would like to have something how I can explain it, or it would be a lost cause. Don't get me wrong, but documents can be faked or used from somebody else. In this particular case, the casino simply blocked your's father account.

I would recommend to start with writing to support@booi.com that you disagree with a blocking of your father's account, as is written in T&C's here:

It is not regulation to request a player to make a Skype call and to share a private Skrill page with the casino. That is an invasion of privacy and against GDPR. I also think borders on illegal.

During a verification process your father sent the screenshot of his transactions from Skrill account - so where is the difference to show the same online during a call? You can make this check from home and it prove that you are an account holder. I dont see a reason why not to do such a check.

My son is handling my two complaints with you due to the stress all this has caused t has given me anxiety. IS THAT OKAY WITH YOU.

This explanation come after we pointed out on the IP's irregularity. You signed one of the messages as "Rich", and that time you had UK IP 🙂 So let's say we believe you, but just to be sure, would you mind to have a short skype call with me? Where you show me also your ID. After that I will have no doubts and will immediatelly contact the casino and fight as lion for you. Max 5 minutes of your time.

Richards Son

Is this a serious response form you? This service is laughable.

You have no concept of static or dynamic IPs. Is it illegal or against a casinos terms to log on from various IPs? You are aware people often have multiple internet connections in their homes?

You have done no work so there is nothing to undermine. You are bogged down on faff and semantics talking about completely irrelevant subjects and not dealing with either of my fathers complaint.

Booi blocked my fathers account because he had a passport not of that country. They had no idea (like you) of government regulations and gambling laws in the particular country when it comes to residence etc.

I’m not sure why you need a Skype call with my father. This is all bizarre and extremely unprofessional.

I would advise you to adjust your attitude and handle each complaint professionally and then email my father requesting a call if that’s what you want. At this point I advised him not to waste his time with you anymore as your priority (I believe) is casino affiliation and pretending to be mediators when in fact you are casino sympathises and simply do not help players at all. Having looked at the manner in which many of your employees behave during complaints I must say I am shocked. I also see no evidence of you helping players.

I don't want to talk with your father - I want to talk with you. (Richards son) and still you didn't tell me your name. Is 5 minutes of your time so big problem for you? I just want to exlain to you in person about what will be next.

This is not my complaint.

I am not based in the country that allows players. I am simply replying as it has all made my dad extremely stressed and he suffers with certain issues. I have no interest in talking with you on Skype.

Your priority here should be helping a player who has had his account blocked due to a casino failing to interpret their own ts and cs correctly or understanding gambling laws in his country.

With GGBet you should be acting as a mediator and dealing with that complaint forcefully. The casino has bordered on illegal behaviour and out my father and others health at risk. They have also lied to him on email. I’ve seen everything.

Make the above your priority and not these needless irrelevant exchanges.

I am very sorry if you have a wrong feeling about it. I just tried to help you and prepare you on the next stage when we are talking with a casino. Because you refuse to have a Skype call with me, I am inviting a casino representative into the discussion to explain why your's father account was closed and prove it.

Richard here.

Thank you for finally inviting the casino in.

The closed my account as I have a UK and northern ireland passport but have lived in the republic for 10 years. As I originally supplied in the screengrabs they seem confused as to the gambling laws of the land in relation to residents and citizens.

Hello Richard. I am in contact with casino representative and truly they closed your account based on your passport. May you please clarify, are you from Ireland or Northern Ireland?

From casino representative:

Your last deposit was €40, then you played some spins and decided to withdraw €33 but the casino instead of making the withdrawal returned your initial deposit of €40 and closed your account.

Is this information correct? It looks like you got your money back + extra €7.

I live in the republic of ireland and have lived here for 10 years. I own a home for goodness sake.

Yes on the screengrabs you will see they closed my account as my passport is not from republic. WHICH IS DOES NOT HAVE TO BE! They simply need to refer to the gambling laws.

Hello Richard.

In your case, you as an Ireland citizen (you need to prove this to the casino first) should receive all your winnings. 

However, your winnings (or balance) is €37 (casino wrote that) €47 by your claim. And by casino representatives, they refunded your deposit of €40. (please could you confirm this)

The problem is that every casino has a right to close the player account anytime. (they need to send the remaining balance back, of course) In your case, this happened. I can ask the casino if they will allow you to make verification, in case you want to keep the account and play later, but in case that casino refuses then there is nothing to do with it. 

(Probably you can fight for that €7 but I think it's not worth for it.)

You have another case opened with us. I would suggest focusing there. 

I understand your frustration from the whole situation, but you sent them UK passport, which is a restricted country. Casino immediately closed your account and refunded you, which is a correct approach. Although all this happened due to your passport and you live in Ireland, I would not consider the casino approach as abusive or wrong. If the casino decides to keep your account closed, it would be their decision, and they have right for doing it. All your balance you should receive back, so please confirm if you had €37 or €47 balance left on your account and if you received a refund of €40.

You do not consider a casino to be in the wrong even though they do not understand gambling laws?

The casinos approach was not correct in anyway. It is completely wrong and shows they have no understanding of how gambling laws work. If I lived in a restricted country, signed up from a restricted country and played then yes it would be right. I did not do this and do not live in a restricted country.

I am governed by Irish gambling laws as this is where I live. My wife has a Ukrainian passport but can play on many sites that do not accept players living in Ukraine. This is because its the gambling laws of the land that the casino needs to adhere to. NOT where someone's passport is from. People live all over the world in different countries with different passports.

A casino cannot discriminate against a player due to their ID. This is abuse and against the law.

Thanks for your advice but both my complaints are completely valid and correct and exposes casinos attempting to ignore gambling laws and make up their own rules. If you do not condemn them for this and acknowledge this then you are not fit for purpose.

I am sorry Richard but I disagree with you on the point where you say the casino cannot discriminate you based on nationality.

They are offering a service for certain people, and it is entirely up to them to choose the customers. There is no gambling law saying that if you have an online casino, you must accept Irish citizens. I must admit, the rule where players are restricted by citizenship, I saw just twice. It is very unusual, it doesn't make a sense, for a casino it means a decrease in profits to discriminate the players based on nationalities, but it is their decision. You can't do anything about it.

Each casino can decide anytime to decline their service to any player without reason.

Don't get me wrong. I understand why are you upset, this rule:

It is like a unicorn between the horses.

Why are we on the side of the casino? Because they do not owe you anything. They closed your account, and by this, you gained a €3. The only thing is that you are no longer able to play. And they can do the same by applying this rule:

And this is a very common rule, you can find it in every casino.

In the situation that the casino will close your account and void the winnings based on the citizenship or residency, and you used correct information during registration without VPN. Then we will be on your side because the casino should take reasonable steps to prevent you from playing if you are from a restricted country. And based on our fair gambling codex they should pay you. But it is not this case. And that's why we are saying - the casino had right to close your account. (they owe you nothing)

Then you are simply enabling casinos to make up absurd rules that have no basis in reality.

How a casino that has no understanding of gambling laws and regs can hold a 8.5 on your site is laughable.

Other players from other countries could fall fowl to this and the casino could use it to try and withhold money.

Richard, you submitted a complaint where our role is to determine who have right in the case, you or the casino.

You stated that the casino banned you and didn't return your deposit.

We investigated the case, and casino gave us information that they sent you the last deposit and indeed closed your account. By doing this, you gained a €3 profit.

I don't remember you confirming any of my questions regarding your refund.

Based on the information from the casino we believe they can close your account because they don't owe you any money and they have more legal ways how to do so, and they can do it anytime.

From all this complaint and another one, which you submitted, I don't have a feeling that you want to solve something, more likely you are only wasting our time.

You left a very negative review on Trustpilot before the complaint was even processed and assigned to me, and soon another two negative reviews were following. (Of course, we reported these reviews)

You refused to do a verification call. With the casino (in the second case) and with me when I confronted you about the IPs issue, and I asked your "son" to make a Skype call with me. All this indicates that you have something to hide + you completely ignored my questions about if the casino returned your deposit. So I assume your motivation is not to solve your complaint. Which reminds me a group of Ireland fraudsters we recently banned from our website, father and son and one couple. At least the style of writing and the way how this group work is the same.

I already explain to you why the casino has a right to close your account. And it is up to them how they set up the rules for the players' registration.

I will give you an example:

If you decide to make a small pub in your garden and some except your neighbours some noisy unfriendly German tourist start coming to your pub, you can ban them from doing so, and it's your decision, and the same is for the online casinos. They can ban you, or chose not to accept players based on which criteria they want, or ban the players as far as they always pay out the remaining balance.

Why they have a good rating from us? Because the casino is managed by the same people as Play Fortuna Casino, which has a perfect rating from us. And if you spend some time on our website and not only for complaining you could find information about how we calculate the rating https://casino.guru/our-casino-reviews or how long it takes till you get a response https://casino.guru/complaint-resolution-instructions

We already contacted the casino regarding the terms and condition and suggested them to eighter change the restriction rules or let the player chose the nationality during a registration. If they fail to do so, it will have a negative effect on the rating, of course, but it has no impact on your case.

If you believe that we are not helping the players, then you should see, for example, this complaint:

https://casino.guru/funclub-casino-player-s-struggling-to-withdraw-no

Where we spent lots of time to analyse the situation and eventually help the player.

Not mentioning that we do this service for free because we have a responsibility and trying to make this industry better and safer.

Unfortunately, in some cases, we are just wasting our time.

So, Richard, I wish you a merry Christmas, but I am rejecting your complaint from obvious reasons which I am repeating over and over.