BookofCasino - Player's self-exclusion request ignored.

I've been imploring this casino to close my account for 4 days due to gambling addiction, yet they refuse to respond to my emails and allow me to continue playing despite my express admission of gambling problems!! The chat assures me that they've noted it down for the relevant department, but nothing is happening! I've asked them for a refund but no one is responding!!

Dear Annii84,

Thank you very much for submitting your complaint. I’m sorry to hear about your problem. Before we contact the casino and ask for their standpoint, could you please forward emails or screenshots showing that you have sent a request for a self-exclusion? My email address is petronela.k@casino.guru.

• Did you specify in that request for how long you wish your account to be suspended and the reason why?

When applying for the self-exclusion, state clearly the reason why you want your account to be deactivated and specify the time period. Also, email "Subject" should be clearly marked and easily recognizable as casino support receives many requests per day hence, if it’s visibly marked you stand a better chance to have your request granted as soon as possible. 

Example:

Email subject: Self-exclusion

Player’s info:

First name:

Last name:

DOB:

Casino login:

Email address:

"Greetings BookofCasino,

I’m writing to inform you that I wish to exclude immediately from this casino and from receiving any gambling-related marketing material for a minimum period of xxx months/years (lifetime).

The reason that preceded my decision is xxx

I acknowledge that I will not be allowed to rescind my self-exclusion during this period and self-exclusion cannot be lifted before the end of the agreed period."

Please send another email to support@bookofcasino.net (you can CC me at petronela.k@casino.guru in the copy) and keep me informed about any further developments. If there is any option for an alternative contact such as live chat or WhatsApp, please try that too and save screenshots of the relevant communication.

Thank you in advance.

Best regards,

Petronela

Emailed you screenshots

Hi Annii84,

I've noticed that you've sent multiple emails to support@bookofcasino.net and customercare@bookofcasino.net explicitly stating your intention to close your account due to a gambling problem.

Could you please inform me about the date of the initial email and forward it to petronela.k@casino.guru? This will provide solid evidence of the precise date and correct email address from which it was sent, as well as its intended recipient.

Thank you.

Dear Annii84,

We are extending the timer by 7 days. Please, be aware that in case you fail to respond in the given time frame or don’t require any further assistance, we will reject the complaint.

Hello! I have emailed you

Hi Annii84,

• Could you please advise if your account is still accessible?

Here are two screenshots that you forwarded and I can also confirm that you reached out to live chat after your account wasn't blocked.

26th February:

27th February:

Thank you.

It's not available, they closed it on Tuesday but only for 30 days 🤬

Thank you very much, Annii84, for providing all the necessary information. I will now transfer your complaint to my colleague Michal (michal.v@casino.guru) who will be at your assistance. I wish you the best of luck and hope to see your problem being resolved to your satisfaction in the near future.  

Hello Annii84,

My name is Michal and I will be assisting you with your case. I hope that together we will come to a successful resolution of your issue.

I would like to request the presence of a representative from the casino in this conversation.

Dear BookofCasino,

Could you possibly provide additional information regarding the self-exclusion request and clarify the situation?

Thank you in advance.

Respectfully,

Michal

Hello Michal,

Thank you for contacting us.

Initially, the player contacted our support team via email to request closure of her account. On the same day, she received a response directing her to send her request to our specialized team handling self-exclusion requests at customercare@bookofcasino.net. Three days later, the player sent an email to the specified address. However, her request did not meet the requirements outlined in our Terms and Conditions:

"3.22.3. The customer acknowledges, agrees and accepts that the procedure for Self-Exclusion with the Brand is as follows: If the customer wants to be Self-Excluded from bookofcasino.net, he/she needs to contact us on the following email address: customercare@bookofcasino.net

Customer’s email needs to include the following information:

(a) a clear request that states that customer wishes to be fully Self-Excluded (not partially restricted) on a voluntary basis;

(b) the duration of the period of the Self-Exclusion, with a minimum of twenty-four hours."

For further details, please refer to: https://bookofcasino.net/pages/terms-and-conditions

Please bear in mind that there is a technical timeframe required to process the request as there is a dedicated team that manually reviews each case. Since the player did not specify a duration, her account was excluded in accordance with our policy. 

We trust this information is helpful.

Kind regards,

BookofCasino Team

Dear BookofCasino Team,

Could you tell me why was the player's account restricted for 30 days if she did not specify the time period? Also, is the account blocked now or is it still accessible?

Hello Michal,

As the self-exclusion period was not specified by the user, the account was closed for 30 days, in order to restrict her access due to the nature of the request.

The current status of the account is closed, and not accessible.

Regards,

BookofCasino Team 

Dear BookofCasino,

Let me remind you that self-exclusion request due to a gambling problem is a very serious issue, because the player often loses control over his actions and is not thinking rationally. Informing the casino about a potential gambling problem is an important part of the self-exclusion process and we at Casino.Guru believe that if a player has a gambling problem and informs the casino about it, his account should be permanently closed without the possibility of opening (except for certain situations like when long enough self-exclusion period has already passed - we are talking about years) and also a relevant reopening process, which includes a sufficient cool off period (not a day but at least a week, ideally two) and also communication with the player during this cool-off period for verifying if the request was made in sound mind and wasn't just a temporary failure.

In this case, if the player's account was closed only for 30 days, which we don't consider sufficient. The player's account should be closed permanently. Also, could you tell us how long the whole process of self-exclusion took from the initial email mentioning gambling problems to closing the account?

Dear Michal,

Thank you for the reply but there are a couple of things that we need to clarify for you from our side.

In order to do so, we would like to direct you to our T&C, which the user has agreed with upon registering.

3.22.3. The customer acknowledges, agrees, and accepts that the procedure for Self-Exclusion with the Brand is as follows: If the customer wants to be Self-Excluded from bookofcasino.net, he/she needs to contact us on the following email address: customercare@bookofcasino.net

The customer’s email needs to include the following information:

(a) a clear request that states that the customer wishes to be fully Self-Excluded (not partially restricted) on a voluntary basis;

(b) the duration of the period of the Self-Exclusion, with a minimum of twenty-four hours.

As already referred in the thread, there is a technical timeframe required to process the requests, and it is also important to mention that during the period of pending self-exclusion, the player takes sole responsibility for any account activity, also explicitly explained in the T&Cs.

Based on the information stated above, we have not noticed, nor have we been made aware by the user of their gambling concerns, hence no premature actions were taken upon their first contact with the support.

She has not mentioned that she needs permanent account closure in any of her chats or emails, nor has she mentioned any timeframe in the email, therefore the 30-day self-exclusion period was applied, as a precaution due to the lack of provided timeframe.

If the player needs additional assistance, please keep in mind that we offer 24/7 chat support so there is always someone to help if and when it is required.

Furthermore, due to the new information, which we did not have when the player submitted their request, the exclusion timeframe has been amended accordingly.

Regards,

BookofCasino Team

they have Open my account again … i have email them and say that i have gambling problems and that they have to close it forever .. in 100000 yrats close it

That it will close my account for 100000 years

Dear Book of Casino,

Could you tell me in what state is the player's account at this moment? Is the self-exclusion permanent this time?

Dear Michal,

Thank you for contacting us back.

The player’s request for permanent self-exclusion has been processed by our relevant department, and the account is inactive.

Kind regards, 

BookofCasino Team

Dear BookofCasino,

Just to confirm, can you tell me exactly how long the process of self-exclusion took, from the moment the player sent you the first email mentioning the gambling problem to the moment of the final account closure?

Hello, Michal, 

We have received the self-exclusion request at our designated email on the 27th of Feb, and the account was successfully excluded on the 10th business day, which is within the timeframe for handling, and the Player was made aware of it via our chat support.

Regards,

BookofCasino Team

Dear BookofCasino,

Would you be able to provide me with the player's deposit history for the said period?

We would like to ask the casino to reply to this complaint. We are extending the timer by 7 days. If the casino fails to respond in the set time frame, we will close the complaint as ‘unresolved’ which may negatively affect its rating.

Dear Michal,

We are afraid that sharing such information would not be possible via public forums. 

However please note, that all relevant information regarding the query has already been provided:

-The player has been excluded within the proper timeframe as per our T&C, and that during the period of pending self-exclusion, the player takes sole responsibility for any account activity.

-We trust that it has also been clarified why the account was initially closed for 30 days only.

-Upon her latest request the account was closed and will remain so

Regards,

BookofCasino Team 

book of casino may share that information with my approval then

it applies to me!

Dear BookofCasino,

The deposit history does not need to be shared here in the thread, you can send all the relevant info to michal.v@casino.guru. I will be waiting for your email.

Dear Michal,

We believe that all related information has already been provided, hence deposit history would not be helpful for the further resolution of the case. 

Annii84 has clarified that she has made deposits while the self-exclusion was ongoing, and as referred above as per our T&C, while exclusion is in process, the Player takes sole responsibility for any account activity.

Note that all our actions are in accordance to our T&C.

Regards,

BookofCasino Team

Dear Annii84,

Since the casino is refusing to do so, would you be able to share your deposit history with me? It is crucial for us to determine if you are entitled to a refund, based on when exactly the deposits in question were made. I will be waiting for your update.

Where should I email it?

Please send all the relevant information to michal.v@casino.guru

Dear Annii84,

We are extending the timer by 7 days. Please, be aware that in case you fail to respond in the given time frame or don’t require any further assistance, we will reject the complaint.

Unfortunately, the player has not responded to our messages and questions. Consequently, we are unable to investigate further and have no choice but to reject this complaint.

The player can reopen this complaint at any time.

We’ve reopened this complaint at the request of Annii84. We would like to allow this case one more chance to be resolved and help both parties involved to reach a satisfactory conclusion.

Since it is obvious that the timeframe for a self-exclusion request due to gambling problem was too long in this case, I would once again like to ask the player to provide me with a complete list of deposit history to the casino from the 27th of February until the day of the account closure. Please, provide all of the information regarding your deposits to michal.v@gmail.com.

Dear Annii84,

I am setting one last timer. Please provide me with a list of deposits - all of the transactions that were made as deposits in the casino from the 27th of February until the day of the account closure. Not providing the requested information will result in rejecting this complaint.

But I have sent it to michal.v@casino.guru

You have only sent screenshots of emails that are already present in this thread. I have asked you for the screenshots of the deposits.

Dear Annii84,

We are extending the timer by 7 days. Please, be aware that in case you fail to respond in the given time frame or don’t require any further assistance, we will reject the complaint.

Thank you, Annii84 for the provided information.

Dear BookofCasino,

I would like to summarise this case. It was established that the player had asked for an account closure on the 27th of February and the actual closure came on the 12th of March. We at Casino.Guru understand that there is a certain timeframe needed for the whole self-exclusion process, as the casinos have to sort through all of the requests manually and one by one, dealing with each and every case on an individual basis.

However, we consider 10 working days to complete such a request to be a very long time. On one hand, the casino needs to be able to fulfill all of the requests in a manageable way, on the other hand, the timeframe needed for this whole process should be as short as possible so the players who are suffering from gambling addiction have their accounts closed and do not fall into the temptation to play more.

In conclusion, we find the whole self-exclusion process and also the responsible gambling policy in this case not sufficient enough and we recommend improving the whole process. We believe that the player should be entitled to get a refund of all the deposits that occurred on his account from the 4th of March if we take into consideration the time needed for completing the request by the casino.

Dear BookofCasino, are you willing to refund the player? I will be looking forward to your reply.

I have emailed them about the establishment history, I get this as a reply, then they stop replying...

Dear Michal,

As you mentioned there is a technical timeframe required to complete such a process and thus we have clearly described it in our Terms to which Players agree upon registration.

We believe that this case has already been discussed and we have provided all the necessary information and reasoning. 

Kind Regards,

BookOfCasino

I feel that you are disrespectful and exploitative, the way you initially took a long time to respond to me in both Mail and chat.. if you even had a conscience or respect for my initial request to close my account. I clearly wrote that I had a gambling addiction, you could have blocked my account immediately, it took a long time for you to close my account for 30 days as you did first, then you let me play again, I got to email and chat you again and then it took more superficial days for you to close my account permanently .. for me as a gambling addict I feel that you used it to make money .. because you know I will play as soon as I get the chance ! You have caused me to lose a lot of money from the day I asked you to close my account. No other gaming company has done this. Only you! Really disrespectful and poorly done by you! You will ruin many people's lives because of this! Hope you feel well and feel that you are doing a good job when you do this!

You have ruined my life!!!

you can't even have a conscience and pay me the amount you let me play for .. you are nothing but a disgrace and disrespectful !

Dear Annii84,

Our communication with the casino team has finished. Unfortunately, the casino team is convinced that their process was correct. In Casino.Guru, we believe that responsible gambling should be taken seriously, and every casino should do their maximum to make the self-exclusion process as quick as possible. In this case, we feel like it was not the case.

The last option is to file an official complaint at the licensing authority of the casino here.

I am now closing the case as 'unresolved'. Be aware that this complaint will affect the casino's reputation on our website in a negative way.

I am sorry we could not be of further help to you.

Best regards,

Michal V, Casino.Guru