Cardinal Casino - Failed self-exclusion.

I requested permanent account closure by email on 23 Oct clearly stating a gambling problem. Cardinal Casino took no action and in a compulsive gambling episode yesterday (2weeks after self-exclusion request) I lost 650GBP. 

I repeated my request for self exclusion via the site's online contact form but still my account remains open. There is no way a customer can set limits or close their own account. No published email address, no contact phone number and "Live Chat" is closed. 

I don't know what else I can do. Their own policy states they close accounts on request but nothing has worked. 

I would like my deposits returned but first and foremost I want my account closed and locked forever.

Dear Ruth,

Thank you very much for contacting us with your complaint. I can’t even imagine how hard it must be for you, not to be able to close your account with the casino. Please, could you forward me your e-mail in which you have requested a self-exclusion? Did you receive any kind of reply from the casino? I will do my best to help you with your case.

Best regards,

Petronela

Hi and thanks. I will forward you the original email - I assume i should send to complaints@casino.guru?

I have received no reply whatsoever from the casino. 

I did receive a marketing message from "Sophie" which offered me a bonus (!) and asked me how my experience had been, it literally invited me to write back with any "issues or problems". So I replied to this, on Friday, detailing everything that happened once again in the hope that this will prompt some kind of response. I have had no reply but the email has not bounced back so I assume they have received it. Same with all my emails to their support@ address - no bounce back but no reply.

Dear Ruth,

Thank you very much for your quick response. You can forward all the relevant communication to my e-mail address petronela.k@guruadmins.com . Thank you very much in advance.

Best regards,

Petronela

I would like to ask Cardinal Casino to reply to the player’s complaint. I’ve already received all the relevant communication from the player. Thank you.

Hi Ruth and Petronela,

We have looked into this and it seems the account has been closed.

We have received the emails in our support queue today and have made sure the account has been closed.

Sophie is 1 of our player account managers, she only works Monday - Friday, so if Ruth has sent an email to her then she would've only saw the email the same time today as support.

But nevertheless we find responsible gambling laws very important and will do whatever we can to help our players!

Kind Regards,

Cardinal Casino

You say you have closed my account - but I just checked and it is still open.

You also have not addressed the issue of having ignored my written request for self-exclusion nearly 3 weeks ago, and all of my subsequent communication. 

I would like to ask Cardinal Casino for a clarification in this problem. Firstly, please could you explain to the player, why her account is still accessible? Secondly, why after the player has sent first email asking for a self-exclusion (on 23rd of October), she’s been offered a bonus code? And lastly, what would be casino’s standpoint on the deposit that was made two weeks after player’s first attempt for the account closure. Thank you in advance for cooperation.

Best regards,

Petronela

Hello,

Can you check your account again please, as when we checked today we could see the account has been closed.

Also we have started an internal investigation as to why your account was not closed the day you sent your email and will make sure that this never happens again.

We would like to consider this matter resolved.

Kind Regards,

Cardinal Casino Team

Dear Ruth,

Please could you confirm that your account has been closed?

Thank you very much.

Best regards,

Petronela

Glad to say my account is now finally closed.

However this situation is NOT resolved. I should not have been able to deposit at all, 2 weeks+ after requesting self-exclusion with clearly stated gambling problem and those deposits should be refunded. 

Hi Ruth,

We are sorry to hear you had this problem and we will do everything in our power to investigate how this happened as this is clearly a training issue on the part of our support agents. The account has been closed, and the matter resolved and no further action will be taken externally.

Kind Regards,

Cardinal Casino Team

It is not a "training issue". It was a complete failure to respond to all my communications, a failure to provide any means of self-excluding and a failure to take responsible gambling seriously in any way. 

A refund of the deposits is a reasonable request which would set the financial harm done by the casino's failures to a simple 0, with no need then for any further action.

I would like to ask Cardinal Casino for a definite statement regarding player’s deposit in a value of 650 GBP, which was made provable after a self-exclusion has been requested. Thank you very much in advance.

Best regards,

Petronela

I am sorry to see the casino has decided to stop responding here. I have established contact with Gaming Curacao, who licenses Cardinal, and am proceeding with a formal complaint via their Compliance department. 

We would like to ask the Cardinal 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’.

Since we haven’t received any response from the casino regarding the issue, we are forced to close the complaint as ‘unresolved’. 

The casino can reopen this complaint anytime.