CasinoWinBig - Player’s requesting a full deposit refund.

Hello CasinoGuru,

In July 2021 I played at 18bet.com (other label from the Operator of Casinowinbig.com) and after several losses and playing more then intended I requested a self exclusion to prevent myself from further damage. And since there T&C state that Shark77 which is the Operator offer this self exclusion I was happy as I knew that this will protect me at all their labels.

However last month I created an account at Casinowinbig.com without any problems and was able to deposit and play without any restriction or limitation while I still had a self exclusion active at 18bet.com.

There T&C states

7.1. A player may send an email to the Customer Support Department support@casinowinbig.com requesting Shark77 Limited to:  

•  set a limit on the amount the player may wager within a specified period of time

•  set a limit on the amount the player may lose within a specified period of time

set a limit on the amount of time the player may play during any one session. 

7.2. We realize that for some customers gambling might become a serious problem. For such customers, we offer a self-exclusion option for a definite or indefinite period of time, as per the customer's request. If you would like to self-exclude yourself, please contact us at support@casinowinbig.com specifying the terms of your desired exclusion. If you would like to amend the terms of exclusion, a subsequent request needs to be sent to the same email. More restrictive limits requested will be implemented immediately, while less restrictive or revoking of limits will only be put into place after a 7-day cooling period.  

Since I was able to deposit multiple times with higher amounts and the casino did not see any sign or do anything I feel duped by Casinowinbig.com and its Operator Shark77 LTD as they did not protect me enough while they were aware of my self exclusion as a Repsonsible Gaming limit(not a regular one).

I also could discuss about a T&C breach as they state in their T&C that some countries are not allowed to register however they do allow those people to create an account by choosing the country and landline code for the phone number.

However my main claim is based on their lacking Responsible Gaming Policy as I should've never been able to create an account in the first place following the active Self exclusion which was set at 18bet.com

The more frustrating part is that the casino is unreachable at the moment as they still did not reply on my formal complaint from 27/11 while there T&C state that I should get a reply in ten days or the casino will inform me that they need another 10 days. But everytime I start a chat with the casino I get the same reply that it is still under review and I will get a reply soon. This casino does not only lack their Responsible Gaming Policies but also its T&C without taking their responsibility.

What I want from this casino is a full refund of my lost deposits and update their Responsible Gaming tools as they are not working fully or change the policy and state that the player should contact each casino label for an exclusion.

Dear Yousst,

Thank you very much for submitting your complaint and forwarding the relevant communication. I’m sorry to hear about your problem. I have checked the License Validator and this is what I found (here):

Could you please advise how long ago was your 18bet Casino account blocked? Have you used the same credentials to open your CasinoWinBig account? Additionally, please forward your cashier/deposit history along with supporting evidence regarding successful self-exclusion from 18bet Casino to petronela.k@casino.guru.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Best regards,

Petronela

Thank you very much, Yousst, for the forwarded email. Do I understand correctly that your 18bet Casino account has been self-excluded from the 6th of July 2021?

Thats correct! However I was able to create a account in november 2021

Thank you very much, Yousst, for providing all the necessary information. I will now transfer your complaint to my colleague Peter (peter.m@casino.guru) 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.

Hi Yousst,

I have looked at your case and understand the situation. I will contact the casino and see if I can help. I would like to invite CasinoWinBig to the conversation to participate in the resolution of this complaint.

Hello Peter,

I ve sent you an mail with some updates, the bottomline is that this casino after 5 weeks still did not reply on my complaint and following the Regulators terms and indicated times it should normally take max 20 days. And for the max 20 days they have to inform me in the first 10 days of the complaint according to the MGA rules.

Unfortunately they did not inform me they only reply with standard replies as under review and you will get an answer soon back from them but with 5 weeks I don't know whether they will reply ever or not, that's why I forwarded this case to their ADR hoping that they can resolve it for me otherwise I will reach out to their Regulator.

I see that there is an other complaint ongoing as well and there they did not reply as well so I dont expect them to reply to this one.

Thank you Yousst for your reply and emails. You are right that the whole process takes longer than it should. Contacting the ADR was good thinking, let's see if it bears some fruits. We would like to ask CasinoWinBig to reply to this complaint. We are extending the timer by 10 days. If the casino fails to respond in the set time frame, the complaint will become ‘unresolved’ which may negatively affect its rating.

Since we have less then 12 hours left and this casino did not bother to reply here or contact me directly I doubt they will do it anyway. I think that this case can be closed as unresolved and you guys should reconsider the rating this casino have as they are not worth it and players should be aware of their lacking Support and complaint system. I will try my luck at their ADR and if that also take months go to their Regulator as this is everything but a good casino. Just like their sister brand 18bet.com which is also owned by Shark77 Limited.

My rating for this casino and trust in their company is 0/10

Hi Yousst,

I'm afraid you are right, it seems that the casino won't be responding. I'm not sure what you mean by "reconsider the rating", the casino already has a "questionable reputation" and it will only get worse if it will keep ignoring the complaints. I will mark the complaint "unresolved" in our system, the decrease in rating caused by unresolved complaints could help to change the casino's approach. If the casino decides to react, we will reopen the complaint and you will be notified by email. Let me know when you hear from the ADR, I wish you the best of luck.

Best regards,

Peter

We’ve reopened this complaint as per the player’s request. We received the following message:

"I finally got a ruling from Pardee Consulta (their ADR entity) and they ruled in my favor which means that I am Casinowinbig.com must pay all my deposits back to my personal bank account within 30 days after I send them my bank details."

Dear Yousst,

Could you please forward the ADR's decision to my email address (peter.m@casino.guru)?

I also wonder what I can do if the casino fails in refunding the amount given the fact that this might be a serious option given their record on not responding here.

Hi Yousst,

I'm not sure if the casino will reply here but according to the ADR's decision from the 5th of September, you should get paid within 30 days. I will set the timer to 19 days.

Thanks Peter

I will keep you updated about the payment.

Hello Peter,

With less then a week ahead I highly doubt they will refund me within the ruled timeframe from the ADR.

On the Live Chat all they say is that the Relevant Department will come back to me as soon as possible without any timeframe mentioned.

Presuming that they will fail in refunding the amount (meaning they are not respecting a binding result from the ADR) what are my options then? Can I take them straight to court to force them to comply with the ruling, or do I need to get to the MGA?

PS: if they fail to comply (and this complaint gets closed unresolved) it is worth the mention to triple the black points then as the casino did not only lack a response here they also ignored a binding ruling from the ADR.

Hi Yousst,

The aforementioned 30-day period is over and I received a reply from the casino rep. I'm afraid it's not what you wanted to hear. I was informed that your case is still being handled by the casino's lawyers. It's hard to tell when the case will be closed. I suggest we close it here as "the regulator decided that the player was right" until there's any progress.

Hello Peter,

It would behoove this casino to reply on this thread but it is a huge step that they responded to you at least.

Is it possible to quote them here with what their rep mentioned?

What I do not understand is what this casino mean by it is reviewed by their lawyers, as this ruling is binding. Do I need to escalate this to the MGA or also contact a law firm to execute the ruling as the ADR made to me very clear that I am not allowed to take legal action if I want to undertake the ADR process and ruling.

The behavior of this casino proof otherwise.

You can close it as "ADR ruled that the player was right, but casino did not refund the player yet", but this is worth black points as the casino does not (yet) comply with a binding ruling from Pardee(ADR) which they are supposed to do.

Hi Yousst,

That is actually all I was told and that they can't provide me with any other information. There will definitely be black points for this when the case is closed. I'm sorry the resolution of this case takes so long but it's beyond my influence now. I will close the case as we agreed and will let you know as soon as there's news. I wish I could be of more help.

Best regards,

Peter

We are changing the status of the complaint to "resolved" based on the player's message we received:

"Hello Casino Guru team,

Since I have an great update I would like to share the outcome.

After your last post that the casino stated that this matter is with the lawyers I send several mails (of course) with no answer so I ended up escalating this case by forwarding the ruling to the MGA. And as of yesterday my funds have been credited on my bank account and the case can be closed with a good result for me.

This is only because of the fact that the MGA stepped in this matter which resulted in this outcome. That being said while the case is solved for me the black points should remain since the casino did not comply with the ADR ruling and they were lacking any communication until last Monday (probably after MGA stepping in). To other players who have unresolved complaints I would recommend to contact the MGA straight instead of the ADR to save time."

Thank you, Yousst, for the update, and thank you for using the Casino Guru complaint resolution center. Don’t hesitate to contact us if you run into any issues with this or any other casino in the future.

Best regards,

Peter