Casiku Casino - Player's account closure leads to complaint of gambling harm.

I am raising a complaint against Casiku Casino regarding serious gambling-related harm.

I am a self-excluded player through GAMSTOP, yet I was able to open an account and deposit approximately £1,200 over 5 days. While I accept responsibility for my gambling, my rapid losses clearly demonstrate harm and highlight a failure of the operator’s responsible gambling measures.

Casiku’s Terms and Responsible Gaming policies state that players should be protected through deposit limits, time-out tools, session reminders, and GAMSTOP integration. Despite these policies, no effective intervention occurred while I was depositing and losing at a very high rate.

While I used a different email and address than my GAMSTOP registration, this does not remove the operator’s duty of care. Under the UK Gambling Commission Social Responsibility Code (provisions 3.1.2, 3.5.5, and 3.5.6), operators are legally required to take all reasonable steps to identify and prevent harm to vulnerable players. Casiku failed to do so in my case.

I am therefore requesting a full or partial refund of deposits (~£1,200) made during this period, or a goodwill offer as compensation for the harm I experienced. I am not seeking to escalate this beyond mediation, I just want the operator to acknowledge their failure and take reasonable steps to compensate a vulnerable player.

I have already raised this complaint internally with Casiku, but my request was denied, citing mismatched registration details. I believe this overlooks their legal and regulatory responsibility to protect vulnerable players, which is why I am seeking your assistance as an impartial mediator.

I appreciate your help in reviewing this case and ensuring the casino takes responsibility for failing to adequately protect a self-excluded, vulnerable player.

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Dear Loohis,

Thank you very much for submitting your complaint. I’m sorry to hear about your negative experience with Casiku Casino.

Please allow me to ask you a few questions so I can better understand the situation.

• Was the address you provided your actual place of residence, or was it a fictitious address?
• Have you tried contacting support after you registered at this casino?
• Could you please share your self-exclusion requests with me? Please share the information to my email at katarina.d@casino.guru.
• Could you please advise when was the last time the casino allowed you to deposit?

As part of our Global Self-Exclusion Initiative, we've partnered with BetBlocker, a UK-registered charity providing a free service to support people worldwide. You can find more information about our initiative here (https://casino.guru/global-self-exclusion-initiative) and about BetBlocker here (https://betblocker.org/).

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Additionally, BetBlocker includes a list of 824 gambling information sites. These sites primarily inform users about and advertise gambling services. You can choose to include these sites in your restriction by ticking a box. However, if you have an ongoing complaint against a gambling operator, do not check this box, as it will prevent you from accessing the Casino.Guru website as well.

In the meantime, check other resources and information in our responsible gambling guide found here: https://casino.guru/responsible-gambling-guide

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

Best regards,

Katarina

Hello Katarina,

Thank you for your reply. I am happy to clarify the information you asked for.

1. The address I provided to the casino is my actual place of residence and matches the address on my credit file.

After checking GAMSTOP, I noticed that my previous address is still listed there, but my name, date of birth, and phone number all match exactly. These are primary identifiers under GAMSTOP’s matching system, so the operator should still have identified the exclusion or carried out a manual review, especially considering my deposit pattern.

2. Yes, I contacted support after I registered and deposited.

I informed them that I have a gambling addiction and that I am already self-excluded. The account was only closed after I reached out to them. The casino did not proactively intervene.

3. I will send my GAMSTOP screenshot and any relevant self-exclusion documents to your email at katarina.d@casino.guru.

4. The last deposits were made very recently, within the past few days.

Under the UK Gambling Commission’s Social Responsibility Code Provisions (SRCP 3.4.1 and 3.5.5):

Operators must identify and interact with customers showing indicators of harm.

Operators must monitor unusually high or rapid spending, especially on new accounts.

Operators must prevent gambling by anyone with an active GAMSTOP self-exclusion.

Operators must conduct manual checks where automatic matching is incomplete or where the player shows high-risk behaviours.

In my situation:

Significant deposits were made in a very short period of time, which is a clear harm indicator requiring manual review and responsible gambling intervention.

No one from the casino contacted me, despite the pattern of deposits and the fact that I was a brand-new customer. The account was only closed when I informed them directly that I was struggling and already self-excluded.

My GAMSTOP details matched on name, date of birth, and phone number.

Even if my previous address was still listed on GAMSTOP, operators are required to carry out additional checks when several key identifiers match, particularly when there is high-risk activity.

The account should not have been able to be opened or used at all, as my GAMSTOP exclusion was active at the time.

If you need anything further, I will be happy to provide it.

I did send this 🙂

Dear Loohis,

Thank you for your reply and emails.

I have read through your evidence and email communication. In the past, we have handled GAMSTOP-related cases, but we have received guidance suggesting that it is best for players to directly contact GAMSTOP https://www.gamstop.co.uk/contact-us. Regrettably, we are not privy to the specific procedures and methods GAMSTOP employs to verify eligibility for refunds among registered users. While we have our own self-exclusion procedures, GAMSTOP operates independently and employs its own set of criteria, which we are not acquainted with. Consequently, it is beyond our ability to assess such cases.

If there are any further developments regarding your case in the future, please don't hesitate to contact me at katarina.d@casino.guru, and I will update this thread accordingly. Once again, I wish we could offer more assistance.

Best regards

Katarina