Punt Casino ZA - Player’s winnings have been confiscated.

Made a withdrawal and bonus funds was removed so coupon used was cancelled went online and asked if I can cancell withdraw was adviced by Thomas knight yes and if u make more money u can withdraw. No one said if you continue to play that certain games is still excluded as the bonus code was no rules no playthru no max cash out progressive games was excluded on coupon so went to play on one for a while after initial withdraw were their bonus funds etc was removed. 3 Days later my withdrawal approved then all my funds of 77500 was removed and my deposit amount deposited back in player account then my winnings removed as I played a game not allowed after withdrawal was cancelled so why did the consultant not adviced when I requested to cancell withdrawal as I adviced him I used a coupon before

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Dear broken,

Thank you very much for submitting your complaint. I’m sorry to hear about the issues you’ve encountered with your withdrawal and the removal of your winnings at Punt Casino.

Before we can proceed and contact the casino on your behalf, could you please clarify a few points so we have a complete understanding of your situation?

• Did the casino confirm in writing (chat or email) that canceling the withdrawal would also remove any restrictions from the previously used coupon?
• Could you share the name or ID of the bonus/coupon you used, as well as the terms and conditions you received for it?
• Do you still have the transcript or screenshot of the conversation with the support agent (Thomas Knight) where you were told you could continue playing freely? If yes, please upload it here or send it to petronela.k@casino.guru.
• Which specific game did you play after canceling the withdrawal that the casino later stated was "not allowed"?
• Finally, did the casino provide an official explanation (email or message) confirming the decision to void the 77,500 winnings? If so, please forward it to us as well.

Your cooperation in providing these details will help us investigate and work towards a resolution and determine the next appropriate steps.

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

Due to the increased volume of complaints during this time of year, we kindly request your patience while awaiting our responses. We aim to publish each complaint within 72 hours of submission, but reserve up to 7 days to reply to any subsequent comments. Additionally, please be aware that it might take a bit longer for your complaint to be assigned to a resolver, as we are currently managing over 1,000 complaints. Your understanding is greatly appreciated. Wishing you a delightful holiday season, and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

Good day

thank u for email

i did send u two emails one is the chat and one email from casino

[player's email address deleted by Casino.Guru] was used.

question one

once u withdraw and al terms is met the coupon does not show any more. They remove theire funds and sistem allow u to use a new coupon

so thats why i went online to chat and adviced i used a bonus code can i play again.

question 2

attached in photo

question 3

transcript emailed

question4

forward email to u

thank u so long

Three emails was forwarded to u

Hi broken,

Thank you for the information provided so far.

If possible, could you please request your full game history and account history from the casino (including deposits, withdrawals, and gameplay records) and forward it to us? This documentation can help us better understand the situation and check whether the casino’s claims are justified.

You can send it directly to: petronela.k@casino.guru.

Thank you in advance for your reply.

Good day

thank you for your message will forward to u what I can get they say cant supply game play log/info forward from my [player's email address deleted by Casino.Guru] email

Good day

hope u are well I did forward u the screenshots I can take from website I did asked for the game play history but was adviced sorry I cant supply they requested to send a screen shot of history and I did and chat was closed as u can see per my previous chats as wel when I spoke to Thomas the last time before transfer to him also asked stats for games etc. it will not help to email them as all mails from me is ignored since my funds removed

Hi broken,

Thank you for the update and for sharing all the screenshots and communication you were able to obtain. I understand the situation is frustrating, especially since the casino is refusing to provide the full gameplay history.

Unfortunately, without a complete game log, we need to clarify a few critical points directly with you to ensure we fully understand what happened. I would therefore kindly ask you to confirm the following:

Bonus wagering completion

• Can you please confirm whether the wagering requirements for the coupon/bonus were fully completed at the moment when you first requested the withdrawal?

Withdrawal timeline

• Do I understand correctly that you requested a withdrawal after completing the bonus wagering, the bonus funds were removed and the coupon was no longer visible.
• You then cancelled the withdrawal (after speaking with support), and you continued playing afterward?

Once we have your clarification, we will review the case further and determine the next appropriate step.

good day

thank u for email

bonus wagering requirements

As per chat with Thomas u will not be able to do the withdrawal before bonus terms is met and play through is met the coupon won’t allow withdrawal until this is done.

withdraw timeline

yes withdrawal was pending for I think one day as theire withdrawal timeline is 3-5 working days. Excluding holidays and weekends

thats why I went online to ask if I can continue playing and I made them aware I used a coupon in the beginning with my deposit otherwise I would have never cancelled my withdrawal if the said coupon still in play. No normal person wil ask to play on and when they say yes go and play things not allowed to loose everything

As you can see per last sentence as well Thomas said will go find out were money was won as it was won in games included but not even that information they want to supply

I forwarded u an email again were I asked for game play etc evertime just get bonus terms pasted and chat closed they don’t want to supply me anything

Hope u are well

As u can see rhe game in question that was played after my withdrawel was canceled that thomas said was ok to cancellel is a slot game as per photo as slots an keno is allowed

As u can see per rules it says u need to play the free spins first before u can play any other game no excluded games in the coupon rules as rhis was a no rule bonus so i still dont understand why they do this if no rules is set out in coupon that sertain games is excluded

Here are other bonus they have available now as u can see in these rules set out for these coupons just to show u the diference in theire coupons

so as u can see max bonus amounts etc…. Terms like these was not in my no rule bonus

And as u can see per photo supplied if theire is game restrictions on coupons the system blocks u

Dear broken,

Thank you for your message, and I’m sorry for replying only now.

I would like to check a few final points with you so we can correctly assess the situation, especially since the casino has refused to provide a full gameplay history.

Game history

• Could you please confirm once again whether you eventually received any official game or account history from the casino (beyond screenshots)? If yes, please forward it to me. If not, thank you for confirming that as well.

Balance after wagering completion

• After the bonus wagering requirements were fully completed and before you requested the withdrawal, do you recall approximately how much your real-money balance was at that moment?
• Additionally, was your balance ever capped or adjusted at any point around the time you requested or canceled the withdrawal?

Bonus warnings / system messages

• After the bonus wagering was completed and the bonus funds were removed, did you see any pop-up message, warning, or notification informing you that bonus terms and game restrictions were still in effect while playing?

Your answers to these questions are important, as they help us determine whether the casino’s actions were clearly communicated and whether the rules were applied transparently from the player’s perspective.

Once I have your confirmation, I will review the case further and advise you on the next steps.

Good day

thank u for your email and once again thank u for your assistance.

Could you please confirm once again whether you eventually received any official game or account history from the casino (beyond screenshots)?

1. nothing received asked multiple times.

Balance after wagering completion

After the bonus wagering requirements were fully completed and before you requested the withdrawal, do you recall approximately how much your real-money balance was at that moment?

1.R80945.90

Additionally, was your balance ever capped or adjusted at any point around the time you requested or canceled the withdrawal?

1.R80945.90 was left after theire R4500 was removed . So this was real balance before i went on chat to ask about if i can cancell and continue to play. Then i went on playing after withdrawel was cancelled and had withdrawels again few days later 3xR50000 then i cancelled them again one buy one and played till i came to R80000 again and withdraweld again before i played all back. So bo caps or money adjusted only 4500 removed as per photos sent to u.

Bonus warnings / system messages

After the bonus wagering was completed and the bonus funds were removed, did you see any pop-up message, warning, or notification informing you that bonus terms and game restrictions were still in effect while playing?

1 Nothing at all u can click on any game to play with no messaga. Even the coupon tab was empty and you could claim a new coupon and made a deposit . Should u needed to deposit.

So no message like this came up when i started to play again.

and as my whole questuon remains i did not play buy my self i went online and asked before withdrawel was canceled and i did not hide it that i used a coupon so Thomas was supposed to explain the procudere when u cancel your withdrawel and as u can see per photo as well the system blocks u when a coupon is in play

the money i won that they took away was on a game were u have to choose in the bonus round to get 3 of the same for miny minor major or grand.

thank you for takeing the time to assist me.

Just to show u again

new no rule bonus receives per email now also not showing any games excluded. as can see the one i used that day slots and keno only. spirit of inca played after they confirmed per chat is a slot game.

Dear broken,

Thank you for your cooperation and for providing all the necessary information. I truly appreciate the time and effort you’ve taken to share everything with us so far.

Your complaint will now move to the next stage of our process and be handled by your dedicated Resolver, Michal (michal.k@casino.guru). This is a standard step in our procedure, as the Resolver will take over communication with the casino directly and manage your case from this point onward.

No action is required from you right now. Your Resolver will reach out through this thread if any additional details are needed. You can rest assured that your case is in very capable hands.

I wish you the best of luck and hope your case will be resolved to your satisfaction soon.

Thank u so much for email and for the assistance hope u can resolve for me soon and get a good outcome as i can see on internet u are the best

Hello broken,

I'm Michal, and I have taken over your complaint. I have reviewed your case, and I will contact the casino to shed more light on this matter and to see if I can help somehow.

We would like to invite Punt Casino ZA to join the conversation.

Dear Punt Casino ZA,

Can you please clarify the course of events and why the bonus restrictions when it comes to allowed games were still in place when, as the player said, the bonus rule was removed when they submitted a withdrawal request?

How was the player supposed to know that the game's restrictions are still in place?

I would greatly appreciate it if you could provide us with the player's full gamelog, including the bonus history, for an independent review.

If there are any other factors relevant to this case that cannot be shared publicly, please feel free to forward them directly to me at michal.k@casino.guru or via Teams

Hi Mical

nice to meet u.

thank u for message and assistance hope we can resolve this

Greetings all,

I had the chance to review the situation and I can see that you were playing with a deposit coupon broken. Per the terms and conditions of the casino and the bonus itself, only standard slots and keno games are allowed while playing funds from this bonus. You played and won on progressive slots which are specifically forbidden with any funds stemming from a bonus.

For this reason, the win using your deposit+bonus funds was deemed ineligible for withdrawal and denied. The non-cashable funds were then removed, and your initial deposit of R2500 was placed back into your account as cash.

Unfortunately (especially in the case of a no playthrough/no max cashout bonus) there is no way for us to physically lock non-allowed games as the funds are at all times considered as "cash" within the system (after the 1x playthrough necessary to prevent money laundering). It is up to the player to inform themselves of the rules under which they are playing as mentioned in the pop-up on coupon redemption.

As you see in the terms, there are no types of bonus which allow progressive slots. They get too big and pay out too often for us to provide "free" money to play them with.

The player was also informed of the situation, the initial deposit was received back into the account as cash, and the funds have been played back into the system.

There isn't anything I can do to assist here I'm afraid. Wish I could be more help.

Best wishes,

Nick and Punt ZA

Money was won ob mighty drums witch is a normal slot game. You guys keep saying my winings was taken because i played spirit of the inca witch is not a allowed game this was played after my inicial withdrawed. Went online and asked thomas if i cancel withdrawel if i can continue to play and was not adviced coupon still in play once u cancell withdrawel please supply us with my game play history as we have been asking for a while now

Other coupons has restrictions so dont understand why this one not. But all comes down to my big question why was i not informed by thomas after i noted i used a coupon if i cancel my withdrawel that all rules stil in play so what is the use to go online ask for help get wrong information then get penilised for it

Secondly spirit of inca shows online slot witch i played after withdrawel was made and thomas said yes u can play.

secondly thomas said he will follow up wit acounts as money won in begining was onmighty drums as i choosed correctly and won the grand but still would never have played on if thomas did not say i can play on and even if he said remember rules in play would have stick to my normal games like before.

question remains why do u not want ro supply my game history for that day

Then what i dont understand is that 6.8.1 says cancelled withdrawil does not fall into deposit category.

10.1.4 once withdrawel the bonus is removed from player acount. No place does it state once withdrawel is canceled once bonus is removed that it is added back on again

Dear broken,

Thank you for providing additional information in support of your claim. To help us address your case more efficiently, I kindly ask that you refrain from repeating responses or posts that have already been shared.

I have reviewed the live chat conversation with agent Thomas, and it appears there may have been a misunderstanding regarding the discussion, as the details indicate that:

There is no mention (at least I have not found it ) that you can play all games, and you have not asked for the specific game either.

Anyway, I have requested further information from the casino team and some additional evidence to have a better understanding of the entire situation.

I hope to provide an update soon.

Good day

Thank i for email.

sory if i made duplicate reaponce.

yes i understand i did not asked about specific games but as i understand the terms is once u withdrawe and the bonus fumds is removed the coupon is cancelled because if u withdrawe and payment is made to u the funds is yours and as per the chat as well with Thomas the system will not allow i to withdraw if the coupon is still in play with rules etc.And when u play u dont have a spacific game in mond to play u browes thru the list. My question remains my firts thing in my chat was i adviced that i used a bonus coupon. Even if no games was mentioned. They were supposed to say yes u can cancell and play But FULL Coupon rules apply.

any normal person will also think ok i received bonus of 4500 with my deposit this is bonus funds and withdraweld 4500 was taken first of balance so the rest is my funds. If the funds was placed back in player acount and included the origanal 4500 that was removed u would imdiatelt know that the coupon is back.

And even if they said yes you can cancelle withdrawel but bonus back in play would have stoped and not cancelled withdrawel.

why will u risk your winnings on perpose if you knew coupon was in played.

thank u for assistance so far

Dear broken,

I have discussed your case with the casino representative even outside of this thread, and there are a couple of things that came to light during the investigation that need to be mentioned.

First of all, you have claimed multiple bonuses in this casino, and thus, you had multiple opportunities to review and familiarise yourself with the casino's terms and conditions and bonus rules. Ultimately, you fully agreed to the casino's terms and conditions when you registered your account and claimed the bonuses.

Secondly, as it's clearly stated in the bonus coupon rules, the bonus can be claimed up to 2x.

You made three deposits of the same amount on the same day, within a relatively short time frame, each using the same bonus code. As a result, it could be argued that, in addition to playing a restricted game, the bonus may not have been intended to be granted on the third deposit. From a strictly technical perspective, this could raise questions regarding entitlement to the resulting winnings.

That said, at Casino Guru, we do not assess cases solely based on a strict interpretation of the rules. We also take into account principles of fairness, transparency, and reasonable casino practices. We strongly believe that bonus-related restrictions should ideally be enforced at the software level or, at the very least, clearly and explicitly communicated to the players beforehand.

If a bonus is freely available in a player’s account and can be claimed without bypassing any visible restrictions, then—provided no other rules are violated—any winnings generated with that bonus should generally be honoured. In this case, your third deposit was processed normally, and the bonus was awarded without any apparent limitation on the casino side.

Based on the information and evidence available, the disputed winnings were achieved fairly while playing Mighty Drums, which was an eligible game under the active bonus conditions. You later played Spirit of Inca only after cancelling your previous withdrawal request.

While in general, and especially when a withdrawal request bypasses a certain higher amount, it must be reviewed by the appropriate team, which takes a bit of time. Since you cancelled your withdrawal in under an hour, it could not have been reviewed/confirmed by the appropriate team, so the bonus limitations were not fully removed. However, you could not know this as a customer. The casino doesn't mention this type of situation in its terms and conditions.

Importantly, it has been confirmed that no pop-up warnings, in-game notifications, account messages, or similar alerts were shown to indicate that the funds remained subject to bonus restrictions. Under these circumstances, it was reasonable to assume that the funds you continued to play with were no longer bound by the bonus rules. The live chat conversations you had with Thomas and other agents are not considered decisive in this case, as the discussion did not specifically address bonus conditions, and you did not ask about specific games; rather, the agent appropriately responded to your question regarding withdrawal eligibility once wagering requirements had been met.

Taking all of this into account, while certain aspects of your actions may raise questions, it seems the casino did not implement sufficient preventative measures to avoid this situation. As such, we believe that confiscation of the winnings seems to be unjust.

I have shared our position with the casino representative and am currently awaiting their response to see if a reasonable consensus on how to settle the situation in a way acceptable for both parties can be reached.

Thank u for your email i understand what u are say and agree me and casino at fault and agree i have made a mistake in not inderstanding everthing so we are both equal at fault and not fair that i am penilized alone

Good morning hope i are doing well any update

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.

Greetings all,

Much of what is written below is a thought exercise, if you would like to skip this and get to the decision on the part of the casino it is at the bottom of this (rather lengthy) screed. 🙂

Casino.guru and their fair gambling codex are an amazing resource, historically it is very rare for us as an organization to disagree with them on the handling of players.

In this case we differ in one key aspect:

Casino.guru feels we should not be "allowed" to offer bonuses with rules beyond the spectrum of what we can mechanically control. That while a bonus is active the bonus rules must be physically and rigidly enforced by the mechanics of the casino.

On our end this would make it impossible to offer the bonus value our players love (and have come to expect).

It also opens the door (for the player, casino.guru, et al) to take any portion of the terms and conditions (of any casino) and ignore (or re-write) them however they feel is suitable.

We are not children here, and we feel this is a "net nanny" mentality. If a player is not responsible for or beholden to the terms they are playing under (and must be mechanically prevented from breaking them) are they responsible enough to play in the first place?

Unfortunately, usury, misdirection, and abuse of players do exist. There are bad actors in any industry, but none of those terms are applicable here and the casino has done everything within its power to assure that all parties involved have been properly informed and treated fairly.

After meeting with Punt management we agree that it is impossible to be flexible in this situation.

(As casino.guru has mentioned) There are also significant indicators that the player actually knew the terms they were playing under and tried to "work around" them through various actions on their part but on this point we digress…

The bottom line here are the three points below:

1.  The casino operates under published terms and conditions and has the right to dictate those terms, just as the player has the right of refusal (by choosing not to participate).
2. At no point was the player misdirected or important information withheld.
3. After denial of the requested withdrawal the player accepted the ruling of the casino. Accepting the cash deposit funds (then playing them as cash) constitutes a 2nd and binding contract between the player and the casino and eliminates any liability on the part of the casino for the initial deposit/play session (which included the deposit coupon and "non-allowed" game play in question).

For us, it is number 3 that stops this dialogue and leaves the subject of player versus casino responsibility (regarding bonus rules) for another day.

The deposited funds that resulted in a win, regardless of the validity of that win no longer exist.

In accepting the ruling of the casino and receiving the funds back (and playing them with the chance to win) the incident which is the source of this complaint no longer exists. Technically speaking, a secondary "contract" between the casino and the player was entered which cancels the initial agreement.

Ethically speaking, if we were responsible for paying any resulting win on the re-deposited cash funds accepted by the player (then freely played and lost), this becomes a case of "double jeopardy" for the casino. If both are valid, win or loss for the player, we lose either way.

The time for the "thought exercise" above was before that money was accepted and/or played back into the system. The player knowingly accepted the funds, played them, and there was no resulting win.

After this, the player chose to file a complaint.

In this situation it is clear to us that the casino has fulfilled its obligation (both ethically and per the terms of the casino) to the player and we consider the basis for this complaint to be null and void.

We understand that the complainant and casino.guru may not agree with this decision, but despite any insinuation otherwise we hold our obligation to the player sacred. Every spin can change fortunes. Had the player won 1000x the denied withdrawal in question while playing with pure cash and zero rules, the player would have gotten paid.

With utmost respect to all parties involved, the player willingly chose to take a chance and it didn't pay off. If it had paid off this complaint would not exist.

On those grounds, we deny any further obligation.

Hopefully this clarifies things for everyone.

Best wishes,

Nick and Punt ZA

Dear casino guru and punt

To point 3 i did not acvept your dision and rhis is untrue.after my funds was canceled and removed for my winnings i withdraweld my money withs i depositited as i said to my self at least i get my money back after i have been treated unfain and lost my winnings. Then i received and email saying u have to play the funds at least once before u can withdraw as per casino terms sonthis is also unfair as u took al my winings as i broke rule aparently . Then u want me to playtru of 1x again to receive my own money back at least.this mos dont make sence as i did not deposit again and i did play thru the playthrou on my deposit so why do i need to do again ? So how do u see this fair u remove my winnings and want me to play again for playthru?

This is a utter lie was not willingly as i ut least wanted to get my own money back but hidden rules again to get my money back now new playhru again.

After denial of the requested withdrawal the player accepted the ruling of the casino. Accepting the cash deposit funds (then playing them as cash) constitutes a 2nd and binding contract between the player and the casino and eliminates any liability on the part of the casino for the initial deposit/play session (which included the deposit coupon and "non-allowed" game play in question). This is a complete lie player did not accept it withdrwal was made to get at least my R2500 back and guess what hidden smal prints again now a new playthru starts …. Coming back to to casino has hidden rules and rhings.

As can see in photo,just som reviews i found is most complaints the same as me funds taken etc so shows u orher people also dont umderstand so terms not clear shows theire is something dodgy going on and misleaded

But if u also think about it the bonusses is a scam them and fals Heading is lies tjen? No rule bonus???????? Your heading says no rule bonus then why are we handeling this complaints so why is theire rules complaints how money is takeing so makes u wonder

At the end of the day no plays on website or terms of condition it states in wording that is visible that withdrawel does not cancell or continue bonus. And the statement about sistem cant block games etc is untrue then why does it allow seryain coupons to block games etc so it can be done. So why does tour own rules only aply to surtain things

I have spoken to some one that works in law and adviced my that some statements is untrue as i imdiately emailed punt that im unhappy with my funds that was taken and i never accepted the 2500 that was put back in my acount even if i played it it was part of my whole amount that was withdraweld on the first time this was my money so plus rhe 77500 in dispute was my money fair and square advantage is being taken of players with these unfair terms and conditions as only sertain rules apply when the casino have to pay outas per photo it does block games some why say coupon cant block games the game in question is being blocked by coupon rules so why does it not apply to to me then

Dear broken,

I have thoroughly discussed your case with the casino representative. Unfortunately, we were not able to find a consensus on how to resolve this case, and they remained firm on their position as explained above.

While strictly technically speaking, the casino team indeed acted in accordance with their rules, which you agreed to when you opened your account and claimed the bonus.

However, at Casino Guru, we do not assess cases solely based on a strict interpretation of the rules. We also take into account principles of fairness, transparency, and reasonable casino practices. In our view, bonus restrictions should ideally be enforced directly by the software or, at a minimum, clearly and explicitly communicated to players in advance.

It has been confirmed that no pop-up warnings, in-game notifications, account messages, or similar alerts were displayed to inform you that the funds were still subject to bonus limitations. Under these circumstances, it was reasonable for you to assume that the balance you continued playing with was no longer restricted by bonus terms.

While certain aspects of your actions, from a strictly technical perspective, raise questions regarding entitlement to the resulting winnings, we believe the casino failed to implement adequate preventative measures to avoid this outcome. As such, we believe that confiscation of the winnings seems to be unjust in this case.

Consequently, this matter will now be classified as Unresolved - Against Fair Gambling.

I understand this isn't a satisfactory solution to your issue. However, the decrease in the rating caused by unresolved complaints could help to change the casino's approach. If the casino decides to react and resolve this matter, we will reopen the complaint, and you will be notified by email.

Since Punt Casino ZA seems to operate without a valid and reputable gaming licence, there is sadly no other authority you can turn to apart from the police or the court if you want to pursue your case further.

Please let me know how they responded at michal.k@casino.guru if you opt for this route.

I am sorry I could not be of more help on this occasion.

Best regards,

Michal

Casino Guru