Wazbee Casino - Player faces identification issue with the casino.

: "I provided an Estonian Residence Permit. My residence is Estonia, which is a permitted jurisdiction. The casino is wrongly identifying me as a Ukrainian resident based on my origin/citizenship."

Important notice:

Casino Guru will never ask for payments or access to your accounts to complete KYC. If someone claims to be from Casino Guru and does that, do not share any information.

We only contact players through this official complaint thread or via @casino.guru e-mail addresses. Always check the sender’s domain and verify your complaint resolver’s e-mail address by clicking on their avatar visible inside the official complaint thread.

If anything seems suspicious, contact us directly.

Stay safe.

Hello,

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

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

• Could you please explain when the incident happened? Was your account closed as a result of the accusations made against you?
• Since when have you lived in Estonia? When was the residence permit issued, and when did you register in the casino?
• Have you filled out your player's profile with the information about your address from the residence permit?
• Did you achieve your current balance with the help of a bonus?
• Could you please share with me your communication with the casino regarding the issue? Send emails or chat transcripts to my email at tomas@casino.guru, or post screenshots here

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,

Tomas

Hello yuriim,

We would like to update you that due to Tomas, your designated resolver, being on vacation, we have opted to extend the timeline by an additional 7 days. Since Tomas has an in-depth understanding of your situation and maintains direct communication with the casino, we find this extension justified. Your patience is sincerely appreciated, and I assure you that Tomas will contact you at the earliest opportunity.

Thank you for your understanding and ongoing patience.

Best regards, Casino Guru

Dear yuriim,

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.v@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.

Kind regards,

Tomas

Hello yuriim,

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 Wazbee Casino,

Could you possibly provide additional information regarding the issue and clarify the situation? I would also appreciate it if you provided us with any and all relevant evidence.

Thank you in advance.

Respectfully,

Michal

Hello!

Thank you for your patience.

During the verification of the client’s identity and address, it was found that an Estonian document "Elamisluba" with a temporary permit was uploaded.

The document states Ukrainian citizenship.

Elamisluba is an Estonian residence permit document that confirms a person has the legal right to live in Estonia for a certain period of time.

According to the Terms and Conditions:

2.4. Residents and citizens of the following territories are restricted to use and access wazbee.casino by any means including but not limited to: <...> Ukraine <...>

Dear Wazbee Casino,

Thank you for your response. I would like to respectfully clarify a point regarding the player in question. If the player is legally residing in Estonia, has registered with the casino while in Estonia, and indicated this information on the registration form, I fail to see the relevance of the player’s Ukrainian citizenship in this context. Given that the player is a resident of Estonia, this should indeed be the country selected on the registration form. Also, in the email that you've sent to the player, it is incorrectly stated that he is a resident of Ukraine, since he is a resident of Estonia. Furthermore, I have concerns that if the player had chosen not to submit a withdrawal request and subsequently lost all his funds, his account may not have faced closure. Only when they tried to withdraw was their account blocked. I would like to kindly ask you to reconsider your decision to close the player's account and to confiscate their winnings.

Hello,

First of all, we would like to emphasize that the account was not restricted based on the player’s citizenship as such. The key factor in this case relates to game provider restrictions and compliance obligations, which are applied independently from the player’s country of residence.

As outlined in the Terms and Conditions, access to certain game providers may be limited due to legal, contractual, or compliance-related requirements . In particular, some providers (including Pragmatic Play) impose restrictions based on jurisdictional and risk parameters, which must be enforced by the operator (also regarding the citizens of Ukraine).

During a routine post-withdrawal review, it was identified that:

- the player had engaged with games from multiple providers, including those with specific jurisdictional limitations;

- part of the gameplay involved providers that apply restricted country rules, regardless of the player’s declared residence;

- additional risk indicators were triggered during the withdrawal stage, which required a deeper compliance review.

It is important to note that such reviews are typically conducted at the withdrawal stage, in line with standard industry practice, where full verification and provider-level checks are performed.

Following this review, the account was restricted due to a combination of provider restrictions and internal compliance considerations, rather than a single factor.

I disagree with the casino's position for the following reasons:

1. Casino technical liability. The casino claims I played games from providers with territorial restrictions. However, modern gaming platforms are required to programmatically block access to games (geo-block) if they are prohibited in the player's region. If the casino allowed me to launch the game, place a bet, and accept it, it thereby confirmed the legitimacy of my actions. As a player, I cannot and am not obligated to know all the internal legal agreements between the casino and its dozens of providers.
2. Verification only at the withdrawal stage (Double Standards). The casino cites "standard practice" for verification during withdrawals. However, this looks like an attempt to avoid paying out winnings. Why didn't these "violations" prevent the casino from accepting my deposits and allowing me to lose money on the same games? If providers are restricted, access to them should be blocked immediately, not after a player wins.
3. The spot check is unfair. The casino only reports violations when I win. However, my previous deposits were also lost on these same games. If I "broke" the rules by playing them, then why were my losing bets accepted?
4. No malicious intent. I have completed verification and provided honest information about my citizenship and place of residence. I did not use any means of circumventing blocking (VPN) to deceive the system. If the casino system allowed me to play, it means it considered me a suitable player.

I ask Casino Guru to take into account that the error in the game access settings lies with the operator (casino), and this should not be grounds for confiscation and closure of the account.

Dear Wazbee Casino,

Have you received any kind of notification or a warning from the mentioned game provider that the player's citizenship is an issue?

Dear Michal,

We are not entirely sure we understood your question correctly. Could you please rephrase it?

Dear Wazbee Casino,

I apologize if my previous question was unclear. I would appreciate it if you could provide more information regarding the restrictions imposed by game providers. Specifically, I would ask you to share with us the specific policies concerning the restriction of player access based on citizenship rather than residency.

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.

Hello!

At the time of registration, the player selected Estonia as their country of residence. At that stage, the player’s citizenship was neither declared nor verified, as full KYC verification and document review are conducted during the withdrawal verification process in accordance with our standard compliance procedures.

The player’s Ukrainian citizenship became known to us only after the withdrawal request was submitted and the supporting identification documents were reviewed by the relevant compliance team.

Regarding the request for "specific policies concerning the restriction of player access based on citizenship rather than residency" we would like to clarify the following:

1. As the casino operator, we are bound by a commercial agreement with Pragmatic Play for the provision of gaming content and related services. Due to contractual confidentiality obligations, we are not in a position to disclose the agreement itself or internal contractual documentation. However, we can confirm that under this agreement, the provider expressly restricts access to its gaming content for persons connected to certain prohibited jurisdictions. These restrictions are not limited exclusively to residency and apply based on the provider’s compliance framework where any relevant connection to a restricted jurisdiction may trigger prohibition. Ukraine is included in the provider’s restricted jurisdictions list.

2. In addition, our website Terms and Conditions, which the player expressly accepted during registration, clearly state that certain games and services may be unavailable or prohibited for citizens and/or residents of restricted jurisdictions in accordance with provider restrictions and licensing requirements. By creating the account and accepting the Terms, the player acknowledged and agreed to these conditions.

Therefore, once the player’s Ukrainian citizenship became known during the KYC verification process, we became contractually obligated to enforce the applicable provider restrictions and prevent access to the relevant gaming content, since the citizenship is the key determinant in order to confirm the access for clients in relation with Ukraine.

This was not a discretionary decision made by the operator, but a mandatory compliance action required under our contractual obligations with the game provider and under the Terms accepted by the player upon registration.

I would like to specifically highlight how the casino's own Terms & Conditions regarding Pragmatic Play completely debunk their defense:

1. Pragmatic Play Rules Disprove the Ban

As seen in the screenshots of Wazbee Casino's official Terms & Conditions, Ukraine is NOT on the "Blocked countries" list for Pragmatic Play. It is explicitly listed under "Restricted countries". Crucially, Estonia (my country of residence) is in the exact same "Restricted" category. In the iGaming industry, "Restricted" status implies limitations on specific games, not a total ban or grounds for balance confiscation.

2. Restrictions Apply Only to Dice Games, Not Regular Slots

The rules clearly show that Pragmatic Play's restrictions only apply to specific branded slots or "Dice" versions of games (which are available exclusively in a few countries like Brazil, Russia, South Korea, etc.). I do not remember the exact names of all the slots I played, as I opened various games. However, since the casino has full access to my betting history, the burden of proof is on them. If they claim I violated the rules, let them provide my game logs to prove I won the money on those specific forbidden Dice games. If I played regular slots, their defense completely collapses.

3. Unfair "Freeroll" Practice

The casino admits that it did not implement any technical restrictions during my registration or gameplay. They willingly accepted my real-money deposits and allowed my bets to process. The block and confiscation happened only when I requested a withdrawal. According to fair play standards, if a provider has restrictions, the casino must implement a technical geo-block at the entry point of the game. Allowing a player to risk their own funds, but canceling the balance only if they win, is an unacceptable "freeroll" practice by the operator.

I kindly ask the Casino Guru team to review these terms and rule in my favor, as the casino is clearly misinterpreting its own rules to avoid paying out.

Subject: Additional Evidence: Casino's "VPN Friendly" Policy Contradicts Balance Confiscation

I would like to provide critical new evidence that completely disproves the casino’s defense.

As seen in the attached screenshot from the main page of wazbee88.casino, the operator openly advertises itself as a "VPN friendly" platform.

By publicizing a "VPN friendly" status, the casino actively encourages players to use virtual networks, which inherently bypass any technical geo-blocks or software restrictions implemented by game providers like Pragmatic Play.

This creates a severe conflict of interest and constitutes a clear case of "free-rolling":

The casino invites players to use VPNs to register, deposit real money, and play any available games without any restriction at the entry point.

If the player loses, the casino keeps the money.

If the player wins, the casino initiates a strict compliance check regarding the player's citizenship or residency to void the winnings based on the provider's rules.

The casino cannot encourage the bypass of restrictions on its homepage and then use those exact same restrictions as a ground for balance confiscation during a withdrawal request. This is an unfair and predatory practice aimed solely at avoiding legitimate payouts.

I kindly ask the Casino Guru team to take this misleading promotional policy into account and rule in my favor.

Dear Casino Guru Team,

I would like to update you and the mediator on the latest steps I have taken regarding this case.

Due to the severe contradiction between Wazbee Casino's marketing policy and their strict enforcement of provider rules, I have officially contacted Pragmatic Play's Compliance Department(compliance@pragmaticplay.com).

I have submitted a formal report to the game provider regarding how Wazbee Casino is using Pragmatic Play’s brand guidelines as a retroactive excuse to confiscate €5,099 of my winnings. I specifically highlighted that the casino officially authorizes and permits VPN usage for game access under Paragraph 3.3 of their own Terms & Conditions, which directly bypasses the provider's automated geo-blocks and creates a clear case of "free-rolling."

I am currently awaiting a formal compliance review from Pragmatic Play. Furthermore, I have also escalated this matter directly to the Curaçao Gaming Authority (CGA) under License No: OGL/2024/600/0262.

I kindly ask the Casino Guru team to keep this thread open while these official regulatory and provider investigations are ongoing.

Dear yuriim,

Thank you for the updates. Could you kindly send me a confirmation that you have contacted the regulator? Please forward the email to michal.v@casino.guru. I will be waiting to hear from you.

Dear Michal, I have forwarded all the required confirmations and screenshots of my inquiries to your email address (michal.v@casino.guru). Currently, I have officially filed a complaint with the Curaçao Gaming Authority (CGA) and contacted the Pragmatic Play compliance department. The official inquiry has been registered, and I am now awaiting their response and decision on my case

Dear Wazbee Casino,

I appreciate the clarification provided regarding the recent situation. However, I must express my concerns, as the current approach does not appear to prioritize the well-being of players. Initially, the email sent to the player indicated that their account was closed due to residency in Ukraine, which was incorrect, as they were actually residing in Estonia. Subsequently, it was communicated that both residency and citizenship are factors in this matter. Unfortunately, without any supporting evidence, these statements lead us to believe that these restrictions are imposed by the gaming provider and that the operator is obligated to enforce them. If this is indeed the situation, I regret to inform you that the implementation of these restrictions does not align with the principles we consider essential for casinos to earn a "Fair and Safe" badge. For your reference, here are the criteria that are assessed when determining the awards for such badges: https://casino.guru/guide/fair-and-safe-badges

Furthermore, I would like to emphasize that the enforcement of restrictions seems inconsistent with the status of being a "VPN friendly" casino. In a truly fair and safe gaming environment, players should not have access to games they are not permitted to play. If certain games are restricted due to residency, these games ought to be blocked at the software level. If the restriction is based on citizenship rather than residency (which is quite rare), then only games without restrictions should be accessible to the player until the KYC process is completed. Following that, additional games could be unlocked based on the KYC outcome.

Therefore, if we do not reach a successful resolution of this issue, I will be forced to reevaluate the validity of the "Fair and Safe" badge awarded to Wazbee Casino. Please let me know how you wish to proceed.

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.