Winna Casino - Player's account remains accessible despite self-exclusion request.

Good Afternoon,

I'm formally writing this complaint today because I've had a continuous battle for months now trying to have my account permanently self-excluded because of gambling problems. The site has continuously let me back time after time even after continuous emails to there support team and using there in game permanent self exclusion button. I've attached all correspondence with them above and you can see it's been an ongoing issue for months. I'm now out roughly 6800 dollars CAD today and would like to be reimbursed as this should never have happened if I was actually blocked like I should have been.

Regards,

SF

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Hello,

Thank you very much for submitting this complaint. I’m sorry to hear about the problem you’re experiencing. Please allow me to ask you a few questions to clarify your situation:

• Could you please specify if you have ever completed the self-exclusion process you started through your casino account? From my understanding, you need to confirm a cooling-off period by clicking on the link in the email you receive, and after 24 hours, proceed with the self-exclusion according to further instructions.
• When was the first time you attempted to set up permanent self-exclusion via email with the casino’s customer support? What was their reply?
• If you have any additional emails beyond the screenshots you sent with your complaint, could you kindly forward them to me at veronika.f@casino.guru.

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,

Veronika

Good Morning,

This issue has been going on since mid-June. I've requested for permanent self-exclusion within the site many times and it would either not work, and I'd have to follow up within the in site chat to have them actually do it. Or I'd have to reach out via email and ask them to do it.. I've attached screenshots of both of these activities above.. the only way I could get them to actually do it was to really press for it via email and yet they would continuously reopen the account after seeing I've had major gambling issues as seen within my emails. At no point should any site have reopened this account.

regards,

SF

Good Morning,

Sorry Id like to add a few more screenshots of emails showing that I've requested permanent self exclusion and the response was "we will close it down to Saturday" and I responded again saying no... I'd like permanent self exclusion. I also attached a screenshot of another attempt I send in August to have to closed again.

Thank you,

SF

..

In Summary,

Ive reached out numerous times within the site chat system and via email to have my account closed. It started with trying to get self- exclusion immediately. These requests were always ignored or the in site instructions they gave me did not work. This is shown in my screenshots above. I would then follow up via email trying to get self excluded permanently due to gambling addiction. This was never acknowledged. When they finally said they would do it, he only did it until Saturday of that week? Which just shows the lack of oversight on this issue. This has been going on like a cat and mouse game for months and I had finally sent a email in August asking to permanently be self excluded due to a gambling addiction as seen in my attachment above. This should be beyond what is needed to show that this account should have been shutdown a long time ago and the 6800 CAD I'm requesting back as a refund to be a sufficient and fair request. The funds should never have been able to be deposited as the account should never have been reopened. Above all, my email made in August made it very clear that this account shutdown was, and is due to a severe gambling addiction. This has been gross negligence on behalf of the the Winna team to allow this to happen. If you could please assist that would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,

SF

Thank you very much, Liljakez94, for providing all the necessary information. I will now transfer your complaint to my colleague Matej (matej.l@casino.guru) who will be at your assistance. I wish you the best of luck and hope to see your problem being resolved to your satisfaction in the near future.

Hello Liljakez94, nice to meet you!

My name is Matej, and I will be assisting you with this case. I'll do my best to help you resolve this issue as soon as possible.

I’d like to invite a representative of Winna Casino to join the conversation and participate in the investigation of this case as well. Could you possibly provide additional information regarding the issue with self-exclusion and clarify the situation? I would also appreciate if the casino could provide us with any and all relevant evidence. Any sensitive information or internal system files can be shared with me directly by e-mail matej.l@casino.guru.

Thank you for your patience and cooperation in advance.

The users stats are:

Deposit

$86,171.28

87 Deposits

Withdrawals

$101,056.48

51 Withdrawals

That means he is in profit of $14,885.26 on our platform.

I'm not sure where the number of 6800 CAD losings is coming from or how a reimbursement should be possible given these circumstances.

The players account is also already permanently closed since September 23.

Good Morning,

It appears Winna Casino has missed the entire point of this post as the profit or loss on the site is completely irrelevant to the fact that I've been trying to self-exclude permanently for a very long time as seen in my emails and correspondence above. The reason for requesting reimbursement is that if they had actually shut the account down as per request I wouldn't have lost these last few deposits, hence why I'm requesting it. The two deposits total one for 3579 USD and 1430 USD for a total of 5019 USD. This converted to Canadian dollars is just short of 7000 CAD.

Also, to add insult to injury, I was sent a "free bet" from your site again yesterday which is after your the September 23rd permanent exclusion you just mentioned.... I've attached it below for reference.

Regards,

SF

SF

The account is still deactivated so no access is possible anymore. Also, you forgot to mention your withdrawals on September 20 and before where you were in profit. You were not self excluded at this time too so why should we only take the looses into account here?

Good Morning,

Because when one has a gambling problem, they don't tend to stop until they get self-excluded.

This would be part of your "responsible gaming" section that you have at the bottom of your website. The one that starts with "At Winna, we are deeply committed to promoting Responsible Gaming." Also, if you had read any of my past emails to you guys you would see I've had MANY requests dating back to June to have myself self excluded permanently, but you let me keep playing.

Ive also attached a screenshot below of your responsible gaming section just to make sure there was no confusion.

Regards,

SF

I fully agree that earlier exclusion should have happened and I will check again with the Support Staff what exactly happened here but asking for reimbursement after being in profit since the first time you asked for permanent self exclusion just doesn't make any sense.

Good Morning,

I believe it completely makes sense. In the end it's been months of trying to get permanent self-exclusion with you guys and it's not until there's some sort of financial compensation request that you guys seem to care. Had there not been a significant loss the odds of me continuing to on your site would have been high, and I would probably still be playing in some sort. So unless we can come to some sort of resolution on this issue I believe it's in the hands of Casinoguru to publish and mediate this as we won't be able to come to an agreement.

And finally, financials aside, the blatant disregard for a safe gambling policy is not a great look.

Regards,

SF

Dear Winna Casino, as per the player's evidence, he has requested permanent self-exclusion via e-mail on 14th August and it has not been actioned until 23rd September, as you mentioned in a post above. As per our Fair Gambling Codex, self-exclusion should be taken with utmost care and as a priority. While we do not insist on the account closure to be instant - as that is impossible - we do believe it should happen within a reasonable time. Sadly, this case seems to be well over said time frame.

Unfortunately, Winna's Responsible Gambling page is very vague, and does not offer clear information about how to self-exclude:

Need a Break?

If you feel things are getting out of hand, you can request a self-exclusion period. This means your account will be temporarily deactivated for a set duration of your choice. Once initiated, this break cannot be undone. To activate a cool-off period, please contact our customer support with your personal details and preferred time frame.

It is easy to assume one can self-exclude also by contacting the customer support, which is exactly what the player did in this case.

Can you please investigate and let us know why the account has been only closed recently, despite the staff knowing about player's gambling addiction since mid-August? Also could provide me with the player's cashier history (showing both deposits and withdrawals) between 17th August and the actual account closure, please? As always, any and all sensitive information or evidence supporting your stance can be sent directly to me at matej.l@casino.guru. Thank you very much.

Good Morning,

First off, thank you very much Matej for taking the time to analyze this complaint in much detail.

I do want to add that I did reach out to say that I did reach out to Winna Casino via email to have my account permanently closed all the way back in June of this year. I've reattached that screenshot above. So it has been going on for many months prior as well.

Thanks Again,

SF

The users can easily self exclude themselves via our "Winna Cares" section.

Since first trying to self exclude (no clue why not directly on the website but via support email) the user is in profit so therefore a reimbursement makes no sense.

Of course we will work on improving the process for the players and in this case there are indeed some issues we will address but just wanting losses to be reimbursed while being in profit in this time span is not how this can work.

Good Morning,

As per my earlier emails to Winna Casino you can see via screenshot that I tried to use your "in website" exclusion button but it did not work. Hence why I reached out via email and your support chat as seen in screenshots above. I can't quite understand how Winna Casino has even bothered reviewing the evidence in this case?

In regards to your response now, this has to be the least compassionate, poorly written response I've ever seen. You didn't answer any of the questions CasinoGuru just asked you, and quite frankly it just seems like you guys don't care.

I would also like to ask Casinoguru to amend and lower the safety rating for Winna Casino as they clearly do not care about responsible gambling as seen in these response's above.

I also noticed Winna Casino is licensed with the Tobqiue Gaming Commission in Canada. and Il be curious to see how this all fits under there responsible gaming act as Ive been in contact with them as well.

Best,

SF

Dear Liljakez94, the self-exclusion request from June does not mention any gambling issues, neither shows signs of distress, therefore it could be taken as a regular account closure (many players interchange regular account closure with self-exclusion) so I have taken into account the message where the addiction has been mentioned.

Dear Winna Casino, can you please investigate and let us know why the account has been only closed recently, despite the staff knowing about player's gambling addiction since mid-August? Also could provide me with the player's cashier history (showing both deposits and withdrawals) between 17th August and the actual account closure, please? As always, any and all sensitive information or evidence supporting your stance can be sent directly to me at matej.l@casino.guru. Thank you very much.

I have sent all necessary proof via email showing that in fact the user is $3420 in profit since August 17th.

Therefore a reimbursement makes no sense.

Of course we investigated the case internally why certain support staff didn't interfere earlier. We will take the necessary steps to prevent such occurrences in the future.

I have checked the provided cashier history and can confirm that we will not request a refund. This is due to the fact that our formula of "deposits minus withdrawals and winnings" during the time we believe the account should have been already closed, leaves the player with positive amount. Unless some remaining balance has been confiscated upon closure, I do not believe refund should be issued, as the player has managed to recoup the deposits with the withdrawals.

If Winna Casino can confirm the account has been marked as "gambling addict, never reopen" (or with a similar note), it will not be possible to reopen and all the marketing communication has ceased, I believe this complaint can be closed.

I will also be more than happy to answer any questions or clear up confusion before closing the complaint.

Yes, the account will never be reopened and will not receive any further marketing promotions.

Thank you for the confirmation and speedy resolution of the issue, Winna Casino. Much appreciated.

Dear Liljakez94, do you find this resolution satisfactory?

Good Morning,

No I don't. With no financial compensation I would still like to see the safety rating on Winna Casino adjusted for future players to see. They used and abused the ability to self-exclude and I know nothing will change with the them.

This went on for months... and I guarantee if I opened a new account today they would do the same thing.

Regards,

SF

Definitely not!

Also it seems that you were trying to exaggerate the claims here to gain a financial benefit and reimbursement.

This is the core of your complaint which has been proven wrong and misleading. Therefore the closing of this complaint is the only outcome that makes sense.

Thank you for handling this Matej.

Hi Winna Casino,

I don't remember CasinoGuru asking you a question regarding this!

Best,

SF

Since I would like to prevent any further personal attacks, this thread will now be closed. I would like to thank the Winna Casino representative for providing necessary evidence and dealing with the issue for us.

Dear Liljakez94, since the account has been closed permanently and there is nothing more to refund, I will now close this complaint. However, since we do not consider cases where the player is dissatisfied with the outcome as successfully resolved, I will mark it as rejected.

The casino has confirmed your account has been closed and all the marketing communication will stop. As of now, we have no reason not to believe this statement. If you still keep receiving marketing comms, or manage to get your account reopened (or create another one using your own credentials), then feel free to lodge a new complaint and we will deal with it accordingly. But right now this condition has been fulfilled.

As for the refund, we follow a simple formula: if the account of a gambling addict is not closed within a reasonable time, anything deposited afterwards should be refunded. This is because we believe the player should have not been able to make any deposits at that time (as the account should have been closed). But we have to be fair to the casino as well. Therefore, if the player should not be able to deposit, he should also not be able to play, win, lose or withdraw.

After checking your cashier history provided by the casino, you have managed to withdraw more than you have deposited in the time the account should have been closed, therefore I have no reason to request any further reimbursement.

Hopefully this helps to clear up the situation, and I would strongly recommend installing free app BetBlocker (https://betblocker.org/) onto your computer and mobile device, to keep you safe from online gambling sites while browsing the internet. It's free, and for maximum protection it is recommended to have a family member or a friend to set up the password in your stead. Also, I would advise to block all the mobile numbers and e-mail addresses that were sending you promotional materials before.

Best wishes,

Matej

Casino Guru