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This is the first time I have ever had a withdrawal issue from an online casino.

I have deposited several thousand dollars over the last few weeks with Boocasino. I won a bit. I lost a bit. They allowed my withdrawals and took my deposits. No problems.

On Friday, April 16, 2021, ‘Kelvin’ from Boocasino customer support reached out to offer a ‘no deposit’ ‘free cash bonus’ of $50 because I was depositing a lot (see appendices 1 and 2).

I just had to ensure my account balance was less than $1 (I assume to trace the bonus funds use) (see appendix 1).

I note that I have taken no other bonuses from Boocasino. They reached out to me in this one bonus.

The ‘terms and conditions’ were as follows:

1. Maximum payout $100 from the bonus, any withdrawal amount above that is void; and

2. A deposit must be made before withdrawal allowed (despite their marketing saying the opposite);

3.There were no maximum bets or excluded games. There was no mention that a player is bound to the terms and conditions ‘forever’. (see appendices 19 and 20)

On the same Friday, April 16, 2021, with the bonus money, I got my balance up to $106.90. (see appendix 16)

So, in line with the terms and conditions for the bonus, I deposited $100 (deposit required). (see appendices 3 and 17).

I then withdrew $100 (max amount allowed under the terms and conditions). (see appendices 4 and 18).

I tried to contact the ‘live chat’ to confirm in real time, but it was closed due to COVID-19. 

Therefore, I also emailed ‘Kelvin’ to confirm I had followed the terms and conditions. (see appendix 1, email of April 16, 9:30pm). Kelvin did not respond until 9:52am on April 17, 2021 and simply provided a link to general terms and conditions.

I then contacted Boocasino by ‘live chat’ to confirm that I had abided by the terms and conditions. Their agent ‘Jay’ said ‘Everything seems fine’. (see appendix 13).

I contacted ‘live chat’ a second time shortly after, and Jay stated that the Finance department was reviewing my withdrawal, they would contact me, and that the Free Bonus Cash terms ‘stay relevant until you’ve been paid out.’ (see appendix 14).

The Finance department never did contact me (see appendix 15).

On Monday, April 19, 2021, my $100 withdrawal was approved and paid out, and deposited in my account. (see appendix 5). Thus, as per the terms and conditions, and confirmed by Jay, the terms were now satisfied.

Later on April 19, 2021, I requested a $3,100 withdrawal. (see appendix 6).

Between April 19, 2021 and April 20, 2021, I kept playing on boocasino.co, depositing around $1,000 (see appendix 7).

On Tuesday, April 20, 2021, I checked my email. There were several emails from Boocasino, particularly:

1. I breached the bonus terms and conditions because I had accepted the $50 bonus but tried to withdrawal more than $100 (even though the bonus was concluded before this withdrawal) (see appendix 10);

2. They changed my withdrawal to $100 without my consent (see appendices 8 and 9);

3. Boocasino confiscated $3,000 from my account (see appendix 10); and

4. Management decided to permanently close my account without reason (their terms and conditions state that Boocasino will still honour its contractual agreements when it closes an account - but they confiscated my money) (see appendix 11).

With the foregoing in mind, I was taken by surprise and shocked. I would never have reasonably expected a regulated online casino to engage in this kind of behaviour. As such, I wrote a complaint letter to Boocasino, making it very clear this was unacceptable. I provided a deadline, and they failed to respond (see appendix 12).

As a reasonable person who 1) made a point to read the terms and conditions, 2) verified the terms and conditions with the Boocasino agents; and then 3) followed the terms and conditions, this objectively appears to be a deceptive practice. 

It further appears that the offer of a ‘free bonus’ is in fact a TRAP to deny legitimate winnings.

Even if I misunderstood the terms, I undertook due diligence by contacting Boocasino agents. I note that subsection 10(2) of the Malta Gaming Player Protection Regulations (which apply to Boocasino’s gaming license) state, under the heading ‘Unfair Terms’:

"Where  any  provision  in  such  terms and  conditions  is ambivalent, or any reasonable doubt arises as to the meaning thereof, the interpretation most favourable to the player shall prevail"

(see https://legislation.mt/eli/sl/583.8/eng/pdf)

Does taking a $50 bonus once invalidate any future wins, even after the bonus terms are complete? Especially when a player has actually adhered to the terms and conditions? What about all of the money deposited AFTER the bonus was over? Does this mean that I could deposit and deposit, but never be able to win because of some previous, completed bonus? Do these terms persist into perpetuity?

A reasonable, logical, fair, or honest person would say ‘no’.

I therefore ask for casino.guru’s help.

Dear KD,

Thank you very much for submitting your complaint and forwarding all the relevant communication. I’m sorry to hear about your problem. Please allow me to ask you a few questions, so I can understand the whole situation completely. Could you please advise if you’ve received your winnings accumulated from the No Deposit bonus? Have you activated any other promotional offer after completing mandatory wagering of your Free Bonus?

Have you, by any chance, saved your cashier and bonus histories before your account got blocked? If yes, please forward them to petronela.k@casino.guru.

Did you receive any explanation from the casino why your account has been deactivated?

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

Hello Petronela - thank you for your response.

I have sent appendices 16 to 18 (referred to in the complaint). I will email them again.

What these documents show is 1) I got $50 free bonus and played until $106.90 (the screenshot shows the balance), 2) I deposited $100 (terms required a deposit for this alleged ‘no deposit’ bonus), and 3) I withdrew the maximum payout $100 (as per the terms).

There was no mandatory betting requirements for this bonus.

That bonus payout of $100 was then approved by the casino and paid on April 19, 2021.

I continued to play, deposited more and then the casino confiscated my next withdrawal of $3100 and closed my account on April 21, 2021.

I took no other bonuses.

They have provided no explanation as to the reason my account was closed.

thanks,

KD.

Thank you very much, KD, for providing all the necessary information. I will now transfer your complaint to my colleague Matej 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.

Hello KD.

I’m sorry to hear about your troubles.

You provided a lot of evidence, but I think the best will be to invite the casino representative into the case.

Casino representative:

Please explain to us what exactly happened, and please send me the KD's game log. (matej@casino.guru)

The casino representative informed me via Skype that they are still checking the case internally.

Thank you. I appreciate your help on this.

Hello Casino.guru. I can confirm that the matter has been resolved with Boocasino. We have communicated and clarified the understanding of the Terms and Conditions. Thank you to Casino.guru and Boocasino for the quick resolution.

We would like to ask the Boo 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’.

Hello,

As KD has advised, we have resolved this matter internally and as such this complaint can now be resolved also.

We are glad to have resolved the misunderstanding.

Dear KD and Boo Casino representative.

Thank you for using the Casino Guru complaint resolution center. We are glad to hear that your issue got resolved. We will now mark it as 'resolved' in our system.