Thunderbolt Casino - Pelaaja ei voi nostaa voittojaan.

Good day Casino Guru

I played a R250 monthly depositers bonus at Thunderbolt Casino. The wagering requirement is R15000 and maximum withdrawal amount is R1250. I did play through the wagering as requested.

At the withdrawal page the minimum I can withdraw with the Bank Wire option is R1500. So I deposited R250 to have a balance of R1500 that I can withdraw. I do not have Bitcoin and EcoPayz accounts.

Got the email that my withdrawal was declined. Please see screenshots of emails and my account attached.

I really don't know why they declined my R1250 that was rightfully mine as I met all the do's and donts. I want them to pay me my money they owe me!

Really hope that you can help me in this regard.

Thanking you in advance

Liza

Dear lizadupreez,

Thank you very much for submitting your complaint. I’m sorry to hear about your problem. I have checked the terms and conditions, and this is what I found: https://www.thunderboltcasino.com/terms-and-conditions

"Players are required to play through their deposits. A withdrawal request will not be processed until play through is completed."

It is not unusual for a casino to have this rule. Some casinos require deposit wagering 1x, some 3x, but you can find casinos with even higher wagering requirements for deposited money.

Do I understand correctly the winnings from the no-deposit bonus were voided? Did the casino offer any explanation for this?

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

Best regards,

Tomas

Good day Tomas

Thank you for your response.

Yes I do understand now that deposits must be turned at least once. I only deposited the R250 so I could withdraw my winnings as Thunderbolt minimum cash out via bank wire transfer is R1500.

I want my R1250 winnings that I've won fair and according to their terms and conditions.

Why did they void my winnings I don't know and feel that it's extremely unfair.

Hope to get this resolved asap.

Thanking you

Liza

Hi Tomas

Please see screenshot attached of the latest email I received from them.

Good morning

Any updates on this case?

Thank you very much, lizadupreez, for providing the necessary information. I will now transfer your complaint to my colleague Branislav (branislav.b@casino.guru) who will be at your service. I wish you the best of luck and hope the problem will be resolved to your satisfaction in the near future.  

Thank you for the information.

Hoping to get this resolved asap.

Hello, lizadupreez,

I am sorry to hear about your unpleasant experience. I will contact the casino and try my best to resolve the issue as soon as possible. Now I would like to invite Thunderbolt Casino's representative to join this conversation and participate in the resolution of this complaint.

Dear Thunderbolt Casino Team,

Could you please provide us with an explanation of the player's situation in more detail? Why have the disputed winnings been confiscated? What needs to be done to get these winnings returned?

If we are not talking about money laundering (based on the amount of the deposit and the reason), which is the main purpose of the AML rules, is it really necessary for the player to wager the deposited funds? If she lost part of the deposited funds and thus did not meet the minimum amount for withdrawal via Bank Wire, how can she then withdraw her winnings using this payment method?

What is your suggestion for resolving the issue?

Thank you in advance for providing the information.

Good day Branislav

Just want to know if Thunderbolt made contact in any way?

It doesn't look like they are going to reply at all 😢.

Very frustrating...

Hello,

Unfortunately, not yet. However, the casino should reply directly here, or in case someone will contact me outside of this thread, I will let you know.

Thank you so much for your assistance Branislav, I really do appreciate it.

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.

Hi there,

Thank you for your patience. We experienced technical issues with our email and notification system. I am looking into your complaint now.

Hi there,

Unfortunately the customer broke two rules:

1) Deposited on top of a withdrawable balance and 

2) Failed to wager the deposit amount.

We have strict procedures in place that will not allow us to overlook the anti-money laundering rule and by law, the player has wager the R250 deposit at least once.

The advantage to playing solely with deposited funds and no bonus, means none of the bonus rules will apply, and in the case of winnings, there is no max. cash out rule or any other restrictions that apply.

Thunderbolt.

I would not have deposited if I could withdraw the R1250 from my bonus I received.

Your minimum we can cash out is R1500 whereas other Casino's are R200 minimum!!

I do not have the other overseas accounts you have available, so tell me what are we supposed to do??

Dear Thunderbolt Casino team,

Thank you for your explanation. Alright, AML rules are clear. However, allow me to please ask you a few questions.

What exact rules were applied in this case, please? Where can I find them?

Do I understand correctly that there is still an unused deposit of R250 in the player's account?

Were the bonus wagering requirements met? If yes, the maximum cashout/withdrawal rule was already applied upon winnings conversion to the withdrawable balance - why should it be a problem to deposit on top of it, or why should the bonus rules still apply?

If the withdrawal was denied and the funds were returned to the account balance, why have the winnings been confiscated?

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.

Dear lizadupreez,

Unfortunately, since the casino stopped responding and we have not received any further response from it regarding the issue, we cannot continue resolving this complaint and we are forced to close it as ‘unresolved’, which will influence the casino’s rating in a negative way.

In case of any questions, do not hesitate to contact me at branislav.b@casino.guru.

I wish I could be of more help. I sincerely hope you will not come across a problem like this again.

The casino can reopen this complaint anytime.

Best regards,

Branislav, Casino.Guru

We’ve reopened this complaint as per the casino's request.

Additional comments from the Casino:

Hi there,

We apologize for the (very) late reply. While doing some backlog-grooming, I came across this case and wanted to provide an explanation of what happened, this is why I reopened the Case.

The player used a free bonus from which there were winnings and then made a deposit on top of that.

Mixing balances this way is against our Promotional Terms and Conditions, specifically the following point:

"9. A promotion cannot be used in conjunction with any other promotional offer or existing account balance..."

The withdrawal has been denied and the deposit of R250 made available on the account to use.

Currently the players account is open and multiple withdrawals have been made after this incident.

We do apologize once again for any misunderstandings that may have happened and we're available to guide the player if there are any questions regarding the bonus terms.

Best regards,

Thunderbolt Representative

Dear Thunderbolt Casino Team,

Thank you for the additional clarification and for finally providing an explanation regarding this case.

I understand your point regarding the prohibition of mixing balances and the AML-related requirement to wager the deposited amount at least once before withdrawal.

However, from the player’s perspective, the situation appears somewhat problematic, mainly because it seems the player was effectively required to make an additional deposit in order to meet the casino’s minimum withdrawal threshold. As the player mentioned previously, the withdrawable balance generated from the bonus allegedly remained below the minimum withdrawal amount, leaving limited practical options other than depositing additional funds.

This is also why I would like to better understand the practical flow of the situation:

• Was there any alternative way for the player to withdraw the eligible winnings without having to make an additional deposit to reach the withdrawal minimum?

I believe this detail is important for assessing the fairness and transparency of the applied rules from the player’s perspective.

Thank you in advance for your clarification.

Best regards,

Petronela

Hi Petronella,

Thank you so much for reopening the case and following up with us.

To answer your question: yes, at the time the customer would have been able to withdraw the winnings via Bitcoin or EcoPayz, both having lower minimum withdrawal amounts.

While we understand, that these were not the withdrawal methods she wanted to use, there were multiple possibilities.

Since then, we have expanded the withdrawal methods and currently Bankwire (via EFT) is available to use for withdrawals with the minimum amount of R500.

Additionally, we would like to point out that the player has broken this rule once before (back in 2016) and for that first time - besides advising on the T&C rule regarding this - the casino made an exception paying out the winnings as a goodwill gesture.

We hope this answers your question. Let us know if anything else is needed from us.

Best regards,

Thunderbolt

Dear Thunderbolt Casino Team,

Thank you for your clarification and the additional context provided.

I would still like to clarify one important point regarding the confiscation itself.

Could you please confirm whether the player was informed in advance — or at least at the moment of the attempted withdrawal — that mixing the balances would result in the confiscation of the winnings?

More specifically:

• was any warning, notification, pop-up, or system message displayed to the player before the confiscation occurred,
• and was the player explicitly informed that making the additional deposit would place the existing winnings at risk under Rule 9 of the Promotional Terms and Conditions?

Thank you.

Hi Petronela,

Thank you for your reply.

The player agreed to the Terms and Conditions on registration, which explicitly outlines this rule. Besides that, the first time it was broken we have advised on this topic and granted an exception.

There is no special pop-up on withdrawal attempt about this specific rule, since the player activity goes through an audit process on withdrawal request. Our team notified the player about the outcome after this manual evaluation of the account history.

I hope this clarifies things.

Best regards,

Thunderbolt

Dear Thunderbolt Casino Team,

Thank you for the clarification provided.

Before we proceed with the final evaluation of this complaint, I would like to kindly ask whether it would be possible to provide any evidence confirming that the player had indeed been informed previously about this specific rule regarding mixing bonus winnings with deposited funds.

More specifically, could you please provide any relevant communication, account note, email, chat transcript, or screenshot showing that the player had previously breached the same rule and was warned that such action could lead to confiscation of winnings? My email address is petronela.k@casino.guru.

Thank you very much in advance for your cooperation.

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’.