Complaint Unfairly Rejected: Curacao Gaming Control Board Does Not Handle Online Gaming Complaints

I recently submitted a complaint to Casino Guru regarding an issue I experienced with an online casino licensed in Curacao. However, my complaint was rejected on the grounds that I had already submitted it to the Curacao Gaming Control Board (GCB).

This rejection is based on a misunderstanding of the GCB's current role and responsibilities. It's critical to note that, at present, the GCB does not accept or handle complaints related to online gaming casinos.

A few key points to clarify:

1. The GCB is the regulator for land-based casinos in Curacao. Their scope does not currently extend to online casinos.
2. While the GCB website has a generic contact form with a field for specifying the operator, this is intended for complaints about brick-and-mortar casinos, not online casinos. Submitting an online gaming complaint via this form will not result in the GCB addressing the issue.
3. The GCB states that their gaming regulations are translated from Dutch to English, and that the Dutch version takes precedence in case of any discrepancies. This language issue may be contributing to the confusion.
4. Therefore, Casino Guru's policy of rejecting complaints that were submitted to the GCB is misguided and unfair when it comes to online casinos. The GCB simply does not have the jurisdiction or processes in place to handle these complaints.

As a leading casino review site and mediator, Casino Guru has a responsibility to understand the nuances of gaming regulations in different jurisdictions. Refusing to consider valid complaints on a technicality, when the specified regulator does not even handle those types of complaints, goes against the principles of player protection and fair dispute resolution.

I'm posting this to start a discussion and hopefully prompt Casino Guru to reevaluate and clarify their complaint handling policies, particularly as they relate to Curacao-licensed online casinos. Other players who have had similar experiences are welcome to chime in.

May I ask what your complaint was related to exactly?

I believe that you received an explanation from our complaint team on why they couldn't handle your complaint. Is that right?

The explanation was that it was because I had submitted a complaint to the regulator, however in my original post I clearly address what I think of this response.

Refusing to consider valid complaints on a technicality, when the specified regulator does not even handle those types of complaints, goes against the principles of player protection and fair dispute resolution.

If you feel that it was not a proper way to reject your complaint, please feel free to submit a new one where you can explain in detail what the issue is.

I am sure that our team will have a look at it, and if possible, they will try to help.

Just bear in mind that we don't handle complaints regarding casino licenses.

I did file another complaint, but it was rejected i guess......

It really was. To be honest, I do not really get what you are trying to complain about. Do you believe you can clarify the current situation? I think figuring out the issue will help us determine why the Resolution Center guys are unable to handle your complaint. Furthermore, as much as you feel we must accept your complaint, we can only do so if the request meets our guidelines. We are an independent company after all. My main concern is therefore understanding the problem you are trying so hard to complain about.

Would you kindly help me with that?

Thank you for your response, though I have to say I’m quite surprised by its tone and content. It’s disappointing to receive such a dismissive reply when I’ve been genuinely trying to resolve an issue and seek clarity.

Let me clarify: I have repeatedly tried to submit a complaint through your platform regarding the unfair practices I encountered, only to have my complaint rejected each time without a clear explanation. I specifically pointed out that the Curacao Gaming Control Board is currently not accepting online complaints, which leaves players like me with very limited options. Instead of addressing this, I was told to file again, which, unsurprisingly, led to yet another rejection.

I am fully aware of your guidelines and the fact that you’re an independent company. However, it is disheartening to be met with such a lack of understanding and empathy. As a community specialist, I would hope you would be more open to understanding the concerns of those seeking help, rather than questioning their validity in such a patronizing manner.

If you’re genuinely interested in understanding the problem, I’d be happy to provide more details. However, a bit of respect and professionalism would go a long way in fostering constructive communication.

Looking forward to a more considerate and helpful response this time.

Hello,

Permit me to explain just one thing that you probably find somehow disappointing.

Not every complaint is accepted, and sometimes it is not within our power to help players based on the nature of the complaint. Thus, when you stated, "The Casino Guru has a responsibility to understand the nuances of gaming regulations in different jurisdictions. Refusing to consider valid complaints on a technicality, when the specified regulator does not even handle those types of complaints, goes against the principles of player protection and fair dispute resolution." needed to be explained from our side.

Since we are not attorneys, there are some situations in which we will not intervene. We do not consider We mainly consider fairness within our Fair Gambling Codex. Thus, we are, despite your opinion, free to decide whether the complaint will be accepted. When the problem seems to be outside our line of Codex or beyond resolving, it feels natural to focus the energy on complaints against the fair gambling we can actually address or resolve. Hopefully this explanation helped. I mean, no disrespect; my only goal was to explain, so you do understand why your complaint has been rejected twice already.

I like to assist others, so I contacted the Complaint Team on your behalf to find out what the problem was with your requests. I discovered the following:

The Complaint Team is quite concerned whether they will be able to help somehow; also, the disputed amount may present an issue because we usually do not examine the casino loyalty program and the amount of bonuses the player gets. As far as the team knows, when you threatened them with a complaint about the license, they took away all your rewards and bonuses (that is, even those that he had probably already recorded), which is a bit different from future bonuses.

Therefore, you are free to file the complaint again, and First Response will be informed of the circumstances. However, we all worry that there will not be much we can do to assist you.

Anyhow, good luck with it. It was a joy to meet you.

I appreciate your attempt to explain but honestly, your response is more confusing than helpful.

Weird flex to jump in with such a defensive town around just trying to get some clarity you made it very clear that my complaint isn’t welcome here so I guess your messages "screw me right?"

Well, if you would rather assume things that I did not write, I doubt it would make much sense to repeat the explanation.

I said, based on what I have been told, your circumstance is outside of our area of assistance. Although I do not know specifics, I did try to figure out why the first two attempts were turned down. We view bonuses, loyalty points, and other freebies differently than unpid winnings, for example, so it is fair to say that our specialists believe they are unable to assist you. But for the time being, they can at least make the complaint public and conduct more research on it.

Even though I am not familiar with the specifics, I was curious to know the Complaint Team's opinion.

I know many people think we automatically accept every submitted complaint, but this is not that easy. I only wanted to explain that, since you started with "our responsibilities." Please do not presume we are obliged to resolve or accept every case.

As much as I would like to ease your concerns, I think it would be best to let the complaint speak for itself.