Online Casino Sent Bonus Email After Self-Exclusion Due to Addiction

Hello everyone,

I want to share a serious issue I experienced with AlfCasino, and I’d appreciate your thoughts and support.

On 23 April 2025, I self-excluded from AlfCasino due to a gambling addiction, which I clearly stated. Despite this, on 27 July 2025, I received a bonus offer email from them — a clear violation of self-exclusion.

That email triggered my addictive behavior again, and I ended up gambling — and losing money — at another casino. I did not deposit or play at AlfCasino after self-excluding, but the promotional email caused emotional distress and financial consequences.

I submitted a formal complaint asking for:

An explanation for the breach.

Removal of my data from all marketing'

A goodwill compensation for the harm caused.

Their response admitted the email was sent "by mistake," but since I hadn’t deposited again, they refused to take responsibility or offer compensation.

What worries me most is not just this incident, but the wider issue:

Online casinos often present themselves as supporters of "responsible gambling," but when vulnerable players need protection, those promises disappear.

These platforms often operate without meaningful supervision or control, and the player is left powerless against their tactics.

They’ll profit from people when they’re at their weakest, but when harm is caused — emotional, psychological, or financial — they hide behind policies and avoid accountability.

Has anyone else experienced something similar?

How did you handle it, and what can we do to push for more protection?

Thanks for reading,

Christos

Christos, thank you for sharing this. I really feel for you.

I want to add something that a lot of players don’t realize until they’re on the receiving end of one of these "mistakes."

Many casinos don’t handle their marketing directly. They work with third-party partners or automated systems that send out promotions based on old data, and those systems often don’t get updated fast enough when someone self-excludes. That means even if you’ve clearly said "stop," your email address might still be floating around in a list somewhere, waiting to be used.

And if the casino is part of a larger group and you agreed to data sharing for marketing purposes, it gets even messier. You might self-exclude at Casino A but still get a bonus offer from Casino B, even though you never signed up there. It’s frustrating, and it absolutely feels like a breach of trust, but in practice, it is quite common.

So here’s what I’d personally recommend:

1) Keep the email as proof in case you want to escalate it, for example, to the licensing authority.

2) Continue pushing back, you’ve already done the right thing by speaking up here.

3¨) If the casino isn’t responding fairly, consider reaching out to your local data protection authority.

And honestly? If you really want peace of mind, consider closing that email account altogether.

It’s a harsh move, I know. But in terms of real, immediate protection, it’s probably the only 100% effective way to cut off future contact from any brand or partner that still holds your data. hence using just one "spam" email for casino registrations only is a wise move yet in practice, not that convenient too... Still, once you feel like loosening the grasp, you may cut off all ties by deleting just one email account.

Stories like yours need to be heard because they expose the uncomfortable reality behind all the responsible gambling slogans...

Hey Christos,

This is very worrying to hear.

I have never experienced a casino not closing my account when requested.

Unfortunately I have experienced the gambling addiction and struggles that come with it.

There is no ‘one cure’ fixes all, but with focus and determination you can make it through to the other side.

This forum has some great advice and articles that may help you.

Stay Safe,

Charlie

Bro, I have been sent deposit instructions by Vulkan something in live chat! while I was asking for a self exclusion.

I have no solution for the malicious and stupid things casinos do, I value a self exclusion button greatly, we all have been there, playing above the planned budget, it happens so fast. CG should mark these casinos down severely.

Yes brother. I totally agree with that.

Like I said fortunately for me I never experienced the delay in the self exclusion process. But from reading similar posts to yours it does seem to have become a common issue these days.

I don’t work directly for CG, so I can’t help with marking casinos down and things like that.

I work independently to try and provide help / guidance from a lived experience perspective.

For support with certain casinos it will be Radka who will help with that aspect.

She will contact me if she feels I could be of assistance to someone who may benefit from my own struggles with the curse of gambling issues. Hence why I posted the reply yesterday.

So if you need to chat or ask any advice on that side of it. Then feel free to do so. But if it’s casino specific then she will pick this up in the morning 👊🏻

Keep strong brother.

Charlie

Hi Charlie, do you perhaps have any tips for me on how to finally stop gambling?

I've been gambling for about 10 years now. I've managed to quit for a while a few times, but unfortunately I always relapse.

I've been down a similar path to yours, but I find it incredibly difficult to stay strong. Over the years, my mind has become so accustomed to gambling that it's become a lifeline.

Self-exclusion helps for a short time - until you discover a new casino.

The will is there. But the fight is like David against Goliath.

Kind regards

ALEX

Hello Alex,

I think the key is to actually want to make a lifestyle change and commit yourself to not gambling.

In the UK we have an exclusion system called Gamstop. Which blocks access to all UK based online casinos. This is a valuable tool but unfortunately today with the rise of the non regulated sites it is very easy to slip back into the habit.

Relapses are part of the journey and you must learn from each one. If you don’t, then you will be forever stuck in the cycle.

For myself, it was the last relapse that made me certain once and for all I was never going to do it again. The fact that I have never relapsed again, hasn’t stopped me from having the protections in place. Gamstop, gambling blocks on my debit cards with my bank etc. I think this is important because if the temptation was to resurface then at least I do have the blocks to stop me. I will continue to do this moving forward.

One thing that personally helped me was researching why people fall into gambling addiction, I read stories of success and failure. I think the more knowledge that you absorb then maybe it might make you think just for a moment when you have the urges.

A big thing also is to talk to people, don’t be ashamed of the gambling problem, you will be amazed just how many people know the feeling of not being able to escape.

Take care my friend

Stay safe

Charlie