Freshbet Casino - Player’s winnings confiscated after verification.

First to make clear i read all the casinos rules before playing. Then i fully wagered second deposit and i got 2149€ balance. After KYC and many days notices that they deleted all the winning and only left my 50€ deposit to my account. Then i asked from chat and they only told me that Finland is desricted country for bonuses, and i found they really added Finland to first to countrys in rules (i attached file about this). There u can easily se that Finland is last added because is not even on right place in order of countryes. So its 100% sure they add these rules from fly to avoid payments. I even asked them when rules are last updated and chat told i can see that information where the rules are. But there is not such a information about any rules updates. I hope u can help me fast with this case, because its so obvious what they are doing.

Hello wopeo,

Thank you very much for submitting your complaint and I'm really sorry to hear about your issue with Freshbet Casino. Please allow me to ask you a few more question before we would move forward.

Could you please advise if your account is already verified and if yes, since when exactly? Did you claim any bonuses in the past and was there any problem with them before? When was the last time you spoke to the casino and what was it about?

Looking forward to your answer.

Regards,

Nick

On the same day, I registered as their customer, played the first deposit with a deposit of €50 and the second right after this second one. There was no indication that I wasn't eligible to play their bonus. I last talked to the casino about a €50 1x recycling, so that I could even get my deposit out after withdrawing my winnings. After recycling, I was left with that €37, and I didn't even get any compensation for the first deposit. Before this, I discussed the rule that was added after the fact, which everyone can check on their page. Because all other countries are in order except "Finland" is added first at the front end of the alphabet despite the letter F. After that, they still lied in the chat that the update history of the rules would be visible on the page. However, I looked into the matter and they don't even have that kind of rules update history on the entire page.

Hello wopeo,

I would recommend not to make any actions on your account or with your balance until this matter is closed. If the casino already awarded you with the bonus, they should also pay out the winnings generated from that.

I will now forward your complaint to my colleague Branislav (branislav.b@casino.guru) who will be assisting you from now on.

Wish you best luck resolving it.

Regards,

Nick

Right after it happened, I went to play my 50€ deposit once around at their request and 37€ remained, which they paid to my account.

Hello, wopeo,

I am sorry to hear about your trouble and apologize for the delay. I will contact the casino and try my best to resolve the issue as soon as possible. In the meantime, please let me know if you used any VPN while playing at the casino, and provide me with a communication between you and the casino, where they informed you about the specific reason for the winnings confiscation you mentioned above (a screenshot or send email communication to my email).

Now I would like to invite the casino representative to join this conversation and participate in resolving this complaint.

Dear Freshbet Casino team,

Could you please explain the player's situation in more detail? Why have the user's winnings been confiscated?

If we are talking about a breach of the casino's Terms and Conditions, is the casino able to substantiate its claims and decision with relevant evidence?

Feel free to send the necessary details and supporting evidence to my email address (branislav.b@casino.guru).

They only told me in the chat after removing the money that the offer is not for people living in Finland, even though they told me at the beginning that I am entitled to a bonus from Finland.

Hello,

I would like to inform you that user's winnings have been confiscated since he breached the rules of the website. When user makes his first or second deposit, bonuses are offered automatically and he can technically claim that bonus, however that is exactly why we have the rule in our T&C that users from Finland are not allowed to use welcome bonuses.

I have sent the proof to this following email: branislav.b@casino.guru

Kind regards.

Freshbet.

But before the second deposit I was advised in the chat with the bonus and everything was fine just before the deposit. It seems that I have been misled in the chat, they wanted me to deposit money on false grounds just quickly.

I am sorry for the delay.

Dear wopeo,

Only to clarify the situation a bit...

I found a version of the casino's Terms and Conditions from February 2024, where they already had the rule in its current wording, with Finland as one of the restricted countries. It means that you would not be able to prove that the rule was edited after your registration and playing with the bonus in question and that Finland was not allowed for bonuses at least from February 2024. I checked it myself via one of the online public web archives - using the link to the casino's rules.

Can you prove a live chat representative informed you that you can claim a bonus?

On the other side, under such circumstances, the casino should not have allowed you to use a bonus if you reside and play from a restricted country.

Dear Freshbet Casino Team,

Thank you for your email. However, you only provided me with a screenshot of the casino's rule, which we basically have had from the beginning, provided by the player, and we could easily check it directly on the casino website.

As was indicated above, we cannot agree with the casino's decision to confiscate the player's winnings. We know that it is very common for players not to read the full Terms and Conditions, it is rather rare that someone would read them completely prior to acceptance.

Generally, our Fair Gambling Codex states that "The T&Cs should be written clearly so that they are easily and exactly understood by players. The entire system should be set up in a way that doesn't allow players to break the T&Cs unknowingly."

Therefore, based on our attitude, the casino should have such rules enforced by its system, on its side, and should not allow players restricted from bonuses to claim them, knowing in advance that players have no option to withdraw anything, and the casino will confiscate their winnings for doing it. If the casino had it set up/enforced correctly and fairly on its side, such a situation would not have happened at all, regardless of whether players knew about such a rule and tried it anyway or did it unknowingly (which is impossible to prove).

In addition, if the player likely played his deposit several/many times - what should have been a reason for requesting him to wager it once again after the casino confiscated his winnings? He fully played with his real money deposit, so it makes no sense at all.

Under such circumstances, and if there was no breach of other of the casino's rules or there is no other essential information that could change our attitude, we recommend the casino restore the confiscated winnings and let the user withdraw the winnings in accordance with the bonus rules (or with bonus-specific rules if there are any).

Based on all the above-stated, it would be highly appreciated if the casino could also return the user's funds that he spent from his deposit after the casino forced him to wager/lose some of them for basically no justified reason.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

https://casinogurufi.com/fi/freshbet-casino-pelaajan-voitot-mitatoitian

I also noticed that a Croatian player has had the same problem with the casino in question and Croatia is not in alphabetical order in the rules, as all the other countries are. Which suggests that they are adding lands there in a hurry.

I have no proof of the chat conversation, but what is certain is that I asked and received instructions from their chat on how to deposit and play the bonus. I went to the chat numerous times to ask how to act with the bonus. If this casino is at all fair, they will surely deliver all our chat conversations between us to you.

And yes, I demand the return of my funds to the account, because I have clearly been misled at least in the chat conversation repeatedly!

Hello,

We would like to say that it is unfair when user breaches the rules of the website that are clearly stated in our Terms & Conditions and only we should be responsible for that. We do not agree with your arguments and request, however we can allow the user to withdraw 500 EUR as a gesture of goodwill in order to show you that we really care about our customers.

Kind regards.

Freshbet.

Thank you both for your replies.

Dear wopeo,

1. The example complaint is completely irrelevant because it was closed as unresolved for no reaction on the casino's side, while the player only claimed that, and there was no evidence that would have confirmed the casino's rules were changed as he claimed. It is basically the most common claim of players that breached such a rule because they did not read them completely before accepting them, or did it intentionally, knowingly. In addition, you could have seen the other case earlier than submitting this complaint and formulated your complaint according to it, which is something that cannot be proved. Furthermore, as was mentioned, I was able to find a version of the casino's rules from February 2024, and Finland was already there, several months before you registered at the casino and played with the bonus in question. I rechecked it a while ago, and Croatia was also there, already in February. Therefore, it is really not 100% sure that they changed it after you won, as you claimed above.
2. You only keep claiming some things but were not able to prove any of the most important and essential things to the case, which plays against you.
3. After gathering all the information and details regarding the case, there are only 2 options, and in both options, there is something that you did not tell us the full truth about. Either you, as you claimed in your first post (literally the first sentence), read all the Terms and Conditions and knew about the restriction and claimed the bonus anyway, knowingly and intentionally, which would mean you knew about it and it was not unintentional (the rule was there in its current wording at the time you registered and played at the casino), or you did not read the casino's Terms and Conditions completely before depositing and claiming bonuses.

So, I have a few questions for you...

How was it? Did you read the casino's Terms and Conditions completely and did you know about the country restriction for bonuses or not?

Do you accept the casino's offer to return 500€ to your casino account, or do you insist on paying the full winnings?

Please note that in case you do not have any evidence supporting your claims about rules change or the information given by the casino's Customer Support, besides clear answers to my questions, any further information you will provide could only make the situation worse for you.

Dear Freshbet Casino team,

I dare to disagree. There are many casinos which have different types of rules. However, not all rules are alright only because they are in casinos' Terms and Conditions... Our attitude was explained earlier. It is really not fair to allow players to do something that is easy to breach, unknowingly, without any additional warning or notification. As was mentioned, we should count on the option that players do not read casinos' rules completely, and casinos are the ones who can enforce it on their side. If it was enforced correctly on the casino's side, such situations would not happen regardless of whether players do it intentionally or not.

Can you please provide me with the complete transcription of the entire communication between the casino and the player?

Can you confirm or deny that the casino's Customer Support informed the player that he could play with bonuses or provided him with information that indicated he could have claimed bonuses without restrictions?

Feel free to use my email address (branislav.b@casino.guru).

I'll settle for a 500e payment and I'll be happy if I get it. The casino is just trying to collect money by all means, I've noticed, so I can't fight against them anymore.

Thank you, wopeo, for your response, despite not answering all my questions. Although you cannot fight against them yourself, we are here to help you.

To be honest, if your replies and provided information were consistent and true from the beginning, without any discrepancies, we would side with you completely. However, there are things we cannot review sufficiently due to missing evidence, which can be provided only by the casino. The only missing piece is the communication between you and the casino CS about bonuses, which you mentioned earlier, and where casino CS (live chat) representatives allegedly informed you about instructions on deposits and bonuses with incorrect/misleading information repeatedly.

Since it is not possible to completely confirm or deny the fact whether you knew about the rule and country restriction or not, we see a good compromise in restoring a lower amount on your casino account (or a withdrawal of a lower amount). On the other side, we can see mistakes on both sides and therefore, we do not think it is completely fair to confiscate most of your disputed winnings - provided that the disputed amount was set up correctly and you were not strictly informed by the casino's CS that you could not claim bonuses.

Dear Freshbet Casino team,

As was mentioned, there were mistakes on both the casino's and the player's sides (or we cannot confirm/deny all the necessary circumstances). Therefore, in addition to my questions directed to you in my previous post and my request for the casino to provide additional evidence, here is our recommendation on how to proceed...

If the casino is not able or willing to provide the requested transcription of the complete communication between the casino and the user and/or to prove that the user was even clearly informed about the country restriction for bonuses by the casino's live chat or in a different way (besides the casino's Terms and Conditions which players usually do not read completely and are not enforced sufficiently on the casino's side), we recommend the casino restore half of the disputed winnings on the user's account or let him withdraw them.

If we are talking about a disputed amount of 2,149€, and we usually side with players in such situations completely (willingness to back down and compromise due to possibly a mistake on the part of the player as well), 500€/confiscation of most of the user's winnings is not considered a gesture of goodwill or a fair approach. In this case, a fair compromise (objectively, without providing further evidence) would be to restore half of the disputed winnings (approx. 1,000€ because the casino returned his deposit), which is the same compromise for the casino as for the player - the player made a mistake, he would receive half of his winnings. The casino made a mistake, it can basically confiscate and hold half of the user's winnings only based on its incorrect rules settings/application and their insufficient enforcement, which allows players to breach them easily/unknowingly, and fall into a trap. For now, the only thing that plays in favour of the casino is the fact the player possibly knew about the rule or did not provide us with complete information. Otherwise, we would insist on paying the entire amount of his disputed winnings or within the bonus rules/maximum cashout from the bonus.

Although the user was able to accept only 500€, he accepted the offer only because the options were only to receive 500€ or nothing...

If you can fully prove that the casino's CS/live chat clearly and sufficiently informed the player that he was not eligible for any bonus due to country restriction, which would play in favour of the casino in this case, feel free to provide me with the requested evidence (communication between the casino and the user) confirming that, and the matter will be once again discussed internally with the team. It could change the situation and our position.

In case you would like to share the relevant evidence (communication), feel free to send it to my email (branislav.b@casino.guru). Otherwise, we will wait for your final decision and reaction to our recommendation.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Hello,

We can allow user to withdraw 500 EUR as we offered previously but not because that we think it was our fault that the user claimed the bonus that he was not entitled to. We are ready to return that amount of money as a gesture of goodwill. Terms and Conditions clearly states that this bonus is not meant for the users from Finland and therefore he obviously breached the rules of our website.

Kind regards.

Freshbet.

I will take €500 to my account, thanks FreshBet.

Thank you for your replies and updates.

Dear Freshbet Casino Team,

Since the player agreed with your offer, we fully accept his decision, of course.

Can you please inform us once the agreed funds are credited to his casino account balance?

Hello,

We would like to inform you all that the promised 500 EUR has already been credited to user's account.

Kind regards.

Freshbet.

Thank you very much for the update and confirmation, Freshbet Casino Team.

Dear wopeo,

Can you please check your casino account and confirm the above-stated? Can I consider the matter solved, or is there anything else we can help you with?

Thanks casinoguru, they paid me €500.

Great news, wopeo!

Thank you for confirmation and for using the Casino Guru complaint resolution centre. As the issue has been successfully resolved, I will now mark your complaint as 'resolved' in our system. Do not hesitate to contact us in the future if you run into any issues with this or any other casino. We are here to help.

As you know, we do not charge for our services, nor do we accept any gratuities. However, we would appreciate it if you could take a moment to share your experience with our services on Trustpilot https://www.trustpilot.com/evaluate/casino.guru. An honest review and any suggestions you may have to improve our complaint resolution and mediation process would be greatly appreciated. Your feedback could prove helpful to others who are considering contacting us about any online casino-related issues. Thank you in advance for your time.

Thank you too, Freshbet Casino Team, for your help and cooperation.

Best regards,

Branislav, Casino.guru