GGBet Casino - The player struggles to close his account.

Hi - Until 04-05-2020 i had lost 24892,51€ Euros on gg.bet as a gambling addict. Here i reached out to the live-chat at gg.bet, where i very clearly informed that i had lost big amounts, and that i was very likely to loss all my winnings before they we're withdrawn in your casino, and after a long chat i very specifically agreed with your chat to block my account (After a long chat with the chat-operator we together agreed to close my account for 60 days), after they changed my mind from permanent account closure to 60 days, as shown on chat-screenshots i have.

I had already mentioned to GG.bet's chat that i wanted a break and that i had been having big losses, when having lost 24892,51€. Some deposits as high as 1248,61€ and 1338,97€ each, and some as low as 4,48€ when that was all i had left until i got some more funds by loans.

In the correspondance with John the chat-operator at 04-05-2020, we had already an agreement, where he changed my mind from permanently account closure to taking a 60-days break, he very clearly confirmed in the correspondance the we was glad that i decided only to block my account for 60-days, as he informed me "When the account is permanently blocked, there will be no turning back, and you may regret such a radical decision in the future." So he talked me out of this and into a 60 days block to clear my mind. He confirmed my decision in the chat, and told me just to write an email to confirm that it was me, and he very clearly wrote that it was just a formality, so i send an email confirming my account block.

After a long chat (as attached) with the chat-operator, we together found a solution that i agreed that we do not close my account permanently, but block my account for 60 days, so i could think the situation after the losses as recommended by chat operator. He agreed with me, and when i wrote to him "Then we do not close my account permanently, but instead just for a period", he responded with "I am glad that we agreed on that." afterwise i confirmed i wanted 60 days closed, and he confirmed to me "As you wish" and he informed me i just had to confirm to me that "it was just a formality to confirm that we are talking with the real account owner".

In this situation there was no reason for the casino to intervene this decision the day after, and talk me to keep my account active since i had already agreed with chat-operator that i needed a break and i wanted my account closed, just after i lost and wanted a break. It is very clear in the attached chat-correspondance, John the chat-supporter both agreed and confirmed my request. John the chat-operator very clearly confirmed my request and he confirmed that the email confirmation i had to send, was just a formality, therefore there was no reason for GG.bet to try to change my mind, since we have on chat that John the char-operator talked me into 60-days account block, he confirmed my final choice of blocking my account for 60 days and he confirmed very clearly that the email confirmation i had to sent was just a formality. Therefore the casino should have closed my account for 60 days, which would have prevented me from taking another loan and gamble and lose 15.000€ Euros within the next month, as we agreed on account block, and that the casino had already earned 24892,51€ Euros on my losses before this.

I cannot see how it could be done in any other way, i contact the chat-support expressing my losses and request for account closure, they instantly try to talk me into a temporary block, and after discussing the details we finally agree that i take 60 days break to get away from gambling and to think the situation through. I sent an email confirming this, so there was no need for the casino to intervene and try to change my mind the day after, since the casino had already earned almost 25000€ before this, and i already had discussed all the details and situation with the chat-supporter.

Hello qwrath,

Thank you very much for submitting your complaint. 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 what reason you have given when requesting to block your account?

Please, let me explain you what the difference between closing the account and self-exclusion is:

Some casinos use lots of tools for responsible gambling and I would not mention them here. What players can do if they’re unhappy in the casino: Close the account or self-exclude themselves, those are the two basic choices.

Closing an account is simple and has almost no impact - the player can reopen account anytime, and casino has no obligation to the player.

On the other hand, self-exclusion does. If a player successfully makes a self-exclusion, the casino agrees not to open this account or if yes only under particular circumstances (after cooling off period and this cannot be done for players who are addicted/with gambling problem).

In the case of self-exclusion, if casino failed in this, player may ask for a refund.

Thank you very much in advance for your reply.

Best regards,

Nick

Hello Nick,

I very clearly informed the casino that the reason was that i had lost big amounts, and high chance that i loose my winnings. As you can see in the attached correspondance, it was an account block, as casino supporter also writes. The Casino support talked me out of a permanent account closure recommending to block the account for a shorter period, having returned after a while, you will be able to think everything our more objectively i was informed by casino chat. Casino also informs that in the period it is not allowed to create duplicate account, which proof that it is self-exclusion, since why would they else inform this as well.

I write to the casino to close for 60 days so i have time to think it all through (Note that if the casino had not talked me out of permanent account block the account would have been blocked for good, but after Casino support talked me out of it we agreed on 60 days break from gambling).

Casino chat supporter confirmed my request clearly by writing "As you wish", and telling me to write an email to confirm my request, but he told me that it was just a formality to confirm that they are talking with the real owner.

Before i reached out to the chat support i had lost 24892,51€ Euros in the Casino, and after big losses i reached out with this chat support to get blocked, the chat supporter talked me out of permanent block into 60 days block and confirmed it in the chat with "as you wish", but casino did not block my account and talked me out of it, resulting in that i was allowed to deposit and loss futher 15.000€ Euros.

So besides the account block request, the casino allowed such huge amounts of 24892,51€ + 15000€ without conducting proper duediligence and redflags. Chat correspondance is here:

Hello qwrath,

Creating multiple accounts is restricted no matter what and it is not connected in any way to account block or self-exclusion as it is a general term.

As it was only an account closure, you are unfortunately not eligible for any refund.

I would recommend to contact the casino again and specifically ask for self-exclusion and be sure to mention gambling addiction in order to permanently exclude your account.

Please understand that unless you mentioned addiction earlier, the casino was not obligate to permanently ban you from the website, therefor they are not responsible for the losses.

Let me know whether you contact them again and the outcome of the exclusion.

Hi Nick,

I have not created multiple accounts, so i do not see where that was coming from. I have only 1 account which is the one i requested blocked in the chat.

I cannot see how i could have done this different, i told the casino i had lost s lot, i told them i needed a break from gambling, and i agreed to block my accounts for 60 days (as you see in chat the chat operator was glad that i changed my mind from permanent to temporary block).

In the following 30 days after this above chat, i was allowed from the very same account to deposit and loss around 15.000€, ergo if the casino had blocked my account on the given date as requested (Where i had already lost around 25.000€, i would never have able to deposit and loss this in the upcoming period.

I have contacted the casino and my account is permanently closed, but i still don't see how i could have done this different, when i as a volunerable gambling addict had lost 25.000€ and everything i own, i didn't know what to do, so i contact the chat-support and inform them i need a break from gambling, and they change my mind from permanent closure to 60 days break to think the situation through, and they confirm it with 'as you wish', and i send them email to confirm. So i cannot see how i could have done this different, and if they had blocked my account for 60 days, i also would not have been able to deposit this huge amount and take loans, because i should never have been able to do that, since my account should have been blocked in that period.

Hello qwrath,

I may try to explain my first post a little more specific:

There are 2 ways you can close your account - the first one is account closure, it is not permanent and you can reopen your account anytime if you request the casino to do so (this is what you did).

The second option is self-exclusion in which case the casino should not allow you to reopen your account no matter what - this is set only when you ever mention gambling addiction or problems to the casino. Unless you did not, your account is just closed with the possibility to reopen it.

Did you ever mention gambling addiction to the casino? If not, you are unfortunately not eligible for a refund as you account was not self-excluded.

Hi Nick,

I had just lost 25.000€ and informed the casino i had lost big amounts in the past year.

It the criteria are if it is a permenently block or if it can be reopened at anytime, it must have been self-exclusion we talked with GG.Bet about, because in your text you write that when its just account closure it can be reopened anytime, and GG.bet support wrote to me as quoted "We can offer to block the account for a relatively short period, for example, thirty days. Having returned after a while, you will be able to think everything out more objectively, and make a more deliberate decision regardin the further play on our platform. After all, when the account is permanently blocked, there will be no turning back, and you may regret such a radical decision in the future".

After this we agreed to block for a period and we agreed a 60 days block. And the deposits and losses was made in the following month, which should never have been possible if the casino had honored the account block as requested.

If you say that self-exclusion is permanent closure with 'no turning back', and account closure can be reopened anytime, then this must be a self-exclusion because the casino support operator very clearly expressed that it would be permanently and there was no turning back.

Hello qwrath,

If you did request for a 60 day account closure only then it was not a permanent ban anyway. This just confirms that you were able to reopen your account any time as it was only temporary block.

I'm really sorry but from out point of view the casino is not obligate to refund any lost balance. You may still try to contact directly the licensing authorities of the casino as they might consider the case in your favor and the casino will have no other option only to refund the money.

As per us, we can't enforce the casino to make such decision specially if the exclusion was not made and the block was temporary anywy.

Is there anything else we could assist you with - contacting the authorities or in any other way? If not, we will be closing the complaint.

Dear qwrath,

We are extending the timer by 7 days. Please, be aware that in case you fail to respond in the given time frame or don’t require any further assistance, we will reject the complaint.

Unfortunately, the player has not responded to our messages and questions. Consequently, we are unable to investigate further and have no choice but to reject this complaint.

The player can reopen this complaint at any time.