Golden Reels Casino - Player’s winnings have been cancelled.

I opened my account with Golden Reels on September 11th, 2021. It has been verified twice. 

On August 10th, 2022 I opened an account with Casino-X. These are two separate companies with different owners and acting under different licenses. 

A few days later, I found out that even Golden Reels and Casino-X are separate companies, a part of their activities are being done by the same team and they share a clients’ database. I was limited by both companies to €0.20-0.30 and I received same document requests by both. 

Golden Reels started "Source of funds" verification procedure. Except for the already required and necessary for the procedure e-wallet and bank statement, they asked for the following additional information:

- PDF of your Neteller loyalty points for all times

This is not an option in a Neteller account. I wrote an email addressed to Neteller and they replied that Neteller does not provide the technical ability of receiving loyalty points’ history in PDF format. 

- Clarification regarding relations and exchange transactions I have had with third parties

In my Neteller account there are amounts I had received from other Neteller clients that are individuals. The aforementioned parties are not clients of Golden Reels that excludes the hypothesis and makes pointless their suspicions about multi accounting. All Neteller’s clients’ accounts are being permanently AML checked by Paysafe. So, the need of processing such checks by Golden reels is also unacceptable. 

However, I have given a very detailed explanation about the nature of these transactions - I have attached Skype dialogues in which these transactions had been negotiated. I have also attached the counter-payments made by me via bank transfer with which I have paid for the amounts transferred to me via Neteller.

- Bank Statements linked to the third parties (Their source of funds)

I have been asked to provide bank statements of individuals (as mentioned before). I had no choice but to write to Neteller. Logically, Neteller declined providing such information in order to be compliant with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

- Source of fund for cryptocurrency exchanger Kraken account since 15.08.21 (for the last 12 months)

I have not used crypto currencies for payments with Golden Reels. I have not even mentioned having an account with Kraken. Although, I found their request groundless and the information in it – inapplicable, I turned to Kraken and asked them to send me a PDF file with my transactions with them. Of course, I mentioned in my email that I need this information for a verification procedure with Golden Reels. My request itself led to Kraken’s security system turn on. They carefully checked my account for breaks. I also received some advices on how to improve my security. They even told me not to fall for any attempts to fishing and SPAM. 

- A tax declaration, covering the period of the last 6 months

I turned to my accountant. They explained to me that according to our local legislation only politicians’ declarations are public and they are filled in a specific record. I am not a politician. Other people’s declarations are only available to bodies and institutions specified by the law and Golden Reels is not one of them. I.e. providing such declaration would breach the active legislation.

To summarize, I was asked for an information that:

- Is impossible to retrieve for technical reasons;

- Its retrieval would be in contradiction with the guidelines of GDPR;

- Its retrieval would be in contradiction with the privacy policy and security standards of a crypto exchange;

- Its retrieval is in contradictions with active legislation.

In the end, I received a letter from Golden Reels telling me to upload my e-wallet and bank statement history to my account – i.e. the things that are in fact necessary and relevant to the "source of funds" verification. I completed that request and I saw a mark that the verification procedure was done.

So, I requested a withdrawal for a part of my balance. I exchanged a few emails with their support team about me not having enough rollover of my last deposit and how this would lead to paying withdrawal fees. In a result, I complete the required rollover in around 24 hours on different casino games. I requested a withdrawal of €2,000.

24 hours later I received an email from Golden Reels informing me I had breached their rules. They decided to return me €1,000 and confiscate the rest of my balance: €3,900.22.

I have sent an official complaint in which I categorically objected.

A week after this, they replied that they stand by their decision.

They paid me €1,000 and the remaining €3,900.22 they confiscated. That puts and an end to my dialogue with Golden Reels. Harmed and insulted by their overall attitude and dishonest decision, I have laid out the facts here. I rely on the authoritative intervention of the Casino Guru team to restore justice.

Dear Bestbets,

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 if you have accumulated your winnings with or without an active bonus? If you have redeemed any promotional offer, when depositing, please forward its name or specific link as I’d like to check promotional terms and conditions. If there’s any relevant communication, please forward it to my email address petronela.k@casino.guru.

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

Best regards,

Petronela

Hello Petronela!

Thank you for your interest regarding my case. 

I have used ‘reload’ bonuses from Golden reels that they offered to me personally twice a week in my promo page. This specific bonus program works like this: 

1. I deposit certain amount. 

2. I receive free spins and aforetime are announced their number, worth and the game they are valid for. 

3. I play those free spins and the profit from them credits my account as ‘bonus balance’ that I need to rollover 20 times in 720 hours (30 days) before it goes to my real balance. The rollover can be fulfilled playing both in the casino or the sportsbook. 

Usually, when receiving such bonus, I have managed to fulfill the rollover requirement in one or two days. When the events described occurred, I had no active bonus and no bonus obligation at all. 

My activity at Golden reels was high even in the cases I had no active bonus, resp. no rollover requirements. I managed to reach ‘Platinum’ level there in only few months. 

I am forwarding you on the email the relevant for this case correspondence with Golden reels.

Kind Regards,

Bestbets

Thank you very much, Bestbets, for providing all the necessary information. I will now transfer your complaint to my colleague Adam (adam.m@casino.guru) who will be at your assistance. I wish you best of luck and hope to see your problem being resolved to your satisfaction in the near future.  

Hello Bestbets,

I have reviewed your case and will contact the casino to see if I can help.

We would like to invite Golden Reels Casino to join the conversation and participate in the resolution of this complaint.

Dear Golden Reels Casino,

Can you please clarify the specific reason for the player's winnings being confiscated?

Kind regards,

Adam

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’.

Hello Bestbets,

The casino has responded to me via Skype and I am currently waiting for more information. I will extend the timer to allow for this. In the meantime, please let me know of any developments.

Kind regards,

Adam

Dear Bestbets,

The casino has informed me that they are still checking into your case, so I will extend the timer to allow more time for them to provide us with an update.

Kind regards,

Adam

Update on the case:

On 30. 09. (Friday) I received a letter from Golden Reels that my canceled balance of €3,900 has been activated in my account. They invited me to log in and withdraw it. Minutes later I also received a letter from Casino-X offering to withdraw my balance from them. At the beginning of my current complaint I listed the company Casino-X as being related to Golden Reels (same management and shared customer base). The actions against me (described in the complaint) started when I also opened an account at Casino-X.

I exchanged several letters with the supports of both companies and the next day (01. 10. - Saturday), I was able to withdraw my balances:

€3,900 from Golden Reels which was the subject of a claim in my current complaint;

my balance from Casino-X, a smaller amount that was not the subject of a complaint.

So I confirm that the canceled amount of €3,900 was refunded to my account and paid out to my Neteller wallet. The present complaint may be considered resolved.

Dear Adam,

thank you for your efforts and through you I would like to thank the entire Casino Guru team for the good organization and logistical support to solve the case.

Kind Regards,

BestBets

I would like to clarify that the casino has been trying to respond but has experienced technical difficulties when replying to this thread. They did send me the following response via Skype:

"Thank you for reviewing and pointing out on the current situation.

We have reanalysed the results of previous audit concerning this customer and have also changed security protocols from our departments.

As an outcome of the additional audit of customer's gaming account, balance was refunded back and should be available for withdrawal.

But in consideration of customer's gaming pattern and risks that were connected to his actions, we have decided to block his account permanently after remaining balance withdrawal will be commenced and completed"

Dear Bestbets,

I'm glad to hear that your issue has been resolved. I will now mark the complaint as 'resolved' in our system.

Thank you for using the Casino Guru complaint resolution center. Don’t hesitate to contact us if you run into any issues with this or any other casino in the future. We are here to help.

Kind regards,

Adam