GoSpin Casino - Player’s withdrawal is delayed with excessive verification requests.

I started by sending my standard ID verification documents through their website. Everything was fine at this point. But it wasn’t enough; I still wasn’t verified.

Next, they sent this request:

"Please provide the following documents to complete the additional check as soon as possible to ensure you continue using our services in full:

We need you to provide one more item that qualifies as Proof of Identity. This could be one of the following:

Identity Card

Passport

Also, please provide the following:

A photo of yourself holding the previously provided driver's license next to your face with all your personal details clearly visible, and a sheet of paper with the following digits in your other hand: 5436."

I did this, and again, everything was fine with my documents. But it still wasn’t enough to process the withdrawal.

Next came this:

"In order to proceed with the additional verification procedure, please record a short self-identification video with your document (passport). Please prepare your document and a piece of paper with the handwritten date of recording and our product's name.

Things you must perform in the video:

Say your full name, the date of recording, and that this video is dedicated to the additional verification process on our company's website.

Show what is around you, so that we can make sure there are no third parties nearby.

Wave your hand in front of your face for several seconds to ensure you are not using any face-editing software.

Show yourself holding your document and a piece of paper with today's date and our product’s name.

To ensure your document is genuine, remove the piece of paper and show your document close to the camera, rotating it at different angles so we can see blinking holograms and watermarks."

Once again, I complied with their request, and my new verification was accepted.

However, it still wasn’t enough to process my withdrawal.

Then came this request:

-Proof of ownership of the phone number listed in your profile.

-An official 2023 tax return and salary slip for the 2024 period.

-Notarized passport.

I had been patient with all their requests, but this was the final straw.

Too much is too much. I started to have serious doubts about the business practice.

Nevertheless, I continued in good faith and sent them my notarized passport. (Result: Everything was fine with it, as confirmed by their customer service.)

My serious dispute starts here:

Now, they are still asking for proof of ownership of my phone number and my 2023 tax return.

Before sending anything else.

I asked them for clarification: explain to me why exactly they would need my tax return? They aren’t government officials or a bank where I’d be applying for a loan. Nothing like that. And my account was so extra-well verified already! All passed! My verification status is clearly stated on the site.

Furthermore, the phone number ownership request seems like a minor issue, but on what basis does my registered number have to be in my name, as long as it’s a number I use? There is no such clause in the terms.

They refused to provide any clarification or explanation for these two requests that I contested.

I am mostly contesting these requests to challenge the broader question: do online casinos have the right to couple any document request with processing a withdrawal? Is there no limit? If they want to play games or, in the worst case, if they have bad intentions and are scam artists collecting sensitive information, they could potentially do a lot of harm to a lot of people. Do players have any rights that limit such demands?

If we can’t regulate this with acceptable guidelines, the least we can do is expose GoSpin here.

GoSpin representatives are most warmly welcomed to discuss and resolve this matter publicly, with the help of Casino Guru's mediation.

Dear tmstms, 

Thank you very much for submitting your complaint. I’m sorry to hear about your problem. 

Please understand that the Know Your Customer (KYC) process is a crucial step in ensuring that the casino sends money to the rightful owner. Since online gambling establishments can't physically verify players, checking identification and documents is the only way to ensure the legitimacy of account ownership. Licensed and serious casinos handle KYC with care, and it's normal for this process to take a few working days to complete.

Additionally, as part of anti-money laundering regulations, the casino may request further documentation if any concerns arise about a player's income or deposit activities. This could include tax returns or salary slips to verify the legitimacy of funds.

Regarding the phone number you used during registration, could you please confirm if you are the owner of this number?

Have you provided the casino with your salary slip and tax return?

We hope to assist you in resolving this matter as quickly as possible and appreciate your cooperation. Thank you for your prompt reply.

Best regards, 

Veronika

Hi Veronika,

Yes, my phone number is registered in my name. Sending an SMS verification, for example, is standard practice. However, requesting proof of ownership is completely irrelevant for any ID verification purposes or even for anti-money laundering checks. At this point, there can be no doubt about my ID, as it has been triple-confirmed through extensive checks. I would like to understand the relevance of this request, but they refuse to reply.

As I mentioned before, the ownership of one phone line or service has nothing to do with reasonable verification anymore. It just simply doesn't make any difference. There is nothing in their terms that limits the accepted ownership possibilities of the players' registered phone numbers. That's the key point. Their customer service response was essentially: "By our terms, we can ask for anything, and we don’t need to explain the reason behind any request."

Do they really have this right? If so, we should categorize online casinos into two groups: those with good business practices and rogue casinos that, for example, have no real intention of paying players’ withdrawals.

For instance, if you go to buy a drink at your local store and the cashier says, "Sorry, but we can only sell this bottle to you if you first show me that your phone number is registered in your name," I believe I have the right to question why they are asking for such unexpected personal information. It seems irrelevant to me.

The main issue here is their lack of explanation. I understand, for example, that an investment bank would require anti-money laundering checks. It’s hypocritical that online casinos take deposits without any controls while coupling extensive KYC and money laundering checks only to withdrawals. This business practice is unhealthy, as it opens the door to potentially accepting "dirty" money for them and they can also arbitrarily complicate the withdrawal process for honest players just out of their whim.

As I understand it, their terms and conditions might even allow them to request medical reports, private passwords, children’s Social Security numbers, and photos—essentially _anything_ they choose, and tie that information to withdrawal approvals. Who is regulating and controlling this? That's why I'm here.

GoSpin never informed me that the request for a salary slip and tax return was related to anti-money laundering regulations. I believed this was merely for ID verification.

This entire ID check started off on the wrong foot due to their dishonesty. I have proof of everything (I can send the email privately if needed):

I received this email on August 19:

"We need you to provide one more item that qualifies as Proof of Identity. This could be one of the following:

- Identity Card

- Passport

Also, please provide the following:

- A photo of yourself holding a previously provided driver’s license next to your face with all your personal details clearly visible, along with a sheet of paper with the following digits written by another hand: 5436."

I later discovered that this was outright misleading, as I had already passed this check, and my account was marked as "Verified." However, on September 2, I received this email:

"In order for you to proceed with the additional verification procedure, please record a short self-identification video with your document (passport). Please prepare your document and a piece of paper with the handwritten date of recording and our product's name."

So, once you start being dishonest and do different things than you say, we must question your credibility and trustworthiness. My suspicions began to rise at this point; it was not very professional.

And remember the third request email that followed:

"For the final step of the verification, please provide us with the following:

1. Proof of ownership of your phone number listed in your profile

2. An official 2023 tax return and salary slip for the 2024 period

3. A notarized passport."

The first extra request literally states: "We need you to provide one more item..."—it says *one*!

Regarding the next point:

Requiring a salary slip for the 2024 period is also irrelevant. Many people, from the very wealthy to the very poor, do not receive salary slips, and this request should not be tied to the ability to withdraw funds from their platform. Many people for example get their living from property sales, dividends, some from subsidies, pention, whatever.

As for the tax return, I am not fundamentally against sending specific documents. However, I first requested explanations from them. Intuitively, I also question what relevance sending tax returns has.

If this information is truly important, I would like to hear or see it from the regulatory authority with a good explanation. GoSpin casino refuses to communicate and emphasizes their right to ask anything without providing explanations.

Update:

As of today, GoSpin seems to have withdrawn its demand for the two documents whose relevance I disputed here. They have already processed my withdrawal. I'll never know whether they were just jerking me around with arbitrary, pointless tasks or what was going on. They still haven't explained anything. I only received the following message:

Dear Player!

Thank you for the provided documents. The withdrawal request has been succesfully processed.

It seems that taking this matter public wasn't in vain, since they didn’t offer any defense. For other online casino players, this is a good example case: if a site asks you to send something as irrelevant as proof of ownership of your phone number (without even specifying what kind of proof is required), your salary slip (making the baseless assumption that you even receive salary slips), or your tax return (which contains loads of personal information that definitely doesn’t belong in the hands of an online casino), don’t do it! Don’t just blindly send everything they ask for. You have the right to withdraw your account balance without providing such unnecessarily personal information. Casino regulators will most probably back you up.

Thank you for your update, and I’m glad to hear that your withdrawal has now been successfully processed.

Regarding the casino's request for additional documents, please note that casinos are eligible to request further verification as part of their Know Your Customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) obligations. While I understand your concerns about the relevance of certain documents, these requests are often made to comply with legal requirements aimed at protecting both the casino and its players. However, it’s great that the matter was resolved without further complications.

Have you received your winnings yet?

The issue seems to have been resolved, as they don't ask for those documents anymore. I have received my winnings.

Dear tmstms,

We're glad to hear that your issue has been resolved. We'll go ahead and mark the complaint as 'resolved' in our system. We appreciate your cooperation and confirmation. If you ever encounter any issues with this or any other casino in the future, please feel free to reach out to our Complaint Resolution Center. We're here to help. 

As you know, we do not charge for our services, nor do we accept any gratuities. However, we would greatly 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, along with any suggestions for improvement, would be invaluable. Your feedback could help others who may be considering contacting us for assistance with online casino-related issues. 

Thank you in advance for your time. 

Best regards, 

Veronika Lash 

Casino.Guru