Highway Casino - Player contests against alleged max bet violation.

After going through verification and requesting a withdrawal of the first $600 of a $9,600 balance (which would be $9,119 after removing a $481 bonus), Highway Casino accused me of violating the max bet terms of the bonus ($10 slots/$25 card games) and reset my balance to $200.84, the amount of my deposit. They also attached a betting history showing all my play during that bonus playthrough.

I knew those bonus terms very well, and I am virtually certain that I never bet more than $25 on a hand. Most of my time playing was spent betting $12.50 on multi-hand Jacks or Better ($2.50 per hand), sometimes doubling that to $25 ($5 per hand) for a while, and then going back down to $12.50 again, as was shown in the betting history.

However, there was a SINGLE highlighted entry of a $50 wager, in between a bunch of $25 wagers. This is uncharacteristic of the way I was playing, and that entry looks highly suspicious to me. I continued to scroll through the entire history, which consists of over $150,000 in wagers made over the course of nearly a month, from April 3rd to April 27th. That one highlighted $50 bet, displayed on the last day of play, April 27th, near the top of the betting history, less than two hours before the final bet played, was the only wager shown of greater than $25. Looking at all my other wagers, that one entry does not fit the pattern of my play at all. I would typically play a bunch of hands at $12.50, move up to $25 for a bunch of hands, and then move back down to $12.50. I would have NEVER increased my bet after having already increased it to $25, and certainly not for just a single hand.

Either there has been a glitch, or I was given an altered betting history. It is very peculiar that the one and only wager which violates their terms shows up near the top of the report, in between many identical $25 wagers. I attempted to look up the betting history for myself in my account, but it said there was NO DATA AVAILABLE when I searched the date of April 27th.

Hello Narrator007,

Thank you very much for submitting your complaint and I'm really sorry to hear about your issue with Highway 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? What kind of bonus were you using? Do I understand it correctly that your winnings were confiscated based on 1 bet above the limit while all the others were within the limit? When was the last time you spoke to the casino and what was it about?

Looking forward to your answer.

Regards,

Nick

Thank you for the swift reply! My account was verified on May 7th.

I was playing on a 240% Highway Bonus with no max cashout.

When I first submitted that complaint, I stated that I was unable to access the betting history myself to compare it to the report that was emailed to me. However, that appeared to be a temporary glitch. I have since been able to search the history myself, and I can now prove that the information being shown in that history is incorrect.

The betting history here does agree with what was shown in the report. However, there is a discrepancy that I did not notice before. Take a look at the Balance column. That column shows the ending balance after the conclusion of each game. For instance, after hand #1864278657, the second from the bottom, you can see that after a $25 bet and a $25 win on a hand a Jacks or Better (multi-hand), the balance is unchanged from the balance after the previous hand. In the hand above that, after a $25 bet and a $35 win, the balance increased by $10.

If you keep following upward from there, you can see that after the next bet of $25 and a win of $20, the balance went down by $5, then after the bet of $50 and win of $40, the balance decreased by... another $5.

That's right. According to the betting history, on hand #1864280643, after a wager of $50 and a win of $40, the balance only decreased by $5, from $10,117.53 to $10,112.53. Since this betting history agrees with the emailed report that I was given, if you go through you will be able to see that for thousands of hands, this was the ONLY time that the change in balance appears to be incorrect. And the "error" carries forward after that, all the way to the present.

There is only one conclusion here that makes sense. The actual wager and win from that hand were the same as for the previous hand, a $25 bet and a $20 win. Through either a glitch or alternation, those two numbers were doubled, for only that one hand. As I stated before, this was the ONLY bet of over $25 that exists in the entire betting history.

The last time anyone from Highway Casino contacted me was yesterday morning. That was the email in which the hand history report was sent and in which I was accused of breaking T&C by betting above the $25 maximum allowed on card games, which was sent by someone in the finance department. They have not replied to my email back to them.

If this error in the betting history was a glitch, or if the alteration was done by a rogue employee acting alone, then I would expect the response by casino management would be an immediate apology for falsely accusing me of breaking the rules, reinstatement of my balance, and expedited service of any withdrawal requests.

Hello Narrator007,

Usually if the player bets over the maximum allowed limit, the casino has the right to confiscate the winnings generated from the bonus. However, as only 1 bet was made over the allowed limit, which based on the history might even be an error, the casino might reconsider their decision.

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

I finally received a reply to my initial email to Highway Casino from six days ago. In that reply, they simply stated "We understand your frustration", and restated their position from the previous email.

I provided them with the new information I discovered about the error in the betting history, and let them know that they may respond to my complaint here.

Hello, Narrator007,

I am sorry to hear about your unpleasant experience. I will contact the casino and try my best to resolve the issue as soon as possible. Now I would like to invite the casino representative to join this conversation and participate in resolving this complaint.

Dear Highway Casino team,

Could you please explain the player's situation in more detail? If I understand it correctly, the player wagered almost 160,000 USD before the alleged bet exceeding the maximum bet amount was made (and only something over 13,000 USD after), and only based on that one bet, which even ended like -5 USD from the user's balance, while he was obviously playing within the casino's rules (complying with max bet) during the entire play, the casino confiscated all his winnings?

Can you confirm we are talking about a bonus without a maximum cashout amount, and that it was a "sticky"/non-withdrawable bonus?

Since the balance change before and after the bet in question was made makes no sense either, can you please contact the game provider and confirm that everything worked fine and properly at that time, and what could have caused such a result? Can you provide us with their statement?

Even if the complainant made such a bet by mistake, although considering all other bets it really does not seem to be made intentionally or for the purpose of abuse, would the casino be able and willing to reconsider its decision? If yes, and there is no essential information that could change a view on all the gathered facts so far, it would be fair to either restore his account to the point before the bet in question was made and let him finish the bonus or to simply (besides the bonus amount) deduct the winnings won from that bet from his final balance.

Why should everything be confiscated if that 1 bet basically did not have any significant impact on the result of his wagering requirements or if it did not give him any unfair advantage? Even if he made the bet himself, we would talk about a one-time mistake and not intentional abuse.

If needed, feel free to send the necessary supporting evidence to my email address (branislav.b@casino.guru).

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’ which may negatively affect its rating.

Hi Branislav!

Thank you for bringing this issue to our attention. After investigating the case with our team, we are prepared to provide a resolution.

First of all, my colleagues received an email from the player that explained the issue, and we sincerely appreciate the screenshots and information provided. This helped us understand the situation better and greatly contributed to improving our services. My team and I agree that the restricted bet amount (according to the gaming report from our provider) did not affect the player's balance. As for the second part of the issue (incorrect bet reflection), we'll look into it with our gaming provider to see if they can shed some light on it. 

Meanwhile, I'm glad to inform you that the player's balance has been restored to $9118, and they are welcome to proceed with a withdrawal request.

I apologize for any inconvenience this incident may have caused. Please don't hesitate to reach out if you require any additional clarification.

Thank you very much for the detailed clarification, Highway Casino Team!

Dear Narrator007,

Can you please confirm the above-stated? Can I consider the issue resolved and close the case, or is there anything else I can help you with?

To Branislav: Thank you for your assistance. My balance has been restored to $9,118.88. If you don't mind, I would like to keep this open until I have received my first withdrawal of $600. I have read many other complaints of people's withdrawals being reduced to only $300 or $400 at a time, instead of the up to $2,500/week claimed on the website and in the cashier. I would just like to make sure that I will not have a similar experience as I attempt to begin cashing out.

To the Highway Casino representative: I noticed that the Rival video poker games were down and unavailable from around May 3rd to May 7th, which would have been a few days after my bonus play ended. Those games were down not just at Highway Casino, but also at another unrelated casino during that same time. There may have been a platform-wide issue. You might want to ask your Rival gaming provider whether there was a glitch with their VP software that was being corrected, something that might have affected accurate recording in the betting history.

Sure, of course, Narrator007, no problem at all. I can keep the case open longer, until let's say a few of the first payments are successfully processed, or even until all your winnings are withdrawn. However, if there is no problem with the first withdrawals and it will look fine and on the right track, we can close it. It would be OK if you let us know from time to time about progress, you do not have to inform us after every successful payment. I will set up the timer for a longer period.

Feel free to keep us updated regularly.

Good news! My first $600 withdrawal has already arrived in my bitcoin wallet. I was worried about how much of it might be lost due to volatility or the spread, having read that other people had as much as 8% shaved off of their bitcoin withdrawals. I was prepared to switch to withdrawing via stablecoin USDT in the future if necessary.

However, I was pleasantly surprised. I received $585 worth of bitcoin, a loss of only 2.5% from the original value.

This first withdrawal was a test to see how much value would be lost via BTC transfer, and to make sure it was being sent to the correct address. Now that I know everything is working fine, I can try to withdraw more.

I will be curious to see whether there is a one-week wait between withdrawals, even if the two amounts combined would still be less than the stated weekly withdrawal limit. I wouldn't mind if there was, but Highway Casino's withdrawal process has been faster than expected so far.

Great news, Narrator007!

Do not hesitate to let us know about other successful payments. If it goes well until let's say half of your winnings, we can think about complaint closure.

In normal circumstances, we recommend players wait at least 14 days after a withdrawal request before submitting a complaint, so if each withdrawal request is processed in approximately a week on average, it is acceptable and on the right track.

For this update, I have both good news and bad news.

The good news is, I have received my second withdrawal, and once again the value received was within 2.5% of the amount sent.

The bad news is, the withdrawal request was cut in half, from the $1,400 that was being requested to $700.

So, it would appear that I was correct to keep this complaint open. Highway Casino is doing the same thing to me that others have been complaining about, paying out withdrawals in amounts much smaller than advertised on the website and in the cashier.

The letter I received seemed to imply that the second part of the cashout would be sent later, but there are no pending withdrawals showing in my account. Therefore, I will be starting a new withdrawal request, and I would like to warn Highway Casino that the speed at which I receive my winnings will be a factor I consider when I give my review and rating of this casino.

If the reason for paying out more slowly is that Highway Casino's ownership is having financial difficulties, please ask them to let me know, and I would be more understanding.

Thank you for the update, Narrator007. I am sorry to hear about other delays.

Dear Highway Casino team,

Can you please inform us what is happening there? If the player's withdrawal should be cut or split into 2 payments, how can the casino simply remove half of the withdrawal and force the player to request a new request and wait another week? It would be understandable if the payments were paid promptly within 1-2 days. The player even uses crypto e-wallet, where it should not be a problem with instant payments.

The casino states that it pays 2,500 €/$ per week and/or 10,000 €/$. Is the casino able to pay anyone 10,000 within 1 month at all? If so, what should the player do to speed up the process and withdraw his winnings based on those withdrawal limits?

We are talking about the average monthly withdrawal limit, and considering the user's disputed amount, he should be allowed to withdraw them all within 1 month. As mentioned above and looking at the screenshots from Narrator007, it looks like the casino rather pays approximately 3,000 per month, not per week.

We state withdrawal limits in casino reviews on our website, but it looks like the limits stated on the casino website are not correct.

Can you look into it and somehow help the player speed up the process?

Hi Branislav,

Thank you for reaching out and bringing this issue to our attention. I've reviewed the situation with my colleagues, and they have confirmed that the first withdrawal was processed on the second business day, and the second on the third business day, rather than once a week as stated above. These cashout time frames are consistent with those listed in the Payment Methods section on our website.

Additionally, my team informed me that, according to our terms and conditions, the withdrawal amount may be split into smaller parts depending on the payer class and the chosen method to fit the cashout limit. However, after reviewing the player's account, my colleagues have confirmed that the next pending withdrawal of $1800 is scheduled to be approved in full tomorrow, June 6.

Thank you again for bringing this to our attention. If you need any further clarification, please feel free to reach out.

Thank you very much for the clarification.

Dear Narrator007,

Although the last withdrawal was a bit delayed and reduced, it does not look bad I would say.

So, as earlier, I will set up the timer for a longer and will wait for your occasional updates regarding successful withdrawals and the remaining amount.

The chosen payment method is likely one of the fastest ways to withdraw your winnings. I only recommend staying patient and positive, not touching your winnings, and requesting new withdrawals right after successful ones. Some players would give anything to withdraw their funds at least this way.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

The representative from Highway Casino was true to their word. I received the $1,800 withdrawal to my btc address earlier today.

Branislav, your advice is excellent. If I could go back in time a few years and give my younger self some words of wisdom in a similar situation, that is exactly what I would have told myself.

I will request another withdrawal right away as you suggested, although I don't expect it to be acted on for another week since I have reached the weekly withdrawal limit.

Edit:

Looks like there is an automated system which blocks new withdrawal requests that would exceed the weekly limit. So, I will just have to try a $700 withdrawal for now.

Great, Narrator007, good news!

At least we know that the casino keeps its word and pays the stated maximum withdrawal limit per week. So, you should be able to withdraw the rest of your disputed funds within the next few weeks.

If am correct, there should be something around 6,000 USD in your account. If everything goes well and without any significant delays, once your balance is let's say under 4-5 thousand, we could think about complaint closure. We do not have to keep it open if everything is on the right track, and also, in case of any further issues, it is possible to contact me or request a reopening of the case.

Feel free to inform us about further progress.

I received that $700 withdrawal a few days ago, and I have received another $1,800 withdrawal earlier today.

I will have to wait another three or four days before I can request another withdrawal, but I only have $3,518 left to be paid out.

Thank you very much, Narrator007, for confirmation/updates and for using the Casino Guru complaint resolution centre. Since it looks to be on the right track, without other significant delays, I will now mark your complaint as 'resolved' in our system. In case there is another longer delay (let's say a withdrawal pending longer than 2 weeks) or any issues, feel free to let me know via email (branislav.b@casino.guru) or request a reopening of the case. We can look at it additionally again. Currently, it makes no sense to keep the complaint open anymore if everything is going well, or at least without delays.

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.

Thank you, Highway Casino Team, for your help and cooperation.

Best regards,

Branislav, Casino.guru