Hotline Casino - Player’s account has been blocked and winnings confiscated.

Hello. I think the Hotline casino is being unfair. They requested a photo of my bank card for verification. I couldn't provide the card immediately because I lost it. I ordered a card from the bank, but it's been made for a while.

A week after the request, I received an email saying my account was blocked because I didn't provide a card for a week. I explained all the circumstances to the casino. I repeat, I lost my card before requesting a casino, I immediately ordered a new card from the bank. I think that an important reason. As evidence, I attached an application to create a new card that I filed to the bank. I asked the casino to give me extra time.

On October 19, I received a new bank card and sent it to the casino. A few days later I received an answer. "Your documents have been accepted and verified by the Security Service."

I tried to sign in to my account, but it was still blocked. I contacted support and ask them to unlock account. Casino officials said my account would remain locked and my funds confiscated.

Obviously, the casino is changing its mind and doesn't want to pay my winnings. As my review is complete, I ask the casino to withdraw my funds immediately in the amount of EUR 460.

Dear Alan,

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. Have you withdrawn any funds from this casino previously? Have you used the old card for depositing? Could you please specify the exact dates of your deposits and when the card has been lost?

Furthermore, if there’s any relevant communication, please forward it to petronela.k@casino.guru. I hope we will be able to help you to resolve your problem as soon as possible. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Best regards,

Petronela

Hello. I answer all questions in order.

No, I didn't get any money from this casino before. I wanted get the money for the first time.

I didn't use a bank card to deposit in a casino. I used a Skrill e-wallet.

In total, I made 4 deposits, the last deposit I made on September 18. On October 2, I received a request from the casino requesting a photo of the card. I couldn't find the card and tried to find it. After that, I realized that the card was lost and applied for a new card. It was October 9th.

On October 19, I received a new card and sent photo to the casino.

Thank you very much, Alan, for providing all the necessary information via email. I will now transfer your complaint to my colleague Juli 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.

Hi Alan,

I'm taking over your complaint. I will contact the casino and see what can be done.

Dear Hotline Casino, could you give us some statement regarding player’s situation, please? Thank you in advance for your reply.

Hello.

The player has deposits from the card from 05/21/2020. We sent a screenshot by mail (we cover up some information).

The player makes deposits from the card and starts the game. After some time, he makes deposits from Skrill and already starts withdrawing to this payment.

The Security Department made a request to provide card verification to avoid disputes over chargejack, since they can come up to 1 year after the deposit was made.

The player did not receive information about the loss of the card during the 7-day verification period, and after the period passed, we began to act within the framework of our rules specified in clause 3.6., Which says "If the requested package of documents is not provided within 7 days, it will is regarded as an attempt to hide information and / or inability to pass the verification procedure. In this case, the deposit will be considered invalid and returned to the player, and the winnings will be canceled, the Player's account will be blocked. "

The verification request was made: 09/19/2020

The account has been blocked: 06/10/2020

The player had more than 2 weeks to verify and provide the necessary information. But it should be noted that the player did not inform us during the verification period that he lost the card, but simply did not send it.

After blocking and acting within the framework of the casino rules, with which he agreed upon registration, he informed the support on 10/14/2020 that he had lost the card and for this reason did not provide it.

We can provide the history of correspondence as additional evidence.

Dear player,

Could you please send us any document from the bank that you requested a new card? Or maybe is this possible for you to send a photo of your new card? You can send is here: yuliia.k@guruadmins.com. Thank you in advance.

Dear Alan,

We are extending the timer by 7 days. Please, be aware that in case you fail to reply and provide the required information in the given time frame, we will reject your complaint.

I sent you an application which I submitted to the bank and a photo of my new card.

Hello.

I am terribly sorry to reply after such a delay. Unfortunatelly Juli is no longer available to respond anymore, so I am taking over her complaint.

I understand that in this case, all deposit methods must be verified. Alan, could you please confirm the time frames what casino provided?

The verification request was made: 19/09/2020

The account has been blocked: 06/10/2020

Is this correct? When did you inform the casino about the fact that the card is lost? One more time I am sorry for the such a delay in this case.

My account was blocked on October 9th. I received a request for a card on October 2 from casino. I provided the card at the casino on October 19, when I received it at the bank. Do you need more information? I previously sent your colleague an application that I submitted to the bank to replace the card.

Thank you for the clarification.

Dear casino representative, We believe that the customer verification shouldn't be limited by time, and it should never be used to cancel the winnings. I understand the reason for creating such a rule, but the correct approach is: In case that player is delaying a verification you should ask him for another type of proof (documents), but not void the winnings.

In this case, Alan had a valid reason why he cannot made it, in the given time-frame. We cannot support the decision to void his winnings based on the terms and conditions and such a rule we consider as predatory.

There was a reason, but during the verification period, set aside by the Terms and conditions of the casino, he did not provide information about the loss of the card.

And when measures were taken, the player reported this after 8 days.

In such situations, when we make a request for verification, players immediately provide us with the requested information and we set aside additional time to provide information.

Why do we need set up the Rules when everyone can break them?

The main problem here is that the rules must be fair and not something that you want.

Will you create an account in the bank, where if you want to withdraw the money and they send you a letter, then you must come to the bank personally and if you won't, they confiscate all your money?

On the one hand, casinos dislike professional casino players. The rule you think is OK is aimed against all recreational /newbie players. I am sorry but the missed time-frame, in any case, shouldn't be a reason to void the winnings.

What prevented the player from reporting during the verification process or after a request that he lost the card?

Once again, when the player reports this information during the verification process or after a request, we satisfy the player's requirement and increase or completely remove the time frame. But in the case of this player, he did not notify us about this and the Administration made this decision and we returned the last deposit to the player immediately after blocking.

You wrote:

"The rule you think is OK is aimed against all recreational / newbie players."

And we do not agree with this statement, because newbies always contact support if they have something wrong and the support contacts the security service to resolve this issue before the blocking stage. Thus, steps are taken to help or re-request another document.

I didn't know I had to report the loss of the card. I thought this information was irrelevant to verification. The casino asked me for a card 1 time and exactly 7 days later reported the blocking. It looks like an abuse of rules. Moreover, I reported the loss of the card and provided evidence. The information I provided is credible. I have a good reason and therefore missed the deadline. I think as an honest casino with a good rating, the company should take note of this and change the decision. I'm asking the casino cooperate.

Dear Hotline Casino representative, I think the best would be to explain to you the situation on an example.

So imagine that you put your lifetime savings into the bank. Still, this bank has a hidden rule somewhere in the contract and based on this rule anytime they can ask you for personal verification, and if you fail to come to the bank and sign the verification papers in 2 weeks well, then they take all your money. And now imagine that you want to go for a vacation, so you transfer some money from saving account to a regular one, but there is something with a transaction so bank send you a letter and you find it only after you return home.

And now tell me: You lost all your money, you had a legitime reason why you didn't come to the bank, but still they don't care, was it fair?

Because that's how Alan feels.

As I wrote before none of the fair casinos can have a rule like you have in the terms. There is no legal way how to take a players money just because he missed the time frame for verification. You can ask the player for different documents or make a verification call. But you cannot void his winnings with a lousy excuse.

Try to find the same rule as you used in casinos with good and above rating listed on our website. I am 100% sure you can't.

And that's the difference between good and bad casino.

Dear Matej,

The example does not quite fit in this situation.

We are not a banking organization that keeps funds in our account and do not remain silent about this rule. By registering in our project, the player should check the Terms and conditions of the casino. - If I agree, then I register, if I don’t agree, I don’t register or I contact support for the correct concept of this rule.

We do not hide this rule, it is, like others, in the Terms and conditions of the casino.

We also remind you that the player informed us about the loss of the card on 10/14/2020, 8 days after the account was blocked, that is, on 10/06/2020.

You try to approve that if the player didn't submit the documents on time, it is correct. This is a bad trend.

Well, not everybody read emails every day. Recreational players may read email once per few weeks. All important information is still sent by post where the person who receives them confirms that he/she accepted them by signature. I am just saying that the rule what you created and put into the casino terms and condition is predatory and we cannot support your decision.

You can have a casino based on the wrong principles and get a bad rating or do it better and be player friendly. It's your project; you can choose the path. We can only give you suggestions.

If you believe that rule that you can void all the winnings from a player who failed to verify himself in 2 weeks is a good rule then why nobody else (nobody good) use that rule? You have a casino and create rules, and we rate the casinos. It's simple. You can do what is right or not, and based on that, we will do our part. The choice is yours.

The casino administration decided to remove the rule and return the 360 EUR difference to the player (since after the blocking, the deposit was immediately returned to him) within 7 days.

After we do, we will additionally notify you and the player.

Thank you very much for an update. I am glad that you made the right decision. We will wait until Alan confirms that he received the money.

Dear Team,

we returned the money to user last week. 

Please check and close this complaint.

Best regards,

Hotline Casino Team

Because we didn't receive any response from Alan, we assume that the money was returned and we are closing this complaint as "solved".

The player can reopen this complaint anytime.