Hotline Casino - Player’s bonus winnings have been voided.

After having some big wins and wagering, the casino declined my withdrawal because of -allegedly- a higher bet that the limit of 3 euro while the bonus is active. Such a bet was not made by me and I did not get any proof of any kind that I violated the rules.

Customer support is horrible and rude and the overall experience was awful. Avoid this casino at any cost.

Dear Panagiotis,

Thank you very much for submitting your complaint. I’m sorry to hear about the issue and understand your frustration.

I carefully checked the Bonus Terms on the website, and this is what I found https://hotlinecasino.com/terms:

„The maximum bet available with an active bonus is 3 USD/EUR, 200 RUB, 12 PLN, 25 NOK, in case of violation of this rule, the active bonus and all winnings will be canceled."

We would like to see casinos implementing systems that would prevent players from placing higher than allowed bets, but, unfortunately, this is not a standard practice yet. You were not stopped or blocked when you decided to increase your bet, and, as a result, you breached the maximum bet rule.

If you are aware of placing higher bets than the allowed ones, sadly, there is not much we can do to support your case at this time. I would strongly recommend reading all the T&Cs carefully before you start playing to avoid any misunderstandings in the future. Casinos try to design their bonuses to be as attractive as possible, but the rules must always be followed.

Please do not hesitate to forward your game history along with any relevant communication to petronela.k@casino.guru if you feel that you’ve been accused mistakenly, otherwise, I will be forced to reject your complaint. Thank you in advance for your reply and understanding.

Best regards,

Petronela

Dear Petronela,

Let me clear things out a bit. My balance just before completing the wager was 1400 euros. Maximum cashout for my bonus was 300 euros.

I received NO proof that I broke any rule and the gaming history was NOT provided to me, although I kindly asked. Also, as I mentioned above, the live chat operators were extremely rude and unwilling to cooperate in any way. I don't want to believe that this specific casino is allergic to big wins, but they leave me no other choice but to believe that.

You were not stopped or blocked when you decided to increase your bet, and, as a result, you breached the maximum bet rule.

I am surprised that you don't even reserve the benefit of a doubt in this case with such a biased statement.

I am not frustrated and surely I won't miss the 200 euros that were deducted from my balance.

But this behavior is disrespectful in many levels to the customers of these services and should be pointed out for future notice. Users' comments and feedback ought to be respected a bit more in my opinion.

In conclusion, I am sure that you want to promote casinos that really deserve it. So if you have any more questions feel free to ask the casino to prove my violation. I would be happy to receive any of that proof.

It was not my statement that you have breached the maximum bet rule, Panagiotis, and I do apologize if you took it differently.

I will now transfer your complaint to my colleague Andrej 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.

Dear Panagiotis,

I’m sorry to hear about your bad experience. I’ll contact the casino and see if I can help.

I would like to invite Hotline Casino to join this conversation.

Dear Hotline Casino,

Please provide Panagiotis’ relevant game history and any other relevant information to prove your accusations. You can send the information to my e-mail address andrej.p@casino.guru (or you can post it here).

Dear Andrej,

Thank you for your assistance.

The proofs were sent to the email.

Please check

Thank you, Hotline Casino, for providing the necessary information. Apparently, Panagiotis placed a bet of €5, therefore, exceeded the maximum allowed bet amount of €3. However, please consider the fact that Panagiotis did not gain any advantage by placing the bet as it did not even result in a win.

Maximum bet restrictions, unless they are enforced by software, can be breached unintentionally. Therefore, we believe situations like this should be assessed on a case-by-case basis.

That being said, I’d like to kindly ask you to reconsider your decision in this case.

The casino T&C apply to all players and the decision on this player is final.

We consider each player individually and in this case, the player deliberately played for a raise a bet in the slot. He started the beat with 1 EUR, and ended the session with 5 EUR.

We are talking about:

a) One accidental bet of 5 euros

b) That bet didn't win

c) while my balance was over 1K EUR - withdrawal limit was 300 EUR

All respectable casinos accept their inability to control their betting limits and excuse such honest mistakes.

If I don't get the withdrawal limit from this casino, it is a disgrace to the whole gambling community. Simple as that.

Dear Hotline Casino,

Maximum bet restrictions are supposed to serve one main purpose, which is to make it more difficult for players to abuse bonuses. Based on the provided information, Panagiotis did not show any signs of bonus abuse or of bonus hunting. He simply placed one €5 bet (apparently, by accident). We do not consider this sufficient reason to punish players and we believe Panagiotis is entitled to all his winnings from the bonus.

You can read more about our view on situations like this in our Fair gambling codex.

I’m setting the timer for 7 days. Kindly note that in case of non-compliance with our ruling, we will close this complaint as Unresolved – ‘Against fair gambling codex’.

1. We once again analyzed the game sessions of this player and clearly see that the bet was made by the player within 1 game session, and not as the player writes at the very beginning.

2. After additional analysis, it is also clearly seen that the bet was not made by chance, but the player played for a raise.

3. According to the rules of our casino, namely clause 6.8 (The maximum bet available with an active bonus is 3 USD / EUR, 200 RUB, 12 PLN, 25 NOK, in case of violation of this rule, the active bonus and all winnings will be canceled.), it does not matter whether the bet was won or not, the rule applies to any excess of the bet during the bonus wagering process.

4. The player were chosed a 200% bonus from 5 offers for 1 (first) deposit with a minimum withdrawal limit. You could have chosen another offer with an increased withdrawal limit.

The T&C of our casino, which are the same for all users, can be found on our website: https://hotlinecasino.com/terms

This decision of the Casino Administration is final.

@Hotline Casino: Dishonorable at best... I am very sorry for your company, if anything. However, it is a bold move to disregard the Fair Gambling Codex provided by casino.guru, good luck with that. Enjoy my 200 EUR, as they seem to be more important than the defamation you will get.

@Andrej: thank you very much for your support and your time, I really appreciate it. Please keep this thread publicly available for future reference.

@anyone reading this: avoid Hotline Casino at any cost

Thank you, Hotline Casino, pharalampo, for your replies.

Dear Hotline Casino,

Kindly note that we don’t consider any of the 4 points mentioned in your reply a valid reason to justify the decision to confiscate pharalampo’s winnings.

I’m sorry, pharalampo, we couldn’t help you with this one, but please do not hesitate to contact us in the future if you run into any issues with this, or any other casino.

Since the casino refused to reconsider their decision in this case, due to the reasons specified earlier, we will now close this complaint as Unresolved - ‘Against fair gambling codex’.