Luckystar Casino - Player’s Deposit bonus winnings have been voided.

Dear casino.guru

I really need your help in resolving the situation with Lucky Star Casino. In my opinion, the casino has illegally canceled my winnings, referring to clause 16.23 of the Terms

"Players from Ukraine and Azerbaijan are not allowed to receive welcome promotion bonuses." I will explain everything in order.

Initially, when registering on the site, I in good faith indicated that I live in Ukraine (I attach a screenshot of the account). The casino was aware of this even before the game started. And the welcome bonus in the amount of 150% of the deposit was credited by the casino itself (I also attach a screen), I did not take any action for this.

Thus, the casino has taken a win-win position: if I lose, then Lucky Star Casino takes my money for itself; if I win, it will void my winnings. That is, the casino benefits in any case.

The casino reported an error pointing to clause 16.23 of the Terms only after I requested a withdrawal. If I had lost, I would not have received an error message. This is a popular trick among many casinos, I know about it. This generates additional income for the casino, but misleads the player.

I am convinced that the actions of the casino against me are not lawful.

Please help me get my $ 613 money.

Dear cherepashka13,

Thank you very much for submitting your complaint. I’m sorry to hear about your problem. I have checked terms and conditions, and this is what I found https://www.luckystar.io/content/terms-and-conditions:

"16.23. Players from Ukraine and Azerbaijan are NOT ELIGIBLE for ANY of the Welcome Promotion's bonuses.

16.24. In case of violation of any of the Bonus Terms & Conditions, LuckyStar Casino reserves the right to void all winnings."

However, I would like to emphasize that in case the restricted countries are not mentioned in terms and conditions or hidden somewhere, the casino should pay the player. Especially, if the bonus has been offered to the player by the casino and not redeemed by the player. Our position is closely explained in Fair Gambling Codex https://casino.guru/fair-gambling-codex-for-casinos#restricted-bonuses."

Please, could you confirm that the bonus has been activated in your account automatically? We will contact the casino right after your confirmation. Thank you very much in advance for your reply.

Best regards,

Petronela

Good day! Thank you for your desire to help solve my problem.

I confirm that the bonus has been accrued automatically.

Thank you very much, cherepashka13, for providing all the necessary information. I will now transfer your complaint to my colleague Matej 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 Cherepashka13.

I am sorry to hear about your troubles.

I would like to invite the casino representative into the case.

Could you please explain to us what exactly happened?

Hello Poltava233,

sorry for the late reply.

First off, please let me remind you that you cannot create an account without first agreeing that you have read the Terms and Conditions of the casino.

As you have mentioned it yourself, Finance & Fraud department reached its decision based only on the T&C, specifically clause 16.23 & 16.24

"16.23. Players from Ukraine and Azerbaijan are NOT ELIGIBLE for ANY of the Welcome Promotion's bonuses.

16.24 In case of violation of any of the Bonus Terms & Conditions, LuckyStar Casino reserves the right to void all winnings."

I couldn’t find any transcript, chat or email, that you have shown customer support agents that you are from Ukraine and that they gave you a green light to claim the Welcome Bonus. Can you please attach a screenshot where you’ve had a chat or email with our support agents?

Moreover, please know that the bonus isn’t credited by the casino, nor isn’t credited automatically. If you didn’t take any action, as you claim, then it is impossible for the bonus to be credited. The only way the bonus was claimed, is if you clicked and selected the bonus in cashier.

The reason why such restriction (clause 16.23) is implemented is because lately we’ve had many cases of fraudulent activity from these specific countries.

Kindly know again that there is no misleading involved. The Terms and Conditions are clear in this case.

Every decision that is reached by the Finance & Fraud department is based on our Terms and Conditions and it is players’ responsibility to read and agree to the T&C of the casino.

Best regards,

Peter

Dear Cherepashka13.

Could you please confirm that you activated the bonus by yourself?

Good afternoon! I repeat that when registering, I informed the casino that I am a resident of Ukraine, indicated my Ukrainian number (I attached the screen earlier). I do not consider it appropriate to discuss my place of residence additionally in the chat.

Thus, when the casino bonus was credited, it was known that I was from Ukraine. The casino gave me the option to choose a bonus after making a deposit, I chose a bonus.

I myself have not applied to the casino for a bonus.

Dear Cherepashka13 and Peter.

We discussed this case internally, and we understand that technically the casino has the right.

However, Cherepashka13 didn't do anything wrong. He could activate a bonus, and the casino knew that he is from Ukraine. In this case, as he wrote before, he cannot win in any circumstances. (unfair advantage for a casino)

We believe that casino should prevent players from restricted countries to take a bonus by enforcing this by their system. It is not technically hard to implement such an option.

As Peter wrote before:

"The reason why such restriction (clause 16.23) is implemented is because lately we’ve had many cases of fraudulent activity from these specific countries."

It basically means that before a player wants to take a bonus, he should always read the terms and conditions and check if the casino didn't add some extra rules about the restricted countries. That we consider as bad user experience.

We believe that if Cherepashka13 won fairly, the casino should pay him his winnings, even though he is from a country for which is bonus restricted.

We would like to ask Luckystar 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’.

Hi Cherepashka13,

sorry for the late reply and thank you for the answers.

Now I understand what you meant by ‘informing the casino’ regarding you being a resident of Ukraine. However, please let me remind you that reading and agreeing to the Terms and Conditions is solely player’s responsibility.

We always recommend players to always read the Terms & Conditions and in this specific case no extra rules were added about restricted countries; the rule was set before the player registered to the casino.

When the player registered, he agreed to the Terms and Conditions, hence agreeing to the clause 16.23. "Players from Ukraine and Azerbaijan are NOT ELIGIBLE for ANY of the Welcome Promotion's bonuses."

Moreover, unfortunately, it is impossible for us to implement such option that prevents players from certain countries claiming bonuses.

Every decision reached by Finance department is solely based on the Terms & Conditions of the casino, therefore, the decision taken by them is the final decision.

Best regards,

Peter

Good day! I would like to note that the casino itself indicates that the option of not providing bonuses to residents of certain countries has not been implemented on its part. Thus, it confirms that the bonus was accrued automatically, without my participation. I believe that the casino is acting in bad faith and violating my rights by confiscating my money.

As I wrote before:

We believe that casinos should prevent players from restricted countries to take a bonus by enforcing this by their system. It is not technically hard to implement such an option. Many casinos are doing this, and as I wrote, the casino is taking an advantage over the players where they have a 0% chance to win.

I am sorry, Peter, but we are here on the side of the player.

Please read our fair gambling codex:

https://casino.guru/fair-gambling-codex-for-casinos#restricted-bonuses

Good day! As I understand it, the casino does not want to communicate with us.

Please inform me of your final decision on my complaint. Thank you.

I am very sorry, Cherepashka13 - it looks like the casino doesn't want to continue with dialogue about your complaint.

As I wrote before:

If they didn't want you to take this bonus, they shouldn't give it to you.

We believe that it was unfair to void your winnings. By doing that, the casino got an unfair advantage. 

Therefore we decided to close the complaint as unresolved.

The casino can reopen this complaint anytime.

I am very sorry that we cannot do more for you.