N1 Casino GR - Player's requesting a refund due to failed self-exclusion.

N1 Casino has closed my account for the following reasons:

"λυπούμαστε, αλλά έχετε παραβιάσει τους Όρους & Προϋποθέσεις μας, καθώς έχετε δημιουργήσει διπλότυπο λογαριασμό."

Translated into English this means that I opened a duplicate account thus violating the terms of N1 policy. I am not contesting the account closure, as my accounts were previously closed due to self-exclusion, I am protesting the fact that N1 casino allowed me to desposit funds and register again.

This is not the case as I should not have had any N1 accounts. I self-excluded myself for life in 2023.

On January 3rd, 2024 I registered for a new account with N1 and mentioned my Government ID number, which remains unchanged. During the registration process, I provided N1 with an accurate date of birth, which remains unchanged, and registered with the same name that I registered with before. I do this to ensure that institutions maintain my ban.

The question remains. How did N1 casino allow me to register and why did it accept two deposits from me, one for 550 euros and the other for 250 euros, despite supposedly being banned? The reason I banned myself is so that N1 doesn't accept any deposits from me. I am a problem gambler, and I need help controlling my addiction. N1 failed miserably in this regard.

On January 4th, 2024 I withdrew the 630 euro that remained in my account. This represents a 170 euro loss, not a gain, as I had deposited 800 euros in funds N1 should not have accepted.

On January 4th, 2024 N1 Casino sent me an e-mail concerning this withdrawal and account closure claiming the following:

"Σύμφωνα με την απόφαση της Διοίκησης, ο διπλότυπος λογαριασμός σας έκλεισε και όλα τα κέρδη κατασχέθηκαν."

Translated into English, this means that my "winnings" were being confiscated, even though I had no winnings as I lost 170 euros.

In the same e-mail thread on January 4th, N1 stated:

"Προκειμένου να επεξεργαστούμε την επιστροφή της τελευταίας σας κατάθεσης"

Translated into English this means that N1 casino is only re-reimbursing my last deposit of 250 euro, despite allowing me to deposit 800 euro while being banned. My current account balance in N1 casino is 630 euros.

Because of the severity of the situation I chose to respond to N1 in English, despite being educated and fluent in 3 languages, English, Greek, and French. However, my English is at 100% and my Greek is at 90% so I always choose to respond to such complex issues in English as my Greek writing skills are limited to my mobile, as my laptop has no Greek keyboard and no Greek spell-checker that can be easily used. I am responding now on my laptop proving as well that my quotes are being copied and pasted directly from N1 e-mails.

During my support chat call, the agent proclaimed that I must not understand Greek and that N1 did not tell me that the reason for the account closure is "λυπούμαστε, αλλά έχετε παραβιάσει τους Όρους & Προϋποθέσεις μας, καθώς έχετε δημιουργήσει διπλότυπο λογαριασμό." (I.e I opened a duplicate account despite having no N1 accounts open due to a self-exclusion). That's a typical racist trope in Greece that immigrants who are Greek citizens like myself hear all the time when native Greeks do something wrong to cover up for themselves as if I don't speak Greek, I merely have difficulty writing in the language. It's a very difficult language to write, but I understand it perfectly having gone to school for 6 years in my Youth to learn it.

As a result of this support chat, N1 sent me several English responses to my account closure claiming that:

"Your account has been closed due to a violation of the Terms and Conditions." Notice that they omitted their original reason that my account was closed because I registered a duplicate account. They also reaffirmed that they are only returning my last deposit, which is 250 euros, despite having deposited 800 euros in total which N1 should have not accepted due to being banned.

I want my deposit of 800 euros returned to me plus 1400 euros for the trouble N1 gave me. N1 should never have accepted these deposits. This is a total of 2200 euros that I would like deposited within 24 hours to a bank account of my choosing. I already gave N1 Casino the information on this account. This amount is far less than any court will give me for N1's violation of their commitment to problem gamblers. I also want N1 to commit to making the necessary changes to enforce self-exclusion within 90 days, to maintain confidentiality in our communication, and not distribute the communication to anyone.

I purposely register and try to deposit money to each casino in Greece that I have banned myself from to ensure that they comply. N1 failed miserably and accepted my deposit immediately. Most other casinos pass my test and enforce the ban. There are only a dozen or so legal online casinos in Greece and I have excluded myself from all of them.

Kind regards,

Dear adimit99gr,

Thank you very much for submitting your complaint. I’m sorry to hear about your negative experience with N1 Casino GR.

Please allow me to ask you a few questions, so I can better understand the situation. 

• When exactly have you informed the casino about your gambling addiction?
• Could you please forward your initial self-exclusion request to my email at tomas@casino.guru?
• Was the personal information you used for registration in the casino any different from your original account?
• Please forward any supporting correspondence you received from the casino regarding the issue justifying their actions.

Please understand we won't ask the casino to compensate you for any damages outside your deposits.

I hope we will be able to help you to resolve this issue as soon as possible. Thank you very much in advance for your reply.

Best regards,

Tomas

Due to the increased volume of complaints during this time of year, we kindly request your patience while awaiting our responses. We aim to publish each complaint within 48 hours of submission but reserve up to 7 days to reply to any subsequent comments. Additionally, please be aware that it might take a bit longer for your complaint to be assigned to a resolver, as we are currently managing over 900 complaints.

Your understanding is greatly appreciated. Wishing you a joyful, successful, and healthy new year 2024, and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

Is there any update yet? After trying multiple times over the last 3 days with N1 I have been unsuccessful in retrieving my funds

I want to close my case and handle this directly with N1 Casino. Can you please remove this complaint from your public discussion board? I appreciate your help

This is the N1 Self-exclusion policy as per their website (https://www.n1casino.gr/responsible-gaming):

I am sorry but we haven't contacted the casino at this stage, since we are still gathering information from you.

https://casino.guru/how-we-resolve-casino-complaints

I would kindly ask you to respond to my questions if you wish us to pursue the case further.

If on the other hand, you wish to close the complaint, please let me know again, and we'll do so.

I'll await your response.

Dear adimit99gr,

We are extending the timer by 7 days. Please, be aware that in case you fail to respond in the given time frame or don’t require any further assistance, we will reject the complaint.

I emailed you everything a week ago last Monday. I will forward you the same e-mail again

I just sent you the answers to your questions again. Please check and let me know if all the info you need is there.

Thank you very much, adimit99gr, for providing the necessary information. I will now transfer your complaint to my colleague Michal (michal.k@casino.guru) who will be at your service. I wish you the best of luck and hope the problem will be resolved to your satisfaction in the near future.  

Hello adimit99gr,

I'm Michal, and I have taken over your complaint. To confirm, have you managed to resolve the matter with the N1 Casino team, or do you still need our support?

I still need your help,

Dear adimit99gr,

I will try my best to help, but there are a few things I have to mention. First of all, we know from experience that it is not easy for players with gambling problems to just stop gambling when the temptation is great, and the casinos should take appropriate steps to help such players. We always strongly advise players to seek professional help with gambling addiction. You can find gambling help centers for your location here . Another recommendation is to use apps and tools to block access to gambling at a global level which you can find here. However, the player's personal responsibility also plays an important role in these situations. The self-exclusion tool aims to help players limit access to their casino accounts, and prevent financial losses. It is not intended for the players to exploit its potential vulnerabilities and subsequently request compensation well beyond their initial deposits when they bypass the self-exclusion restriction. I will contact the casino to shed more light on this matter.

We would like to invite N1 Casino GR to join the conversation.

Dear N1 Casino GR,

Can you please provide more information on why was the player able to open another casino account and deposit despite them being self-excluded? If the information can't be shared publicly, please forward it to me at michal.k@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.

Hello,

We sincerely apologize for the difficulties you are facing due to gambling addiction. As we can see, you informed us about the addiction only on January 6th, following which your account + the active duplicate created before Jan 6 were closed on our end, and any subsequent attempts will be blocked.

We have noticed that in your previously active duplicate account, you used someone else's card, resulting in a refund of only 250 euros (the last deposit amount). Our agreement clearly outlines our actions in such cases: "If we determine during security checks that you have violated this condition, your winnings will be withheld, and the original deposit will be returned to the owner of the payment account. The Company is not responsible for the lost funds deposited from third-party accounts".

In light of this, we regret to inform you that we must decline any further refund requests and compensation for the "moral" damage amounting to 1400 euros.

At this point, I would like to please request that Casino Guru lower the rating of N1 Casino to the lowest possible level (safety rating) until N1 does the following:

1. Return all of my deposits that N1 allowed me to make between January 3rd and January 6th, 2024 while I was self-excluded. The total is 800 euros.
2. Take steps to prevent those who have chosen to be self-excluded from registering or depositing money when they have provided the same identification—such as their government ID, full name, date of birth, and mobile number—that they used to sign their agreements when they were excluded.

At this point, N1 is not safe for gamblers, especially self-excluded gamblers. If N1 is cash-strapped and requires financial assistance please have them obtain a bank loan or ask to be financed by corporate sources rather than financing their operations from self-excluded players.

Dear adimit99gr,

1. You were not self-excluded that time. All deposits were made before January 6, and they are referring to a third party user whose card was used.
2. Steps for your individual exclusion from the project and the blocking of any accounts under your name and other data were taken after you reported your addiction, on January 6.

Dear N1 Casino GR,

Please forward me the evidence to support your statements to michal.k@casino.guru

Dear adimit99gr,

Based on the information gathered thus far, it seems the casino team has adhered to its terms and conditions. While I acknowledge your point and I can agree with you that the casino system could have automatically prevented you from opening a new account and depositing on the duplicate account you created, it was flagged only after a human review of your account mainly due to the use of what appears to be a third-party payment method. This suggests a deliberate effort on your part to bypass the self-exclusion measures, which is inconsistent with the usual behavior of an individual genuinely struggling with gambling issues. I am still awaiting additional information from the N1 Casino team, but your actions and communication thus far raise significant questions about your true intentions.

Hello

Can you please answer the following questions:

1. What were my true intentions then?
2. If the casino did everything to stop me after a manual review, why didn't they stop me after reviewing my documents and why did they stop me only when I decided to withdraw all of my casino funds which represented a loss?
3. What casino rule did I violate to have them confiscate my balance and only return the smallest of my two deposits?
4. How did I deceive anyone? I registered with the same name, government ID, date of birth, address, and cell phone number that I used when self-excluded. If I wanted to deceive someone, would I have not changed at least one of those items when registering?
5. I have stated in my conversations with Casino Guru on this thread that I am more than willing to settle for only my deposits being returned to me and for them to take the necessary steps to enforce self-exclusion when people don't try to cheat the system.

I did what you asked, and changed my request to N1 to only return all of my deposits that I made when I was self-excluded, which they have not. I rescinded my request for 1400 euros even though I truly believe like any business casinos should be liable for their transgressions that directly and purposefully hurt people. I want all of my deposits returned that N1 took despite having been self-excluded.

Hello,

We do not know anything about your intentions, but we only see the following factors that influenced our decision:

• A year ago, you had a verified account on which you placed SE. You did not inform us about any gambling problems, either directly or indirectly, and you did not request indefinite exclusion for us to take action regarding your blocking.
• A year later, you started creating duplicates. Please note that by playing on n1casino GR, you agree to our terms, specifically the terms regarding the creation of duplicates, which is not welcomed and may result in the confiscation of winnings and the cancellation of bonuses. Your accounts were temporary and were not, so to speak, "fully functional" / verified accounts; they were and remain temporary duplicates (description can be found in paragraph 6.2.1 Temporary Online Player Account in our terms) which have quite limited capabilities.
• On January 6th, you indirectly mentioned and declared addiction after we informed you about the refund of funds due to the use of a third-party card. Of course, we took measures (like a full block) after your message.
• According to the aforementioned paragraphs in our previous messages, the last deposit was returned to the account holder.

We appreciate your attention to this matter; however, any further attempts to discuss or dispute this decision will not be entertained. Thank you for your understanding.

Hello

I beleive your facts are incorrect.

The N1 support team confirmed that I self-excluded on July 4th, 2023 during a chat session, so please don't change that fact. As such, being self-excluded, I should not have had an account open at N1, and therefore I could not have registered with a duplicate account, because you should have closed my initial account as I chose self-exclusion for life.

The fact remains that after registering on January 3rd, 2024 despite being self-excluded, I deposited 800 euro (550 and 250 in two separate deposits). On January 6th, 2024 my Casino balance was 630 euro. On that day I informed you that you should not have taken my deposits because I was self-excluded. N1 casino did in fact close my account again, but did not return my casino balance of 630 euro or my full deposits of 800 euro instead only returning my last deposit of 250 euro despite me not breaking any regulation. Truth is, I can re-register using the same information despite being self-excluded which makes no sense to me. I am not willing to prove it again, as I proved it to you after being self-excluded again on January 6th, 2024.

We have gone through this exercise for the last month, and we have been re-stating the same arguments on both sides through multiple chat sessions and e-mails. Can we just end this, and have N1 self-exclude me for life in a meaningful manner and return either my casino balance of 630 euro, or my total deposits of 800 euro which I deposited despite being self-excluded? Can't we both agree that this has gone on long enough and in reality my solution helps everyone. At this point I will settle for my casino balance of 630 euro (representing a 170 euro loss) being returned to me as a gesture of good will, if it is deposited into my bank account by tomorrow morning. Let's end this please.

Dear N1 Casino GR,

Thank you for your response, along with the information and evidence provided to us.

Dear adimit99gr,

After gathering all the necessary information I'm even more confused about the purpose of your complaint. All your actions and communication with the casino team are just inconsistent with the usual behavior of an individual genuinely struggling with gambling issues. The player's personal responsibility also plays an important role in these situations and the self-exclusion tool aims to help players limit access to their casino accounts, and prevent financial losses. It is not intended for the players to exploit its potential vulnerabilities and subsequently request compensation well beyond their initial deposits when they bypass the self-exclusion restriction as you did. On top of this, a significant breach of the casino's terms and conditions is your usage of a 3rd party payment method which is strictly prohibited in all online casinos, regardless of whether it involves accounts or persons previously self-excluded. I'm sorry but considering all this information and facts we have to reject your complaint. The casino team has acted within its rules and returned the last deposit to the account holder. You are not entitled to any further compensation as you have clearly breached the casino T&Cs as highlighted by the casino team above.

I understand that this might not be the response you were waiting for, but we find ourselves in alignment with the casino's actions.

If you feel you want to take this complaint further, you can contact The Hellenic Gaming Commission (HGC) at info@hgc.gov.gr and submit a complaint to them. Please let me know if and how they responded (michal.k@casino.guru). I am sorry I could not be of more help on this occasion.

Best regards,

Michal

Casino Guru