Planet 7 Casino - Player has been accused of playing a restricted game.

I was fortunate to of won over 6k playing blackjack at Planet 7 Casino after a bonus deposit. I executed the play through based on their specific terms and then won the rest of my money playing blackjack. When I had used this bonus, the verbiage on the bonus explained the bonus play through but nothing to the effect that any non allowed games winnings would be voided after the play through.

I was informed upon inquiring why my winnings were voided (I had to inquire, I received no communications) that there was a specific t&c that said that bonus money would be voided if non allowed games winnings were accrued, even after play through. Which in my opinion contained extremely confusing verbiage. It mentions bonus in the term. Of which during the play through the funds show up in the bonus balance. When the play through was executed that amount switched to the real money balance. How would any reasonable player assume that this is still considered a bonus if the own casino doesn’t even call it that.

Additional, how are they allowing players to bet on games where they can’t win anything? At best this is an extremely shady and predatory practice by this online casino. I didn’t understand this term in the way it was eventually communicated to me. From my perspective it just really feels like Planet 7 is interested in finding any and all ways to deny someone their winnings. What would be the difference if I had withdrawn the money, redeposited and then played on blackjack? I would assume there is zero difference.

It really feels like Planet 7 is only concerned about making money at any cost. If I were to lose my money betting, they would surely take that money but now that I’ve won over 6k, they utilize this, in my opinion, ambiguous and shady t&c to deny someone who wins. I’ve never been on an online casino where that is even apart of the T&C. And every other online casino I’ve ever been on doesn’t allow you to play a game if you can’t actually win at it.

Not to mention that their communication was abhorrent. I had to find out all of this information by inquiring on my own with their customer service. I’m just at a lost here. I’ve never been treated this poorly by a casino before. I asked their customer service several times to escalate the issue and it never was. This is just not right. Not at all and I sincerely hope that it gets reversed. Thank you.

Dear Kyle,

Thank you very much for submitting your complaint. I’m sorry to hear about your problem. We think that restricted games for bonus play should be blocked, and this rule enforced at software level, i.e., that the casino's software or website shouldn't let players place bets on the games that are not allowed to be played while completing the bonus wagering.

In some casinos, from the point any bonus is activated until a withdrawal is requested, all the bonus rules must be followed as your bonus is active during the entire session even if the bonus wagering has been completed already. Could you please advise how much was your active balance right after completing the bonus wagering and switching to blackjack?

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

Thank you so much for the quick response Petronela! I don’t have an exact answer because Planet 7 either doesn’t easily provide you with transaction history or I’m missing finding it somewhere on the site.

However, I had deposited $250 and received a 250% bonus which brought the total amount to $875 in my bonus balance. Only a 1x play through was required. Once I had surpassed that $875 in play through, I want to say my balance was roughly $500-$600. I’m not much of a slots person so when the play through was done I began playing blackjack and quickly got to a total of $6701.

Then I began the withdrawal process. I checked back on Tuesday and saw that something was off on the withdrawal transactions part of my account and that’s when I inquired about what was going on. Only then did I find out about everything.

I’ll dig around the site more to see if there’s a way I can specifically find out the amount I had after the play through.

Thanks again for all of your help with this matter. It was extremely frustrating to be thinking you’re up a ton, to then find out this happened. I had never had this happen to me at any time during playing on any other online casino. Thanks again!

Thank you very much, Kyle, for your reply. I have checked the general bonus terms and conditions, and this is what I found (here):

"ALL DEPOSIT BONUSES: STANDARD WAGERING REQUIREMENTS

...

If the Player uses a promotional bonus that is restricted to certain game(s), this will result in their winnings being voided. The rules of the bonus will continue to apply even after the playthrough requirement has been fulfilled.

...

Playing a prohibited or restricted game while using a bonus will void any winnings generated during the use of a said bonus. These terms are valid and applicable even after the playthrough requirement has been met. All Deposit Bonuses for Slots and Keno with No Restrictions (No Playthrough and No Max Cash-Out) come with our software minimum of 1X playthrough (deposit + bonus amount) before the funds can be withdrawn."

However, as I mentioned earlier, we believe that restricted games for bonus play should be blocked, and this rule enforced at software level, i.e., that the casino's software or website shouldn't let players place bets on the games that are not allowed to be played while completing the bonus wagering, especially if the wagering has been completed already.

I will now transfer your complaint to my colleague Peter (peter.m@casino.guru) 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.

Good Evening Petronela!

Thank you again for all of your help on this matter and understanding the perspective of the player in this situation. I really look forward to hearing from Peter an am optimistic that this specific situation can be resolved and the right thing done. Thanks again!

Additionally, please let me know if you need anything else from me! Thanks!

Hi Kyle,

I have looked at your case and understand the situation. I will contact the casino and see if I can help. I would like to invite Planet 7 Casino to the conversation to participate in the resolution of this complaint.

Sorry for the delayed response! Thank you for the update Peter! I’m optimistic that the casino will respond and that a resolution can be made! Thank you for all of your help in this matter. It is greatly appreciated!

-Kyle

Hey all,

Just wanted to let everyone know that casino.guru and I are in contact regarding this case and there will be an update here once it has been fully reviewed.

Best wishes,

Nick and Planet 7

Thank you for the update Nick! I look forward to the update. Thank you!

Dear Kyle,

Thank you for your patience. Unfortunately, after a thorough review of the case and discussing the issue internally, we are rejecting this complaint as ‘unjustified’.

The bonus you claimed was so-called ‘sticky’. This means that the initial bonus amount is considered non-cashable (it is deducted upon withdrawal). Unfortunately, this also means that such bonuses are considered active even after the wagering requirements have been met and there is a good reason why.

Imagine a situation where a player deposits $100 and gets $200 as a bonus. They now have $300 to play with. Let’s say that after finishing the wagering requirement (which is usually very low in this type of bonus), the player is left with $250. If the bonus would end automatically, $200 would be deducted, leaving the player with just $50. Would the player be satisfied? Well, most players wouldn’t. Most players would prefer to continue playing with the $250 to get a chance to increase their balance. This is why after completing the wagering requirements, players need to decide when they want to cash out. We consider this system not to be very user-friendly but unfortunately, there’s no other way to end a bonus on an RTG platform.

This brings us to the discussed situation. Casinos have the right to restrict certain games while playing with bonus money. This is because different games will have a different house edge. If the casino would allow players to use bonus funds on games with a small house edge, such as Blackjack, it would greatly increase the cost of the bonus for the casino.

For standard bonuses, we recommend casinos not to void winnings, but not count bets made on restricted games towards wagering requirements. This way bonus hunters can’t take the advantage of playing these games. For sticky bonuses, however, this wouldn’t help as the attached wagering requirements are often too low and the cost of the bonus is not reduced by the fact that players have to fulfill them, but rather by the fact that the initial bonus amount is deducted at the end. This way players can get a significant advantage by playing games with a very small house edge. If players would be allowed to do this, it wouldn’t be possible for the casino to offer these bonuses anymore.

We strongly believe that all casinos should enforce these rules by software so players are not able to play restricted games with an active bonus. Unfortunately, the vast majority of casinos, including ones using the RTG software, do not have such a feature implemented, and the industry standard is to just list the restricted games in the Terms and Conditions. This is why we aren’t giving any major penalty for this at the moment. I wish I could be of more help.

Best regards,

Peter

I appreciate everything you did here Peter. I will do my best to spread the word though of Planet 7 Casinos playthrough requirements on this bonus and how my specific situation transpired, to warn other prospective players not to use them. I’m sure I’m not the first player to of been tricked into thinking that my playthrough was satisfied and that I could play any other game on the site. Especially since the site was allowing me to play the game. It’s still baffling to me that I could play a game where I couldn’t win, but I could lose at. How is that fair or right?

It’s just a shame that they are allowed to operate like this. The player is already at an unfair advantage going in. Then when they do beat the house, the house finds any way they can find not to pay them. It’s just not right. I wish Planet 7 would of done the right thing here and paid the winnings. Especially since me just withdrawing the funds after the play through and then depositing without a bonus would of resulted in the exact same thing, except my winnings wouldn’t of been voided.

Which is really the part that irks me the most here. My winnings in this cases

were going to help pay for some much needed things for my eight month infant. Which is partly why I feel like they almost literally stole money from my child here. Again, I really want to thank you and the Casino Guru team for taking my complaint and doing as much as you could.

I was optimistic that Planet 7 would do the right thing, but I should of been less naive. They are solely interested in a profit and are less concerned how they do that and are more than willing to have an online casino with a system that allows a situation like this to occur and have them hide behind.

Thanks though again for your time Peter and Petronela! This was not the result I had hoped for but I understand it’s out of your hands.

Dear Kyle,

I completely understand your disappointment. We at casino.guru would be happy to see a positive change in the casinos with the RTG platform because we realize that its features are very user-unfriendly. However as stated above, we won't penalize the casino for this. Thank you for using the Casino Guru complaint resolution center. Don’t hesitate to contact us if you run into any issues with this or any other casino in the future. I wish I could be of more help.

Best regards,

Peter