Play24Bet Casino - Player’s claiming his deposits, which were made after a request to close his account, to be refunded.

I joined this casino at the beginning of March. On the 8th March I decided to cancel my account as I believed I was betting too much. In live chat they advised to send a request via email, which is what I did. I sent an email to suppor­­t@­p­l­ay­­24b­­et.com (copy of email attached) asking for my account to be closed. Based on the Responsible Gambling policy my account should have been closed from that point and yet I didn’t receive a response and my account was left open.

As my account was not blocked, I then deposited a further €589.

Point 14 of the casinos Ts&Cs states to cancel the account state "close my account" in an email, which is what I did (copy of T’s &Cs attached), however, as mentioned my account was not closed.

The casino has now blocked me from my account (as of 3rd April) for asking too many times where my withdrawal was (it arrived two weeks late). I can’t access my deposits on my account and so I have attached Copies of my bank statements showing the deposits to the casino made from 9th March - 23rd March attached.

In addition, the casino also breached their Ts&Cs on data protection. Recently the casino had a technical issue with withdrawals and rather than send an email direct to me to update me on the withdrawal, they sent an email to 8people asking for our IBAN/SWIFT numbers. This meant 7 other people now had my email address. The casino gave my personal email address out to other people (third parties) without my consent. A few people both email actually responded to this email providing their banks details. (Copy of email attached)

It states in the casinos Ts&Cs "we are bound by the Data Protection Act of the law of Malta. Play24bet will protect your data collected and respect your privacy in accordance with applicable laws". "Play24bet prides itself on keeping your privacy and will not under any circumstance disclose your data to third parties" (copies of Ts&Cs attached)

I asked the casino if they would refund me the deposits I made after I asked for my account to be closed, minus my withdrawal amount, which would be €449 (€589-€140), because of the Data Protection breach and the fact my account should have been closed following my email on the 8th March.

Please can you help?

Dear Daniel,

Thank you very much for submitting your complaint and forwarding all the relevant communication and evidence. I’m sorry to hear about your problem. We will contact the casino, but could you please confirm first, that your account has been closed now and it’s not accessible anymore? I believe we will be able to help you to resolve this issue as soon as possible. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Best regards, 

Petronela

Hi Petrolena 

I can confirm the casino blocked my account and so I have no access to it. The accounts team (who are apparently the ones who have blocked my account ) believed I was not understanding of their current resource situation and so cancelled my account. They said this because I contacted them via chat and via email chasing up my withdrawal. I was having to to do this as I was being told different things by different advisors as to why it was late/delayed/not paid. I was frustrated that I was not being given a straight answer and they were not replying to my emails. 
 

The last eMail response I’ve had from them was on 7th April to advise why my account was blocked.  Since then and Prior to the email they sent in the 7th, I sent them numerous emails asking for answers as to why they have or haven’t done certain things, asking about the refund I mention I’m my complaint and even sent a few emails headed as COMPLAINT in the subject field of the email and yet they have not responded to these either. 
 

Contrary to what they said to me in the email of the 7th I have been very understanding of their resource situation and have thanked a number of their advisors for their help Many times. One of the advisors Said to me "I need to be more patient" then agreed she shouldn’t have said it like that. (Copies attached).

It feels the casino are not responding, hoping this will just got away and they will not have to make the refund for not closing my account when asked. 
 

Many thanks for your help

Daniel

Thank you very much Daniel for providing all the necessary information. I will now transfer your complaint to my colleague Jozef 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 Jozef

You have stated the following in your case summary....

"The player from United Kingdom has requested to be self-excluded, but the casino didn’t comply. Additionally, the player’s complaining about personal data breach."

This is incorrct, I requested for my account to be closed not self excluded. These are two Different things on the casino site.
 

Please change the case summary to show I requested the account to be closed.

Many thanks

Dan

Hello Daniel.

I am very sorry to hear about your situation. I have just one additional question in order to understand your case properly. Could you specify how long have you been waiting for your account closure? If you do not have any gambling problem and you just request for account closure it may take additional time. Did you receive any response from the casino about your closure request? 

Hello Daniel.

I have just finished with an investigation of your complaint. Unfortunately, I am not going to provide you with a satisfying answer. Since you have requested for account closure (and not permanent self-exclusion because of the gambling problem), the casino usually launches the account closure process which may take additional time. But, it is not common that the casino ignore closure request completely. Therefore, we will now try to get in touch with the casino to find some more information about your case.

About the email address privacy the casino breached, you are right, it is not common behaviour. However, our complaint resolution centre does not deal with GDPR policy, but if you feel harmed we recommend you to contact an authority for GDPR.  

Since you have another complaint about self-exclusion with GAMSTOP, we highly recommend you to check our article about responsible gambling and how you may protect yourself, the link is below.  

https://casino.guru/problem-gambling#responsible-gambling

Please, let us know if you have any questions or require further assistance.

Just to add...

I originally said I was looking for my deposit money refunded minus the withdrawal I made. This was €598 - €140 = €449.

However, after a discussion with Jozef yesterday, I realised I didn’t make a withdrawal with any of the money I deposited after 8th March. 

This means, I am asking for the full €598 back as the €140 I had withdrawn was from deposits made before I asked for my account to be closed on 8th March. 
 

Regards

Daniel

We would like to ask the Play24Bet 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’.

Good morning Jozef

Im wondering if there is an update from the affiliate manager at the casino. I believe on the 21st April

they had gathered all the evidence together and were looking my case.

that is a week a go now.

Please can you contact the affiliate manager to find out if they have looked into this?

Regards

Daniel

Hello Daniel.

I am convinced that we will receive response from the casino, soon. Since the casino representative has just recently logged and verified in our complaint resolution centre. They might be just preparing for the response. Usually, it takes some time, but when the timer finishes I will prolong the timer for extra 7days and if the casino fails to provide us with the response in the given time frame we will close the complaint as unresolved (no reaction from the casino) which have an effect on the casino reputation on our website. 

Best regards, Jozef

Casino.Guru

Hi

Has there been any response yet with the casino? The case was raised on 10th April but there has been no contact on here from the casino.

Ive been advised the affiliate manager at the casino is looking into this to collate all the information, but that was over a week a go and no response from them has been given.

I would appreciate an update

regards

Daniel

We would like to ask the Play24Bet 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’.

Hello Daniel.

We are always trying to provide the casino with the sufficient amount of time. If the casino fail to respond in the given time frame we will close the complaint as unresolved and it will affect their reputation on our website.

Best regards, Jozef

Hi Play24bet

I believe the affiliate manager has been looking into my complaint and investigating.

Please can we have an update on this?

regards

Daniel

Good evening Play24bet

I have now contacted the Malta Gaming Authority and Curacao eGaming (Curacao government) with regards to the data protection part of my complaint. I am a just waiting on their response. 

I have advised Jozef, I would be willing to negotiate on a settlement figure.

I would appreciate you responding to this email to discuss this possibility to save you having to pay the €598. I would be willing to accept between €598 - €400 and am happy to negotiate a figure

regards

Hi Jozef and Play24bet

As the casino is reluctant to even comment on the complaint I raised firstly direct to them and now via Casino Guru, I have raised another complaint via Curaçao eGaming License Validation, the governing body play24bet casino are licensed with.

I still wish for the complaint to stay open on Casino Guru in case Play24bet casino decide to finally respond and take this matter seriously.

Jozef, please can you pass this information on to the Affiliate Manager of Play24bet.

regards

Daniel

Hello Daniel.

Thank you for informing us. I am extending the timer by 20 days, let us know when you receive a final decision from the Curacao regulatory.

Hi Jozef

I will do.

I have emailed the casino direct (support@play24bet.com) to advise I raised the complaint with their License provider and that I would be willing to call it off if they negotiated a refund price.

I also advised that In the mean time, my complaint will continue to be processed with Casino Guru and the Curaçao eGaming License Validation, until I hear anything else from your casino. 

regards

Daniel

Hello Daniel.

I absolutely appreciate that you are sharing your experiences with us. Of course, I will notifiy manager about it. Please inform us if there is any new info about the case.

I am extending the timer by 10 days.

Best regards, Jozef

Thanks Jozef

Dis you get a response from the affiliate manager after you contacted her about my email from the Curaçao License authority?

Regards

Daniel

Hello Daniel.

Unfortunately, our contact in the casino has stated that she no longer works there. It all looks a bit suspicious since she has stated, "everyone knows about the complaint", and they have never tried to establish the communication line with us. Have you been contacted by the casino? Or, is there any new info from the Curacao authority? 

Hello Daniel.

The situation is very uncertain, the affiliate manager has stated that she stopped cooperation with the casino but they should be fully aware of your complaint. It looks like they do not wish to react. 

Is there any new information with the licensing authority? 

Hi Jozef

They definitely seem a very poor casino. At first they were ok, Mainly when they wanted my money, but when clear errors were made they don’t take responsibility.

I am waiting on a response from the licensing authority, however, they are a little slow on responses and don’t seem to want to get involved.

I did see another casino view site, called Ask Gamblers and they have Blacklisted the casino because of the following:

Play24bet Casino is a brand operated under the Play24Bet Affiliates program, a program which has been blacklisted due to the usage of unethical business practices in its relation with affiliates, including but not limited to lack of communication and cooperation, delayed or declined payments and unprofessional behavior.

This ties in with what we know and what the affiliate has said.

I will keep your posted

regards

Daniel

Hi Jozef

Great news, I have been contacted by the Casino and they have admitted fault for not cancelling my account and agreed to pay €400 as a refund tomorrow. They initially said €250 but then changed it to €400 after negotiation.

I will update you again tomorrow once payment has been made.

Many thanks with your help on this matter.

Kind Regards

Daniel

Dear Daniel.

Thank you for using the Casino Guru complaint resolution center.  We have also just been contacted by the casino that they want to solve all the complaints and I am very happy your issue got resolved, too.

We will now mark it as 'resolved' in our system.

Best regards, Jozef

Casino.Guru