Pokie Mate Casino - Player’s winnings from the bonus have been cancelled.

Hi, I had a $5002.40 win at POKIEMATE 27th November 2020. Upload of required documentation was all done correctly and i withdrew $4500 then I was told my winnings would be void for playing above the maximum bet but I was confused as I never exceeded a bet of $6.50 and consistently and play history shows I keep my bets between $2.50-$5.00. When i looked at my game history in the last 10 minutes of play my bets jumped from no higher than $5 to $12.50 and then I noticed that the times recorded on the play history differed from my internet history/banking records/email history (correspondence of deposit/withdrawal etc)/ time shown on the game itself on POKIEMATE site. There was an odd time of just shy of an hours difference between my screenshots of the night (im careful to record these things due to problems historically). There was also records in my play history that showed me playing at a time I can prove with screenshots I wasn't even playing a game on the site or interacting with any pokie games. This history shows extremely outrageous betting that ($12.50-$50 per bet) would indicate that i gambled away any money I had won that night leaving me with pretty much $0.00. When bringing this up to the site they have claimed the records are in GMT +10 time but the figures still don't add up and I have not stopped emailing them since. When presenting another argument with them at the beginning of this week after two weeks of responses they have finally stopped replying. Surprisingly i'm not locked out of my account yet.

Also, not only were the times different between day of play and history recorded but a week after my intial communications around the 29th, when i looked up the history again 4th December the times had been changed yet again.

Dear Nikita,

Thank you very much for submitting your complaint. I’m very sorry to hear about your negative experience. I have checked promotional terms (https://www.pokiemate.com/en/terms-and-conditions), and this is what I found:

„13. Players are allowed to place single bets lower than 20% of the total value of the Active Bonus credited and should not exceed 8 EUR, 8 USD, 8 AUD, 8 CAD, 8 NZD, 80 SEK, 80 NOK (as applicable). Therefore, placing a bet of 8 EUR while there's an Active Bonus of 100 EUR in effect is considered acceptable practice. VIP players are allowed to place single bets lower than 30% of the total value of the Active Bonus credited and should not exceed 15 EUR, 15 USD, 15 AUD, 15 CAD, 15 NZD, 150 SEK, 150 NOK (as applicable). Please note that your VIP level is defined by the casino's own discretion."

Our position is closely explained in Fair Gambling Codex https://casino.guru/fair-gambling-codex-for-casinos#max-bets: The max bet rule is, in fact, an industry standard, just as the fact that a casino has the right to seize the player's winnings from bonus play after breaking this rule. We prefer not to go against industry standards by penalizing casinos that use the maximum bet rule against players from time to time.

In one of the last screenshots from your document, the casino mentioned that you placed one bet of $12.50 (winnings $115) whilst still having an active bonus. Is that correct?

Would you be so kind and forward me your whole game history? My email address is kristina.s@casino.guru.

If there is any relevant communication between you and the casino, please send it as well.

Thank you in advance for your reply.

Best regards,

Kristina

Thank you very much Nikita for your emails. I will now transfer your complaint to my colleague Matej who will be at your assistance. I wish you the best of luck and hope to see your problem being resolved to your satisfaction soon.

Hello Nikita.

I checked your evidence and based on what you write to the casino and the argumentation from them the main problem is that the high bets were made after you finished the wagering, the problem was the time zone difference, am I correct? Could you please confirm that you and not someone else made the high bets?

Thanks.

Hi,

I am sure I did not make those bets, I am extremely conservative when gambling.

Yes I do not see a correlation between my play time and the times the high bets were placed. I was not engaged in any play when these were made.

Thanks

Hello Nikita.

Your complaint is very complex, and in such cases, we recommend players to contact the regulator directly. We do not have the capability of making a deep investigation of your account, but the regulator can. However, this casino operates without a valid license, so there is no option to contact the regulator. 

If you didn't make high bets, then we need to see the logs from your account.

I would like to invite the casino representative into the case. Please explain to us what exactly happened.

We would like to ask the Pokie Mate 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’.

I am very sorry, Nikita. The casino is non-responsive.

We are forced to close the complaint as ‘unresolved’.

Because the casino operates without a valid license, there is no regulatory body which could help you. I hope that casino reacts to your complaint later.

The casino can reopen this complaint anytime.