Royal Stars Casino - Player's withdrawal is denied due to bonus restrictions.

50 euros were deposited with a 150% sticky bonus and a maximum withdrawal of 5x the deposit according to the bonus rules.

A balance of 274,93 were reached and I made a withdrawal request for 199,93 euros(274,93 minus the sticky bonus amount of 75). The withdrawal request cancelled the bonus according to Royal stars own website, picture attached, this left me with a bonus balance of 0. I later cancelled the withdrawal request and 199,93 euros were returned to my balance.

Using the bonus free cash balance after cancelling the withdrawal a balance of 433 euros were reached and a withdrawal of the full amount was requested.

Royal stars responds to my withdrawal request by e-mail and asks me to make a new withdrawal request as they have removed cash from my balance, leaving it at 250 euros(5x the original deposit). I responded to this asking them to return the removed cash as the 5x withdrawal limit does not apply in this case.

The bonus terms and conditions under §1.20 states that "[..]Bonus restrictions (maximum betting limit of 4€, forbidden games, maximum cashout) apply until the withdrawal request has been processed or winnings generated from mentioned bonus are part of the players' balance.".

As the winnings over 5x the original deposit were generated after the bonus was cancelled using a cash balance where the sticky bonus amount had been removed I argue that the highlighted text in my citation applies, which removes the withdrawal restriction of 5x the deposit amount - I can't interpret it any other way, and to hold a player to restrictions tied to a bonus that is cancelled and the sticky bonus amount removed would be extremely unfair, there is no difference between this and withdrawing and then making a raw deposit of the same amount.

Royal stars has denied my request to return the money to my balance, cites §1.20 and does not give any further explanation.

Please contact me if you want me to clarify or explain something further.

Dear ansc2701,

Thank you very much for submitting your complaint. I’m sorry to hear about the issues you are facing with your withdrawal request at Royal Stars Casino.

To help us better understand the situation and assist you effectively, could you please provide some additional information regarding the following:

• Bonus Terms and Conditions: You mentioned the bonus terms under §1.20. Could you provide the full text of these terms as stated on the casino's website or forward any screenshots you have? This will help us better understand how the casino is interpreting these rules.
• Communication with Royal Stars Casino: It would be helpful to see the emails or messages you received from Royal Stars Casino regarding the withdrawal request and the removal of funds. Please forward any relevant communication to petronela.k@casino.guru.
• Withdrawal History: Could you provide details or screenshots of your withdrawal history with the casino, particularly showing the initial withdrawal request, the cancellation, and the subsequent request for the full amount of €433? This information would be helpful to understand the sequence of events better.
• Account Balance: You stated that after canceling the initial withdrawal request, you had a bonus-free cash balance and reached a total of €433. Can you confirm if the casino provided any documentation or transaction history showing how they calculated your remaining balance of €250?

I hope we will be able to help you to resolve this issue as soon as possible.

Thank you in advance for your reply.

Best regards,

Petronela

Hi Petronela,

I've attached screenshots of the terms that relate to withdrawal as well as the transaction history starting with the initial deposit at the bottom. The withdrawal of 433 euros(row 2) was cancelled by the casino and that's when they adjusted it to 250 euros.

The history of my balance looked like this:

Initial deposit --> Cash balance: 0. Bonus balance 125€

When making the withdrawal request of 199,93€ --> Cash balance 0. Bonus balance 274,93€

--> Cash balance 0. Bonus balance 0.

After cancelling the withdrawal request of 199,93€ --> Cash balance 199,93€ .Bonus balance 0.

..Playing and making multiple withdrawal request that I cancel myself...

Requesting a withdrawal of 433€ --> Cash balance 433€ .Bonus balance 0.

The casino cancels the withdrawal request and removes cash from the balance --> Cash balance 250€ .Bonus balance 0.

The last withdrawal request of 250€ is made which is approved and paid out, the balance was not touched between this transaction and the one before.

--> Cash balance 0. Bonus balance 0.

I found transaction history on the casino website showing the transformation of my balance from when requesting the first withdrawal and later cancelling it - pictures attached.

The communication between the casino and me has been forwarded to your e-mail. Since I filed the complaint Royal stars has made another response via e-mail where they write the following:"Bonus terms and conditions apply to all winnings that originate from playing with a deposit bonus. The rules are always the same and our decision is final.". I don't know what to make of this answer.. It does not address what's actually disputed which is excatly when the restriction no longer apply. If they mean that a withdrawal always must be processed and paid out would contradict §1.20 in the T&C that state that there are two ways the restriction is removed:

"Bonus restrictions (maximum betting limit of 4€, forbidden games, maximum cashout) apply until the withdrawal request has been processed or winnings generated from mentioned bonus are part of the players' balance.".

I was well aware from the very start that the bonus I used was sticky and that a maximum withdrawal limit came with it but due to wording in the terms and that the casino website state that the bonus was cancelled when the first withdrawal request was made I made decisions that very well could have resulted in my balance reaching zero when there was nothing to gain if the restriction applied - an example is where I cancelled a withdrawal request of 400€ (3rd row from the bottom in the transaction history), played with the balance and almost losing it all. 

The screenshots are here:

1. Full deposit/withdrawal transaction history
2. The terms and conditions that relate to withdrawal restrictions
3. Detailed transaction history of the initial deposit and the first two withdrawal requests
4. Bet history showing what my total balance before requesting the first withdrawal
5. Bet history showing what my total balance after the first withdrawal request was cancelled proving that the sticky bonus amount was removed leaving the remaining balance a bonus free cash balance

Hi ansc2701,

Thank you for sharing more details about your situation. Could you please request your full game history from the casino and forward it to me?

Looking forward to your response.

Hi,

I've requested the history from the casino.

Thank you very much, ansc2701, for providing all the necessary information. I will now transfer your complaint to my colleague Michal (michal.k@casino.guru) who will be at your assistance. I wish you the best of luck and hope to see your problem being resolved to your satisfaction in the near future.  

Hello ansc2701,

I'm Michal, and I have taken over your complaint. I have reviewed your case and although I'm not really certain this could be the reason for the confusion, but If you have previously requested a withdrawal and the bonus was not fully wagered any winnings achieved while the bonus was active usually are canceled when a withdrawal is requested. Also, I'm somehow struggling to understand your rationale behind the multiple withdrawal requests that you consequently canceled. I will contact the casino to shed more light on this matter.

We would like to invite Royal Stars Casino to join the conversation.

Dear Royal Stars Casino,

Can you please provide more clarification on how and from what funds was the player's withdrawal amount calculated? Please forward all relevant evidence of this to me at michal.k@casino.guru

Dear Michal,

thanks for your help to clarify this case.

We will look into this case and come back to you as soon as possible.

Talk to you soon.

Thanks,

Royal Stars

Dear Royal Stars Casino,

I recognize that this matter may be more intricate than it first appeared, and I agree that a thorough investigation is necessary. I will await your clarification.

Hi Michal,

The withdrawal requests/cancellations between the first request and the request that was paid out was just me not wanting to wait for the casino to pay out the withdrawal. I can go into more detail but first I just want to make sure that I've explained the situation properly.

The argue centers around whether the maximum cash out limit of the wager-free (sticky in this case) bonus applies or not according to Royal stars terms and conditions. Royal stars claim that the restriction do apply according to the terms, while I mean that the restriction no longer apply according to the exact same part of the terms.

Royal stars has two paragraphs in their bonus terms in regard to the maximum allowed withdrawal for their wager free bonuses:

1.19 Unless otherwise stated, the maximum withdrawal from wager free bonuses is five (5) times the deposited amount.

1.20 Any balance above maximum withdrawal amount will be forfeited when the finance department approves your withdrawal request. Bonus restrictions (maximum betting limit of 4€, forbidden games, maximum cashout) apply until the withdrawal request has been processed or winnings generated from mentioned bonus are part of the players' balance.

§1.20 provides two conditions of when bonus restrictions - including maximum withdrawal - no longer applies, of these two only one have to be met. The first condition is "the withdrawal request has been processed" and the other one being "winnings generated from mentioned bonus are part of the players' balance".

My case is that the second condition was met in the process of making and then cancelling the first withdrawal request after depositing the bonus as this affected the balance, effectivly cancelling the bonus.

In the first response to my complaint and arguments, Royal stars replied by quoting §1.20 of the bonus terms and telling me that "Unfortunately, you cannot disregard the bonus rules by requesting and canceling a withdrawal.".

I replied that I'm not disregarding anything and gave my arguments again. At this time I filed my complaints with Casino.guru.

This time Royal stars replies like this:

"Bonus terms and conditions apply to all winnings that originate from playing with a deposit bonus.

The rules are always the same and our decision is final. In the future please play with your unmatched deposits to avoid confusion and situations like these.".

I never replied to this since the complaint was filed here with casingo.guru.

Royal stars, §1.20 clearly state that if one of two events take place the maximum cash out restriction is removed. I am stating that one of these events did happen and given you a detailed explanation as to why. You on the other hand made a final decision that I'm wrong without giving me an explanation to why. If you mean that the confusion you're referring to is on my part, and that you've addressed my arguments adequately and to the point - the best solution would be not to offer bonuses or, and probably even better, casino services at all.

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.

Dear Michal,

thank you for your patience.

It seems very straightforward to our team. The player is trying to argue the maximum cashout just "doesn't apply anymore," when the terms clearly state it applies as long as there are any bonus winnings on the player's balance. His winnings were generated with the help of our bonus.

The relevant gameplay history can be Shared of course.

Does this help?

Thank you.

Greetings

Royal Stars

Dear Royal Stars team,

Please forward the player's full game log and their bonus history to me at michal.k@casino.guru

Dear Michal,

I just forwarded the player history to you.

Greetings

Royal Stars

Thank you for your email, Royal Stars team. I have replied back with some additional questions.

Dear ansc2701,

Just to confirm, have you fulfilled the wagering conditions of the deposit bonus when you requested the first withdrawal?

Hi Michal,

The bonus was wager free and sticky 150% on top of deposit. I deposited 50 euros, and got an additional 75 euros as the sticky bonus amount.

I had 274,93 euro and I requested a withdrawal for 199,93 euro. I subtracted 75 euros from the total amount because I knew that part was sticky. The resulting balance on my account was now 0 because Royal stars automatically removed the 75 euros I left in the account because this was the sticky bonus amount.

When I later cancelled the withdrawal, what I got returned was the 199,93 euros, and the sticky bonus amount was not returned - this is why I argue that the balance of 199,93 should be treated as raw deposited cash since the bonus was cancelled and bonus amount removed.

As you can see on the picture I have attached from the bonus history, it says:

"Your bonus was automatically canceled due to a withdraw request. At 2024-08-14 16:11:08"

Since the bonus is now cancelled and bonus amount removed, I argue that the winnings from the bonus are part of my balance - which according to the T&C removes bonus restrictions including maximum cash out, as stated in the cited paragraph below:

"1.20 [..] Bonus restrictions (maximum betting limit of 4€, forbidden games, maximum cashout) apply until the withdrawal request has been processed or winnings generated from mentioned bonus are part of the players' balance."

Hey Michal,

so first of all we are talking about a wager-free bonus. There is no wagering. This also means there is no limited period under which the bonus terms apply - they apply indefinitely.

Here are the full bonus terms related to the case:

1.19 Unless otherwise stated, the maximum withdrawal from wager free bonuses is five (5) times the deposited amount.

1.20 Any balance above maximum withdrawal amount will be forfeited when the finance department approves your withdrawal request. Bonus restrictions (maximum betting limit of 4€, forbidden games, maximum cashout) apply until the withdrawal request has been processed or winnings generated from mentioned bonus are part of the players' balance.

The last part "winnings are part of the player's balance" is not a distinction between real balance and bonus balance, as you would find in a wagering bonus. It just means that as long as the player has any winnings which were generated with the help of our bonus, the bonus terms continue to apply.

Does this help to understand the situation bettet?

Thank you.

Greetings

Royal Stars

Dear Royal Stars team,

Thank you for the further clarification.

Dear ansc2701,

I trust the response from Royal Stars team has now clarified the situation. In your case, the rule 1.19 Unless otherwise stated, the maximum withdrawal from wager free bonuses is five (5) times the deposited amount takes precedence, thus the amount you received is indeed correct.

The casino support team could have communicated this clarification more promptly. However, the adjustments made to your winnings were in line with their established rules you agreed to when claiming the bonus. I will now proceed to close your complaint.

Should you encounter any issues with this or any other casino in the future, please feel free to reach out to us, and we will try our best to assist you.

Best regards,

Michal

Casino Guru