Slotbox Casino - Player's bonus winnings have been canceled.

I registered with Slotbox 31/01/2022, claimed their welcome bonus 100% up to €200. I checked T&C and started playing Jack and the Beanstalk. I made sure J&B was not restricted for bonus play and the max stake allowed was €5. Having wagered €7000 I was lucky to hit a win of €2477. 

Next day I got a KYC request - ID, proof of address and payment method. Then they asked me to send a selfie, which I also did. Two days after they received all documents they came up with an email accusing me of unfair play. They said 100% of bets were placed with a maximum allowed bet €5 (it was allowed by T&C, it's even mentioned on your site too) and 100% of bets were placed on Jack and the Beanstalk which is a high volatility game (the slot is allowed for bonus play, you can see the screenshot attached). Also "all my bets were placed with bonus funds", which is totally fine if you play your welcome bonus. How could I make any cash bets if my first deposit €200 was locked in bonus balance? I could only play with bonus funds here. After that offer I could continue playing with cash on my next deposits but it's totally fine if I use my welcome bonus and play only with bonus funds on my first deposit.

For these reasons they decided to void my winnings (please see the screenshot). I contacted their Live Support right away. Their agent told me the same. I explained that no terms were broken there. The stake was within the allowed frame, the slot was not restricted. I did my first deposit, claimed the welcome bonus and managed to fully wager it. 

What happened next was they decided to update their bonus T&C. After that update I realised they added a new term regarding welcome bonus abuse. Maximum allowed stake stays the same - €5, but according to term "ix. Welcome Offer Abuse", using stakes higher than €4 on high volatility games can be treated as bonus abuse. Their stakes policy is confusing - max bet €5 but if it's a high volatility slot, then not more than €4, please. But ok at least now it's stated in T&C. What's interesting, this information wasn't there when I signed up and claimed my welcome bonus. Thus, my use of stake €5 was not breaking their rules. In our further correspondence Slotbox confirmed that the new term was added retrospectively and didn't concern my case (please see email screenshots).

I claimed the bonus and won 2.4k on 31/01/2022 (January). Their terms were updated in the beginning of February, right after my issue was raised. I have screenshots from my browser cached memory proving that the new term was added a few days after I completed the welcome offer. So even if they wanted to accuse me of breaking this rule, they wouldn't be able to do this. So the only reasons why they claim "I abused the bonus terms" are: stake €5, high volatility slot Jack and the Beanstalk and 100% of bonus bets. 

I don't see any violations of their T&C from my side. Slotbox are just trying to find a way of not paying out and that's it. Their accusations are vague, they even edited T&C post-factum trying to escape the situation. I find this completely unfair and hope for your help in this case.

Dear Anonymized312,

Thank you very much for submitting your complaint. I’m sorry to hear about your negative experience. We will contact the casino and ask for their standpoint, but before we do so, please could you tell me if you are able to reach your game history? If possible, please forward the game history in excel or PDF format to kristina.s@casino.guru.

Additionally, if there is any other relevant communication between you and the casino, please, forward it as well.

I hope, we will be able to help you to resolve this issue as soon as possible. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Best regards,

Kristina

Dear Kristina,

Thanks a lot for your reply. I just sent my gaming and payment history to your email. Also I added screenshots of our email communication with Slotbox casino support.

Regards,

S*** L***

Thank you very much Anonymized312 for your reply. I will now transfer your complaint to my colleague Jozef (jozef.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 soon.

Thank you Kristina, I really hope so too.

Hello Anonymized312.

I absolutely appreciate that you shared your experiences with the Casino Guru team. We will now try to get in touch with the casino.

Hello Josef. Thanks a lot. If you need any more details or evidence, please let me know. I also received my full gaming history from Slotbox support. It's in xlsx format in case you need it. Thanks

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’.

Thanks for letting me know Jozef. I really hope they respond. They usually answered my emails, although with delays.

Hello guys,

We have reviewed the user Anonymized312’s post and we are aware of this case.

It appears the client has summarised the scenario for you already, however, in their final summary they claim not to have broken the terms but if you review the details they posted themselves they had. This was made clear in the communication we had with them directly. They also raised here that the terms had changed since they registered and we acknowledge that our terms and conditions have changed since, but this change does not impact them in any way and is irrelevant to the case. 

Here are the terms that have been breached:

 L v) - Making max allowed bets on high variance games in order to increase balance

·     100% of the clients’ stakes were placed with the maximum allowed bet with a bonus, this was 1400 transactions in total. The game Jack and the Beanstalk is a high volatility game Netent have this game listed as high volatility here: https://games.netent.com/video-slots/jack-and-the-beanstalk/

L viii) Advantage Play (where a player attempts to gain an advantage of casino promotions. This includes where a player claims a bonus only to attempt to withdraw winnings from the bonus with minimal risk to the amount deposited to claim the bonus. For example, claiming a deposit bonus and withdrawing the winnings without wagering the deposit amount 2X with funds not tied to a bonus)

·     Advantage play is a common strategy of bonus abusers and bonus abuse syndicates, it’s well documented. The game played is also commonly targeted by bonus abuse syndicates. The terms we have in place here are designed to protect the company from being targeted by such behavior. 

As mentioned the client claims not to have broken any terms when in their own summary it is clear they have. They claim the terms are vague, they are clear, and they have been breached; it seems they have shared their transactional history with you already so you can see this is the case. 

We understand this is a disappointing outcome for them, but our bonuses are there to reward real players, unfortunately, we must also have these terms in place to protect against players who intend to exploit the bonus.

Thanks for your reply. However, this still looks like Slotbox casino are trying to use the situation in a way that is suitable for them. For the purpose of confiscating my winnings they are trying to use every possible argument. However, the T&C and their accusations are still vague and not clear. Let me explain why.

1. T&C mentioned €5 was max bet allowed for bonus use. This is as clear as day. If they said - "max stake €4 for high volatility slots, max stake €5 for other slots" - that would make sense. Otherwise this is a clear example of them being unfair. I used the stake that was allowed by bonus T&C. The fact that they added a new rule with max stake €4 retrospectively proves that they agree the previous terms were vague. So I had all rights to use stake €5 on 31/01/2022.
2. 100% of my stakes were made with bonus funds - correct. That was my very first deposit at Slotbox casino. Thus, my cash balance got tied with bonus balance. I couldn't do any cash stakes until I finished wagering my welcome bonus. This is how it should be done, isn't it? If I received my winnings from you, I would definitely do some cash stakes on my next deposits. But if I use a welcome offer bonus, isn't it logical that I can only stake my bonus funds until the welcome bonus wagering is completed?
3. If you don't allow your customers to play bonus on Jack and the Beanstalk slot, then why wasn't it listed in the list of slots restricted for bonus play? This is exactly where this information should be stated.
4. Regarding the next paragraph - "For example, claiming a deposit bonus and withdrawing the winnings without wagering the deposit amount 2X with funds not tied to a bonus" - I think I played with cash funds after I wagered my bonus. I can't say exactly how many stakes I did but that can be checked in gaming history I think. Also, if you require your customers to wager cash deposits 2x after they finish wagering bonus, why didn't you just ask me to do that via email or live chat? This is not a problem, I could wager my deposit 2 times. I didn't know that was a separate rule. I saw the wagering bar of my bonus, I wagered €7000 to complete it. Once the bonus funds were converted into cash, I may have continued playing for some time. I can't tell you for sure, as I didn't keep track of my gaming history after the bonus wagering was completed. It was some time ago, so I don't remember now. Slotbox game history shows total wager €7000 but I think I may have played some more time. But even if I stopped playing when the bonus funds converted to cash, what's wrong with that? Isn't €7000 enough? Is this a fair reason to confiscate my winnings? Just ask me to wager €400 more, that would be fine. This is the first time something like that happened to me, so I withdrew a part of my winnings once the wagering was over. When you win this amount, 2x deposit wagering is the last thing you will think about really.
5. Your "Advantage play" theories are your own value judgements. If you want to confiscate winnings, you will interpret my gaming history as you actually did. But if you look at the situation from the outside, independently, then it won't necessarily look like what Slotbox accused me of. I used the allowed stake and I played the allowed slot. I provided all the documentation, I explained my issue several times.

Someone who wants to avoid paying out will do everything they can to escape this. But for those who want to be fair to their customers I don't look as a bonus abuser, as I haven't done anything wrong. I was lucky to win money on my welcome bonus and I want it to be paid to me.

S*** L***

I am extending the timer by 7 days because of the further examination of the case.

Dear Slotbox Casino team.

Thank you very much for your cooperation in this case. We agree that the playing pattern, in this case, suggests bonus hunting. However, as stated in our fair gambling codex section 9, we believe that using a high volatile strategy to create long term positive expectations when playing with the bonus is OK as long as the player is playing in his own name and has only one account. It is simple cost of giving bonus that some people will try to get money from it (you can't give bonus only to people who are there to lose). The way to limit this is to set proper bonus conditions such as wagering requirements and max bet. If there would be specified slots in T&Cs which would have a max bet of 4 euros, maybe the situation would be different (although we still wouldn't like that solution very much because it would be very confusing). But here there is no such clear definition. We believe that if a player was playing in his own name and didn't have multiple accounts, he should be paid.

Please, is there any possibility that you can reevaluate your decision, or is it final?

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 Anonymized312.

The casino team has informed us that your winnings were returned and that you have managed to withdraw the amount. Please, could you confirm their statement?

Hello Jozef. That is true, my winnings were returned to my account 26/05/22. They asked me to wager my deposit €200 two times, I did that. I received €1300 yesterday, still waiting for €1000 at the moment.

I will let you know when I get it, hope it won't take too long. However, I just received a request to submit my passport and proof of address. Sounds strange, as my account was already verified a long time ago and I received a part of my winnings yesterday. I will let you know when my withdrawal is paid out. I wouldn't say that the case is already solved to be honest.

Thanks a lot for your help. I appreciate the assistance and support provided by your team. I am really happy to see a fair outcome of my case. Thanks a lot.

Hello Jozef,

I can now confirm that my withdrawal was fully received. Thanks a lot to Casino Guru team for helping me with this. I really appreciate your support. Wish you all the best.

Regards,

S***

Hello Anonymized312.

As the complaint has been successfully resolved, we will now close it as ‘resolved’ in our system. Thanks for your cooperation and don’t hesitate to contact us if you run into any issues with this or any other casino in the future. We are here to help.

Best regards, Jozef

jozef.k@casino.guru