The player from Switzerland faced an issue of having their account reset to 20 euros after winning 238 euros, with the casino claiming a violation of the max-bet rule during a single accidental bet. After attempts to communicate and explain the situation, the player felt that the casino's actions were disproportionate and unprofessional, demanding a reversal of the decision. The Complaints Team reviewed the case but concluded that they could not assist further, as the casino's enforcement of the max-bet rule aligned with industry standards, and the player's winnings were impacted by the breach. Therefore, the complaint was closed without further intervention.
SpinJo Casino - Player's winnings are confiscated due to a minor rule violation.
Amount: €238
SpinJo Casino
Safety Index:Fresh casinoSafety Index
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7.2
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Case closed
Our verdict
Unjustified complaint
REJECTED
Case summary
3 weeks ago
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1 month ago
Translation
Dear CasinoGuru Complaints Team,
Please excuse me in advance for the length of this text. I'll do my best to focus on the crucial points and explain my arguments thoroughly.
This relatively new casino is known to be part of Hollycorn, which is why I decided to give it a chance, despite its mixed reviews, and took advantage of the generous 200% and 200 free spins first deposit bonus.
I managed, through a long night of gaming, to meet the wagering requirement on my 20 euros and requested a withdrawal of 238 euros.
The next evening, I noticed, without any prior notification, that my balance had been reset to 20 euros (I’ve attached screenshots) and the withdrawal was denied. I found this quite unsettling, especially from such a large player in the industry, as they didn't even bother communicating with the customer.
In the chat, they said I violated the max-bet rule.
Dear CasinoGuru Team, this sounds severe, but please consider all aspects and arguments.
Firstly, I must mention that in roughly 10 hours of slot play that night, I definitely made over a thousand tiny bets ranging from 0.05 to 0.25 EUR, and ONE single bet was made by mistake.
For context: my girlfriend was visiting for two days (she lives 40km away), and I was explaining some things about casinos to her. At one point, while explaining how bonuses work, I mentioned that there are usually bet limits when playing with bonuses, and it's usually impossible to exceed those. Honestly, please be truthful here: in probably 95% of casinos, an error message appears if you try to place a bet over the allowed amount, and until that night, I thought this was the case 100% of the time. I wanted to demonstrate this error message and quickly bought a bonus, only to be surprised that it went through.
What I believe is also crucial here:
1. I had a return of about half, so I didn't gain any advantage. Had I gained any advantage, I would have immediately contacted live chat to explain and request its elimination.
Of course, I learned my lesson, and this was a one-time occurrence in all those hours of playing.
The casino could easily prevent breaking the max-bet rule through software like 95% of others do, but given their disproportionate actions, it feels like they choose not to block it deliberately.
I tried explaining the situation in a detailed email, but unfortunately, I received no response. The live chat agent (see attachments) didn't address my arguments at all.
I want to state that I am aware I broke a minor casino rule. I had no advantage from this mistake (nor did I want any, and I would never buy a bonus knowing that 95% of the time "wins" are lower), and it is absolutely disproportionate to take someone's winnings for a one-time mistake over an entire night. The casino can prevent these kinds of errors through software but, unlike most other casinos, they do not. In my eyes, the casino holds substantial responsibility for not preventing this, and unlike the customer, they even benefit from it.
It's regrettable, especially from such a significant player in the industry, to handle the situation without any communication with the customer and without admitting they benefit from this and do nothing to prevent it. It seems like an intentional trap (how easy is it to make a mistake on a small device?) from which the casino benefits and acts disproportionately.
I understand that customers, who are new, make minimal deposits and win big with a bonus, are not a casino’s ideal target group. Still, such a major player should approach the matter with fairness and professionalism, especially if no advantage was gained by the player. Any reputable company and individual would do the same!
Dear CasinoGuru Team, my hope is that you can relate to my arguments and also find the casino's actions disproportionate based on the circumstances and facts. I believe the whole situation clearly contradicts fair gambling principles, especially since it's a very small amount in this case.
David
I've attached my email to the casino; there was no response within 72 hours, and upon further inquiry in chat, they just reiterated the same points. Of course, they take the stance that the customer violated the rules, but everyone makes mistakes sometimes, and there was no disadvantage to the casino nor any advantage to me.
Automatic translation:
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1 month ago
Dear hugbearli,
Thank you very much for submitting your complaint. I’m sorry to hear about your negative experience. I checked the bonus T&Cs and I found this:
2.2. Limitation of the maximum bet while wagering: 5 EUR (5 USD; 50 NOK; 7.5 AUD/NZD/CAD; 400 RUB; 100 ZAR; 500 INR, 30 BRL, 0.00012 BTC, 0.003 ETH, 0.09 LTC, 0.025 BCH, 75 DOG, 5 USDT, 12.5 XRP, 0.02 BNB, 20 ADA, 70 TRX). Max. bet limit includes bets doubling after a game round has been completed, bonus rounds (purchased within the game).
Our position is closely explained in Fair Gambling Codex:
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, however, we know accidents happen.
- Could you please clarify how much the bet that breached the limit was?
- Do I understand correctly that you won this bet?
Please, forward me your game history together with a link to the specific bonus that you redeemed and played. My email address is kristina.s@casino.guru.
If there is any other relevant communication between you and the casino, please send it as well.
Thank you in advance for your reply.
Best regards,
Kristina
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1 month ago
Translation
Dear Kristina,
I know, of course, that this is a common standard and, especially when a casino gives something away as part of a promotion, it is fine if it sets the rules for it.
I also think the max bet rule is completely fine and would never bet more than 1, in exceptional cases 2 euros on a slot, 99% of my bets are the lowest possible slot bet.
But what is simply not OK is that a reputable provider does not apply such rules proportionately. As mentioned, even more so when it affects ONE of thousands of bets, there is no technical way to turn it off and the player still loses money due to this "rule violation". I am registered in at least 20 Hollycorn casinos and I cannot remember ever having won money there - then you get a bit lucky and you look for little things that are deliberately not restricted technically. All in all, for me, this has nothing to do with "fairness", which is another reason why I wrote this long complaint. The "communication" of the casino with a lack of information and ignoring emails is also an issue.
Until now I thought Hollycorn was reputable, but the below average reviews here, this ignoring of customers and this absolutely disproportionate behavior make me very doubtful. I would have understood it if you made a profit by breaking the rules, but not in this case. The fact that I, as a provider, cannot technically prevent something that almost everyone else blocks and "win" 100% in the event of a violation is very strange to me and not fair gambling at all.
I am attaching my attachments from message 1 again because I don't see them above.
I'll be happy to send you the other things by email immediately. Thank you for your very valuable work, which is not to be taken for granted!
Automatic translation:
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3 weeks ago
Thank you for your reply, hugbearli. We genuinely wish we could help further, as we fully understand how unfortunate this situation was. While we believe that a maximum bet limit should ideally be built into the software to prevent accidental breaches, this isn’t yet a standard across the industry, and we are not in a position to penalize casinos for this. After thoroughly reviewing the details, however, we unfortunately cannot assist further in this case.
The maximum bet rule specifies that activating in-game features can result in a breach of the maximum allowed bet, and, in this instance, a win was accumulated. Not a big one, but still. This circumstance provided an advantage even though it most likely was an innocent incident.
We truly strive to assist our players whenever possible, and if no winnings had resulted, there might have been a better chance of resolving this differently. Given the outcome and the bonus rules applied, however, we must close this complaint without further intervention.
Once again, I’m sorry we couldn’t provide a different result. Thank you for your understanding, I am sorry we could not be of more help on this occasion. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you run into any issues with this or any other casino in the future.
