Sportaza Casino - Player’s account has been blocked.

Dear Casino Guru,

I wish to file a complaint against Sportaza website (www.sportaza.com). My account has been wrongly and unfairly closed by Sportaza. They sent me an email accusing me of violating their terms and conditions. But they don't reply specifically when I ask them what exactly I did against their terms and conditions. They are also not providing me any proof for their allegation. Please ask the operator to either provide proof for their allegation or return my money. 

They have shared four different violations under their Terms and Conditions clause 9.1 namely:

- using the Website for commercial purposes or in someone else’s name or interest;

- engaging in any fraudulent activities, including, without limitation, using any credit/debit cards or other payment methods or

funds not belonging to you, cases were funds are recalled/disputed;

- colluding with other customers or third parties. This includes, without limitation, playing in the interest of others, sharing

information, cooperating or coordinating with others;

- using unfair betting patterns or strategies, such as equal, zero or low margin bets, bets with minimal risks, hedge betting, or

otherwise placing bets in such a way that in our opinion the system is being abused, guaranteed win is achieved, or the risk

is minimized;

But they are not specifying which particular condition out of these four I violated. However, I guess (I can only guess since they are not being specific) that they suspect me of colluding with another customer. I had transferred some money to my friend Priti K***** (email- prit*********22@gmail.com) through my Neteller account, which they might have discovered through my Neteller transaction history that they had asked for account verification. However, it was just a normal transaction - borrowing and lending between two friends. We never colluded with each other. You can check our gambling history with Sportaza.

I plead you to kindly take strict action against Sportaza so that they learn a lesson and never think of cheating any other customer.

Dear manishjrnlst,

Thank you very much for submitting your complaint. I’m sorry to hear about your problem. Please allow me to ask you a few questions, so I can understand the whole situation completely. Could you please advise how long ago you registered your account and if you’ve completed the account verification successfully? Which games you’ve been playing (live casino games, slots, or sports betting)? Were your winnings accumulated with or without an active bonus, please? Does your friend have an account in the same casino, please?

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,

Thanks for opening my complaint. I don't remember exactly when I opened my account, but I guess it was around August-September last year. Yes, all my submitted documents were uploaded and accepted successfully (Please refer to the attached screenshot). But Sportaza first said that I failed to pass their account verification process. However, when I confronted them and sent all my kyc documents (passport, PAN and govt ID Aadhaar) via email, they came up with another allegation that I violated their terms and conditions. I am ready to present my kyc documents here too, if required.

I have played both slots and sports betting. The confiscated balance (INR 27058) consisted of only my deposit and winnings without any bonus. However, I had availed a couple of free bets, awarded for making comparatively large deposits, in the past during my early days at this website.

My friend has an account at Sportaza, but she has stopped playing here after I told her about what happened with me.

Please help me recover my money. Sportaza has confiscated not only my winnings, but also my last deposit. At least they should have returned my own deposited money, but they decided to steal both my deposited money as well as my winnings.

Thanks

Manishjrnlst, could you please advise how many transactions were there between you and your friend?

There were around 10 transactions during December to February, for which they wanted the transaction history. But we have been transacting between each other even before making an account at Sportaza and even now after they closed my account.

Could you please explain why you were transferring money between each other? Thank you.

In India, it is no longer possible to make a deposit in the Neteller account using netbanking or UPI (Unified Payments Interface- India's payment system). My friend was new to gambling at that time, and she had no option to make a deposit in her Neteller account. So, I used to transfer money in her Neteller account so that she could use that money to deposit at Sportaza or other websites. I am an old gambler and I have sufficient money in my Neteller account. She paid me back through netbanking. I can even produce the bank statement as a proof.

You sent your money to your friend's Neteller account and then she deposited it into her casino account? You understand that this is strictly against AML policy if someone is playing with third-party funds, correct?

She didn't play with my funds. She returned the money back to my bank account through netbanking. As already mentioned, I can produce my bank statement as a proof. So, it was just borrowing and lending between two friends. Moreover, Sportaza even confiscated my last deposit, apart from my winnings. They should have at least returned my deposit.

Please send your bank statement to petronela.k@casino.guru. However, please be aware that if you and your friend had identical or similar gaming activity, this matter will be declined later on.

I have sent you my bank account statement. Please check our activity on Sportaza, we never colluded with each other. In fact, she has told me that she didn't play much on Sportaza as she had faced some technical issues.

Apologies, but upon reviewing the bank statement provided, I discovered 28 transactions between you and your friend. Given the frequency and the fact that you both have accounts at the same casino, it would be challenging to establish that there was no collusion involved.

We are childhood friends and the transactions are spread over a period of time of six months. You won't find any collusion in our betting on Sportaza. She told me that she was active for a very small period of time - less than two months, but I have been active for relatively longer time - from August 2022 till April this year, when my account was closed by Sportaza. Also, they should have at least paid back my last deposit. But Sportaza confiscated both my deposit as well as the winnings.

Thank you very much, manishjrnlst, 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 manishjrnlst,

I'm Michal, and I have taken over your complaint. I have reviewed this case, and as my colleague Petronela already mentioned, there are 28 transactions between you and your friend. Given the frequency and the fact that you both have accounts at the same casino, it will be very challenging to establish that there was no collusion involved. Just to check, have you bet on sports betting? What types of games or game genres did you win with?

Yes, I placed bets on sports but we never colluded with each other. You can check our betting history. I also played some slots.

Dear manishjrnlst,

As your complaint was mainly sports betting related, unfortunately, we don't have a branch dealing with sports betting yet. If you didn’t know that yet, our Casino.Guru complaint forum deals with complaints regarding online casinos and online casino games only. We wouldn't be able to advise you correctly as we don't have enough insight into sports betting. We wouldn't be able to judge competently all the pros and cons, therefore, we have to reject your complaint. Thank you for your understanding.

You can try to submit a sports betting-related complaint on these websites:

https://www.bookmakers.bet/submit-a-complaint/

https://www.top100bookmakers.com/contact-us/

https://www.sportsbookreview.com/sportsbook-complaint/

We’re truly sorry we couldn’t be of more help in this case.

If you run into any issues with this or any other casino regarding casino games in the future, don’t hesitate to contact us.

Best Regards,

Michal