Sportaza Casino - The player's requesting a refund of his deposit.

Dear Sir or madam,

Unfortunately I have to fullfill a complaint against sportaza, because the support of them isn't answering me anymore.

My complaint is regarding a neglect of the players protection from sportaza.

Even though I was self excluded due to problematic gambling on the casino Rabona which is also operated by the Rabidi N.V, their head company, I was still able to create a new account with all the same credentials at sportaza and within a few days I lost more than 7000€ due to a loss of self control.

Rabona support is telling me that since they changed ownership and took Rabona over from Araxio development N. V. I haven't consent them, to use my personal details, but the live support was still able to tell me that my account is currently self excluded and furthermore, when I try to login into my account I get the message, that the account is closed.

In fact Rabona and Sportaza are both runned by the Rabidi N.V., both sites and their T&C's are identical (just the layout is different) and both are running under the same Antillephone N.V. license.

Still it wasn't a problem for me, to register myself at sportaza with the same ID, adress and email adress.

I've already contacted the Sportaza support, but unfortunately the Sportaza support isn't answering me anymore so I have to fill a complaint here.

Please review my case, if you need any further information please let me know.

Hello Harddance,

Thank you very much for submitting your complaint and I'm really sorry to hear about your issue with Sportaza Casino. Please allow me to ask you a few more question before we would move forward.

When exactly did you request for self-exclusion in the sister casino? How long after registering did you mention that you were supposed to be self-excluded?

If you are self-excluded in any of their casino, and they have a self-exclusion for the whole group, you should get back all of your deposits. It really depends on many factors as some casinos may allow you to play even if you are blocked in their sister casino as their self-exclusion is limited to 1 brand.

Looking forward to your answer.

Regards,

Nick

Dear Nick, unfortunately I don't have the exact date for my self exclusion at Rabona because they haven't told it to me and I don't have the mail I've sent to them, when I asked them to close my account due to problematic gambling. But it was more than 1 year ago that I've self excluded myself from Rabona. 

The Rabona support tells me that I haven't given them the consent of my data and I should contact the pre owner of Rabona for the requested information but they still know my account, they know that my mail is linked to the account and they know that the account is self excluded on my demand as you can see from the Screenshots I've provided. 

As I've said I've registered myself at sportaza mid February '22 and closed the account on 17.3.22 after I've lost everything and realised what happened. 

Please let me know if you need any further information. 

Hello Harddance,

Unfortunately, it is not a responsibility of a casino to block a player's account across the whole group. It would be nice to see if they would but it's not mandatory. I can only recommend to contact directly the licensing authorities of the casino on this e-mail: certria@gaminglicences.com - they should know exactly how this casino operates and whether they should self-exclude a player within a whole group or not. Also the fact that the owner might have changed can really stir up the case. Please let us know if you will contact them - if yes, we will be temporary closing the case until we receive a statement from the license.

Regards,

Nick

Dear Nick,

I've already filled a complaint at the licensor independently of my complaint here on 10th of March, but unfortunately I haven't received any answer.

That was the reason I've opened my complaint here because it seemed to me that it was easier for you to work and make contact with the Casino, than Antillephone.

I understand it, that it is sometimes hard to see who operates which casino and to retrieve the information about them but in this case both websites are nearly identical. They are both operating on the same license, if you try to validate their license through the Antillephone badge you'll see that both Casinos even use the same email address for that.

As I've said both pages are nearly the same.

Their address is for both www.xxx100.com and all the T&C are the same.

Out of my sight they're literally the same and so I've to say, that it shouldn't have been possible for me to open an account at sportaza if I'm permanently self excluded from Rabona.

Unfortunately both support teams (same email, I think they're also the same) are not able / don't want to help me and are not answering me.

The fact that Rabona wasn't aware of my data is in fact a lie.

As you can see from my screenshot I've provided earlier Rabona does know my account and they also know that it is permanently self excluded.

Reviewing these facts the Rabidi N.V neglected players protection in my case.

It can't be the way of player protection to just reopen new casinos and more of them under the same company and the same license and to act like you don't know the players on your other owned casinos to maximise your profits.

Isn't their anything else you could do for me?

Maybe you could act as a mediator with the Rabidi N.V to give me at least a chance and an answer from them?

Kind regards

Hello Harddance,

The best possibility is to wait for the provider. Their decision is above our decision in cases about self-exclusion. As the casino has Curacao license, it may take a little longer to respond but let's hope for the best. However, if they won't respond at all, we will be judging the case based on our skills and experiences.

If the casino really changed the owner, it might worth a try to contact the old owner as well.

Please let me know if there will be any update from the license.

Dear Nick,

The previous owner confirmed me, that my account at Rabona was blocked on the 26.11.2020 on my wish.

Unfortunately the Sportaza team is not answering.

Kind regards

Hello Harddance,

Did they also confirm sharing the data with the new owner of the casino? If they really did share it, the new owner would be responsible for closing your account. On the other hand, if they did not do it, unfortunately there is nothing we would be able to do as there was no way the casino would know about your self exclusion in the past.

Dear Nick,

Thanks for your reply. Unfortunately the previous owner haven't confirmed me, if/which data they've shared with Rabidi N.V..

In fact the communication with all of them is a farce.

Sportaza and Rabona email support don't answer me any question at all, they are not even reacting or responding to my mail.

When I contact the live support of them, they're always telling me, that I should write an email, but as I've said, they're not answering them.

I've asked the Sportaza team to sent me a transcript of all the deposit and withdrawal that I have made in their Casino. That was on 28.02.2022, after I've sent them a mail on 03.03.2022 and 08.03.2022 regarding this issue and on 09.03.2022 they've confirmed me that they have 30 days to provide me with an answer but until today I haven't received the documents. I'll provide you with Screenshots regarding this if you'll send me a link or email address because I don't want to share these sensitive, personal details in public.

I understand that it would be easier for you to make a decision, if the pre-owner would confirm, that the Rabidi N.V received all data but I don't think that they will confirm it to me.

But even if they don't, from the previous posts and screenshot it is clearly visible, that the Rabidi N.V received my personal data and are using it.

Their live support knows my account, my mail and told me by themselves, without involving the pre-owner that my account is permanently closed on my wish.

When I review these facts there are only two options. The Rabidi N.V is using my personal data illegaly / without my permission, because I haven't given them consent to use it AND they know that my account was closed due to problematic gambling.

The Screenshots that I've provided earlier proof this.

Furthermore I've done some research, and as I've found out, the Rabidi N.V haven't only overtoken Rabona, the Rabidi N.V overtook all casinos that were owned and operated by Araxio development N.V.

If you take a close look at the Curaçao Commercial register you'll see that Araxio Development and Rabidi share the same Adress, post box and even their official is the same.

Of course I can't prove this, but in fact the new owner is only a matter of paperwork, that is maybe the reason why they just kept on using the databases, without the permission of the users.

I've also tried to contact the Antillephone N.V but I haven't received any response since weeks.

Do you have a mail I can use for my complaint? Do you know any other gambling authority in Curaçao which is licensing the Antillephone N.V where I could reach in a complaint?

Kind regards

Hello Harddance,

Unfortunately we do not have any other contact but the one I've already provided. It is sometimes very hard or even impossible to get in touch with the Curacao license. Also we are not able to decide whether you or the casino is right in this specific case as the casino is not obligate to block you from all of their groups and as they even rebranded, the case is even more complicated.

My only advise would be to keep trying to contact the authorities with this issue but otherwise I do not believe there is anything else that could be done. Be more careful in the future and try to chose from casinos with better license so if a case like this would occur, it will be easier to solve it.

We will be now forced to close the complaint as without the regulator's decision or hands are tied as well.

Best regards,

Nick