Sportbet.one Casino - Player’s self-exclusion request is mishandled.

I was able to continue betting after requesting permanent self exclusion to happen immediately but instead I was given an 24 hour cool off period which enabled me to gambling again after requesting a permanent closure. That was very predatory to do that to someone who has gambling addiction I did not ask for a cool off I asked for permanent account closure.

Dear maine513,

Thank you very much for submitting your complaint. I’m sorry to hear about your negative experience with Sportbet.one Casino.

Please allow me to ask you a few questions, so I can better understand the situation. 

• Could you please forward your self-exclusion request and any response you received from the casino to my email at tomas@casino.guru?
• Could you please clarify whether your account is currently accessible to you?
• Have you requested a refund of the lost funds from the casino already? With what result?

I hope we will be able to help you to resolve this issue as soon as possible. Thank you very much in advance for your reply.

Best regards,

Tomas

Hello, I sent the requested information to your email.

Thanks for your patience

Do I understand correctly the casino already closed your account permanently after you requested a refund of your funds on August 1st?

Did you inform the casino about your gambling problems on July 13th or earlier? Have you made any deposits to the casino afterward? Please let me know.

Yes. I requested self exclusion on 7/6/2024. I told sportbet.one I had a gambling addiction in char & through email. Yes I made deposits after 7/6/2024.

Thank you very much, maine513, for providing the necessary information. I will now transfer your complaint to my colleague Michal (michal.v@casino.guru)  who will be at your service. I wish you the best of luck and hope the problem will be resolved to your satisfaction in the near future.  

Hello maine513,

My name is Michal and I will be assisting you with your case. I hope that together we will come to a successful resolution of your issue.

I would like to request the presence of a representative from the casino in this conversation.

Dear Sportbet.one Casino,

Could you possibly provide additional information regarding the issue and clarify the situation? I would also appreciate it if you provided us with any and all relevant evidence.  

Thank you in advance.

Respectfully,

Michal

Hello everyone,

My name is Jess, head of customer success department.

We investigated maine513's case on our platform. And here's what we found.

• maine513 indeed requested self-exclusion on 6 July. Then he received our email to confirm the self-exclusion process. He opened it but didn`t press the green button in the email that day. He did it on 13 July. As proof here`s a screenshot from our system.

• The next day maine513 received our email to choose the period of his account disablement. He opened it and clicked the link. Then he was redirected to sportbet.one site, where he could choose that period from the dropdown. But again the player didn`t continue the process. The proofs are on the screenshots below.

So, maine513 deleted his account permanently on 27 July. We can see a self-exclusion process worked correctly. The player had an opportunity to close his account permanently earlier but he didn`t do that. We would like to hear from maine513 why he didn't follow the self-exclusion process to end.

• In our chat, we found that the player previously reported that he didn`t have a gambling issue. It means he wasn`t gambling addicted in April 2024 (he wrote this on 18 April 2024). And the first time he wrote to us about his addiction was on 4 July 2024.

• Also, here is the player`s EOS account, where you can summarise his wins or losses.

https://bloks.io/account/sbetrrycbz3i

According to the records in the blockchain, the player`s overall result on our platform is winning approximately 0.15 BTC (10000 USD). Starting from 6 July he lost 0.012 BTC. Therefore we ask maine513 to explain where the sum of $21000 was taken from.

I requested self-exclusion on July 6th which should be an immediate processed once self-exclusion was requested not the next day on July 7th like the screenshot shows sending me an email the next day for a " cool down" period. That allowed me to continue playing and wagering even though self-exclusion was requested. According to your records I pressed the green button on the 13th because I went to chat to ask why wasn’t I self excluded when I requested immediate self exclusion. To my understanding self-exclusion does not require me to have a "cool down"period & should be immediate. After the representative told me on July 13th that there were extra steps I proceeded that day with the self-exclusion. Instead of an self-exclusion email I received an email which was clicked on July 14th that was confirming that my account had been reopened which shouldn’t had happened as I requested SELF-EXCLUSION on July 6th & got assistance on July 13 for the self-exclusion not a break or cool down period there should not be as many things to go through to be permanently self excluded nor should a problem gambler have to wait as it is enabling gamblers to continue even though they are trying to stop. I pressed the green button like website said to be self excluded but I did not get self excluded immediately once the green button was pressed like the site email said I would be.  The process to be self-excluded should not be as dragged on as much as it is to give the problem chances to second guess the decision to self-exclude which is predatory knowing that with the addiction you all have a chance that the addicted would stay after not being immediately taken off the site. Also, the email is hard to find as it is easily lost in junk   mail. 

In April I said I didn’t have an gambling addiction which was 3 months before I said I had an  gambling addiction but if you knew what addiction was like you would understand a person would lie to avoid being detected as a problem gambler. Like with any addiction the addicted does not believe they are addicted. It took alot for me to admit I have a gambling issue and I finally built up enough courage to self-exclude but had been failed by a company that is supposed to be promoting responsible gaming. 

The sum of gambling I was including my deposits from the past. I lost money that I had won from your site which is what I was including in the $21,000 as well.  On July 6th I was able to lose the amount of $10,000 which shouldn’t had been able to be deposited on your site because I should have been self excluded on the day I requested on July 6th but instead I get an email on July 7th a whole day after I had already the requested self exclusion on July 6th and then ended up losing $10,000 more.

Regarding the date 7th that you see on the screenshot. This time difference is due to a different time zone. I didn't specify it because I thought it was obvious.

Dear maine513,

Can you tell me what was the amount of deposits that you made between the 6th of July and the time of the account closure?

Approximately $1,020 USD starting July 6th until July 27th ( Account closure )

Dear Sportbet.one Casino Team,

As I have mentioned in previous complaints regarding to this specific feature, I can not stress enough that Casino.Guru considers the 24-hour cool-off period before self-exclusion confirmation as an insufficient protection measure for players who suffer from gambling addiction. It is understandable that casinos have certain rules for dealing with self-exclusion requests, and the players should follow these rules to make the process as easy and fast as possible.

However, in cases like these, the rules that need to be followed are not necessarily friendly for users who suffer from gambling addiction. Giving them an additional cool-off period is something we can not get behind. If your system is set in a way that the self-exclusion does not go through email or your staff, but the players themselves, in this case, the process of permanent account closure should be immediate, without any cool-off period. The player should be refunded all of the deposits that he made from the moment of his self-exclusion request, which he made on the 6th of July. Once again, I advise you to improve this process.