Springbok Casino - Player lost his winnings due to a breach of the casino’s T&Cs.

Casinos generate an income though gaming, Springbok claims to be a casino but gaming is not their main income generator. I, like many found this out the hard way. I won R15000, fair and square, i went through the withdrawal process and waited for the transaction to go through. That takes a few days and is not an issue. The issue is that they offer you bonuses and invite you to redeem them and enable you to play...while the withdrawal (a completely separate transaction) is being processed. 

If you take them up on their offer, there is no warning, nothing to remind you about 1 small clause, tucked away in what is a very long list of t&c's. Nothing to stop you from cashing in the offer they have sent you...their system allows you to redeem the bonus and you play, why wouldn’t you? if they didn’t want you to play or are not allowed to play, why invite, encourage, enable and allow you to do so. That said, if you try make a deposit, their system simply stops the transaction and gives a little explanation about why it you can't make a deposit. One would think that the very same would happen if you were not allowed to redeem the bonus they have just sent you. 
 

What happens next is nothing short of legalized theft. The next day you will get an email stating that you broke their t&c's, they quote the tiny clause, cancel your withdrawal that was being processed at their pace (and which is a completely separate transaction) and then they literally steal you were withdrawing. 
 

What follows is chaos for the player who was gaming in good faith and what is a well rehearsed, very sympathetic but ultimately useless conversation because the the ’no’ that is the only answer they are allowed to give is described as a decision that was made by management and can't be reversed. Ask to talk to management and amazingly no one is available, ever! 
 

They refuse to explain why they allow you to redeem the bonus offers they send you, and allow you to play when their rules specifically state that this is not allowed. They refuse to give any explanation as why there s nothing to physically stop you, no pop up alerting you to that you are not allowed to do what they have invited you to do. They do nothing but wait until you are done and then they take your money.  
 

Essentially, you've gone to their casino, played in good faith, won...cashed out and on your way out they mug you. They resent the fact that you won and are taking your money home. Their system is set up to trap you, steal your money and then like cowards, hide behind t&c's that they constructed in a manner that allows them to justify the theft of your winnings. The fact that they have this covered in the t&c’s proves that this underhanded and dishonest tactic was premeditated. 

Ironically they  claim to be a casino that preaches responsible gaming. 
 

I do not expect this level of dishonesty from a casino that by all accounts seems to have pretty decent ratings from the casino review sites (on Hello Peter’...not so much.). 
 

It’s one thing to lose your money the good old fashioned way, Sometimes you win sometimes you lose, that‘s how it goes, but to win and then get mugged by them because you won...That is so wrong on so many levels! 

I need to add a few things to the complaint I submitted re Springbok Casino.

The first chat I had with Springbok re the matter was with a lady called Keta,

I have screen gabs of the chat which I will happily provide if and when asked to do so.

I asked, "can I ask you simply, if players aren't allowed to do it....why does the system allow them to do it?"

Her response "That is a great question, but as much as the system allows the player is responsible to read the terms and conditions in all areas"

Unless a person is blessed with a photographic memory, it is next to impossible to go through the terms and conditions thoroughly and be able to process them effectively. There is simply no way I would have remembered that particular clause anyway and would have proceeded to do what I did based on the reasonable expectation that if i am not allowed to do something, their system, which by their own admission, monitors everything that happens, would simply not let me do it.  Ironically it hasn't occurred to them that by knowingly allowing the rule to be broken, they are complicit in breaking their own rule! They are as guilty, if not more than the player. 

All the player wants to do is play and hopefully win, his responsibility is to bring money and then play, either winning or losing and that is it! It is the casinos responsibility to ensure that the playerr is not harme  o  taken advantage of. That they conduct their business in a manner that is honest, fair and responsible. It is their responsibility to ensure thatttheir rules cannot be broke, It is their responsibility to neither encourage or enable the breaking of their rules. It is their responsibility to be proactive and take reasonable precautions preventing players from inadvertently breaking any rules. They are required to, have the ability to however refuse to with the specific intention to deliberately manufacture a scenario where they can abuse their position and take money the money that is in the players casino account and money that has already been withdrawn.  

As sent to me by Springbok, "Players with one or more pending withdrawals currently in their account are not eligible to receive any bonuses, promotional or otherwise, until such withdrawals are either processed or cancelled. Abuse of this policy, as defined by the casino, may result in cancellation of the player's winnings."

There is nothing in that clause that alerts any 'reasonable player’ to how brutally this vague policy is enforced after the fact. It clearly states that it MAY result in the cancellation of the players winnings", ‘will’ and ‘may’ are 2 very different words. They refer to ‘winnings' yet are unclear about exactly what 'winnings' they are referring to! 

If the clause does legally entitle them to target winnings, where does it actually stop? Do they have right to seek repayment  for the money a person has won in the last year, 2 years, 3? Under this clause, those are also technically winnings. Do they refer only to ‘winnings’ from Springbok, or any winnings from other casinos as well.
 

Where does the clause end? At what stage are they going to just expand their reach, decide that the money in your bank account is theirs and make a play for that? The clause is unclear. Bear in mind that It been established that reasonable thinking and acting in good faith do not currently apply to anything Springbok Casino related. 

Ironically, 2 weeks ago, I was waiting for a refund from them. I deposited money directly into their account on 16/12/2019. My user name was in the reference, There was nothing to indicate that the money was for anyone elses account but mine. It was a month before they acknowledged receipt of the deposit,

I submitted the documentation required for verification, 

Over the next few days, I got contradictory emails, asking for documents they already had. I was told that my documentation had been received, accepted and my account verified, only to then be told that it hadn’t and to literally provide the same documentation they already had, including a request to send a different picture of my ‘Master Card’. They made things a lot harder and more unpleasant than they should be. Eventually i got the money, a few days after they had undertaken to pay it.

Here we have a few 'mistakes' made by them which they acknowledged and apologised for. It's really disappointing to find out the hard way that they do not offer the same grace they expect! 

No matter what their t&c's say, their conduct is unacceptable, they clearly set out to steal money that isn't theirs, that they have no right to. There is no moral or ethical justification that condones their actions! Which ever authority issued them with their Gaming License should be made aware of their conduct and their license suspended for unethical and harmful business practises.
 

They have been dishonest. Pay me what I am due immediately. 

The End

Dear Andrew,

Thank you for contacting Casino Guru. I’m sorry to hear you lost your winnings. I looked at the casino’s T&Cs and found the rule you mentioned: 

"25. Players with one or more pending withdrawals currently in their account are not eligible to receive any bonuses, promotional or otherwise, until such withdrawals are either processed or cancelled. Abuse of this policy, as defined by the casino, may result in cancellation of the player's winnings."

We don’t approve of this rule, especially if the casino kept offering you bonuses and did not make you aware of it. Have you won the R15000 by playing with a bonus? Has all your balance been cancelled or has your deposit been refunded? 

Best regards,

Peter

Tue, Feb 11, 5:00 PM (22 hours ago)

Andrew Stark <starkers96@gmail.com>

to payments, help

Hi,

Please address the below. It is my belief that I have been unfairly treated by Springbok Casino, who have punished me heavily despite being guilty of breaking their own terms and conditions, subsequently punishing me heavily in the amount of R10000. 

The clause you cite as the one broken by the player is as follows;

25. Players with one or more pending withdrawals currently in their account are not eligible to receive any bonuses, promotional or otherwise, until such withdrawals are either processed or cancelled. Abuse of this policy, as defined by the casino, may result in cancellation of the player's winnings.

As per the wording of you own Terms & Conditions, 

1) If a player is not eligible to receive any bonuses, promotional or otherwise. It is your responsibility to ensure that said customer does not receive any bonuses. By actively sending bonuses to the customer you place them in an impossible position. He will without a doubt receive the bonus that you deem him eligible to receive simply because you sent it to him. 

In this action alone, not only do you initiate the whole process, you also fail to protect the customer, as undertaken in clause 5. "Springbok Casino makes every effort to ensure the full protection of its customers".

2) The clause does not state that the bonus cannot be redeemed. The onus is on the casino to ensure that their Terms & Conditions are adhered to by all parties, including themselves. 

3) Please detail the efforts, specifically related to this matter, made by Springbok Casino to ensure the full protection of it's customer.

5) Having sent the bonus, it is then the he casino who is responsible, who the ability to decline the transaction entirely. As shown below, the process as laid out by your system is that the redemption is requested, it then either approved or declined. If the customer is not eligible to avail himself of the bonuses sent to him by the casino, the Onus is on then Casino to ensure that bonus cannot be redeemed at all.

It is clear that the system is able to process and action different commands as per the Casinos requirements. To punish the customer for yet another failure on the part of the Casino is unacceptable. 

02/05/2020 05:34 PM

Free Spin Deposit Approved!

R45.00

02/05/2020 05:34 PM

Free Spin Deposit Requested

R45.00

02/05/2020 05:34 PM

Coupon 'JOKER' redeemed

R0.00

02/05/2020 05:34 PM

Coupon 'JOKER' requested

02/04/2020 04:54 PM

Coupon declined

02/04/2020 04:54 PM

Coupon 'WHALENTINE' requested

Springbok casino is in breach of their own terms and conditions for the following;

It undertakes to make every effort possible to ensure the full protection of it's customers, yet 

no precautions, adequate or otherwise appear to have been taken by the Casino to prevent abuse of the clause, Abuse initiated by the Casino.

By contravening it's own terms & conditions and by being complicit in the actions of the customer inadvertent or otherwise, places the casino in the same position as the customer, The Casino is not in any position to sanction the customer in any way because it is the initiating party. 

It is unreasonable to then place further financial burden on the customer by expropriating credit in his casino account and or money belonging to the customer, that has been withdrawn.. 

I do believe that should this matter be heard in court, Springbok would not win. If I need to seek legal recourse I will. 

You lost for once, be gracious in defeat...being a sore loser is not a good look for a casino.

Please pay me what you took. I am getting tired of asking, tired of giving you all the reasons why you are wrong in what you have done. Seriously, own your mistake apologise for it, make it right and then we can move on. 

When can I expect you do do the transfer?

Andrew Stark

Hi Peter,

Thank you for your effort, I do appreciate it.  So I took some time yesterday to read through their t&c's. Specifically 

at the wording of the clause. If taking on it's wording, by sending any acustome who is in a credit positon, r

Hi Peter,

The R15000 was won free and clear of any possiale bny bonus or plarough complications. I deposited R2000 (4xR500) and played straight from that.

y th

Hi Peter. FYI...

Payout Information

Inbox

x

help@springbokcasino.co.za

10:36 AM (10 hours ago)

to me

Dear Andrew,

Thank you for making Springbok your gaming choice!

We are delighted to have you as a customer and wish to address your withdrawal concern.

A review of your account indicates that your withdrawal was requested on February the 6th of 2020 in the amount of R15,000. In this situation, you redeemed two coupons which comprised of 25 spins on the game Pulsar, respectively 50 spins on the game Asgard.

Though we understand that this is not the news you were expecting, please kindly note it is a player's responsibility to play within our Casino Terms and Conditions to ensure that this does not happen again.

Please kindly note that this decision is final and as a one time exception, the decision ruled to credit you with the amount of R5,000.00.

We kindly invite you to review our Casino Terms & Conditions to avoid any further mishaps.

We invite you to come and Chat with us to find out our hottest games!

Should you require any further information or assistance, please feel free to contact us anytime.

Enjoy playing in the Casino!

Best regards,

Will

Springbok Casino Support

Toll Free: 0 800 983 080

Regular Number: 1 678 349 0095

Andrew Stark <starkers96@gmail.com>

1:22 PM (7 hours ago)

to help@springbokcasino.co.za

Hi Kevin,

Incorrect. It still doesn't absolve you of you undertaking to ensure the safety of your customers. It is not my 

responsibility to not redeem a coupon you sent me, inviting me to redeem it. If you  undertake to 'make every 

effort to ensure the safety of their customers' then in this action alone you have breached their own t&c's. The 

wording of the clause states that am not eligible to receive the coupon. The only effort apparent is the effort to 

put me in an impossible position. The moment the offer lands in my inbox, I have technically received it. 

Can the casino please explain to me how deliberately exposing me to the abuse that they are punishing me for

is in anyway an effort to to ensure my safety. Ensuring my safety is not exposing me to it in the first place. It is your 

responsibility to not send the coupon in the first place. 
 

When your system clearly has the capability to not allow coupons to be redeemed by an individual if the 

individual does not qualify for the coupon, then why does it? And why is there not one single notification 

warning the customer of what he is not allowed to do. Which particular 'effort to ensure the customers safety'

is this. Surely at the very least any warning would be some visible effort on your part. There is nothing!

You make no effort whatsoever to ensure the safety of your customers. In fact you appear to do the exact 

opposite. You abuse your position of trust, fail to abide by your own t&c's and proceed to make the customer 

pay heavily for it. 

This is unacceptable. It certainly isn't in the spirit of the agreement. If you had no intention of abiding by the 

contract in the first place, you have been acting in bad faith and have thus been in breach of the contract

from the moment I agreed to it. In short, I, like everyone else who has fallen victim to this abuse is entitled 

to claim all their money back on the basis of non-performance on the part of the casino. 

Again, where to from here? I don't think it will take long for a lawyer to see the merit in representing all the 

customers current and past who want their money back. I have no doubt your lawyers will be working 

hard to deal with this. It will take a long time, bring the a lot of exposure that won't be beneficial in nature

and it'll cost a lot more than the R10000 you should have paid me. I gave the option of being reasonable, 

that option is fading fast. If you don't want to pay me my winnings, then you need to return all the money I 

have deposited in your account minus the 2 payouts that you have made to me. 

Kind Regards,

Andrew

Thank you Andrew, I will contact the casino and ask them for a reply.

Much appreciated. They are ducking and diving, obviously trying to avoid taking responsibility for their actions. It is sad to see how many people they catch with this tactic. no one takes them on. They just complain and leave it at that. This crap needs to stop. 

Dear Andrew,

We understand your complaint and your frustration, but when you created your account, you approved our terms and conditions and, even when you broke the rule, we decided to make an exception and process part of your payment, the R5000 that is around 33% of your winnings.

At this point, there is not much more to discuss, we want the best for our players and we offered the bonuses in good faith, you could have used them after your withdrawal being processed, and win from it. 

It is a player's responsibility to play within our Casino Terms and Conditions to ensure that this does not happen again. Please kindly note that this decision is final, and as a one-time exception, the decision ruled to credit you with the amount of R5,000.00.

We wish you the best of luck for the future and, we are sure you will win again. 

Kind regards,  
Springbok Casino Representative 

I did not accept you breaking your own t&c's. I do not accept your actions in which you deliberately expose me to the very abuse that you punish me for. You have no business sending anyone who is in the process of a withdrawal any communications inviting them to redeem a bonus. A bonus you then allow them to redeem and then play with. You do this with the specific intention of intercepting the withdrawal and taking the contents. This is a clear abuse of your position of trust. It is not in the spirit of your t&c's. And it is frankly underhanded, dishonest and disgusting. I do not accept any notion that this constitutes fair gaming and according to the fair gaming codec as written by the admin on this site, it puts your casino squarely in the bracket of 'not a safe casino to play in'. 

Further to the above, it has not gone un-noticed that the casino has avoided answering some very basic questions like, "in the context of the this incident, could the casino please give a detailed list of what efforts they have made to keep me safe from abuse". Considering they clearly state that they make every effort to to keep their customers safe! 

Why would i knowingly or willingly put my self in a situation where i am going to lose thousands of Rand to play for less than R100. 

They clearly have not made any effort, this has cost me and a good few other people. It will no doubt cost many more. 

It is sad that they stoop to this level of dishonesty. 

Hi Andrew,

Can you confirm the bonus you accepted while you had a pending withdrawal was sent by the casino itself? Could you please forward the offer to me (peter.m@casino.guru)?

Considering the facts mentioned above and previous discussion regarding this case with my colleagues, we are strongly convinced that the player should receive all winnings. Especially because he won while playing with his own money and accepting the additional bonus offered by the casino didn't provide him with any advantage that would affect the winnings (there was already a pending withdrawal)

Our aim is to make sure that the relationship between a player and a casino is always fair. We believe that confiscating a pending withdrawal which had nothing to do with the lately accepted bonus is not fair in this case.

Thus I would like to ask the casino to reconsider their previous statement and pay out the full amount, otherwise we'll be forced to consider the decision as an enforcement of a predatory rule, which will affect the casino's rating.

We would like to ask the Springbok Casino to reply to this complaint. 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’ which may affect its rating.

Dear Peter,

The bonuses are sent automatically to every player, it doesn't matter if the player has a pending withdrawal, deposited or used 5 free bonuses in a row. Upon receiving the offer, it is stating there that the player needs to have into consideration our Terms and Conditions, meaning the player can use the bonuses after the withdrawal is processed.  

Taking into consideration the fact that the player was playing with his own money but used two free bonuses in a row, part of the payment was processed. 

It is a player's responsibility to play within our Casino Terms and Conditions to ensure that this does not happen again. Please kindly note that this decision is final, and as a one-time exception, the decision ruled to credit the amount of R5,000.00.

Kind regards,  
Springbok Casino Representative 

So, I notice that the casino has a lot to say about the responsabilty of their client. Yes, CLIENT!  Has the casino actually read their own terms and conditions? I am unclear as to how they feel justified in placing and enforcing all the responsibility of their t&c's on their client, when it is patently clear that they themselves are in clear violation of the very same contract. 

I'd like to clarify the actual responsibility of the client. The client is responsible for bringing the money, from there it is his responsibilty to play and enjoy his gsming time and not cheat. That is it in a nutshell. The player just wants to play, it really is that simple

The casino provides the entertainment and keeps the players safe from abuse. They are welcome to monitor things from a security perspective. They have undertaken in the t&c's to make every effort to keep their clients safe from abuse. This includes them using their position to abuse their customers.

They have failed to address this point throughout this whole process. I asked a very simple question. In the context of this incident, what efforts were made by them, in accordance with their t&c's, to ensure the safety of me and my winnings that had already been processed and approved for withdrawal?

Does the Casino honestly feel no obligation, legal or otherwise to abide by the very same t&c's that preside over their entire gaming offering? 

If the casino is unable to stop emailing affected clients, they then have a few options. They can either draw attention to the relevant t&c's by making the font bigger and placing the warning in a more prominent position. Failing that, they can provide popups to alert their customers to imminent danger as they proceed closer to said danger. They also have the ability to stop the transaction entirely on an individual basis. In which case no transgretion can be made at all. Which is EXACTLY what they should do to ensure the safety and integrity of their whole system and in fact the entire customer experience. We customers don't go there to get abused and they promise to keep us safe...they don't. 

The 2 bonuses free bonuses i played represent less than 2% of my winnings. For a 1st time offence, that they have acknowledged was an innocent mistake on my part. As well as acknowledging that those winnings came from playing my own money and was free and clear of any bonuses offered by them, they imposed an 'after the fact' punishment that represents 66% of my winnings. 

One time exception be damnded, they could have and should stopped this entire situation. They didn't, however, what they did do is break their own t&c's and they did the very thing they explicitly undertook to keep me safe from.  

By not taking steps to ensure that they, their system and their clients are kept as safe as possible from abuse, they send a clear message that they don't take the t&c's and their own responsibilities in respect of the t&c'seseriously at all. In fact the only time they their t&c's seriously is when they cite them and the customers responsabilites in order to justify to their actions and give the appearance of legal legitimacy but which in essence are tantamount to theft. 

Since things are kindly being noted. Please note that my decision is also final. You took R10000 of my money, no matter how you try justify it, in terms of your very own t&c's you had absolutely no right to take it at all. I want it back and fully expect you to pay it back! No exceptions. 

Frankly this matter has taken far to long already, the administrators of this site have been thorough in their investigation which was conducted inline with the requirements of their 'fair play codec'. They found in favour of the player. They have very diplonatically asked you to make right on what was a bad decision on your part.  For all our sakes, please do so. Closing the bòok on this and putting it behind us would be appreciated by everyone

Andrew Stark

Dear Andrew,

It seems the management of the casino won't change  their minds. I'm afraid, there is not much I can do now to help. We don't have the authority to force casinos to pay winnings to players. As a last resort, you could submit a complaint to the Antillephone Gaming Authority (complaints@gaminglicences.com). It's not the best license out there, but they might be able to help. Please let me know how it went (peter.m@casino.guru). The only thing I can do is to mark the complaint as unresolved. This will affect the overall rating of the casino. I understand, this isn't a satisfactory solution to your issue. However, the decrease of rating caused by unresolved complaints could change the casino's approach. I really wish I was of more help.

Best regards,

Peter