Tsars Casino - Player's dissatisfied with the casino's services.

Good morning. I am Felipe Mellizo Villanueva, a Spanish citizen. First of all, I apologise for any inconvenience this may cause you, but I have exhausted all possible ways to solve the problem I am writing to you about:

Since more than two months now, I have had a complaint open against the online casino "Tsars". This casino, based in Curaçao, owned by "RR Investments NV" and licensed by "Antillephone N.V.", does not have a valid license to operate in my country, Spain.

Even so, they allow you to select "Spain" as your country of residence, validate telephones with the prefix "+34" for Spain, as well as Spanish identity documents and proof of residence.

In addition, "Antillephone N.V.", the body that grants the gaming licence to "Tsars" determines the following in its licence:

It is the responsibility of the licensee to know the local laws and requirements of the territories in which it intends to offer its services.

This body also includes a list of countries in which online casinos with this licence are not allowed to operate:

Excluded Territories

Under this licence, apart from its own diligence and legalities, the licence holder is not authorised to offer its services in the territories of USA, Netherlands, France, United Kingdom, Australia, Spain, Dutch West Indies, Aruba, Bonaire, Saba, Statia, Dutch St Martin and Curacao.

I claim that in point 10.4 of the "Tsars Terms and Conditions", which determines the list of countries that are prohibited from opening an account in "Tsars" does not include "Spain" when, according to the gaming license of "Tsars", granted by "Antillephone NV", it should be included in that list. This demonstrates a "deliberate misrepresentation" in the "Tsars" "Terms and Conditions".

On the other hand, law 13/2011 on the regulation of gambling of Spain in its title II, article 9 point 4 determines: "The enabling titles granted by other States will not be valid in Spain. Operators recognized by other Member States of the European Economic Area must comply with the requirements and with the processing established by current legislation.

On 12 October 2023, i receive an email fro "Tsars" stated the following:

Please note that Tsars.com is an online casino that operates under a license issued in Curacao. As an officially licensed entity we have the right to freely conduct business over the internet and provide our services to end users who are located throughout the world, not solely to residents of Curacao. There are no local Curacao or internationally applicable regulations that restrict or prohibit to accept players from Spain, if they wish to open an account on our website.

This is totally and utterly FALSE, as "Antillephone NV" states the following:

Excluded Territories

Under this licence, apart from its own diligence and legalities, the licence holder is not authorised to offer its services in the territories of USA, Netherlands, France, United Kingdom, Australia, Spain, Dutch West Indies, Aruba, Bonaire, Saba, Statia, Dutch St Martin and Curacao.

They state that "There are no local Curacao or internationally applicable regulations that restrict or prohibit to accept players from Spain" which is totally false.

In an email received on 2 November 2023 from support@tsars.com, customer support states the following:

-As an online casino, our website and services are accessible to players visiting from various countries, including Spain, and if they choose to do so, they have the right to take part and use the said services.

-As per the information provided in the screenshots, our customer service is confirming that Spanish citizens are not restricted from using our services, (as Spanish citizens are not legally prohibited from gambling outside the borders of Spain).

As you will see, what is stated in this e-mail is extremely serious and goes totally against what the body that grants the gambling licence to "Tsars", "Antillephone NV", determines in this respect.

Thats why i ask for all my deposits back. It has now been 32 days without a reply from "Tsars" and I need your help to resolve this matter.

If you need more info about this issue, please, feel free to ask.

Thanks for your time and attention

Dear Felmelvil,

Thank you very much for submitting your complaint. I’m sorry to hear about your negative experience. We accept the situation when the casino allows players from restricted countries to open an account as long as they don’t use this as an opportunity to later cancel the player’s legitimate winnings. Simply said – if the casino allows players from restricted countries to deposit and play, they should pay out their winnings as well. However, if the player personally chose to make deposits and lost, we believe they are not eligible for any refunds because they could lose their deposits in the same manner at any other casino. You can read more about our point of view here in this article:

https://casino.guru/fair-gambling-codex-for-casinos#restricted-countries

Therefore, I would like to emphasize, that we investigate further and help only those players, whose funds or winnings have been confiscated due to being from a restricted country. Nevertheless, it doesn’t seem that this is the case here, but correct me if I am wrong, please.

Please, if there is anything else, we could help you with, do not hesitate to contact us, otherwise, we will reject this complaint.

Thank you for understanding.

Best regards,

Kristina

Thank you very much Cristina for your quick response, but I would like to clarify a little the reason for the claim. In this case, "Spain" DOES NOT APPEAR as a restricted country in point 10.4 of the "Tsars Terms and Conditions", so neither myself, nor any player, could act in bad faith.

It is when one accesses the "license granted by Antillephone NV" that one notices that this license DOES NOT ALLOW Tsars to operate in "Spain" (there are other countries on the list that are not listed in the Tsars Terms and Conditions either, such as the United Kingdom or Aruba, for example). That means that Tsars has DELIBERATELY excluded from point 10.4 of its "Terms and Conditions" a number of countries that, by their gaming license, should be on that list.

On a side note, it is just as unfair for the casino not to pay out winnings to players from restricted countries as it is to deliberately keep the deposits of players to whom the Tsars website should not have given access, as is clear from the license granted by "Antillephone NV" (I copy again what this body says in this regard):

Excluded Territories

Under this licence, apart from its own diligence and legalities, the licence holder is not authorised to offer its services in the territories of USA, Netherlands, France, United Kingdom, Australia, Spain, Dutch West Indies, Aruba, Bonaire, Saba, Statia, Dutch St Martin and Curacao.

I hope this clarify my claim. Thanks for your time and help with this issue.

And, apologies for sending two consecutive messages, but I would like to clarify the dangerous statement that Tsars customer service made in an email sent to me on October,12 (ive already sent you the screenshot):

Please note that Tsars.com is an online casino that operates under a license issued in Curacao. As an officially licensed entity we have the right to freely conduct business over the internet and provide our services to end users who are located throughout the world, not solely to residents of Curacao. There are no local Curacao or internationally applicable regulations that restrict or prohibit to accept players from Spain, if they wish to open an account on our website.

"There are no local Curacao or internationally applicable regulations that restrict or prohibit to accept players from Spain"

This is totally and utterly FALSE, as you can read in what Antillephone NV, Who granted the license to Tsars, says in this regard.

Again, sorry for two consecutive messages, but i need to clarify my point. Thanks for your time and help.

Unfortunately, we at Casino.Guru don’t deal with complaints related to licensing regulations and policies. I understand your point, but, sadly, we’re not in a position to help you. We are an independent online casino database that acts as a mediator in resolving players’ disputes. We have no authority to enforce the legality of rules.

Unfortunately, in this case, we are not able to help you and you are not entitled to any refund of your deposits. I can only recommend you do better research next time and play only in the casinos that accept players from your country and preferably have a specific license for such players. Perhaps you could try contacting the Tsars Casino license authority and they could help you.

Due to the aforementioned reasons, this complaint will now be closed. 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.