Westpoint Casino - Player's winnings confiscated and account closed due to alleged bonus abuse.

I signed up and deposited €250 into this casino, and got a welcome bonus. I won over €3k, then had to complete their 'wagering'. 

I then realized that my wagering wasn't going down, so I spoke to chat. Chat said that wagering was only done with cash bets, and I had to deposit more money for the wagering to be counted, and to release my €3k winnings.

I wasn't sure what to do, but in the end thought I had to deposit more to complete the wagering.

Every time I deposited a couple of hundred €, I just kept losing and had to deposit more. I started with €5 bets, then just kept on doing lower betsizes, as i kept on losing.

After depositing another €2k in total, I finally finished the wagering, with a balance of around €3000.

After sending my ID to them on email, they sent me this - 

This is Montgomery from WestPoint Casino, reviewing your recent payout request we found that you breached our bonus rules.

Since this is a breach of our Terms & Conditions to which you agreed to while playing at WestPoint Casino, we had to cancel your payment and remove these winnings. We have also had to block your account.

To review our bonus terms and conditions, please follow this link, especially section 9.5 & 9.6 and our Bonus Rules section on Bonus Abuse: 

Bonus rules (westpointcasino.com)

Terms and Conditions (westpointcasino.com)

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Now they won't reply at all, and haven't even returned my deposits. 

Dear 1979mandm1979,

Thank you very much for submitting your complaint. I'm sorry to hear about the difficulties you've encountered with Westpoint Casino regarding your recent gaming experience.

To better understand the situation and assist you effectively, could you kindly provide more information regarding the following points?

• Could you please specify the exact timeframe when you made the initial deposit of €250 and received the welcome bonus?
• Did you receive any written confirmation or notification regarding the wagering requirements?
• Can you provide details about the communication you had with the casino's support team regarding the requirement to deposit more money to fulfill the wagering requirements?
• Have you retained any documentation or screenshots of your interactions with the casino's support team?

Your cooperation in providing these details will help us investigate and work towards a resolution. Additionally, if you have any relevant communication with the casino, please feel free to forward it to petronela.k@casino.guru for further review.

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

Best regards,

Petronela

Please be aware: At Casino.Guru, we never ask for your casino account password. While we may request information, we never seek access to your account. Please refrain from sharing your password with any third party. We primarily communicate through official threads, occasionally via email for requested supporting evidence or relevant communication.

Dear 1979mandm1979,

We are extending the timer by 7 days. Please, be aware that in case you fail to respond in the given time frame or don’t require any further assistance, we will reject the complaint.

We regret to inform you that we must reject this particular case due to the lack of response from the player regarding our messages and questions. As a result, we are unable to proceed with any further investigation or provide potential solutions to address the issue at hand. However, we want to emphasize that the player retains the option to reopen this complaint at any time in the future should they decide to do so. We remain open and willing to assist with resolving the matter should the player choose to resume communication.

We’ve reopened this complaint as per the player’s request. We would like to give this case one more chance to get resolved and help both involved parties to reach a satisfactory conclusion.

Additional comments from the player:

Hi. My complaint was rejected because I didnt respond in time. I was away on holiday so can we get the complaint reopened and I can answer any questions you had please? If this isn't possible can I file a new complaint?

Thanks, Maria

Hi 1979mandm1979,

Thank you very much for getting back to us.

Please check my first reply and try to assist.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

I have answered your questions below:

Could you please specify the exact timeframe when you made the initial deposit of €250 and received the welcome bonus?

I made the deposit on 1st February and the welcome bonus was credited right away.

Did you receive any written confirmation or notification regarding the wagering requirements?

No not that I can remember

Can you provide details about the communication you had with the casino's support team regarding the requirement to deposit more money to fulfill the wagering requirements?

There was no communication, I simply read the terms and saw that term 3 of the bonus terms said "Real money balance is used prior to Bonus balance. The Bonus balance will only be used when there is no real money available in your account. Only real money funds and released Bonus funds can contribute towards the wagering requirement of the Bonus."

Have you retained any documentation or screenshots of your interactions with the casino's support team?

I have contacted them only via email. I can provide screenshots of the email correspondence upon request.

I look forward to hearing from you and hopefully getting the matter resolved and at minimum, my deposits returned to me.

Hi 1979mandm1979,

• Thank you so much for your reply. Please forward any relevant communication to petronela.k@casino.guru.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Thanks for your reply. I have sent 2 emails with the email thread between myself and westpoint casino.

Look forward to hearing from you.

Thank you very much, 1979mandm1979, 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 1979mandm1979,

I'm Michal and I have taken over your complaint. I have reviewed this case and I will contact the casino to shed more light on this matter.

We would like to invite Westpoint Casino to join the conversation.

Dear Westpoint Casino,

Can you please provide more information on how the player allegedly breached the bonus terms and conditions? If the information, including supporting evidence, can't be shared publicly, please forward it to me at michal.k@casino.guru

We would like to ask the 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 negatively affect its rating.

Dear 1979mandm1979,

I've managed to get in touch with the casino representative and they provided me with some information about their actions. Can you please explain why you have deposited quite a high amount multiple times while you wagered the bonus? I understand that real money is used first but If the specific bonus you claimed had a bit different rules, the standard wagering rules are these:

3. Wagering requirements

Real money balance is used prior to Bonus balance. The Bonus balance will only be used when there is no real money available in your account. Only real money funds and released Bonus funds can contribute towards the wagering requirement of the Bonus.

Dear 1979mandm1979,

We are extending the timer by 7 days. Please, be aware that in case you fail to respond in the given time frame or don’t require any further assistance, we will reject the complaint.

Hi. Thanks for the extension and sorry for my delay in replying. Yes I deposited so much so many times because I had to wager the bonus, due to their terms which you quoted. If I stopped depositing then I wouldn't be able to wager the bonus. I accept they arent paying my winnings but I expect my deposits to be refunded to me as this is standard practice and I wouldn't have made so many deposits had I not needed to wager the bonus.

Dear 1979mandm1979,

I recently engaged in a comprehensive discussion with the casino representative regarding your situation. While I understand their perspective that your gameplay aligns with their definition of bonus abuse as mentioned here:

We however need to question the assumption that switching from high-risk to low-risk betting after a significant win gives the player an unfair advantage. This behavior is quite reasonable, as even avid gamblers tend to become more cautious after winning, fearing potential losses.

It's important to remember that all casino games have a house edge, ensuring the casino's profitability even with low-risk bets. Therefore, there is no valid reason to penalize such gameplay. As we mentioned in Our Position on Banning Betting Patterns and Strategies

Although I was trying to explain our position and find a suitable solution with the casino representative, sadly, they maintained their initial decision to confiscate all the funds and close your account. We had to close this complaint as unresolved, which will have a negative effect on the casino rating.

I understand this isn't a satisfactory solution to your issue. However, the decrease in the rating caused by unresolved complaints might help to change the casino's approach. If the casino decides to react, we will reopen the complaint, and you will be notified by email. In the meantime, I recommend you contact the casino gaming authority, Curaçao Antillephone N.V. (complaints@gaminglicences.com), and submit a complaint to them. The Gaming Authority might have more options and tools to help players. Please let me know how they responded (michal.k@casino.guru). I am sorry I could not be of more help on this occasion. I can only recommend checking the reviews of each casino before you sign up and only playing in good-rated casinos to avoid disappointments like this in the future.

Best regards,

Michal

Casino Guru