Winz.io Casino - The player's self exclusion failed.

I submitted emails to winz casino management on the 12th of July stating that I wanted to exclude myself from play due to the losses I was experiencing. Following this time period, I continued to deposit and lose thousands. I have reached out to winz casino outlining this issue but haven't had any progress resolving this. My account was disabled after I raised the issue and all balances are unretrievable. I have contacted management on a number of prior occasions outlining the need for a break from play, however, these messages were also ignored. I am seeking to have my deposited funds from 13/07/22 onwards returned to me as I shouldn't have been allowed to play following my request for account closure.

Hello bikmike,

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

Could you please advise since when exactly is your account closed? How long after your request did you lose your money? Was the request to the casino the same you forwarded to us? If yes, please note that you did not mention self exclusion or even gambling addiction in your request, therefore it was not obligatory for the casino to close your account.

Looking forward to your answer.

Regards,

Nick

Hello,

Thank you for reviewing my complaint. It appears that my account was closed on the 17/07/22 and the money was lost from the 13/07/22 up until this closure. In my communications that I provided I outlined the need for a cooling off period and a statement on the 12/07/22 to close my account at winz as it was out of control. The requirements for casinos with curaçao gaming licenses in relation to responsible gambling state ''online casino operators should provide for several levels of "exclusion" from the game. The first is "cooling off", a short break for at least a month, the last is irrevocable self-exclusion. During the period chosen by the player, the operator must refuse the request to activate the account or create a new account. In this case, the withdrawal of funds should not be limited.''

Another requirement for responsibly gambling is for operators to encourage players to bet exclusively within rational limits that correlated with their own financial capabilities.

Development of algorithms and monitoring of stay on the gaming site – timers of time spent playing the game and so on.

In relation to this second statement, I have evidence of correspondence between myself and winz that outlines I was depositing and betting outside of rational limits and financial capabilities. I informed the casino that I was taking out a grant/loan to further my play and asked for an advance numerous times. This is also supported by the large amount of time I would spend gambling on their site, most hours of the day for consecutive days.

Another point I noticed on a prior complaint successfully resolved by winz casino for a player in a similar situation to myself is, upon their investigation, they discovered that the player had previously been identified to have severe compulsive gambling issues within Direx NV brands. In relation to myself, I have had my account involuntarily closed twice by mbit casino upon their suspicion of a compulsive gambling issue based upon my communication and gambling activities. I also have a current self exclusion in place with Bitstarz casino and have had my account closed at 7bit casino upon my request. These online casinos are all Direx NV brands. Perhaps winz casino are unaware of this, but I was pleasantly surprised when I saw their handling of this players issue upon discovering this information.

If more evidence is required to substantiate the points I have made I am willing and able to provide them to you at your earliest convenience.

Kind regards,

Mike.

Hello bikmike,

Can you please forward the actual conversation with Winz.io Casino please? You can post it here or send it to nikolas.b@casino.guru.

Hi Nick,

Most of my conversation with winz casino was over chat, I have asked them to give me all of the history but they haven't yet. The conversations that have been sent cut out half of the conversation. Are you able to ask winz to send me all of my chat history?

The only way for indefinite account closure is through contacting support through chat or email, there is no option to do this on the website.

If you look at the correspondence I asked multiple times for a break from playing, and for them to close my account due to being out of control . I also took out a loan and emailed them a picture of my loan balance to try and get advance credit. They knew I was a compulsive gambler and going into debt, but ignored all of my requests to disable my account because they wanted to continue to drain me of everything I have. Given the context of my constant requests for a break/account closure and emailing them a picture of a loan I had taken out, it is improbable/impossible that they were not aware that I have a problem. Aside from this, I also demanded my account to be closed.

A large proportion of complaints against this casino come from players who have had issues with their self exclusion and deposit limits, the casino always plays on terminology when people with gambling problems make a complaint and this is why they make people close their accounts over chat/email. They are taking advantage of the diversity in nationalities of players and how they communicate, through only offering account closure in this nonspecific way.

They continued to encourage me to gamble after I pleaded for them to give me a break and close my account and have profited over 100K plus from my play over a short period of time.

It would be helpful if winz could answer the points I have made and provide me with my live chat log. If there is any specific communication evidence needed please let me know because I have 100s of emails and can provide what is needed if specified.

Hi Nick, have you received the emails I sent?

thanks,

Michael.

Thank you bikmike for all the information and yes I've received your e-mails. I will now forward your complaint to my colleague Jozef who will be assisting you from now on.

Wish you best luck resolving it.

Regards,

Nick

Hi bikmike,

I absolutely appreciate that you shared your experiences with the Casino Guru team. We will now try to get in touch with the casino.

Hello,

Since the player complained both to the license provider and to the forum, we are collaborating to investigate the situation with the license provider first, and then we will post the results to the forum and then continue from there. This is essential to avoid any inconsistencies in the data provision. And to reassure you, we are on it and reviewing the case.

Regards,

Winz.io Casino

Dear bikmike,

since you have reached the licensing authority, we cannot interfere. I am forced to close your case as 'waiting for regulator decision'. Please, inform us about their decision.

Best regards, Jozef

jozef.k@casino.guru

Hello Jozef,

I have not reached the licensing authority. I ask that my complaint remains open. Please ask winz.io to provide proof that this has occurred as I am interested to see what this is referring too.

thanks,

Michael.

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.

Dear Winz.io Casino team.

Thank you very much for your cooperation. Since the player is not aware of contacting the licensing authority, please, could you provide us with evidence to sustain your claim? It is not necessary to share any sensitive information, just proof that you are in contact with the regulator regarding this case. It will certainly be marked as sensitive, or you can forward it to my email address, jozef.k@casino.guru.

Hello,

Apologies if the previous communication was confusing. I was previously referring not to the Regulator, but in our case, the license provider is Softswiss as we work as a sub-licensee. We are in active contact with both the person, who complained and the platform/license provider. We are in touch with the person actively and will post the results of this investigation as soon as we complete investigation. Good thing, there is much more material now to submit from both sides.

Also, the fact that the complaining person escalated this to several parties makes it longer to resolve. We would prefer not to do it in parallel as this will make the process more complicated.

Regards,

Winz.io

Dear bikmike,

I can understand that the situation is difficult, but the best solution is to respect the casino's request and wait till their license provider decides. 

I am extending the timer by 14 days, I kindly request both sides to inform us when there is any new information.

Hi Jozef,

I will direct all information and communication for the complaint through this forum. Both the casino and there management company have contacted me asking for different documents. The casino asked me to make a video of my email and the management group asked me to provide screen shots of my sent mail. I was told the investigation would finish on the 12th of August, then the 19th of August following lapsing of the date given. I have provided all that was requested, yet they haven't addressed any of my complaint or evidence I submitted to them and on this forum. Winz also claims to have never received some of my emails. I sent a second copy to them before I opened my complaint on this forum which they again failed to respond to.

Hello,

We are concluding now the case with the platform and license provider, the ball is in their court at the moment. Once they are done, we will continue with the thread in Casino.Guru. Escalation to several instances affects the length of resolution as we are obligated to provide all required data to them, but they are not obligated to do the same to Casino.Guru. In order to avoid any mess in communication, we will do it sequentially rather than in parallel.

The complaint was made to casino guru and the management group. Not several different places. This was only done due to being ignored from the casino after I provided evidence.

Dear Casino.Guru team,

We investigated the case and concluded our opinion. Firstly, our policies require our personnel to immediately shut down player’s account once there is a direct statement about problem gambling. There was no such statement according to our records prior to the 15th of July 2022.

On the 15th of July we got a claim from a person suggesting she is a legal representative of the complaining person (further Bikmike) about dates, claimed amounts, and the actual person the complaint is related to.

Once we inquired a confirmation from Bikmike about the legal complaint and requested clarification with whom we shall communicate, Bikmike immediately stated that the legal representative does not represent Bikmike’s interests anymore and further communication must be concluded with Bikmike. Bikmike’s account was immediately closed.

Later Bikmike escalated the complaint to the license provider and Casino.guru. Based on the evidence the license provider rejected the complaint.

During the investigation Bikmike suggested there was an email sent on the 12th of July 2022, where Bikmike clearly and directly stated about the problem of gambling, however, we did not manage to find that e-mail. On our request to send a screenshot, we received one. We reviewed the evidence and had reasons to believe the evidence was insufficient. Therefore, we requested additional evidence, such as email metadata, and also to forward that email to our mailbox. We also indicated that we might require a video of the process.

Bikmike sent us a screenshot of metadata, which was insufficient, hence we asked to send a text copy, so we could perform an analysis. Also, Bikmike failed to send the email to our inbox, suggesting that his attempt failed for technical reasons.

Concluding, Bikmike has never tried to use any tools available on the website. All discussions were rather of commercial nature focused on additional bonuses. Once we received communication about problem gambling we immediately blocked the account, however, it was on a later date than suggested by Bikmike. The key email with the direct request is missing and Bikmike so far failed to provide sufficient evidence that it was ever sent.

Regards,

Winz.io Casino

There are additional emails and communication evidence that haven't been looked into which I posted onto this forum. The meta data request was made yesterday, it took me 6 hours to figure out how to even find this, and the request for text copied meta data came after this. Considering this complaint has been open for over a month now and then I am given less than 24 hours to work out exactly what I need to supply as further evidence doesn't seem very fair. I also emailed saying I was having difficulty with my outbox mail which I was eventually able to retrieve which took more time. This is being purposely dragged on by winz to over complicate it. I receive conflicting requests from the service provider and the casino about what evidence I need to supply and it has become more and more niche to over complicate things. This isn't complicated, read all of my evidence submitted and understand that my complaint was about not adhering to responsible gambling. Winz also emailed me shortly after i sent the meta data saying the service provider had rejected my complaint, yet I haven't heard anything from them.

If it helps for Casino.guru to make an accurate judgment, we are happy to provide 100% of communication in our possession, should Bikmike authorize that.

Dear bikmike,

please, could you confirm/authorize that the casino team can share the whole communication with casino.guru team?

Hi Jozef,

Yes they may do this.

Thanks,

Mike.

I still have a significant amount of communication evidence which I can submit. Winz casino will undoubtedly provide you with the communication evidence which favours themselves the greatest. For completeness I will add to whatever casino guru requires to allow for a fair decision.

Hi Bikmike,

Could you please drop an email to our box ( vip@winz.io ) suggesting that you authorize the action? Josef, what would be the most convenient way for you to audit the data?

Regards,

Winz.io

Hi bikmike,

please, could you forward all the evidence to my email, jozef.k@casino@guru and also put the casino team into cc?

Hi Jozef,

I have sent the evidence. I can provide additional evidence as needed.

Thanks.

Hello bikmike,

thank you for sharing the evidence. I have forwarded it to the casino email.

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’.

Hello,

We replied directly to Josef last week, as requested, and waiting for updates.

Regards,

Winz.io

Dear bikmike,

I tried to reach you through email, but I guess you missed it. Please, could you forward to me and to the casino team email address, the emails that are visible in the screenshots provided in this thread? I will attach it below. Please, be aware that if you fail to do so, I will be forced to reject this case.

Hi Jozef,

Apologies for the delay, I have forwarded a number of emails. I hope this is all that is required? as it's hard to keep track?

Regards,

Mike.

Hi bikmike,

I am sorry, but you have sent only screenshots and your latest communication with the casino team. I believe the casino team instruction is clear, so I will mention it below.

Currently, the evidence in question - screenshot, highlights there possibly was an email where you bluntly stated about your disease. Neither of us has ever seen this email. Both sides have doubts, so we need to verify it is real. I am a bit extending what was previously requested:

1. Since you have that mail the sent box, could you please forward it to vip@winz.io

2. Could you please thoroughly record the process with your smartphone:

- How you find that mail in your mailbox

- Open it

- Forward it to vip@winz.io

Please, add me to cc. Be aware that if you fail to do so in the next 7 days, I will be forced to reject your case.

I don't understand what is being instructed. Are you asking me to forward the email I received above, from winz casino, asking me to forward the email and record it on my phone? or are you asking me to record the video and send it to the vip winz email address ?

As I mentioned to winz.io earlier, I would prefer not to send recorded video of my email inbox/sent mail as this is a privacy risk.

I already forwarded the email chain informing winz.io that I had found correspondence, as requested. Which specific documents have been sent as screen shots and require forwarding?

"documents have been sent as screen shots"

This is an issue, you have forwarded the evidence of sent emails as screenshots. Please, could you go into the Sent folder in your mailbox, open each of the emails the casino request, and forward it to the casino email (mine into cc)? Each mailbox has the forward option, so you can directly click on the Forward button and send it as an email (not as screenshot).

Dear bikmike,

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.

Unfortunately, we’re forced to reject this case because the player has failed to reply or provide the requested evidence. Therefore, we’re not able to proceed with the further investigation or suggest possible solutions.

The player can reopen this complaint anytime.