Casino Complaint 888 locked my account and SOME funds

DEV

Dormant account
Joined
Dec 4, 2009
Location
UK
In one sentence, they processed cashout of some funds (200) and confiscated some funds (around 100).

First of all, I apologise for the lengthy post but I tried to provide all the info to help u make up your mind.
I will try to be brief but this may take a few mins to read. thx

About 2 years ago, I played poker at luckyace and pacificpoker, both part of 888 group. I dont remember completing any poker bonuses but i may have.

And I will be honest, I had opened a few play money poker accounts then just cos i wanted a different username. Never deposited in these account (only had one real money account) and so obviously bonus bagging or cheating was not the intention. Support knew about this and even then i was able to withdraw without any issues.
I would also like to add that I have never had a casino account at ANY cassava casino, ever. This was my first casino bonus ever.


AND I have never hidden anything from support. Before opening a casino-on-net (888 casino account) I actually myself sent an email to them stating my details and asking them to check my account and confirm if I am eligible for the casino bonus.


Original Message Follows: ------------------------
could u please check my details and tell me if i m eligible for the 1st
time casino bonus. I have a poker account (but havent played poker for
years) but I am not sure if i have ever played casino. Could u please
check it for me. thx
Name - .......................
address - .............................
email -...............









Dear .................. ,

Thank you for contacting us.

My name is Stela and I am Member Support Representative from 888.

............., I have reviewed your account and you never have been
registered at Casino On Net.
According to this, after registering, when you make your first deposit
at Casino-on-Net you?ll be rewarded with a 100% Deposit Bonus up to 200
USD like so:

- All your bonus will be credited to your account immediately so you can
head straight to the tables and play a few games on us (you won't find
this at many other casinos!)
- The Welcome Bonus can be cashed out only after wagering an amount
totalling your bonus plus your deposit amount multiplied by 20.

More information about this promotion you can find on our webpage:
You do not have permission to view link Log in or register now.
.

Also, I checked your account and actually, you have 2 accounts
registered on Pacific Poker. Due to our policy, you are not allowed to
have more than one account open at any time, so we will close your
account with username: D.....9 In future, please use only J........S and do not
open any further multiple accounts as they will be closed as soon as
they are detected.

............. may I take this chance to wish you the very best of luck. If
there is anything that I can do for you then please contact us anytime
and we will be more than happy to assist you.

Kind regards,
Stela V.
Member Support Representative
support@888.com
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******************************
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Slot a spin now!
********************************************
NOTE: Please do not disclose your password to any
individual/organization claiming to represent or representing "888.com".
If you receive any e-mail or phone call from anyone requesting you to
provide your password, please report it to us immediately. Our Member
Support Department is available 24/7 to assist you via e-mail at
support@888.com

To add to my case, I must tell you that I am an honest player.

They never asked for ID but i uploaded my driving licence anyways to avoid any delays right after my deposit. They only asked fdr additional docs after I complained that they still hadnt verified my account after a few days of licence upload.
I have used multiple payment methods like debit card/neteller (888poker), moneybookers (888casino), etc so they know i m legit.
I have even emailed them offering more documents for further ID check.


While I was playing they kept asking me to deposit again and again and offered me a tenner here and there if I deposit in the next few mins sort of stuff, etc. I kept making multiple deposits. They shouldnt even ask me to deposit again and again if they cant honor cashout requests.
Ok back to the topic. Was a bit angry.
In total I had deposited around 300 to start with. So after completing my bonus requirements, I cashed out 200. My account still had around 100 left, could be 75, I dont remember. In any case, I was looking to play a few games at the casino with this.

Then I got this email,
On Wed, Dec 2, 2009 at 8:07 PM, Cassava - Operations Dept. <operations@cassava.net> wrote:
Dear .....................,

I am Lionel L. from the Operations Department at Cassava Enterprises
(Gibraltar) Ltd, which is part of the 888.com group of companies.

I am writing in response to your email and attached documents.

..........., after careful consideration it has been decided that I am
unable to accept your documents for verification purposes. As such, your
account has been permanently blocked from further use.

Please refrain from opening further accounts with sites owned and/or
operated by Cassava Enterprises (Gibraltar) Ltd. Any new account shall
be immediately blocked and the deposits not refunded.

Regards,

Lionel L.

Operations Department
Cassava (Gibraltar) Ltd.
operations@cassava.net


to which i replied,

what? why is that? No explanation whatsoever? You asked for documents and after I have sent my documents you block my account without giving any reason.

I sent my driving licence, bills, etc. If u need more documents just ask.

Give me a reason for closure of my account or I will be lodging a complaint.

Regards,


their reply was
Dear .................,
This is Selvin P. from the Operations Department at Cassava (Gibraltar) Ltd. Cassava (Gibraltar) Ltd operates "Casino On Net".

I am contacting you with regards to your Casino On Net account under the username "WinBettor".

................., as the matter is deemed final, I am unable to assist you further regarding this matter.

Please refrain from opening further accounts with sites owned and/or operated by Cassava Enterprises (Gibraltar) Ltd. Any new account shall be immediately blocked and the deposits not refunded.

We sincerely apologize for any inconveniences that may have occurred and wish you nothing but the best of luck in your future endeavors.

Thank you for your patience and understanding in this matter.

Kind regards,
Selvin P.
Operations Department
Cassava Enterprises (Gibraltar) Ltd.
operations@cassava.net



I have been waiting for their reply to my last email complaint for 12 days now. Even sent a reminder 4 days ago. Nothing! ECogra 14 days time period us nearly up.



Well in that case I will ask you to refund all the funds I have in my account back to my deposit method. Before opening an account at 888, support confirmed that I am eligible for the sign-up bonus and helped me twice to deposit. Maybe now you should help me the same way with the withdrawal as well.

I have never played on any other casino in the 888 group and hence support confirmed my eligibility for the bonus, etc. I have never taken advantage of any other casino sign-up bonus on 888 group and hence u cant just close my account on bonus abuse terms.

I am forwarding two emails you yourself sent as proof.

Theres also this email (pastd below with reference no.) where I confirmed my real info, name, address, etc. If I was opening multiple accounts for fraud or bonus abusing why would I keep my details same. I told you upfront that I had poker accounts at 888 group. I didnt hide anything. Now I have an account under "J.......S" at pacific poker but none at casino-on-net so I had to open one under "W...........r" username. Like I said already I have never had any accounts here. I have recently got a chance to play casino games and I started with a greater deposit then I have ever deposited on any poker account. I have going to play casino regularly here cos of 888's reputation. But if you dont want my business fine. Just refund the funds I have left or else I will be lodging a complaint and asking eCOGRA and casinomester to represent me. But if you do want my business, unlock me account and let me play with the funds I have left there. I know I have requested a withdrawal but cancel that cos I was going to redeposit over the wekend anyway. So if i have funds there I can play with those. If you want more ID documents, just ask. Please dont be foolish,






SUMMARY
I doubt that the reasoning for my account closure is multiple accounts cos after those multiple play money poker accounts, I had opened real money account and deposited AND WITHDREW without any issues.
Never had any casino accounts not even play/fun, if they allow them that is.
They havent given me any reason for account closure. Is that normal/allowed?
Though I did get an email stating that my driving licence is illegible, I offered to rescan licence, utility bills, bank statements, etc but they still dont want anything and account will remain closed. They keep repeating their decision is final.
I just have one question?
I was just a few secs away from depositing a few hunderd s more cos I though about that VIP promo they have. Thats why i left a few quid in my account whilst I was cashing-out to check things like how long will cashouts take or if they will honor cashouts at all. Would they have still gotten away with this if I had say 1k. And I wont lose my sleep over the 100 but I will rather give it to children in need then these rogue casinos.


EDIT - I forgot to say that eCogra is closed for the festive season but will complain once its open again on Jan 4th.


See Related Threads:
 
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Well they are on the "NO CAN DO LIST". Cassava Enterprises is a rogue operation and NOBODY should deposit there . There are alot of good Casinos out there no its no necessary to play there .

Contact Ecogra as soon as possible but i doubt you get your money . They have stolen alot of winnings and it seems they will not stop.

Regarding your question : If you have depositet 1 K i think they would return your deposit but in case you had won something they had confiscatet your winnings .

What game(s) have you played ? Blackjack ?
 
As heador112 mentioned 888 is on the "No Can Do" List so we wouldn't get involved in this one. That said good luck with eCOGRA when you file with them. :axeman:
 
What game(s) have you played ? Blackjack ?

yes Blackjack

As heador112 mentioned 888 is on the "No Can Do" List so we wouldn't get involved in this one. That said good luck with eCOGRA when you file with them.

I actually avoided (then and since then) playing at any cassava casino other than 888 cos I heard that some cassava skins were protected and that 888 was one of them. But I'll admit that at the time (early November) I just checked the forum only and noticed that most of the complaints and bonus issues against this particular casino were resolved. Checked the "No Can Do" List a while back but I think I may have missed 888 (BTW I may be referring to the wrong list here cos 888 is still not listed there). They are totally rogue now.


Apart from eCOGRA, is there any other organization I can get in touch with? eCOGRA will open on the 4th Jan, 2010, and am hoping to resolve this in the holidays.
 
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yup, u're right.

So Apart from eCOGRA, is there any other organization I can get in touch with? eCOGRA will open on the 4th Jan, 2010, and am hoping to resolve this in the holidays.

Hi Dev

Yes good luck with them at eCOGRA. This as far as I know is your only hope.

888 have always thought they are bigger, better and more important than anybody else, so when the 888 juggernaut hits you, you know its trouble.
A real shame all those years ago they couldnt come on board here at Casinomeister and work things out. Because from what I remember from my early playing days with them, you always got a very fair game of black jack with decent WR.

All this brute force advertising and sponsership they have done will eventually be all for nothing as their player base, once the largest in the world must be dwindling rapidly.

Mike
 
It is very annoying to have to wait until next year, but you may find some resolution from eCogra, another player did here: https://www.casinomeister.com/forums/threads/888-com-have-stolen-at-me-878.33747/

Please update us after your eCogra complaint.

The high-handed way 888 and the Cassava group deals with players is appalling, and I'm glad when players bring their problems here so that people know how they treat their customers.
 
Gibraltar Regulatory Authority

Hi Dev, 888 are governed by the GRA (Gibraltar Regulatory Authority). You can file a dispute with the Gaming Commissioner there. The GRA were instrumental in getting that whole Lucky Ace mess straightened out. They do take complaints seriously, and are one of the better licensing jurisdictions. They are very thorough in their investigation, and I believe the complaint form is quite detailed.

Here is a link to their complaints page, and the downloads for the necessary forms are at the bottom....and along the left side of the page are links outlining the process. Hope that's helpful.

You do not have permission to view link Log in or register now.
 
Hi Dev, 888 are governed by the GRA (Gibraltar Regulatory Authority). You can file a dispute with the Gaming Commissioner there. The GRA were instrumental in getting that whole Lucky Ace mess straightened out. They do take complaints seriously, and are one of the better licensing jurisdictions. They are very thorough in their investigation, and I believe the complaint form is quite detailed.

Here is a link to their complaints page, and the downloads for the necessary forms are at the bottom....and along the left side of the page are links outlining the process. Hope that's helpful.

You do not have permission to view link Log in or register now.

thx for this. very helpful. Their form is unavailable at the moment but will try again later and update.

This document is currently unavailable or undergoing construction. We apologise for any inconveniences this may have caused.
Revisit at a later date to see if any updates have occurred.



Please update us after your eCogra complaint.

The high-handed way 888 and the Cassava group deals with players is appalling, and I'm glad when players bring their problems here so that people know how they treat their customers.

Of course. They give you no reason whatsoever for account closure. You are left wondering what their reasoning was. All they say is our decision is final. The Great Dictator has decided! End of!
 
Hey DEV....I am pretty sure that I have a copy of their form that I could email to you, but let me check to make sure that it's still valid before I do. I can't do that until tomorrow. If you can PM me your email address, I will send you a copy of either the one I have, or the updated one, once I snag a copy of it.

And please make sure you come back and update us once all is completed. Best of luck to you.
 
Hey DEV....I am pretty sure that I have a copy of their form that I could email to you, but let me check to make sure that it's still valid before I do. I can't do that until tomorrow. If you can PM me your email address, I will send you a copy of either the one I have, or the updated one, once I snag a copy of it.

And please make sure you come back and update us once all is completed. Best of luck to you.

appreciate it. pm/email sent.

And I hope to be a contributor here at cm for sometime. Sure, I will update.
 
Both forms have been emailed to you Dev. I explained in the email, but if you have any problems, let me know okay? Far as I've been told, the forms haven't been modified of late, and the Dispute Resolution Form (as well as Procedures) should be the one(s) currently in use.

Hope it turns out in your favour. :thumbsup:
 
Both forms have been emailed to you Dev. I explained in the email, but if you have any problems, let me know okay? Far as I've been told, the forms haven't been modified of late, and the Dispute Resolution Form (as well as Procedures) should be the one(s) currently in use.

Hope it turns out in your favour. :thumbsup:

got em. replied by email.
 
The high-handed way 888 and the Cassava group deals with bonus w*ores is appalling, and I'm glad when players bring their problems here so that people know how they treat their bonus w*ores.

...is what you're trying to say.
 
Hi Dev, 888 are governed by the GRA (Gibraltar Regulatory Authority). You can file a dispute with the Gaming Commissioner there. The GRA were instrumental in getting that whole Lucky Ace mess straightened out. They do take complaints seriously, and are one of the better licensing jurisdictions. They are very thorough in their investigation, and I believe the complaint form is quite detailed.

Here is a link to their complaints page, and the downloads for the necessary forms are at the bottom....and along the left side of the page are links outlining the process. Hope that's helpful.

You do not have permission to view link Log in or register now.

derail

Nice to see you out and about this week. If I don't see ya before Xmas have a wonderful holiday.

/derail
 
I had a similar problem with Littlewoods casino - part of the 888 group - a couple of months ago. They sent me an email inviting me to participate in their happy hours promotional event and when I did, they confiscated my winnings saying I was abusing their bonuses.

I did complain to eCogra and sent them an email advising them of this. Within 24 hours they had returned all my funds "as a gesture of goodwill". So I think just the threat of eCogra will get you your money back.
 
I had a similar problem with Littlewoods casino - part of the 888 group - a couple of months ago. They sent me an email inviting me to participate in their happy hours promotional event and when I did, they confiscated my winnings saying I was abusing their bonuses.

I did complain to eCogra and sent them an email advising them of this. Within 24 hours they had returned all my funds "as a gesture of goodwill". So I think just the threat of eCogra will get you your money back.

I was a VIP player at Littlewoods when it was using Cryptologic software. I deposited THOUSANDS with them, and withdrew similar amounts. I played quite a few table games, including Blackjack and 3 card poker, staking 50, sometimes even 100, per hand. As soon as they moved over to Cassava, they saw no further deposits from me. Instrumental in this was their high handed attitude, and long reputation of manipulating "loopholes" in the laws governing online gambling to screw over players merely because they won.

By "loopholes", I mean things like the DELIBERATE flooding of the market with disguised "white label" skins, and the use of terms that CANNOT be complied with.

Many players are told:-

Please refrain from opening further accounts with sites owned and/or
operated by Cassava Enterprises (Gibraltar) Ltd.

Yet Cassava REFUSE to provide a list of sites that come under this rule, yet their marketing is so aggressive than it is inevitable that players banned under this rule will receive an invitation from a disguised skin, and will be mislead by support into believing they are eligible.

Remember, Cassava once DENIED they had anything to do with Lucky Ace, but were forced to admit they actually OWNED Lucky Ace once the GRA got involved, and the fallout was all over the internet.


It is quite possible that DEV DOES have another Cassava account somewhere, perhaps from long ago, and at a disguised skin. The multiple poker accounts may also have been an issue, even though support said they were not. In short, it seems support were only interested in getting him to keep on depositing and playing, even though he was holding back because there seemed to be a problem getting confirmation that his documents were OK. Support were made aware of this, but were deliberately using "hard sell" tactics, now BANNED here in the UK, by making offers which were "only valid RIGHT NOW". I have had this tactic tried on me by another casino group, even though they too were eCogra sealholders (Grand Prive). Players should NOT turn off their personal "rogue detector" simply because a casino bears the seal of a reputable organisation. Many WILL try things they KNOW are not permitted, knowing that they are unlikely to get caught. When they DO get caught, they usually say it was a "clerical error", to which the obvious reply is WHY did it take a complaint to the likes of eCogra and the GRA to reveal a simple "clerical error". The obvious conclusion to draw is that it was NOT an error, but an exercise in deniability - get away with what you can to make profit, but always ensure there is the "get out" of deniability if caught.
 
Cassava is a rogue opeartion and it seems that players often have locked Accounts if Blackjack relatet bonus abuse is found .

The 888.com group may attract alot of bonus abusers since Blackjack is allowed and the Playthrough is low .

If they have a problem with that they should change the terms but not confiscate Player funds :lolup:
 
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*THE BIG UPDATE*

After warning them about complaining to ecogra and GRA as advised here, I got this email from them.

But before you read this keep in mind that its the same team which had already responded many times before with emails like "All decisions are final and your account will never be unlocked".

I would also like to add that I actually didnt/couldnt complain to ecogra as they were closed over the holidays. I was in the process of contacting GRA but got help up cos of the festive season. So no one actually contacted cassava on my behalf.

Once you have read the email stated below you will understand why I mentiond all this.

Dear ______________,

I am Lionel L. from the Operations Department at Cassava Enterprises
(Gibraltar) Ltd, which is part of the 888.com group of companies.

I am contacting you in regards to your Casino-on-Net account, more
specifically, your sent documents, dated between 12/1/09 and 12/2/09.

_______, upon the initial review of the requested documents for the
purpose of verifying your Identification, a decision was made to not
accept these items due to what was considered as irregularities
associated with them. For the purpose of maintaining the integrity of
our Security checks, I am afraid that I cannot disclose any details as
it relates to the assessment of documents as received. However, based
upon a recent further review of your Casino account and in consideration
of reinstating your membership, I will sincerely like to offer you the
opportunity to finalize the Security check and regain complete access to
your account without restriction.

Please note, that in order to complete the above process, we will
require a supporting Photo ID, which the alternative in this case will
be a Passport, reflecting the Photo page inclusive of Bearer details.
Dilpreet, your Casino account has been reinstated with certain
restrictions still in effect until the requested Passport has been
received and verified. This will allow you to utilize the "Upload your
Documents" feature, thereby allowing for faster processing of the
document, resulting in the restrictions being removed and your account
upgraded.

In addition, upon the process being successfully completed, I will like
to offer you a special 30 GBP as recompense for your inconvenience.

Please notify us via email operations@cassava.net after you have
uploaded the document, you will receive a response updating you
accordingly.

Thank you for your anticipated understanding and allow me to offer my
sincere apology once again for the inconvenience caused.

I await your response.


CONCLUSION


I sent another ID and they verified quickly. But all along I have been asking for a reason for my account closure. I even said that I will be happy to send more docs for verification if they want but the reply to that was "No need. All decisions are final." They had my driving licence, utility bills, passport, you name it. They can push the button whenver they want without any reason or explanation. They are happy to freeze you funds and hope you dont complain too much. I wonder how much they have made from this rogue behavious already. And even if you do complain, be prepared to be bombarded with "all decisions are final" emails, with no explanation still.

The 30 bonus doesnt even come close to compensating for all the stress.

Furthermore, the multiple pay account we had been dreading about was never the issue cos they cleared me at the start (see email in OP).

And as far as bonus abuse is concerned, I can understand casinos bonus banning you after noticing that you only deposit to take advantage of reloads, etc. But sign-up bonus? Why even have a sign-up bonus if you wont allow people to take advantage of it?

Will I recommend them to anyone? Never!

OH and thx to everyone for the advise and hope this update will warn people who are thinking of playing at 888 and other casinos in the group. Better yet, maybe people will stop playing there and wil teach cassava a lesson but I doubt they care about us. They can freeze funds of existing users whenever new sign-ups start dwindling. ;)
 
Forgive me but it's not clear, did they finally resolve your problem or not? Were you able to access the funds remaining in your account?
 
From what I can gather, they just asked him to send his passport as supporting ID, yet he ALREADY sent this, and they failed it, so how come all of a sudden the EXACT SAME document is going to release the account and funds back to him.

Whilst they don't disclose the internal workings of the verification process - no casino does, they initially REFUSED point blank to allow this player to send supporting documentation to allow more checks to be made.

It seems that it was the notification to the casino that he was making formal complaints both to eCogra and the GRA that prompted them to have another look, and find a way forward.

This shows that having the protection of a PROPER regulatory authority is CRUCIAL for player protection, as the casino would NOT want to risk getting a complaint adudicated in favour of the player, and for the adjudicator to find that the casino acted incorrectly, or failed to properly deal with the complaint internally, since it would be on their record with said regulatory authorities.

By being on the "no can do" list, Cassava have stripped players of one level of independent adjudication, leaving them only two more.

For casinos NOT regulated by "proper" authorities concerned with player protection, players have no-one to turn to, and it is becoming clear that casinos ARE wrongly confiscating the funds or winnings of players, and getting away with it because players have nowhere else to turn to.

It is no wonder that this gives thimpression that many casinos are deliberately rogue, and players faced with no recourse, but know they have done nothing wrong, will start to use tactics similar to those used by fraudsters, mainly using "chargebacks", sometimes as a means of revenge by getting back ALL their past deposits, and not just the amount they are due. Others resort to blackmail, using similar tactics as recommended by some consumer self help groups, aimed at airing their grievance so that it gets into the public domain, and causes the company to consider it less damaging to give proper justice to customers, rather than simply ignoring them.
 
thats right. They already had most of my docs and didnt even want any more docs. They said their decision to freeze my funds/account was final. But then after chasing them for a month they actually did make a u-turn. So can u really trust these casinos with your cash. (Not that we do already)

yes my account was unlocked again and i gained access to my funds but thats not the point. The point is they repeatedly told me that they will never unlock my account. Had I given up, they would have had their way, which I am sure they already do in many cases.
 
thats right. They already had most of my docs and didnt even want any more docs. They said their decision to freeze my funds/account was final. But then after chasing them for a month they actually did make a u-turn. So can u really trust these casinos with your cash. (Not that we do already)

yes my account was unlocked again and i gained access to my funds but thats not the point. The point is they repeatedly told me that they will never unlock my account. Had I given up, they would have had their way, which I am sure they already do in many cases.


You can STILL complain to eCogra because of the way they treated you for a whole month, effectively treating you like a criminal UNTIL they feared that you might involve eCogra.

If you let it lie here, eCogra will NEVER KNOW that this ever happened. eCogra may also provide you with an explanation of what went wrong, and why. This will be useful to you so that you do not get wrongly accused of wrongdoing elsewhere.

In essence, they accused you of faking your supporting documentation, but it turned out they were incompetent in performing the proper checks, and failed to properly follow up possible INNOCENT reasons for these "discrepancies" they thought indicated fraud.

No doubt there are other players getting stuffed like this, and those that just walk away are allowing Cassava to profit from rogue business practice. It is a bit like the insurance industry, where they have a department whose job is to search thoroughly for a reason NOT to pay. This is evident from the cases that receive publicity, and are subsequently upheld in the customer's favour by the ombudsman.

Excuses for non-payment are along the lines of "you didn't tell us you saw the doctor for a throat infection when you were 5, so we are not paying out on your critical illness policy". Clearly, they went to great lengths to dig this out, and I bet few people remember all the minor things they went to see their doctor about, especially when they were young. Patients do not even get to ever see the full record that insurance companies see, so are relying mostly on memory when filling in the form.

It seems casinos are doing the same, looking for the most minor problem with documents, and using it as an excuse to stall, or not even pay. Sometimes, it looks like this is an invention to avoid paying a player who has won too much, and probably won't return to play it back.

Documents are always subject to innocent discrepancies because they are issued by different departments and companies, and can use data of varying validity dates. Data can even be plain wrong at places like credit reference agencies, so checks could fail because one of the trusted verification sources has incorrect data. Usually, it is caused by similar names, and/or similar addresses.

My MUM has a constant problem with her post because the daft developers named two different roads so similarly that the post office often transposes the mail, THIS is also the kind of thing that can cause ID and credit reference databases to hold incorrect data, perhaps by combining two similar addresses into one, and dropping the other from the system altogether, so it appears not to officially exist. It can create a problem when checking names and addresses, because the wrong name will come up at the address, and this will instantly look like fraud to a casino.
 

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