So this morning (after a long night of playing, and losing no doubt
) I logged into my account to see a red banner, stating that - money laundering regulations etc etc - I needed to provide proof of where my income comes from etc.
I have complete faith in SlotsMillion - have played there for many months without any issues (and when there are problems they're dealt with incredibly quickly and professionaly) - but after today I seriously contemplate whether I'll be playing there again.
So, saw the SOW request - went straight onto Live Chat and explained, I work for myself - I'm self-employed, but haven't been for all that long, so I don't have years of tax returns, etc to show them. (I am also a sole trader so no chance of showing dividend payments, as I don't operate under a Limited Company.)
I explained that my income is generally paid into my bank account, and my PayPal. I'm essentially a freelancer - so the date of payments, or amount, is virtually impossible to predict. Once week I may recieve payment from one client, the next, it could be 4 or 5.
Explained all of this, and they were OK with it, said to send over a Bank Statement, and screengrabs of my PayPal stats (payments in, out etc.)
I was then informed the Bank statement wasn't accepted, because "it doesn't justify the money I spend". Not entirely sure what they mean here, but fair enough. Went back to chat, told them this was exactly WHY I got in touch before submitting anything, because I needed to explain that I'm not just getting a payslip each month.
So I then provided them 3 months worth of PayPal transactions (and this is already way more information than I feel comfortable to give out)
Well, one person from the finance department said PayPal docs are fine - another said they don't accept them, because "we don't accept it as a payment method at our site."
And long story short, I've spent just over 6 hours on live chat waiting for replies, getting contradictory guidance - and an hour or so ago it turns out the PayPal statement WAS accepted (but only as a method of showing my SOW.)
It was, again rejected, because:
"I just received an reply from the finance department ans ad we know you have withdrawals at Paypal account, we don't know where the withdrawals go and this information is required.
We also need to know what is the income for you (for example monthly), just to know if it matches with the account.
If you show your income of for example March and April and it matches, please provide us all details possible."
So, what the hell do they want from me? I've already shown them every single client who's paid me. Which is, already IMO far above what I should be obligated to share. Now, they presumably want to match every payment I recieved on PayPal, with every withdrawal I made from PayPal, to my bank account - and HOPE that my deposits at the casino match up?
I completely understand they are being cautious. I get that. But I wasn't even alerted of the SOW thing, it was by chance when I logged in - and they even asked me to show them contracts and conversations I've signed/had with clients, showing I have a regular income!
Is this me being OTT or is this frankly ridiclous, as I believe it is.
I have nothing but respect for the whole SlotsMillion team, and think they are such a stand-up casino, I play nowhere else - but this has made me lose so much faith in them, along with 6, almost 6 1/2 hours of non-stop chat, email, etc - to no resolve!