I have been reading this thread with interest, and felt obliged to register to query certain aspects of the regulations.
I understand the need for the gambling commission to be a little vague with the guidelines. It is case by case. They can't say "Any total deposits exceeding £4k must be subject to enhanced due diligence" Otherwise criminals, and even genuine players would go up to the limit and then stop or play elsewhere.
What I don't understand and don't think is fair is the whole thing seems to be a win-win for the casino:
1) Player is allowed to deposit say £3k, loses, maybe or maybe not receives an email asking for source of funds. Either way, the money has been lost and the casino probably doesn't really care where the money came from, and there is no chance they would ever refund the deposits.
2) Player is allowed to deposit say £3k, builds a balance of £10k, withdraws. Suddenly the money is held hostage due to these enhanced checks, despite the deposit being the same, and, more importantly, the deposit and gameplay having been
already accepted.
To me there is a fair and simple solution - regulate at the point of deposit. If L+L think OP deposited too much then either:
1) The deposit(s) themselves should have been blocked
2) If 1) Is not possible due to what I have previously stated about avoiding specific AML deposit limits, gameplay should be immediately blocked until the player has proved the source of the money. If the player either fails this process or chooses not to do it, the casino can simply refund the deposit and everyone walks away happy-ish.
Any casino who accepts deposits and gameplay and only creates hurdles after a win in fact seems to me to be in breach of the Gambling Commission rules stated here:
"
A request made by a customer to withdraw funds from their account must not result in a requirement for additional information to be supplied as a condition of withdrawal if the licensee could have reasonably requested that information earlier. "
I am curious what the protocol here is - if OP decides enough is enough and doesn't send any more documents, and L+L do not accept the existing documents, do they keep all funds, refund the deposits, or refund the whole balance (and close the account whichever scenario I assume)? Is there any precedent on this?
There is a similar comment in the self-exclusion guidelines here:
Once you have made a self-exclusion agreement, the gambling company must close your account and return any money in your account to you. It must also remove your name and details from any marketing databases it uses.
I wonder if OP can simply request a self exclusion in this case?
I would be interested to hear Jan's or any other rep's thoughts on some of these points. I have tried to raise what I feel are fair points and am not looking to bash on any casinos or reps.