Do casino charge for inactivity?

[jen]

My wife got this today. She has not played for a while anywhere, probably 5-6 years.

"Dear .............. CU0..............


This is to notify you that our Terms and Conditions related to inactive
accounts have changed. In order to prevent an inactive fee from being
charged to your account, please log in to play or make a transaction
with ECash Direct. If you have forgotten your login credentials, contact
us anytime to reactivate your account.

We are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (including holidays). You can
contact Customer Support at:

North America 1-877-874-0274
International + 800-0-874-0274
(Please add outbound country code prior to dialing)
Freephone (UK) 00800-0874-0274


Kind regards,

ECash Direct"

 

[lots0]

looks like a spam/scam email to me.

Did your wife ever have an account with the casino that sent you the email?

If not I would ignore it.

If she did have an account at one time with this casino, I would email the casino directly (do not use any links that are inside the email - look up the casino site on google or yahoo and go to it that way.) and tell the casino to close your wife's account.

 

[babs7262]

If you even open that casino via that email , your crazy dude!! Sounds like one of those "ebay emails" you will be giving out all of your info, I would steer clear of that one! Infact, go to the website w/o clicking on that email and close the account immediately or you may be in for an identity theft nightmare

 

[1819]

i would ignore that one. if she hasnt played in 5 or 6 years then, if there was any money there, i'm sure you can live without it. forget it.

 

[lots0]

If you did use any of the links in that email...

You should consider your computer compromised (hacked) and seek professional assistance from a virus/malware expert as soon as possible.

 

[jen]

There is no link in the message. We dont remember what casino it is, account number starts with CU. She used to play at Omni.

 

[fcat]

E-Cash direct is the processor for wagerworks casinos. i.e. intercasino, omni, etc.

 

[Chipeez]

I've read about these charges before, it's been a long time since this was brought up.. But if I remeber correctly intercasino (using ecash) did charge if your account was inactive for a long time..

It look legit to me, not really a scam mail if you ask me....

 

[jen]

Can the casino really charge her?

She had ECP (electronic check) linked to her US bank account and a US-issued check card as payment methods. She has now a different family name. The card has expired of cause.

If they still charge can she report this as unauthorized charge? Or probably they can take away only the money which is now on her casino account? We do not remember even if there is any.

Has anyone else received such emails?

 

[Chipeez]

As far as I remember they only charge if you still have funds availible in your account.. If I'm correct it's in their t/c, so they have a reason.. But only if there are funds left, they shouldn't charge for empty inactive accounts..

 

[vinylweatherman]

This is very common. Many casinos take some kind of action for inactive accounts. Usually, 6 months or more of inactivity is required. although some take action sooner.
Charges are only made if there are funds left in an account, and no charges can be deducted from a deposit method.
ECash Direct charge a monthly fee for inactivity of around 2 credits until the account reaches zero, after which point it can be deactivated.
These terms are usually in place to make their accounting easier. When preparing annual accounts, they have to sum any cash remaining in accounts as owed debt (unless it is bonus money, which will be confiscated after a few months, 3 months for ECash Direct casinos), they also have to hold open accounts with funds, which increases data management costs.
Some casinos remove funds and deactivate accounts for long periods of inactivity, but do not charge as such, players have to contact the casino to reactivate the casino account or recover the funds. This saves data management costs, and makes accounting easier. It also helps player security by locking the account (an unlocked account allows access to deposit methods and, in some cases, personal data).

All casinos will have the criteria for inactive accounts, removal of promotional chips, and any charges in the general terms. These terms may change.

It is best to play to zero, or withdraw the balance from any casino you get bored with and are not likely to play for 6 months.
American players have a particular difficulty with those casinos that locked them out with no notice, they have still been charging the inactivity fees where players have simply forgotten about the funds, perhaps hoping this UIGEA is temporary (a year or two). They can neither play to zero, nor withdraw, through normal means.