Are we getting the full picture here?
I have never had an offer from Golden Palace but most casinos do have something way down in the terms and conditions saying that it is to the receipient only.
It's a horrible thing to happen but it's also possible GP were legally correct on this one. Does seem harsh but without seeing all the terms it's hard to know sometimes.
So long as the player was open, such as asking if they were eligible first, then GP are NOT legally in the right.
If a player is not eligible, CS should tell them this when they ask, NOT credit the bonus and leave it for any winnings to be confiscated later. This ALSO fits very well the description of "unethical marketing practices".
Players OFTEN do NOT receive the emails they are supposed to, so casinos must often get queries from players who think they have missed getting an email they should have got, and this is what CS are for.
CS work for the casino, and if CS agree to give a player the promotion, they bind the casino to honour it within the standard rules they have for the promotion. It is too easy for casinos to get away with "ducking & diving" over promotions anyway, so if they skimped on training their CS to save money, that's just tough, they shouldn't expect to be allowed to get away with punishing players because they acted on something CS said was OK.
Casinos also know DAMN WELL that affiliates will pull out all the stops to lure customers, and this often included listing each and every promotion they can find for the casinos they are an affiliate for, and putting them on their site. GP affiliates even SPAM these promotional codes to anyone at random to get as many players in as possible.
WELL RUN and REPUTABLE casinos have systems in place to prevent promotions from being credited to those not eligible to start with, so this kind of problem does not arise, although they get complaints from players who do NOT get their bonus when they use codes "from a friend" (or a spammy affiliate).
