Ladbrokes Coral SE Fail

[kierangrayson]

Since you're a few months off from this scenario, I can mention it as a hypothetical (and standard disclaimers, I am not a lawyer etc) - the key with any civil claim is that your liabilities are capped (e.g. to the original small claims filing fees). We've heard horror stories in the past of people taking larger cases to court (since small claims only covers £10k), losing and being liable for significant costs. So instead of getting their money back, they've lost twice as much - or more.

If they think they can use a case to set a dangerous precedent in their favour - they absolutely will give it a go. A significant part of a malicious complaints procedure is getting people to abandon their complaints - and the thought of a substantial cost for litigating the case would certainly do that.


As Jan mentioned, although it will vary by country - and the Kansspelautoriteit are one of the oddball cases when it comes to these processes. After a bit of digging I'm struggling to find any reference to an ADR, similarly regulated casinos mention their internal complaints procedure (the one I looked at mentioned up to 8 weeks) and that's it.

The UKGC and KSA both will accept complaints about operators in a regulatory aspect. The problem tends to be they need a bulk of such complaints to be in a position to take any action - and may still decline to score an open goal when they can.

So their “player protection team” (oh the irony) have replied after their “investigation” with a few line email which says they’ve now SE me with GAMSTOP across all their Entain brands.
For me that’s their final outcome, I responded to that email saying they’d not addressed the SE aspects etc but fell on deaf ears and non response.
That’s their specialist team for situations like this so that’s their complaint outcome in my view.

I’m happy to raise a PAB although it’s not going to get off the ground if this process has to be explored before the next step then I’ll do that.

The claim would be under 10k so be under the small claims court as you say. If the processes are followed including pre action protocols and the claim is brought in good faith, not vexatious and is based on facts and evidence then I didn’t think costs could be recovered in small claims, or judges are very reluctant to issue costs anyway?

Shall I lean on my MP at this point and see if them contacting Ladcrooks adds any weight?

 

[jasonuk]

So their “player protection team” (oh the irony) have replied after their “investigation” with a few line email which says they’ve now SE me with GAMSTOP across all their Entain brands.

What on earth does that waffle mean... they can self-exclude you from their own brands (which they should have done in 2023), or they can advise you to register for GAMSTOP which applies to all UK brands, or they can refer you to something like GAMPROTECT themselves which similarly applies to participating brands (which last I heard was Entain, Flutter, Bet365 and WH).

It's somewhat disturbing that the supposed experts are once again inventing scenarios... and potentially setting you up for another fall when you think you're excluded but you're not.

For me that’s their final outcome, I responded to that email saying they’d not addressed the SE aspects etc but fell on deaf ears and non response.
That’s their specialist team for situations like this so that’s their complaint outcome in my view.

At this point, I would double-check section 30 of the terms and conditions, and work out which "stage" you are at. If you haven't done "stage 3" yet you should do so, if you have then ensure you have a deadlock letter that you can forward to ADR.

Be aware for both the internal stage 3 and for the external ADR (which will be BIAS, sorry, IBAS) there is a gagging clause that you can't discuss the issue on social media and public forums while the investigation is underway. This is fairly standard for any mediation, as a trial by media never goes particularly well...

As for scenarios further down the line, I can't comment I'm afraid - the ones I've intended to take to ADR have either been resolved as I requested a deadlock letter or the amount wasn't worth subsequently taking to small claims.

I’m happy to raise a PAB although it’s not going to get off the ground if this process has to be explored before the next step then I’ll do that.

I probably wouldn't - if there was any meaningful chance of progress then I would highly recommend it, but Entain will decline to discuss it and that'll be the end of it.

 

[kierangrayson]

In a nutshell, when I raised the issue over the new account opening and the SE that was confirmed was in place, they quickly passed my issue to “the player protection team” which were the right team for issues of this nature. Having aired all my SE concerns from last year I got an email from this team stating:

Following the discussion that we’ve had with you, and with player safety at the heart of everything that we do, we’ve decided that it would be in your best interest to close your Entain Group account/s and share your details with operators participating in the GamProtect pilot, who will also close any accounts you have with them.

Your account closure will last a lifetime and you cannot apply to reactivate your account.

It’s important for us to emphasise that we’ve based this decision on the comments you’ve made, and to protect you in respect to your gambling.

PR email thats all, utter BS. They then fobbed me off with it’s passed to complaints team someone will be in touch in 28 days. No name no email no contract from them and the agents can’t see any notes as it’s out their hands ?.. so the complaints team will take 27 days, have to go back to the same department, that fobbed me off originally, to get an answer on what’s gone off and come back to me with his outcome …. Yeah sure!!

Day 27 I’ll get an email saying thanks for your concerns sorry you’ve had to complain we’ve conducted a thorough investigation and we confirm that we’ve closed your account. A very generic non committal response that’s all.

Jason cheers pal appreciate all the confirmation etc. I’ll sit and wait for this pointless process to unfold ?.

I’m 10 days into stage 3 so another 18 days yet. May get my wrist slapped then if this is the case. I’ll wait for this the, they might surprise me ?, does the IBAS ADR process cost them a fee?

 

[maxd]

I’m happy to raise a PAB although it’s not going to get off the ground if this process has to be explored before the next step then I’ll do that.

I probably wouldn't - if there was any meaningful chance of progress then I would highly recommend it, but Entain will decline to discuss it and that'll be the end of it.

Quite so, sorry to say. I won't say "no" to the PAB but the end result is a foregone conclusion and exactly as Jason has said: they'll either decline to discuss or, more likely, ignore it entirely (as they always do). Either way it's DOA I'm afraid.

- Max