Non-Bonus Complaint Lost money despite of self-exclusion at Betplay.io

[GreenBJ]

My situation is as follows: I have registered with an e-mail address at this above mentioned casino. It is a "NO KYC" casino. When I lost a lot of money, I asked the casino to block me due to gambling problems. so, said, done. Then I registered there with a new e-mail address (I know, very stupid, but thats what gambling addiction is) and gambled away another 900 euros. When I realised that I had made a mistake, I contacted the casino. The casino told me that a refund was not possible. I accepted this and then asked if I could continue playing with my new e-mail address because I wanted to win back my losses. The casino's answer was: yes, you are always welcome and hopefully you will win big. of course, I made further deposits and lost even more and more. now I'm wondering: is this correct from a player protection point of view? Now the casino says so: According to our terms and conditions, you are not allowed to open a second account (meaning I could not win big with my new account). But before that, the casino told me that I am welcome to continue playing with the second account at any time. is that legal? The casino can keep everything that I gambled away before I told them about my gambling addiction plus the 900 Euro. But I think the casino has a duty to refund all other deposits I made afterwards. The casino's behaviour cannot be right.

Unfortunately I cannot locate the appropriate casino rep here, if there is one?

 

[Reelsoffun]

TBH I don't think its only the casino's behaviour that cannot be right.

You clearly need to get help, Call your bank to stop/block any future payments to casinos would be a good start!

As for your money, purposely signing up to a "NO KYC" casinos is a Major RED flag, and I really can't see how they will refund you but I'm sure other members will be here soon to chip in and give you some more advice, that maybe of more use than mine.

Please though, stop gambling and get some professional help.

 

[jasonuk]

Given the reference to "No KYC" casinos, I'm guessing this is going to be a low or zero regulation jurisdiction. And sure enough, the site claims to be "licensed" (in the weakest possible sense, it's a business license not a gaming license) in Costa Rica.

Unfortunately, you've identified one of the primary flaws with crypto gambling - there is minimal player protection. In fact, some sites are actively targeting problem gamblers with offers because they know there is little comeback once those players have lost the money.

From a quick look, it seems like the site in question only accepts crypto deposits and withdrawals - by introducing those middle steps, it introduces enough deniability that nobody along the chain will take responsibility.

What's worse, is this casino seems to be trying to confuse customers by piggy-backing on the name of another casino, Betplay (dot com dot co) is licensed in Columbia - where-as Betplay (dot io) is a Costa Rican shithole casino.

As the previous poster mentions - contact your bank to restrict any future payments to casinos and crypto providers, if possible, and then seek professional help for your addiction.

Regarding the money, I'm struggling to think of any options (no ADR, extremely limited and expensive legal options, no meaningful licensing body, crypto exchange will say it's not their problem) and I fear you will have to take it as an expensive life lesson - @maxd may suggest the PAB service, but given there's one single forum reference to betplay in the past 5 years (and it's the other one) I think that may be a miracle too far for Max and it's more likely to be a no can do.

 

[chiya]

I don't see how PAB would even help here lol. Would the OP have made this thread if he had won with his 2nd account? Of course not.

But he lost. And now he wants the money back. A classic problem gambler's thread. Nothing to see here, move on and let him have his expensive lesson to stop trying to game the system.

Arguing that they wouldn't have paid him anyway because 2nd account is suspicious to me. If he was aware of that then why play anyway? Best case you get your deposits back, worst case you get nothing back.. So it's a lose/lose scenario.

 

[maxd]

Yup, as @jasonuk has said, few options — as in “none” — and the PAB service is almost certainly a dead end in this case. You’re still welcome to try but do keep in mind we’re talking a snowball’s chance of getting any satisfaction out of this.

If you’re interested, go here for submitting a PAB: Online Casino Complaints .

Regards,

Max Drayman
Head of Dispute Arbitration & Player Complaints (PABs)

 

[GreenBJ]

Thank you very much for the helpful answers. @jasonuk: absolutely right. i thought it was a reputable sister company of the .com site. The thing that bothers me the most is that the casino itself does not honour their own terms and conditions. first they write originally:

"As much as we want to reopen it, but we are not able to since this is already permanently deactivated, and we have no means to reactivate it. Hope you understand. Thank you!"

and at the same time:

"You are always welcome and we hope to see you winning big soon! Have a great day." (regarding my second account)

Now that I have complained, they have blocked my account, citing their own terms and conditions:

"§ Multiple accounts per household, IP/Subnet or users deemed to be the same person made in order to trick or game Betplay's system in any way are not allowed and will be discarded without warning. If a user is confirmed having multiple accounts, he/she does not have the right to any refunds of deposits and/or bets."

Unbeliveable, isnt it?

I know that opening a second account was not okay. But I contacted them and informed them about my second account.... They could take all money I gambled again until this time. But after I informed them, they should have blocked my account - according to their own terms.

 

[jasonuk]

I don't see how PAB would even help here lol. Would the OP have made this thread if he had won with his 2nd account? Of course not.

I always mention it for the sake of completeness - even if PAB doesn't directly help that player, it feeds into things like rogue casino warnings.

But he lost. And now he wants the money back. A classic problem gambler's thread. Nothing to see here, move on and let him have his expensive lesson to stop trying to game the system.

Arguing that they wouldn't have paid him anyway because 2nd account is suspicious to me. If he was aware of that then why play anyway? Best case you get your deposits back, worst case you get nothing back.. So it's a lose/lose scenario.

For a No KYC casino, I would have thought they'd care less about secondary accounts - but sure enough section 13.2 of their rather barebones T&Cs gives them that out as well. So the customer service agent was lying to the customer to get them to deposit money into a black hole.

Furthermore, section 6 highlights that the customer forfeits their balance if they permanently close their account, including for responsible gambling purposes. So while the player has a gambling problem, it's demonstrable that the operator is corrupt as well (which given it's a Costa Rican faux-license, is not surprising).

I know that opening a second account was not okay. But I contacted them and informed them about my second account.... They could take all money I gambled again until this time. But after I informed them, they should have blocked my account - according to their own terms.

It's a harsh lesson for sure, but as mentioned in the original post they will pray on vulnerable people - the clue here is the Costa Rican license. Curacao is considered the wild west of gambling and has limited oversight (and essentially no player protections), Costa Rica and similar unregulated dumpster fires are for those that think Curacao has too many regulations - which inevitably means a haven for fraudsters.

In a perfect world, the providers would have taken a stand and refused to offer services - but that ship has long sailed and they will provide games to any operator with a pulse and the "correct" piece of paper.