PLAYUK (GRACEMEDIA) withdrawal being stalled via ‘gameplay review’

[hks91]

Hi

Newbie here so forgive me if I have posted in the wrong place.

I played on playuk website with a deposit of £100 on Friday evening last week. I got to £5900 and stopped at £5500 and requested a withdrawal.

Was told via live chat it would take 24-48 hours to process £5500 withdrawal. That timeframe passed and on Monday I was told the payments team now need to conduct a gameplay review with a third party due to high value of withdrawal/win.

I played a virtual roulette game designed by I believe Markor. When I asked for a new timeframe they said they couldn’t give me one. When I pushed they said Upto 30 days.

Stalling tactic? I believe so. Anyone else had issues with any of gracemedia’s 120+ websites?

They assured me via live chat and email multiple times that there is no issue and my withdrawal will most definitely be processed it’s just a matter of time etc etc.

I’ve seen reviews on trustpilot and CM of multiple players having withdrawal issues with gracemedia white label casino sites since they purchased Nektan. Also worth noting I looked into their license with GC. Turns out they surrendered their license soon after taking over Nektan and got new license…

I cannot comprehend how they believe someone can mess with a virtual roulette game or how they can use this as an excuse to stall my withdrawal!

Warning to others - do your research before playing on a site especially any related to gracemedia!

Any help / suggestions / similar issues would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance guys

 

[Webzcas]

PlayUK is a white label of GraceMedia operating under their UKGC licence, being a white label. Their UKGC licence is currently active:

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If you continue to get the run around, perhaps contact @maxd and submit a complaint here

 

[maxd]

Yes, @hks91 and I have been discussing the case in PMs. The option to PAB is certainly there but given the circumstances I wouldn't have high hopes that it would produce meaningful results. There's always a chance and of course we'd do our best but the designated ADR has already been consulted and said "the casino has 8 weeks". Given that I wouldn't expect the casino to be in any rush to deal with a PAB in a timely manner.

- Max

 

[kou187]

Due to the high value of withdrawal to win ?. If the games were so random, Why is it such a shock to the casino the player randomly got lucky. ?

 

[hks91]

Hey guys thanks so much for your support I cannot thank you enough

@maxd ECOGRA haven’t actually responded to my initial request via their website yet. I don’t know if it was a miscommunication in our PM.

What I meant was if Ecogra do come back to me and say 8 weeks etc.. sorry for confusion

So today I received a response from their compliance team stating :

Good afternoon Hamzah,

Please use 1***** as a reference for your deadlock letter.

I apologise for the delay in your withdrawal, as we advised you yesterday this is to complete gameplay checks. This is covered in our terms and conditions:

You do not have permission to view link Log in or register now.

9. YOUR FUNDS – DEPOSITS AND WITHDRAWALS

“Payment of any prize may be subject to the successful completion of our verification processes (including, but not limited to, checking your identity, checking gameplay for errors and checking for any breaches of these Terms). Any progressive jackpot winnings should be validated within 30 days. Grace Media reserves the right to process payment of Jackpot amounts over £10,000 by Bank Transfer.”


Please be aware that we cannot enter into any further correspondence until the ADR process has concluded.

Regards

****

Compliance Department.

Firstly I played roulette virtual so not a progressive jackpot, secondly yes I joined as a new customer and won fairly big but how on earth can someone have cheated on a virtual game or anything if the sort for them to want to complete a potential 30 day game check. I get they have to do it / they can do it but what a wind up.

The fella I spoke to at the GC was very helpful albeit clearly siding with the casino until the matter is concluded (they clearly care but their job is also clearly to work in favour of the license holders!) and he stated the GC would be very interested (his own words) to hear my complaint and look into their handling of my complaint and also of why a game check would take up to 30 days or anywhere near. He stated a reasonable time would be 1 week.

I’d like to go ahead with a PAB (sorry @maxd lol) I was reading the do’s and don’ts hence why I haven’t yet submitted a request for one as I wouldn’t want to waste your time etc.

I just feel like they are giving me the run around in the hope that I will do one and they won’t have to pay me or just so they can take their sweet ar*se time in paying me out.

Either way it’s wrong, either way they're clearly not a professional outfit. I’ve had so many live chats where they’ve been so terrible that I’ve questioned whether they’re a legitimate site or not. There have been a few people that have been super helpful and top notch but the majority are p*ss poor to say the least.

I left them a trustpilot review. They responded this morning to it with the usual crap. What’s funny is they sent me an email a few days ago after a positive live chat with one of the more helpful agents requesting feedback and when I clicked to leave (of course a negative review) they redirected me to the trust pilot page for LOW AND BEHOLD - Gracemedia and not playuk where I was actually playing

When I mentioned in the review that they had done this and that they hadn’t claimed ownership over the playuk trustpilot review page they tried to downplay this in their response by claiming :

We are sorry you feel you have received a bad experience. As you are aware you were contacted yesterday to advise as to the reasoning for any delays in your withdrawal. Having registered and an immediate large win, it is normal practice for any service to then conduct a gameplay review as shown in our T & Cs. All this has happened within a 2 day period and during the weekend to which we are reliant on the providers timelines and do apologise for this element. As you state it is and always will be a major part to protect our players.
With regard to claiming other gaming sites, these are owned by the providers and do not necessarily relate to Grace Media in their own feedback due to providing their services elsewhere. You will see clearly that over recent years our services have been prompt and we always endeavor to support our players.
As advised in our recent communication we will be in touch as soon as we receive the third party checks on the game played and assure you of our best interests at all times.

To which I responded by mentioning that their license is attached to over 120+ domains including PlayUk so I don’t know why they’re making out like they aren’t responsible for these domains. I mean get it’s a loophole/ploy whereby they can avoid responsibility / direct ownership but what a farce!!!

 

[hks91]

@Webzcas thanks for your reply mate - can you believe this is probably the first forum I’ve ever joined and I love it already!!

You guys are all amazing! I mean it.

@kou187 thank you!! Exactly!!!! I mean don’t get me wrong I was equally surprised at it, but it is run off a verified ‘Random Number Generator’ right ?! Trust me when I say I wish I’d kept going and took em for more but circumstances are such that I thought I’d play it safe and take it while I had the chance. Otherwise trust me I’d have kept going (all or nothing kinda guy).

It’s just a joke that they’re doing this I saw it coming from the moment they told me 24-48 hours for the withdrawal to be processed.

The fact is they have been doing this to a lot of other players from the time they took over Nektan until now, using their various domains/ white labels. It makes me wonder if this is indeed why they surrendered their previous license and got a new one so soon after purchasing Nektan…..

 

[hks91]

By the way @maxd i requested a deadlock in the hope they would get my withdrawal processed but I guess they’re looking to prolong and delay as long as they can to hold onto the funds

I responded to that last email saying I would rather resolve amicably if they can just be straight forward and reasonable with their time frame and responses but so far nothing back probably be tomorrow if anything

If they wanna play long ball then f it - it is what it is but again who wants to go through that headache and waiting. Just disgusting man. If we can get cracking with a PAB and if you’re up for it I’d appreciate it @maxd

 

[jasonuk]

I would be wary of trying to jumpstart the process - and I fear you may have made things worse by requesting a deadlock letter.

If the casino provides a "final decision", or you request a "deadlock letter", it means one party has concluded their involvement in the internal process, and any future communication will be through ADR - and that can be a very slow process (weeks, sometimes months).

As you've discovered, the UKGC will not intervene directly - they delegate that to the ADR framework - but their observation that one week is a reasonable time frame is sensible.

If the casino are willing to entertain your request, I would give them a week to complete the investigation, then see if you can start internal escalation. However, as you've requested the deadlock letter (and they have provided a deadlock reference), they may stop talking to you entirely - this doesn't prevent them from paying out once their process is completed, but they dictate the pace now... and it's not going to be fast.

As far as the ADR goes -

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. Any of those will make the request eligible for ADR, and the casino will usually not enter into correspondence with you after that point.

 

[hks91]

Hi Jason

@jasonuk thank you so much for your input and advice. I greatly appreciate it. I wish I had not got worked up as I did, when I woke up yesterday and saw their response to my review on trustpilot it did set me off on one.

I hope they agree to resolve amicably as I am willing to withdraw the ADR request as of course as you said it will obviously be quicker.

The harsh reality is I shouldn’t have gone off on one and should have given them some time. The reviews online and their handling of everything just didn’t help. It cast doubt in my mind from the get go and to be fair I was right but again I should have bared with at least a few days to a week.

Will update if anything changes. I just hope I get the withdrawal sooner rather than later. Like you said I don’t think they can screw me out of it but now they could take months potentially if they wanted to.

Thank you again and to everyone also.

Big respect for you all and for CM and what you do. Seriously.

 

[hks91]

@maxd @jasonuk Morning guys

Hope you’re all well

Just a quick follow up from myself and final one for now.

The fact they know that the GC believe a week to be reasonable, that they would be interested to look into a complaint regarding the matter if it indeed took a unreasonable amount of time, surely ADR or no ADR they would pay out before this time to avoid issues with the GC (Fines / license review?)?

My question really I guess is, do they know that even then the GC would let it slide so they don’t care and continue on to do as they please ie take 30 days or more? Kinda how it’s felt from the outset.

Like I said fella at GC was great he cared and listened and advised but in the end each time I could sense his job was to side with the casino lol as crazy as that sounds it’s true. It’s like he had an answer for everything anytime something was said about the casino. I get they give them licenses so expect and trust them to maintain a certain standard, but these casinos don’t seem to do that and it’s obvious at times, I mean they don’t get fined for no reason! But yeah my point is he had an answer for everything and literally it was as though the casino can never be wrong and if they are ‘we would like to receive your complaint so we can look into their processes and why it took so long when it shouldn’t have’ but that feels like b*llox.

I just wanna know would the GC take it seriously as he made out if it did end up taking weeks / months or is that just them trying to make it look like they actually do ensure their licensees uphold their standards.

Reason being if they do take the p*ss I’d definitely complain to the GC afterwards regardless. And I’ve got a feeling in my stomach that they will. I don’t think they have a moral compass and if they do it definitely hasn’t worked in a long time if ever. So not expecting my money anytime soon.

Sorry for the rant!

 

[jasonuk]

The UKGC won't touch it - they will consider information from their own investigations and/or ADR feedback, but they make it

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that "we do not resolve or make decisions on complaints regarding gambling-related transactions."

So while they will listen on points of procedure, they won't intervene in the actual customer issue and defer it back to internal complaint or ADR.

 

[hks91]

Yes sorry that’s what I meant to ask.

Not had my tea yet.

Let’s say for instance it all plays out via an ADR / the casino take weeks / months to resolve and pay out, I then complain to the GC after all is done and dusted regarding the fact it took so long for a game check which was unreasonable, would the GC actually take action against the casino for the way they handled it all?

I understand they won’t help get me paid quicker etc and that’s not their role. I’m more interested in knowing whether they would fine or punish the casino in the long term if they did indeed take the p*ss. I guess part of me wants to know the answer to this in the hope that if they do take these things as seriously as they’ve made out, the casino will hopefully come to their senses and process my withdrawal in a timely manner rather than prolong it knowing I would complain to the GC afterwards about their timing and processes.

Hope I made sense. Sorry for confusion

 

[hks91]

Hey everyone

So admittedly I got a bit excited by leaving reviews / contacting Ecogra etc out of frustration and doubts.

Ecogra replied today asking to send chats etc I replied and cc’d playuk into the email and responded by saying I’d like to withdraw the ADR request and give the operator a chance to amicably resolve the situation by processing my withdrawal in a reasonable timeframe.

That was a few hours ago. Just received an email saying my withdrawal has been processed and is on its way to my card!!

Thank you guys for all your help and input and for being so respectful even when I’ve gone on and on and maybe been abit confusing at times. You’re all very much appreciated and if there is a way I can donate or put some money toward casinomeister (will be checking after this email) I will be doing so as a thank you!

Hope you guys have a great week and thanks again I can’t thank you all enough. Top blokes.

 

[nfehily]

Hey everyone

So admittedly I got a bit excited by leaving reviews / contacting Ecogra etc out of frustration and doubts.

Ecogra replied today asking to send chats etc I replied and cc’d playuk into the email and responded by saying I’d like to withdraw the ADR request and give the operator a chance to amicably resolve the situation by processing my withdrawal in a reasonable timeframe.

That was a few hours ago. Just received an email saying my withdrawal has been processed and is on its way to my card!!

Thank you guys for all your help and input and for being so respectful even when I’ve gone on and on and maybe been abit confusing at times. You’re all very much appreciated and if there is a way I can donate or put some money toward casinomeister (will be checking after this email) I will be doing so as a thank you!

Hope you guys have a great week and thanks again I can’t thank you all enough. Top blokes.

Get in there!

 

[jasonuk]

Fantastic news! In hindsight, 3 working days (since it'll be Monday to Friday) isn't too bad for such a check - although predictably everyone gets the jitters when they see a big pending withdrawal that they haven't got in their bank account already!

While Casinomeister doesn't take donations, they do have a "donation" page with a list of charities you can support - Donate Now at Casinomeister

 

[hks91]

@jasonuk thank you fella!

To be fair it isn’t! You’re bang on about the jitters… money came in overnight just put in £1850 altogether and cashed out £7000. Went to £7900 at its peak.

I might have to start recommending them now! ?

 

[hks91]

@jasonuk Before anyone slates me… the last email I got from them was actually really well written and not generic. Which was a first. However took too long to get to that stage ie involving Ecogra etc.

Maybe it’s Fridays they seem to pay out.. I don’t know lol but I know they definitely won’t be smiling when they see my latest withdrawal ??

The thing is the withdrawal processed Wednesday 3:30PM and by the same evening they were sending me a promotional email to come back and lose it all.


Should have taken the £7900 but hey over 5k profit from them I’m over the moon. Thanks again guys for all your input and help! Much appreciated hope you all have a great weekend!