Casino Complaint Secret Slots blocked account and forfeited winnings upon withdrawal request

RichyJ75

Has been a very naughty boy ...
PABnonaccred
Joined
Apr 3, 2015
Location
Kent
Hi,

I have recently had an account blocked and winnings forfeited at www.secretslots.com - part of Cassava Enterprises/888 Holdings, and would appreciate some advice please! Summary of incident as follows in order:

1) Opened an account at Wink Bingo (also part of Cassava/888) last year, played it a little and didn't like the feel of bingo or the site, so excluded myself as wasn't my thing and didn't want the account left open.

2) 6 months later receive an e-mail from Wink Bingo advising my self exclusion period had expired and to contact them if I wanted to use the site again, which I did not want to.

3) Opened a casino account at Secret Slots, deposited a few times, made a profit and submitted a withdrawal request (£300). 14 hours later, receive an e-mail saying my account is now blocked and balance withheld due to having a blocked account under Cassava.

4) Send e-mail to them to clarify position, my questions not answered, just a standard reply saying about their responsible gaming policy.

5) Receive a message from manager at Wink Bingo (I had not contacted them) saying that they are going to extend my self exclusion, thus loosely validating their responsible gaming policy.

6) E-mail them more than once asking for their complaints procedure, nothing supplied so far.

7) Receive a further e-mail from manager at Wink Bingo stating 'Having carefully reviewed your account, I am seeing that you have made some very serious comments about your gambling.' - This is absolute rubbish!!! I have only ever said that bingo isn't my thing and that I prefer casino games/slots as my entertainment. Absolutely disgusted that they are labeling me as a problem gambler!! If they have truly reviewed my accounts they would see how limited my deposits have been!

8) Still no reply to my formal complaint, nor details supplied of their ADR dispute resolution third party. Also, having looked at the UK Gambling Commission complaints procedure (they have a licence number), it seems I cannot take this route as Secret Slots do not show an eCogra or equivalent mediation service.

I have sent various other e-mails, but again no response.

Absolutely fuming at this. I deposited funds, played fairly and abided by all T&C's displayed, yet am now being accused of having gambling problems and having £300 taken from me.

Any ideas what my next course of action should be? As they have failed to advise of their dispute resolution and am drawing dead ends elsewhere, I am now looking at pursuing this through court. Seeing as Secret Slots is owned by Cassava Enterprises, subsidiary of 888 Holdings, I presume the claim will be against 888 Holdings - if so, nice to see they are a UK registered company with address details c/o someone in London to serve papers on. Obviously don't want this route, but am no way going to let this be shrugged off as I have done nothing wrong.

Cheers in advance.

Richard
 
Unfortunately the 888 group has a history of this type of behaviour. They are on the CM no-can-do list as they refuse to discuss matters with third parties so you're SOL'd here. They have countless sites and don't make them listed in their T&C's and then use the RG excuse not to pay winners who have closed accounts at one of their sites.

Of course they'll let you open accounts with the same details and LOSE without refunding you - they miraculously forget those terms then...

If you use the search tool here you'll drag stuff up as well as in Google.

Obviously the Wank Bingo e-mail reference was made retrospectively when they realized they had no grounds to not pay you under the SE terms. They are licensed under the flaccid Gibraltar Jurisdiction.

I would like to see Secret Slots sanctioned anyway as they alone spam my mobile almost daily. God knows where they got my number.
 
Unfortunately the 888 group has a history of this type of behaviour. They are on the CM no-can-do list as they refuse to discuss matters with third parties so you're SOL'd here. They have countless sites and don't make them listed in their T&C's and then use the RG excuse not to pay winners who have closed accounts at one of their sites.

Of course they'll let you open accounts with the same details and LOSE without refunding you - they miraculously forget those terms then...

If you use the search tool here you'll drag stuff up as well as in Google.

Obviously the Wank Bingo e-mail reference was made retrospectively when they realized they had no grounds to not pay you under the SE terms. They are licensed under the flaccid Gibraltar Jurisdiction.

I would like to see Secret Slots sanctioned anyway as they alone spam my mobile almost daily. God knows where they got my number.


Having looked at reporting them to the Gibraltar Jurisdiction, it appears I cannot (unless I am missing something) because as from 1st November 2014 they have a UK Gambling Commission licence number, therefore responsibility has to go through them first. Unfortunately this is held up as they will only look at cases which have gone through mediation first, which I cannot do until they supply me with their formal complaints procedure and details of their independent ADR.

And I appreciate they have back dated an exclusion to get out of paying. It is honestly like having your horse racing winnings confiscated because you didn't have a Lottery account! Why should I open a Bingo account to play casino games on a different site?!?!?!

Not happy ......
 
There are far too many of these so called dodgy sites opening new bingo,casino sites every day and too be honest as a player we have to stick to the trusted sites as we see more and more often story's of punters not being paid and yes i am sure in many instances it is the player's fault but in many it definately is not.
Keep to the trusted sites and there are plenty of them and you will be ok.
Dont just think because you have had a great offer by e-mail or a phone call that these offers are great.
Believe me when i first started on line i was truly a mug and believed everything because i couldn't believe these rouges would be allowed to operate.
 
Having looked at reporting them to the Gibraltar Jurisdiction, it appears I cannot (unless I am missing something) because as from 1st November 2014 they have a UK Gambling Commission licence number, therefore responsibility has to go through them first. Unfortunately this is held up as they will only look at cases which have gone through mediation first, which I cannot do until they supply me with their formal complaints procedure and details of their independent ADR.

And I appreciate they have back dated an exclusion to get out of paying. It is honestly like having your horse racing winnings confiscated because you didn't have a Lottery account! Why should I open a Bingo account to play casino games on a different site?!?!?!

Not happy ......

They are REQUIRED to offer a mediation service under the UK rules, so you can complain to the UKGC on the basis that they have refused to supply you with details of a mediation service.


At first sight, it looks like they have misused self exclusion in order to create an excuse for not paying this win. If this is based on your own comments earlier, then they are admitting that they FAILED in the first place by allowing your self exclusion to lapse after 6 months, and then sending you an inducement to play again at the bingo site.

888 are well known around here for pulling this crap on players, and I find it pretty damning that they have managed to get a licence from the UKGC despite this, and that the UKGC feel that they are doing nothing wrong in continuing to behave in this manner.

Don't bother with Gibraltar anyway, 888 are so big that the effectively "own" the government there, and most complaints about them brought before the Gibraltar regulator tend to be rubber stamped in favour of 888.

You may therefore have to bluff by sending them a court summons, detailing that you will be showing evidence designed to demonstrate that they have manipulated their exclusion policy after the fact in order to create an excuse to void the win you had AFTER your original self exclusion had lapsed, and that they have failed to provide you with details of an independent dispute resolution procedure, which is in violation of their UK licence in any case. Hopefully, they will fold at this point, it's only £300, and they may be worried about what the UKGC might think of them not having a proper dispute resolution process that is available on request to their players.

Whilst the UKGC do not help players get their money, they DO police the system, and they DO accept complaints about operators violating the terms of their UK licence, and even ask for players to "grass up" casinos that are accepting UK players without having a UK licence.
 
I won

Same happened to me!

I eventually got the money 381 GBP.

They stall a lot! Contact gambling commision now..

Hi,

I have recently had an account blocked and winnings forfeited at www.secretslots.com - part of Cassava Enterprises/888 Holdings, and would appreciate some advice please! Summary of incident as follows in order:

1) Opened an account at Wink Bingo (also part of Cassava/888) last year, played it a little and didn't like the feel of bingo or the site, so excluded myself as wasn't my thing and didn't want the account left open.

2) 6 months later receive an e-mail from Wink Bingo advising my self exclusion period had expired and to contact them if I wanted to use the site again, which I did not want to.

3) Opened a casino account at Secret Slots, deposited a few times, made a profit and submitted a withdrawal request (£300). 14 hours later, receive an e-mail saying my account is now blocked and balance withheld due to having a blocked account under Cassava.

4) Send e-mail to them to clarify position, my questions not answered, just a standard reply saying about their responsible gaming policy.

5) Receive a message from manager at Wink Bingo (I had not contacted them) saying that they are going to extend my self exclusion, thus loosely validating their responsible gaming policy.

6) E-mail them more than once asking for their complaints procedure, nothing supplied so far.

7) Receive a further e-mail from manager at Wink Bingo stating 'Having carefully reviewed your account, I am seeing that you have made some very serious comments about your gambling.' - This is absolute rubbish!!! I have only ever said that bingo isn't my thing and that I prefer casino games/slots as my entertainment. Absolutely disgusted that they are labeling me as a problem gambler!! If they have truly reviewed my accounts they would see how limited my deposits have been!

8) Still no reply to my formal complaint, nor details supplied of their ADR dispute resolution third party. Also, having looked at the UK Gambling Commission complaints procedure (they have a licence number), it seems I cannot take this route as Secret Slots do not show an eCogra or equivalent mediation service.

I have sent various other e-mails, but again no response.

Absolutely fuming at this. I deposited funds, played fairly and abided by all T&C's displayed, yet am now being accused of having gambling problems and having £300 taken from me.

Any ideas what my next course of action should be? As they have failed to advise of their dispute resolution and am drawing dead ends elsewhere, I am now looking at pursuing this through court. Seeing as Secret Slots is owned by Cassava Enterprises, subsidiary of 888 Holdings, I presume the claim will be against 888 Holdings - if so, nice to see they are a UK registered company with address details c/o someone in London to serve papers on. Obviously don't want this route, but am no way going to let this be shrugged off as I have done nothing wrong.

Cheers in advance.

Richard
 
I finally have a reply!!! Good news, but don't agree with them directing me to the Gambling Commission to make a formal complaint without going through mediation or their internal procedure first, but hey ho, as long as they honour their word and pay up!

Copy of response as follows:


Dear Richard,

My name is Jamaal; I am contacting you on behalf of the Management of the Support Department.

Richard, I have thoroughly reviewed your issue and I must say all your points are valid. I will now be able to explain what exactly happened and why we are in the situation as it is right now. Please view this response as a response on behalf of all gaming sites related to Cassava Enterprises, as I am sure you are fully aware of the relation.

As far as your Secret slots account is concerned the decision was made to keep the account blocked because it appeared at the time that it was related to another gaming account that was blocked for serious gambling problems. I hope that you can understand that we are a responsible gambling site and we are very cautious about re-opening any account for a player that appears to have serious gambling problems, and at the time it appeared that you did. However due to your statements I have once again reviewed your issue from top to bottom, and I must sincerely apologize for the mistake on my part. I can now see that you have the same name and other information matching another player with gambling problems. However it is now clear that this person is a completely different person. This is where the problem began.

With that being said, I must also say that you are fully entitled to your £300.06 withdrawal. I will ensure that it is sent out this week, after the Easter bank holidays have passed. Once they have been sent I will send you a confirmation email.

As far as the complaints procedure is concerned, we are governed by the UK Gambling Commission. If you wish to make a complaint you need to access www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk and locate their complaints procedure.

With that being said I apologize for the confusion once again. I have opened and added a £10 bonus to your secret slot account for you to enjoy some games while you wait for your withdraw. I hope this will bring you some good luck.

Thank you for your time and have a good day.
 
I finally have a reply!!! Good news, but don't agree with them directing me to the Gambling Commission to make a formal complaint without going through mediation or their internal procedure first, but hey ho, as long as they honour their word and pay up!

Copy of response as follows:


Dear Richard,

My name is Jamaal; I am contacting you on behalf of the Management of the Support Department.

Richard, I have thoroughly reviewed your issue and I must say all your points are valid. I will now be able to explain what exactly happened and why we are in the situation as it is right now. Please view this response as a response on behalf of all gaming sites related to Cassava Enterprises, as I am sure you are fully aware of the relation.

As far as your Secret slots account is concerned the decision was made to keep the account blocked because it appeared at the time that it was related to another gaming account that was blocked for serious gambling problems. I hope that you can understand that we are a responsible gambling site and we are very cautious about re-opening any account for a player that appears to have serious gambling problems, and at the time it appeared that you did. However due to your statements I have once again reviewed your issue from top to bottom, and I must sincerely apologize for the mistake on my part. I can now see that you have the same name and other information matching another player with gambling problems. However it is now clear that this person is a completely different person. This is where the problem began.

With that being said, I must also say that you are fully entitled to your £300.06 withdrawal. I will ensure that it is sent out this week, after the Easter bank holidays have passed. Once they have been sent I will send you a confirmation email.

As far as the complaints procedure is concerned, we are governed by the UK Gambling Commission. If you wish to make a complaint you need to access www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk and locate their complaints procedure.

With that being said I apologize for the confusion once again. I have opened and added a £10 bonus to your secret slot account for you to enjoy some games while you wait for your withdraw. I hope this will bring you some good luck.

Thank you for your time and have a good day.

It is a requirement that an independent dispute resolution service is made available, and that the name and address of said service is supplied on request to the customer. They must also show this information on the website, and it must be clear and easily found. It beggars belief that they STILL insist that the UKGC run a dispute resolution service.

Before they start quoting terms and conditions, they should read the terms and conditions they agreed to when applying for their UK licence.

Wait till they pay, and if you still feel they tried to "pull one over" on you, use the "intelligence" link on the UKGC site to report that this casino has no ADR, and has refused your direct request to provide the details of one, and has only told you to "complain to the UKGC".

If 888.com are not playing by the UKGC rules, the commission needs to know about it.

It also seems that a tightening of the regulations is imminent, starting in May, and if a new consumer rights bill is passed by parliament this year, a further tightening is due in the Autumn which seems to outlaw some of the questionable practices that are currently being allowed under the UK regime.
 

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