From the Desk of Max Drayman
Any new casino that chooses Costa Rica licensing deserves particularly close scrutiny: Costa Rica is one of the weakest licensing jurisdictions on the planet and has been for decades. Anyone who looks at that scenario and says “yup, that’s the place for us” is either choosing it because they plan on taking the responsibilities of running a good and trustworthy shop on their own shoulders at minimum start-up and running costs, or for some less honorable reason that we needn’t dwell on. Let’s assume the former and get on with it. Obviously there’s been little time for them to appear on the Complaints radar: we’ve only seen one case, and there the player wandered off without pursuing the matter. Self-exclusion is the “email, and we’ll respond in 24 hours” variety, which is sub-par for the industry in general, but here it’s something the casino is offering over and above anything their licensing jurisdiction requires, so that’s a good sign. For complaints, players are encouraged to approach Ask Gamblers for arbitration, which is perfectly decent of them, again doing more than their license requires. Overall, the conclusion has to be “proceed cautiously”: due to the weak licensing, you are depending on the operator behaving responsibly, and it’s important to remember that at all times. It would be wise to keep an eye on how things are going for other players; checking the internet from time to time to see if there are any unresolved player issues popping up is strongly advised.
