The player from Denmark requested immediate self-exclusion due to gambling addiction but encountered difficulties in doing so through the casino's website. Despite emailing the casino on August 5 to self-exclude, the player was allowed to deposit and lost $295 after the cool-off period. The player sought a refund for this amount. The Complaints Team intervened, stating that if a player with a gambling addiction requested self-exclusion, their account should have been closed immediately without a cool-off period. The casino agreed to permanently close the player's account and compensated them with $295. The player confirmed receipt of the payment, and the complaint was marked as resolved.
I sent an email on 5. august 2024 to sportbet.one. In the email i told that i wanted self exclusion due to i am a gambling addict, i told i wanted to be self excluded immidiatly and i asked them to respect my decision.
I also tried to self exclude on their website on the same day, but there was no option to permanently self-exclude, only to request for a 24 hour cool off period, which seems crazy when you want to self exclude as a gambling addict permanently! So I sent email, however after the cool off period, i did also try to self exclude on their website, and i opened the cool off email after 24 hours and i choose permanently account closure, but then it told me my self-exclusion request was expired. However i cannot understand how it should ever be necessary when i send them an email information about everything that i wanted self excluded on 5. august.
Due to this i was allowed to deposit and loss another 295$ on 10. august, which should not have been possible, when i 5 days earlier told them by email that i am gambling addict and wanted self exclusion immidiatly.
I have attached screenshot of the email.
My claim is therefore for a refund of the 295 USDT.
Thank you very much for submitting your complaint. I’m sorry to hear about the challenges you’ve faced with the self-exclusion process and the subsequent loss of funds.
To assist you more effectively, could you please provide a bit more information regarding the situation:
Could you confirm the email address from which you sent the self-exclusion request on August 5th, and whether you received any acknowledgment or response from the casino regarding your request?
When you attempted to self-exclude via the website after the 24-hour cool-off period, did you encounter any specific error messages or issues that prevented you from permanently closing your account?
Did the casino provide any explanation or support when your request for permanent account closure was marked as "expired"?
Have you contacted the casino’s support team regarding the deposit made on August 10th? If so, what was their response?
Please forward the screenshots of your email and any other relevant communications to petronela.k@casino.guru.
I hope we will be able to help you to resolve this issue as soon as possible.
I sent the email to support@sportbet.one which is also shown in the attachment in my previous message. The casino responded with this message, which proved they have seen my email.
Due to this I thought I could permanently self exclude on their website, so I tried but just got a 24 hour cool down, which for a gambling addict who is out of controle is simply not okay.
After 24 hours i got this emails, but when trying i to self exclude I got an error message that my self exclusion request was expired.
So I actually did go to their website trying to self exclude again, but was only able to get the 24 our cool off period on 7. August again.
Do I have tried, but falled back into gambling after some days, I think the casino is making it unbelievable hard to self exclude, as a gambling addict you don't want a 24 hour cooling period, because it's the addiction that wants to win back, so in the moment you want to self exclude permanently there is a good reason, why would I else send an email informing about this.
The casino should have self excluded me, when I told them I was a gambling addict and requested self exclusion immediately.
Thank you very much, fjorm, for providing all the necessary information. I will now transfer your complaint to my colleague Michal (michal.v@casino.guru) who will be at your assistance. I wish you the best of luck and hope to see your problem being resolved to your satisfaction in the near future.
my name is Jess, I`m the head of the Client success department.
First, I want to point out that the 24-hour cooling-off period is the first step of the self-exclusion procedure. This is a standard procedure for all players who request self-exclusion. This information is stated in our Privacy Policy, which fjorm should have familiarized himself with:
Second, the player fjorm claims he got an error message that his self-exclusion request had expired. But none of his screenshots show this error.
Our developer department reported after the cooling-off period fjorm clicked the green button, but then he didn`t choose the period he wanted to be excluded.
Meanwhile, Fjorm claimed there wasn`t an option to permanently self-exclude. In the screenshot below you can be sure this option is available in the drop-down.
Then fjorm requested a cooling-off period again. After that period he received a letter with the option to extend the self-exclusion. But the letter was only opened and no other action was attempted.
If fjorm wants to close his account permanently, he only needs to open the letter, click the green button, and finish the self-exclusion procedure.
Here is the error message I got when following the link in my first email, trying to permanently self-exclude.
What I think might have happened is that after approx 24 hours after i requested self exclusion, I did not know how to permanently self exclude, so I went to your website and clicked the button again, because I though that was how to do it.
After this I found out you sent me an email with a link to follow, so maybe your system is built, so after you already have had 24 cool off, and you request another, the first email becomes invalid?
Gambling addiction falls back into gambling, so in the moment of losses I request self exclusion, so in two situations I tried to self exclude, first in my email at 5. August I did very clearly inform you about my addiction and requested self exclusion, and on 7 August I tried permanently self exclude in the link. The days after I didn't think about gambling, and then on 10. August i falled back into gambling, which I think should be honored that I tried to self exclude and informed you about my addiction.
Firstly, let me note that self-exclusion due to a gambling problem is a serious issue that should be treated with utmost importance and care. The players suffering from gambling addictions often lose control of their actions and can not help themselves. Actually admitting to the casino that one has a gambling problem is a big step.
With that being said, if an addicted player reaches out to the casino, and requests self-exclusion due to these reasons, he shouldn't receive a cool-off period, even if it's only 24 hours. His account should be immediately and permanently closed, with no previous cool-off period.
With that being said, we believe the player should have his account permanently closed and he should be refunded in this case.
Our model of self-exclusion was developed one-on-one with Stake Casino, the top 1 leader in the crypto betting industry. I also want to note that Stake Casino has a high rating on your platform, which means Casino Guru considers this casino worthy.
Overall, our goal was to make the self-exclusion process easy and quick for the player, without any intervention from our side. Please agree that starting the self-exclusion process yourself is much faster than writing a letter to support. There is also a chance that such a letter will end up in spam. We took all these points into account and created, in our opinion, a good working automatic model. In this way, I consider our casino to be treated somewhat unfairly and ask you to consider your decision.
Also, please note Sportbet.one is no KYC casino. That`s why we have a lot of abusers (usually bonus abusers or self-exclusion abusers). In two words players create a few accounts - the winning accounts they keep and when losing, they try to find a way to get money back. Here the self exclusion option is the favorite one to get a chance of returning money.
We would like to update you that due to Michal, your designated resolver, being on vacation, we have opted to extend the timeline by an additional 7 days. Since Michal has an in-depth understanding of your situation and maintains direct communication with the casino, we find this extension justified. Your patience is sincerely appreciated, and I assure you that Michal will contact you at the earliest opportunity.
Thank you for your understanding and ongoing patience.
Although I get your point that the automated self-exclusion might be more effective than an email request, the problem here is the cool-off period.
If a player with a gambling addiction made a decision to self-exclude themselves because of their addiction, it is unacceptable to offer them a cool-off period. Their account should be closed immediately and permanently. If the player made the decision to apply self-exclusion, they should not be given a chance to not complete the process by giving them a cool-off period.
In this case, the player even tried to confirm the self-exclusion, but due to how the system's set up, he could not complete the process because the validity of the link has expired.
また、クールオフ期間を設けたのは当社が初めてではないことをお知らせします。Casino Guru がこれを容認できないと考えるのであれば、仮想通貨賭博業界のトップ 1 リーダーである Stake Casino の自己排除プロセスの変更も開始するのが妥当でしょう。
Hello Michal,
We believe it is unfair to put all the responsibility on us. If the player fjorm knew that he was a gambling addict, then why didn't he familiarize himself with our rules before starting the game on our platform? While this is a mandatory condition (see screenshot). First of all, he was careless about his addiction, and therefore it is wrong to put all the blame on us.
Also, we want to kindly remind you that we are not the first to develop a cool-off period. If Casino Guru considers this unacceptable, it would be fair to initiate the change of the self-exclusion process of Stake Casino too as he is a top 1 leader in the crypto-betting industry.
We would like to update you that due to Michal, your designated resolver, being on vacation, we have opted to extend the timeline by an additional 7 days. Since Michal has an in-depth understanding of your situation and maintains direct communication with the casino, we find this extension justified. Your patience is sincerely appreciated, and I assure you that Michal will contact you at the earliest opportunity.
Thank you for your understanding and ongoing patience.
I can not stress enough that Casino.Guru considers the 24-hour cool-off period before self-exclusion confirmation as an insufficient protection measure for players who suffer from gambling addiction. You are right that casinos have certain rules for dealing with self-exclusion requests, and the players should follow these rules to make the process as easy and fast as possible.
However, in cases like these, the rules that need to be followed are not necessarily friendly for users who suffer from gambling addiction. Giving them an additional cool-off period is something we can not get behind. Any other casino with this policy, for example, Stake, the casino that you keep referring to, would be treated equally, with us expressing our dissatisfaction with this process.
The player fjorm also expressed the same feelings in his second post, where he mentioned that the 24-hour cooling-off period is just not healthy for gambling-addicted players and that it just made the completion of the self-exclusion process that much harder for him.
Can you tell me if the player's account is permanently closed? Would you be willing to reconsider your decision in this case and return the player's deposits from the time he tried to self-exclude himself? Your cooperation and acknowledgment of all of the above-mentioned information would be greatly appreciated.
We’re thrilled to hear that your issue has been successfully resolved, and we’ll be marking the complaint as 'resolved' in our system. Thank you for your cooperation and confirmation throughout the process. We’re glad that our intervention helped to resolve the situation, and we’re always here to support you if you encounter any other issues with this or any other casino in the future. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to our Complaint Resolution Center—we’re committed to helping players like you.
As you know, we do not charge for our services, nor do we accept any gratuities. However, we would greatly appreciate it if you could take a moment to share your experience with our services on Trustpilot https://www.trustpilot.com/evaluate/casino.guru. Your honest review and any suggestions for improving our complaint resolution and mediation process would be invaluable. Your feedback could also assist others who are considering contacting us for help with online casino-related issues.