globalgamer

All I can say is when new to online gaming, it is complicated. Its as if the casinos want you to play no matter where you are, its quite easy to play even from a restricted country it seems. And if you loose, no harm no foul no complaint all is fine. But if you win, then you are faced with the rules etc etc. Of course there will be no refund of what you lost playing form the prohibited country. But your wins will be cancelled. Unless by oversight (lucky to the poster above) they are paid. Many learn the hard way, it is not clear. In this day and age, people use VPN's to watch TV shows from other countries, its quite common, and is not really viewed as such a big deal by the average human to say you in one place when you are in another. However for casinos, if you do that and win, they will likely find out. But if you do that and loose, most likely nothing will be said or come up. I am not saying this is sinister or intentional, but I suspect its a nice profit source since not completely blocking players from blocked countries (which can be done), and letting them play, creates a money trap. Let them loose, and if they win no need to pay. It really should be changed so players from banned countries can't play. Anyway no way for this to happen, it is what it is. Newbies to online casinos often loose on situations like this. In this case the poster won, lucky him. Most don't, Yes he was wrong, but honestly I get the feeling many casinos intentionally make it easy for everyone to play no matter where they are from, to capture the revenue. Revenue with no risk of payback (unless by mistake). Anyway, not being critical of BitStarz, I play there. I never win much, and never loose much. Pretty typical of most casinos, nothing bad happening that I can see, they seem fair in the end (despite occasional heated moments which can happen at land based casinos also). So I am content with them. It just so happens that in my country I am very limited on which game providers I can play with them, no NET ENT for example, so I am stuck with others such as Endorphinia and Amatic and I don't see to find many posts about big wins on those platforms. Not BitStarz fault, just the nature of the beast. Thats it for my daily rambling. Good luck to all, don't forget social distancing!

interesting insights

Sorry I should have quoted the previous comment to help with the context. It was about ValDes comment to Mimi 72. Nothing against ValDes, and not the peoples champion for Mimi 72 either. I do understand your point and it makes sense. Good to justify concerns and issues. Freedom of speech is a good thing, but its also good to backup your statements with facts. Thanks for the reply.

it could be a huge surge for online casinos, I suppose they will never tell us this, but in my humble opinion the busier they are the better the chance for a big win, and the more overall that pays out. Not sure how true that is but I never seem to do well at 4am in a land based casino when I am the only one there.

Definitely agree, a nice win would really be helpful!

I woke up in a whole new world recently. Surrounded by people wearing antiviral space suits, empty planes, masks and gloves and social distancing. Is this the Twilight Zone, or perhaps Black Mirror? After going through my normal extensive travel routine, bounding from country to country and donating money to various land based casinos (as well as online from time to time), I found myself locked down due to travel restrictions for 14 days, three times in the last few months. And now I am in a country in which everything is closed (except hospitals, fast food, and convenience stores). No Starbucks, no sit down restaurant, no hotel reservations, no foreign travelers accepted and.....the big drumroll now begins...NO CASINOS!!!! They all text me to tell me they were closing (one perk of being a big loser in a small town). Anyway, where I am going with this is that....given the mass closure of land based casinos in many countries given the state of affairs globally amidst the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic, how are online casinos doing? I have a feeling they are getting rattled pretty hard also, since many of us are loosing all of our money in the stock market, others are off work, etc. etc. On the one hand land based are closed or if open are quite risky right now due to the virus, but on the other hand people have a lot of time on their hands at home which seems perfect for online casinos. On top of this is an endless stream of bad news and markets crashing and people without jobs. And by the way it's quite hard to catch the virus playing online, unless you are doing so in an Internet cafe or aboard a cruise ship. Mostly I am curios if online casinos are struggling, as well as their gamer providers, and if so perhaps it is harder than usual to win (less money in seems to mean less money out - at least in my humble opinion - I never seem to win in an empty casino). Or perhaps they are making a killing (figuratively of course) right now, and as a result, soaring profits and lots of money in and a GREAT TIME TO WIN. No idea, so curious if anyone has their finger on the pulse of this online gaming industry and can shed some light on the state of affairs for online casinos. Slow or busy? And I would like to leave you all with some unrelated but much needed good news (you won't hear this on CNN): Some positive news ...... -China has closed down its last coronavirus hospital. Not enough new cases to support them. - Doctors in India have been successful in treating Coronavirus. Combination of drugs used: Lopinavir, Retonovir, Oseltamivir along with Chlorphenamine. They are going to suggest same medicine, globally. - Researchers of the Erasmus Medical Center claim to have found an antibody against coronavirus. - A 103-year-old Chinese grandmother has made a full recovery from COVID-19 after being treated for 6 days in Wuhan, China. - Apple reopens all 42 china stores, - Cleveland Clinic developed a COVID-19 test that gives results in hours, not days. - Good news from South Korea, where the number of new cases is declining. - Italy is hit hard, experts say, only because they have the oldest population in Europe. - Scientists in Israel likely to announce the development of a coronavirus vaccine. - 3 Maryland coronavirus patients fully recovered; able to return to everyday life. - A network of Canadian scientists are making excellent progress in Covid-19 research. - A San Diego biotech company is developing a Covid-19 vaccine in collaboration with Duke University and National University of Singapore. - Tulsa County's first positive COVID-19 case has recovered. This individual has had two negative tests, which is the indicator of recovery. - All 7 patients who were getting treated for at Safdarjung hospital in New Delhi have recovered. - Plasma from newly recovered patients from Covid -19 can treat others infected by Covid-19

Well this thread has gone in many directions. I am satisfied with the outcome of my situation with BitStarz. I am playing there again. Win some and loose some. The good thing about a forum is players can say whatever they want, respectfully I hope, and others can jump in any weigh in plus or minus up or down. But I am a little confused by the moderators jumping in to defend the forum/site sponsors so quickly. Is that how its supposed to work? Maybe it is, I am not much of a forum junky. However, in the end truth will be clear based on feedback from everyone. Will I be banned if I question the moderators aggressiveness in responding to forum posters? I hope not. Anyway, in the end I am not disagreeing with the moderators. I just feel like you need to be careful what you say or you may get banned, is that true? Maybe not, but I truly hope this is not just a forum intended to advertise casinos. I hope it is a place where everyone can express their views without censorship/being kicked off or deleted or banned. In the end, as in my case, without intervention it worked itself out. No need to ban me. Some should be banned I suppose, disrespect, rudeness, vulgarity, but questioning if things are legit? Not sure that qualifies as a reason to ban. Just my opinion. Maybe I will be banned next.

I have noticed over the years and especially over the last few days that while I am playing online slots sometimes the screen flickers or distorts in a way that makes it seem like an update. If that happend in a land based casino it would possibly mean they just updated the payout percent, which in some countries/states they can do without notice, while in others there are rules where they have to shut down the machine first or the screen must say update in progress etc. I am wondering with online casinos if this screen update appearance during play (while the reels are spinning) is a sign of something sketchy going on. I have never once had this happen and then the reels land on free spins or anything good. It always seems to land on a 0 pay. And sometimes it seems like it happens after the first two reels look promising like a good outcome will be there and sudden update then nothing. Also after it happens things seem to go cold. And it happens lately (last few days) like every 3-7 minutes. This is not from any one game provider, it is from several, within one casino. I am running a high end computer with fiber internet so its nothing on my end. Has anyone else experienced this and does anyone know what this means (if anything) when it happens?

You were right. I still hate the hassle. But the conclusion matters more in the long run. And it sounds like smooth sailing from here on out. Now I can go back to donating money to bitstarz through my ongoing global streak of bad gambling luck.

LOL, well for those of us in Jungles whether it be Malaysia or the Philippines or Vietnam, I suppose we are all under radar in this part of the world to some extent. I think he meant not getting hassled but it sounds like it doesn't matter how little or how much, it's all about KFC. I mean KYC. Whoever thought of that, sure made the world more complicated. The real hustlers seem to evade KYC issues and its the regular everyday boring life working stiffs (like me) that end up getting hassled. But, gotta support KFC. Getting hungry as I type.

I am really into this million dollar withdrawal talk

I agree its industry standard. I just wish KYC happened first. The alternative is land based. If we want to play online as obviously we do, its the nature of the beast. It sucks IMO, but everyone seems to do it. However I think we can ask to be verified first, and if so, that would solve the issue up front.

I also am not a small print reader. I should be, but I look more at ratings and reviews and don't read the many long documents I sign in business. Some are 80 pages long, others shorter, but in the end I look more towards reputation and trust and less to small print. Maybe foolish or old fashion but I believe more in the value of the handshake than the small print. Should read it, you are right, but the policies of online casinos to verify later is not exactly consumer-friendly. But, we better read it. However, once you do, you may decide to forget about gambling.

I agree with you that they should require verification first. That's what banks do, imagine if banks waited until you wanted to withdraw to verify you. It would be a nice best in class best practices step to require players to verify first. Unfortunately this may backfire on the casino since people may be less likely to play, one more step to start the gambling IV from pumping through your veins, and maybe the underlying psychology of gambling establishments prevents them from doing it. Still, it should happen. That way, no problems like this. But most likely it will never happen. They need people to feel the vibe, drop in money, and play immediately without delay and waiting or the action may never start. Oh well, anyway I agree with you on this.

I have to say your responsiveness and engagement on this issue goes a long way to re-establishing peace of mind. Somehow when we (the players of the world who know we are not up to something bad) are told we can't instantly withdraw our money, it gets a bit intense. Perhaps its a cultural thing. In some countries, where I have friends, their own bank may not let them withdraw money without knowing what its for and some times it can take a few days. However where I am from and where I spend my time, that would never happen. If I walk into the bank to take out $500 USD in whatever currency and they say only after I bring them my birth certificate, I would literally cause such a scene in that bank and move my account elsewhere since it becomes emotional when any entity wont give us money that is truly ours, immediately. However out of fairness to the casino world, there are reasons I understand why you have to follow certain KYC policies (thanks in great part to the influence of the USA and other governments) and in the end, its probably not the hustlers, conmen, hackers, and sleeper cells who are hit by this, its the regular tax paying law abiding citizens who end up getting inconvenienced. Not much different than airport security, when the sketchiest person you have ever seen with more bags than you can imagine passes through with no issues, and the 80 year old grandmother is searched with a full pat down and bag check. Oh well, such is life. Thank you for your comments and engagement. Much appreciated. You had me at 10 million dollars in your comment above and the possible handshake if that happens. I watched someone put 50 cents in a machine last week and win 300,000 USD, so perhaps on a $5 bet this can happen (10 million would be pretty helpful I must admit, in fact I would settle for half that). I already logged back into BitStarz and played with a lingering bonus so my appetite for your platform is coming back. As always, in the end this was all solved. It got emotional. But I am at peace now. Thank you.

good points, won't be doing that...

Thanks for the reply. I noticed your location is "the Malaysian Jungle." Not far from my current location I do appreciate your response, quite meaningful. I only have one account with BitStarz, so I am not violating the multiple account rule. Also, definitely not mixing up online casinos, since you are the only online casino I have played at for the last few years. I spend most time at land based. My final closing question is simply this. How can it be that after 4 years (since 2016) of so many successful withdrawals from your casino, larger withdrawals as well, that suddenly I am required to verify myself - with no advance notice? It would have been ideal to receive an email saying verification will be required, or a message of some sort, rather than not finding out until making a withdrawal after I have made countless withdrawals from your casino for 4 years with no issues. That is the shocker, the frustration, and the way it was handled by support IMO wasn't ideal. Is this SOP, or is something else behind this, since I feel this is the underlying challenge that is being dismissed but in my opinion is central to my complaint. If someone plays at one casino for 4 years, makes a large number or withrdrawals (and deposits) over the years, nothing changes, same deposit method (BTC), same withdrawal method, then suddenly withdrawal denied and documents denied and more documents denied and luckily I was able to find what was needed (barely) to get verified. In my country it is not easy to come up with these documents quickly, so it was quite a hassle (had to run around the city for hours and lost a day doing this, which all seemed quite pointless since after all of this I was verified so it was in the end an unnecessary rat race for a 4 year loyal customer to experience. The real killer is that I was about to park more BTC in your casino, around $10,000 USD worth, and play it there and leave it there, then take out when ready to, etc., and I am sure glad I didn't do that. It just makes me worried to put money in, knowing I may not be able to take it out. When people cant take their own money out, it is VERY frustrating. And I am not a new player, broken record here, but 4 YEARS withdrawing from your casino with no issues - isn't this a bit ridiculous? No disrespect intended but seriously I feel this is quite unfair and anti-best practices. I was very certain I was verified by your casino 4 years ago. If not, how would you have allowed me to withdraw countless times for 4 years, and larger amounts than this time? If my memory is wrong such is life, but I am really sure I had to do that years and years ago and if not, why would you let me withdraw all this time (and more than this time) with no issues until now? Regarding being hacked, that is good to know and I will trust your assurance. However at the same time, if Yahoo, Uber, and major banks as well as governments are hacked I am pretty sure the same can happen to an online casino. Sometimes it could be an inside job, other times externally, etc. But I will trust your assurance on this, which is at least good to hear. Not sure how your backend software works as far as people gaining access to your files but giving you my vehicle registration, photo ID, DOB, credit limit, credit card number, home address, picture, drivers license, bank account number, etc., is a bit intensive and usually a bank would not even ask for that much third party information (they just need a drivers license or a passport, not a document with proof of address even though the drivers license already has the address. etc.). Anyway, I see that the relationship is quite close with this forum and your casino, and almost instantly after you posted this comment they rejected my complaint, without even asking me any follow up questions first, so your record remains perfect, and while I did receive my money back from your casino, I am quite worried to put money in again since who knows what will happen next time. Thanks for your time, no hard feelings, enjoy the Malaysian Jungle, and best wishes.

Yeah its a bit crazy. It used to be that with Bitcoin based casinos you didn't have to go through as much unless you deposited in fiat currency (if I remember the term correctly, meaning real money like Euros or Dollars etc). But it looks like the trend is now even with bitcoin as you said you must give all. They even have my VIN number on my car, registration, home address, credit limit, billing address and zip code, full name, photo ID, bank account balance and account number, wow. Definitely enough for a fake passport or fake ID or whatever a hacker would hope for.

True. Everyone gets hacked it seems. Yahoo. Uber. etc. but also I never gave them as much information as I gave to the casino - that is what I would usually only give to a bank. And even they get hacked sometimes. But at least they are insured.

I agree they don't seem like a clip joint casino. But I think they should mass email all costumers who have withdrawn with no issues before (example customer for 1 year or greater with multiple successful withdrawals) to let them know they will need to verify before withdrawing again. That way you know before you deposit and before you spend time loosing money rather than not knowing until (and if) you actually win anything. Otherwise it leaves the customer feeling deceived. Nothing makes a person more upset than not letting them get their own money back, especially when they have done it before many times. Just my opinion but if they told me first either before I deposited or once I deposited, I would have been ok with this. Rather than waiting until I deposit 4-5 times and loose all of the money each time and finally deposit again and win a little and try to withdraw. The main point being if I never won they never would have told me this. I agree they have had a great reputation, not a clip joint, but for me they went from a rating of 9.9 to a rating of 2 in 24 hours.

Thanks for the feedback but in my humble opinion its very unreasonable. Having played there for 4 years with countless withdrawals including bigger ones, it was quite disturbing. That plus the "not caring attitude" of support, basically it seemed as if I would be lucky to get paid. The risk of loosing on bets plus the risk of them not paying even when you win, really combines to make it a horrible risk. At least in land based casino when I win I get paid instantly without having to give them copies of my vehicle registration, credit card statements with all info someone would need to perform effective identity theft, etc. etc. These casinos are certainly not banks and not run or regulated as banks, so when paying with bitcoin its a shocker after thousands and thousands of bets at this casino and no deposit issues to suddenly be hassled. I am just curious if someone didn't have the needed docs, do they just keep their winnings as well as their deposits? I am sure they don't refund the deposit, so if the casino manages to find someone without complete documents (proof of address and positive ID) they win in keeping both the deposits and the winnings. Anyway after this I am spending more time at land based casino for now, I won an $8000 USD jackpot a few days ago with no issues not even the need to show ID at land based. But to take $1000 out of bitstarz was a nightmare. And what really is unfair is why they don't get you to verify FIRST. I mean what they should have done as an above board ethical practice would be to tell me when I made a deposit, or even prior with a mass email to all customers, that even though they have been letting me/them withdraw for years that they/I will need to verify before they will approve future withdrawals. Then I would have verified first, and not been upset (as well as others that may experience this). However the unscrupulous way to handle (as I feel they did) is don't tell anyone, let them deposit and loose, and when they finally win and try to withdraw then nail them with the verification requirements. I hope you can see my point, good business would have been to let everyone know they must re-verify or verify even though they never had to before after years of successful (and bigger) withdrawals. Then you don't create angry customers. I spend around $10,000 a month gambling and was getting tired of brick and mortar and giving online another run but after this I am likely back to brick and mortar (land based) casinos. Bottom line is I really don't like being treated like a criminal, and as a long term customer, I expected better treatment not just in terms of telling me first about verifying but also the service I experience after the fact. Short vague sentences lacking clarity, denied documents without clear explanations why they were denied until I pressed and pressed, etc. (vehicle registration is not approved I was told, then I have to ask why two times before getting clarity that it was due to it being dated 6 months and 2 weeks ago but must be dated within 6 months). Anyway thanks for your feedback.

Thank you, great info. ISO27K is reassuring. Its just strange how even with crypto currency the verification process requires so much personal information that we are trusting with entities that we know very little about. I was really uncomfortable providing credit card number, DOB, billing address, credit limit, etc. They did finally pay me but I had to really fight to get the money, took the fun out of the win.

Sorry I keep replying to my own thread but I am getting more frustrated by the minute. I have now uploaded my credit card statement since apparently they dont accept government issued vehicle registration. However the credit card statement goes to my business address not my home address so I assume they will reject that also. Even though its the same country and 10 minutes drive from my house. And now they have all of my personal information including full name, birthdate, full credit card number, and credit limit, billing address for credit card, etc. Seems its getting a bit scary as far as potential identify theft if their systems are hacked or mis handled etc. And still they refuse to pay me. Does anyone know if these online casinos such as bitstarz use industry leading security measures and best practices as far as ID protection or is it a group of people in a basement somewhere running all of this with access to all of this information in some unknown country? Update: They rejected the credit card statement since it has my business address instead of home address LOL Update: I was able to confirm their regulatory authority in Curacao, made it clear I would be filing all disputes etc. Then I was able to find another bank statement (I spent around 4 hours today on this trying to get them everything again and again). And they have just accepted the bank statement and processed the withdrawal. I have attached a list of what I upload so you can see what I was dealing with. In the end, by fighting for it, by being fortunate to have documents that should not even be required after years of successful withdrawals, especially with a bitcoin deposit and no bonus funds, they gave me my money. It is now very clear that if I did not have those documents, I would have lost all of my money. Given this, I would never bet big and hope for big wins since I am now certain they would try very hard to avoid paying it. I am lucky I did not win big. That would have been a huge loss as getting paid would have likely been impossible. I live in a country where it is not easy to get all of these documents, I am sure in some countries its even harder than here. So I am lucky. If not for all of this, I would have lost it all. Miserable customer service experience. 24 hours of stress. That is "the joy of winning" and this was not even a true win I just got my money back from the last 10 days.

Quick updated. I uploaded proof of address document about an hour ago (vehicle registration from the government) which clearly lists my name and address (same address as on my drivers license) and they rejected that also. So it seems they are determined not to pay.

Hello fellow online gamblers. I will try to keep this as short and to the point as possible, but I am sorry to say it may end up quite long regardless I have been playing at BitStarz.com for 4 years, since early 2016. And overall have lost quite a bit of money. That is par for the course, so no issue with that. I always use Bitcoin to deposit and withdraw. In 2016 they verified me, and I had no issues with deposits and withdrawals since then. However for the last few weeks I have always lost everything I deposit, until yesterday finally I had a few small wins that resulted in around $1200 USD that I was able to withdraw, which is less than I deposited over the last few weeks. So basically I was getting my money back through some rare good luck at this casino. Well when I submitted the withdrawal I was quite shocked that they insisted I had never verified myself and that they would not allow me to withdraw my winnings until I verified myself. I argued that I did this in 2016 and why would I need to do it again after 30-40 withdrawals (I am estimating) over the last 4 years, now suddenly I have a small win and they want to verify me again. They insisted I look in their website at the "documents" section and I would see that there are no documents there which they claim proves I was never verified. I explained to them that does not prove I was never verified, I know that I was, and I will spend a few days going through email back ups to prove to them I was. However what I mentioned to them that does prove is that somehow they are missing my identification documents which means perhaps they were hacked, or something happened that resulted in my personal private data being gone/potentially compromised//etc. In any case the other issue is their support said I could upload my drivers license which would be sufficient since it includes my address so I did so and they said within 12 hours they would pay me. I waited 18 hours with no response so I contacted support and they said they cannot accept a drivers license as proof of address so I need to give them another document. Since they were already past the 12 hours I am glad I checked since they did not tell me anything until a few hours after I asked I received an email. So I just uploaded my vehicle registration. Now the issue is in my country (Philippines) we have bad mail service so all of my ID has one house address, but my primary address is an address where I dont get mail (I have two residences). The address BitStarz has is my house with no mail service (rural area) and the address on my ID is another address (where we do have mail service). Both residences are about a 20 minute drive from each other. Based on how they have handled this so far, I am quite sure they will hassle me as long as possible as it seems clear they do not intend to pay, or if they do they will delay it as long as possible. My primary concern more than having them refuse to give my withdrawal involves online gaming and the fact that you can loose tens of thousands of dollars and then when you want to withdraw $1000 for example, they hassle you and make it almost impossible to get the money out. So the question is why risk spending $5000 or $10,000 USD or more (equivalent in bitcoin) when they may not even pay you if you win? It seems it is at their discretion to pay you or not. Of course they will not refund the money you lost, but they may refuse to pay the money you won. Imagine if you won a $50,000 USD equivalent jackpot how hard they would make it to get your money if they make it this hard for $1200 USD. Keep in mind all deposits I make are in BTC and all withdrawals in BTC, so this should be quick and easy process. I am curious if anyone else had this issue with BitStarz or if its only me they are hassling. I did post something negative about them a few years ago when they had a system glitch that resulted in a huge win using bonus money that they would not pay (several thousands dollars they cancelled since their free spins worked on a game that apparently it should not have worked on so the several thousand dollar win I had in bonus money that I was working on earning through playthrough and very close to reaching that point where I could withdraw it) they cancelled the funds suddenly without telling me and they said it was due to the bonus being used on a game that it should not have worked on (which I had no way to know, since it said it worked on that game in the bonus options and it worked on that game). Thanks for reading my long message, hoping for some feedback. I will feel a dispute as well with the license authority since I am also concerned perhaps they were hacked or how else would they loose my ID documents I gave before and also why would they let me withdraw for 4 years with no issues even larger amounts and suddenly now they refuse my withdrawals. Very concerning in my opinion.