Should I be worried about making complaints online?

[scuter]

I am a big gambler and naturally I have lots of casinos behaving incredibly unethical with every trick in the book used to not pay, or stall, or just flat out steal cash out of my balance [as happened with one casino last month]. Most casinos refuse to respond to direct questions, or they stall for a long time before responding with a nonsensical reply or simply ignoring the pertinent issues, etc.

How do people decide at what stage you should take the matter to a third party for assistance? Wouldn't - for example - posting a complaint on AskGamblers.com infuriate some casinos and maybe I risk losing everything? [as opposed to losing everything frustrated - so I guess not much risk there...]

Also, whilst I really like aspects of your system here...I'm a bit confused as to what leverage you have against casinos who just ignore the complaints. I've read all through the FAQ and looked all over the site, and it seems they just get a few points deducted? But they continue to be listed? It doesn't seem like much disincentive to me...disincentive to respond to my complaints that they are stealing 5 or 6 figures from me and every affiliate in the world continues to list them. Am I missing something here? I apologise if I am.

Last couple questions:

1. Is it okay to submit complaints to a whole range of third parties at the same time? For example, the LGA along with AskGamblers along with GIA etc etc?

2. For casinos which claim to be licensed in the UK, aren't they regulated by the UK Gambling Act 2005?

[Lucky13]

Hello scuter,

I'm glad you're asking this. I'm sure a lot of people will be interested to hear closer how it really works.

 

I am a big gambler and naturally I have lots of casinos behaving incredibly unethical with every trick in the book used to not pay, or stall, or just flat out steal cash out of my balance [as happened with one casino last month]. Most casinos refuse to respond to direct questions, or they stall for a long time before responding with a nonsensical reply or simply ignoring the pertinent issues, etc.

There are indeed many casinos who are refusing to pay player's winnings or delay it as much as it is possible. Some players post their complaints here, or at a similar watchdog site and this usually result in them getting their payments quicker.

We have created a Recommended Casinos list, which is a list of well-known and ethical casinos. If you check any casino from this list, you'll see a "Recommended Casino" Seal on their review pages.

 

Also, whilst I really like aspects of your system here...I'm a bit confused as to what leverage you have against casinos who just ignore the complaints. I've read all through the FAQ and looked all over the site, and it seems they just get a few points deducted? But they continue to be listed? It doesn't seem like much disincentive to me...disincentive to respond to my complaints that they are stealing 5 or 6 figures from me and every affiliate in the world continues to list them. Am I missing something here? I apologise if I am.

On the other hand, there are many casinos with a "Not Recommended" icon inside the review section. We're not promoting them, but we keep them listed to warn all players before deciding to play on those casinos.

 

How do people decide at what stage you should take the matter to a third party for assistance? Wouldn't - for example - posting a complaint on AskGamblers.com infuriate some casinos and maybe I risk losing everything? [as opposed to losing everything frustrated - so I guess not much risk there...]

With regards to your question about whether there is a chance that after posting a complaint, the casino gets infuriated and does not pay the player, the answer is very simple. AskGamblers will blacklist that casino and it will be assigned and marked as "Not Recommended". Not one casino would want that to happen, and for those who don't care, do not even deserve to be listed on AskGamblers or any similar online casino portal.

AskGamblers does not take responsibility for the payment from the casino to the player and the player have to decide for themselves if they want to post the complaint as a means to solve the issue this way.

Some casinos either delay, avoid, or even ignore a response to the player. At AskGamblers players are given the opportunity to share their experience with the public. Please note however that we will only publish details that are supported by facts and evidence.

AskGamblers Complaints System is NOT a forum where everyone can speak out their opinion without having any facts and evidence to back them up. This system is provided to conduct a public discussion about any possible problem between the player and the casino. Visitors may put comments and opinions at the bottom of the complaint however they do not affect the outcome of the issue.

Indeed, we have recorded incidents where a casino have failed to respond to us within the appropriate timeperiod of 4 days given to them. In this case when they have failed to reply on the complaint issued, we will investigate whether the status of the casino should be changed to “Not Recommended” or whether they will be given a second chance.

What casinos fail to understand is that good, timely Customer Support is crucial for both players, as well as our affiliates and that any answer is far better than none. We appreciate the cooperation of the casino reps to help with the final outcome of the issue.

 

Is it okay to submit complaints to a whole range of third parties at the same time? For example, the LGA along with AskGamblers along with GIA etc etc?

It doesn't matter for us. If you post your complaint at AskGamblers, we'll try to resolve it no matter if you are posting the same complaint at any other site.

 

For casinos which claim to be licensed in the UK, aren't they regulated by the UK Gambling Act 2005?

Yes, they are.

[scuter]

Thanks for the comprehensive reply, Lucky13!

 

We have created a Recommended Casinos list, which is a list of well-known and ethical casinos. If you check any casino from this list, you'll see a "Recommended Casino" Seal on their review pages.

Some of the casinos who are behaving VERY badly towards me with all sorts of nonsense tricks and a stack of provable lies / insulting excuses for why they can't pay or why they can't flush or why they promise me payment is flushed for the months it will take them to pay [only for my entire amount to be returned to my Playable Balance]....are on your Recommended List.

 

On the other hand, there are many casinos with a "Not Recommended" icon inside the review section. We're not promoting them, but we keep them listed to warn all players before deciding to play on those casinos.

I'm not trying to be obnoxious or 'trouble' or anything - I do appreciate your overall core message / program - but the "Not Recommended" badge is tiny. Smaller than some of the review writing which raves about how great the software is and how great the casino is. I don't want to post the specific examples in mind as I don't want to create arguments about specific casinos - but this is definitely true and I can PM examples if you'd like me to.

My personal opinion is that they're still being promoted - the affiliate links are live. And the vast majority of the article is PRO-rogue casino. There's just a tiny badge saying not RECOMMENDED - it just doesn't 'seem' to me like a huge disincentive for them when tens of thousands of dollars are being stolen.

 

With regards to your question about whether there is a chance that after posting a complaint, the casino gets infuriated and does not pay the player, the answer is very simple. AskGamblers will blacklist that casino and it will be assigned and marked as "Not Recommended". Not one casino would want that to happen, and for those who don't care, do not even deserve to be listed on AskGamblers or any similar online casino portal.

Wouldn't it be more of a disincentive to not review them at all? Except perhaps a really damning list of "DO NOT PLAY HERE!!!" rogue casinos? So people can pick the message up via Google - without any active links to them?

 

What casinos fail to understand is that good, timely Customer Support is crucial for both players, as well as our affiliates and that any answer is far better than none. We appreciate the cooperation of the casino reps to help with the final outcome of the issue.

I could not agree more about CS. But I strongly feel that many casinos are well aware of the $ they can gain simply from such tricks - delaying payment to ridiculous lengths, I mean one casino I play at I've had balances almost up to $100,000 and making single $500 spins on high variance Slots which can deliver $250,000 or more in a single spin. Yet they only want to pay $1000 MAX per month [and they're not even keeping on schedule for that!]. So...250 months or over 20 years to pay? How is this acceptable?

 

It doesn't matter for us. If you post your complaint at AskGamblers, we'll try to resolve it no matter if you are posting the same complaint at any other site.

cheers! The more mediators the better imo.

[to my question about UK Licensing claims:]

 

Yes, they are.

What if the casino claims clearly they are licensed in the UK...and it turns out they are not? As some casinos who owe me a lot are claiming - but who are not showing in the list of UK remote licensees, and refuse to respond to my queries about where I can find proof of their claim that they are?

Do they get a tiny Not Recommended badge also after stealing tens of thousands of my winnings?

[Lucky13]

Some of the casinos who are behaving VERY badly towards me with all sorts of nonsense tricks and a stack of provable lies / insulting excuses for why they can't pay or why they can't flush or why they promise me payment is flushed for the months it will take them to pay [only for my entire amount to be returned to my Playable Balance]....are on your Recommended List.

 

Can you give me an examples, so we can consider why are they on our Recommended list. Without it I really cannot answer on your question.

 

I'm not trying to be obnoxious or 'trouble' or anything - I do appreciate your overall core message / program - but the "Not Recommended" badge is tiny. Smaller than some of the review writing which raves about how great the software is and how great the casino is. I don't want to post the specific examples in mind as I don't want to create arguments about specific casinos - but this is definitely true and I can PM examples if you'd like me to.

 

I'm quite agree here with you, and I'll explain you few things about that. We just started with this Recommended/Not Recommended lists few weeks ago and we're still researching which casinos deserves a "Recommended Casino" Seal. We also plan new "Rogue Casino" category very soon, but since it's very sensitive, we're getting slowly into it.

 

Also, we have about 1000 sites reviewed and some casinos which are now not recommended still have old review which will be changed very soon. We're working hard to have everything up-to-date, but it's basically impossible if you have listed so many sites.

 

My personal opinion is that they're still being promoted - the affiliate links are live. And the vast majority of the article is PRO-rogue casino. There's just a tiny badge saying not RECOMMENDED - it just doesn't 'seem' to me like a huge disincentive for them when tens of thousands of dollars are being stolen.

 

As long as they are not Rogue, we have affiliate link to them. When I say we are not promoting them, it means that we are never promoting them on top spots, top positions, home page, newsletter etc. They are just listed as other 1000 sites. Things will probably change soon if they becomes a rogue.

 

Wouldn't it be more of a disincentive to not review them at all? Except perhaps a really damning list of "DO NOT PLAY HERE!!!" rogue casinos? So people can pick the message up via Google - without any active links to them?

 

Yes, something like that will come up with a Rogue badge. Unfortunately, most of these casinos are listed 4 and more years ago and we didn't change them as we never promote them. As I said already, it's very hard to keep 1000 reviews up to date.

 

I could not agree more about CS. But I strongly feel that many casinos are well aware of the $ they can gain simply from such tricks - delaying payment to ridiculous lengths, I mean one casino I play at I've had balances almost up to $100,000 and making single $500 spins on high variance Slots which can deliver $250,000 or more in a single spin. Yet they only want to pay $1000 MAX per month [and they're not even keeping on schedule for that!]. So...250 months or over 20 years to pay? How is this acceptable?

 

There are general Terms & conditions for every casino and special for every promotion. If they do something against what they said in t&c, you can always post a complaint here. I think that we all agree that a lot rogue or not recommended casinos exist, but you have two options: 1) avoid them 2) complain about them

 

What if the casino claims clearly they are licensed in the UK...and it turns out they are not? As some casinos who owe me a lot are claiming - but who are not showing in the list of UK remote licensees, and refuse to respond to my queries about where I can find proof of their claim that they are?

 

Can you please post which casinos you are talking about? If you are afraid to post it public, send me a PM and we'll try to investigate are they really licensed in UK.

[scuter]

Can you give me an examples, so we can consider why are they on our Recommended list. Without it I really cannot answer on your question.

 

[**sent to PM**]

 

Yes, something like that will come up with a Rogue badge. Unfortunately, most of these casinos are listed 4 and more years ago and we didn't change them as we never promote them. As I said already, it's very hard to keep 1000 reviews up to date.

 

I understand re: keeping reviews up to date. So much changes so fast, including staff - a new manager can turn a wonderful casino into a rogue casino quite quickly - then maybe he leaves, and they become wonderful again. It's such a nightmare

 

There are general Terms & conditions for every casino and special for every promotion. If they do something against what they said in t&c, you can always post a complaint here. I think that we all agree that a lot rogue or not recommended casinos exist, but you have two options: 1) avoid them 2) complain about them

 

I'm a big fan of complaining. My discipline to avoid them is not...impressive / admirable?

 

But there is lot of rogue written [intentionally, in my opinion] into ambiguous T/C rules, which casinos use to steal winnings. I've seen it happen quite often, thankfully not to me yet. But they get my winnings back pretty easily just by ridiculously long delays, excuses, 'inability' [ahem] to flush, stalling endlessly and so on - till I get frustrated and they win

 

I might be a bit biased on this issue, but I think taking advantage of gamblers via the above is just about the worst of all the tricks and rogue practices. It's indefensible.

 

Can you please post which casinos you are talking about? If you are afraid to post it public, send me a PM and we'll try to investigate are they really licensed in UK.

 

Sent PM with names.

 

cheers Lucky....