Question about Online Casinos - Czech republic

[pruggi]

Hi all,

 

I've just registered here, and wanted to ask if anyone had some insight regarding possible new regulations or issues related to online casinos and the Czech republic - possibly someone else here is from the Czech republic or has some ideas.

 

I recently had my account randomly closed at Mucho Vegas (could no longer log-in), and when contacting support - they told me that they no longer support members from the Czech republic due to new regulations with online gambling. This was not so nice, since I never got to use any of the welcome bonuses etc., as my account was just closed. When I opened the account, it did say Czech members were accepted - so support told me that this decision was just made.

 

Then, yesterday I signed-up at SlotsMillion, and never received my free spins. When contacting support they told me that due to new regulations, Netent no longer supports users from the Czech republic, and the offer cannot be offered to me (once again, even though the terms did not stipulate that).

 

So, I then contacted support at BitStarz (which has recently been my favorite online casino), and they told me that there is nothing they know of regarding new regulations and they have no plans to limit accounts from the Czech republic (and they also offer netent games there). So if that's the case, I wonder why the other two have taken those actions...

 

So basically I'm confused. I fear depositing money and winning at a casino, just to have my account closed or winnings annulled due to 'New regulations.' Does anyone else have this experience?

 

Thanks!

[ValDes]

Hello there and welcome to AskGamblers. 

 

When it comes to all these endless country-based restrictions I'm afraid the situation is pretty complicated for various reasons... Few years ago it was rather simple - for example If a casino is offering NetEnt games and NetEnt restricts player from certain country then the casino wouldn't even allow you to sign up and play with them. Now it's different story and most casinos would apply restrictions on their games in particular rather than restricting players in general. Which means you are welcome to register and play their games except the one restricted from the relevant software vendor for certain countries. 

 

Here's a typical example of such policy applied by BitStarz: 

 

 

Certain games may be unavailable in certain jurisdictions, as required by policies of game providers which may change from time to time.

 

NetEnt games are unavailable for Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Angola, Cambodia, Ecudaor, Guyana, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Kuwait, Lao, Myanmar, Namibia, Nicaragua, North Korea, Pakistan, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Sudan, Syria, Taiwan, Uganda, Yemen, Zimbabwe, as well as Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, France, Italy, Mexico, Portugal, Romania, Spain, United States of America, United Kingdom, Latvia, and Lithuania. 

 

In addition to the above, Guns’n’Roses, Motorhead, and Jimi Hendrix are unavailable in Australia, Azerbaijan, China, India, Malaysia, Qatar, Russia, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine. Aliens are unavailable in Japan, Canada. 

 

Additionally, Universal Monsters series (Frankenstein, the Bride of Frankenstein, Dracula, The Mummy, The Wolf Man, Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Invisible Man) and Scarface are only available in these countries: Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Georgia, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Norway, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Switzerland, Ukraine, Croatia, Macedonia, Turkey, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom. 

 

Players from the following countries are not eligible to win any jackpots from jackpot games offered by NetEnt (such as but not limited to Mega Fortune): Australia, Azerbaijan, China, Denmark, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Qatar, Russia, Spain, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine. The Casino will make reasonable efforts to prevent players from these countries to reach the games, but if players from any of the stated countries would win the jackpot, the jackpot win will be annulled.

[pruggi]

Hi ValDes,

 

Thanks for the reply! That makes sense. The thing that worries me is that the Casino can make these changes, apparently, at any time without notice. When I sign-up for the sites, I thoroughly read through the terms and make sure no such restrictions exist. But, to have your account suddenly closed without warning or any changes to their terms - it makes one wary to play and then have that suddenly happen. What was confusing was that MuchVegas closed the account, even though there was nothing in their terms stipulating restrictions to Czech republic, or without even email notice. The reason given by support was a recent 'change in regulation' regarding online casinos and the Czech republic. 

SlotsMillion never closed my account, but just said that I wasn't eligible to receive the free spins due to restrictions from Netent games to Czech users (and that this was recent, which is why it wasn't in the terms).

But, what confused me was that the Netent games / free spins etc. are available to Czech users on BitStarz... so I was confused how such a regulation exists. Furthermore, I find 0 information about it anywhere else. 

I guess I just need to understand the reality that the casinos have the right to do such actions at their will.

 

But what you wrote above makes sense, definitely.