Assistance Needed: GamStop and Withdrawal Issues

[anonemouse]

I will preface explaining the problem I have where I need advice by saying I know this might be a controversial post.  Secondly, although a new member here, I have been a member of many forums of different subject matter over the years and know that sometimes you can get posts, normally by newbies,  which contain unbelievable/exaggerated circumstances in order to get a bite or response from regulars most likely to get off on.  I will say now that there is no exaggeration in my predicament but do expect some members to question it due to the numbers involved and assumed  impossibility.  With this in mind, if there is a general consensus by members that my circumstances are questionable I am more than happy to provide evidence to a forum Moderator/Admin via PM as to the validity of my circumstances.

So to my issue, I will keep it very brief. 

ABOUT ME -  I have played both Texas Holdem and Omaha/Omaha Hi/Lo for over 14 years now both online and live in a semi professional capacity.  My first live play being at the Gutshot and The Vic in London.  Played in various UK comps on the circuit predominantly tourneys and rarely cash due to variance with decent success across online/live play.  My only other form of gambling is betting on football using Betfair mainly, bets mainly consisting of high stake single bets on a selected game or medium stake bet on a 3-4 fold acca, never more than 4 teams.   I DO NOT PLAY live casino house games due to odds being in  favour of the house and variance, even if playing a live poker tourney at a live casino.  I also DO NOT PLAY any online bookies slots, games etc for the same reason.

BACKGROUND - Last March (2018) after winning 1 poker tourney on Stars and placing in several others I decided to have a few beers, I mean a good few that I wasnt compus mentus.  I entered a good few high entry tourneys on stars as well as cash games and played totally opposite to normal & like an idiot.  I was calling/raising in stupid situations and before long out of the tourneys and down massively from my cash play at one point but thanks to a donk shove to bully/force a fold to claim the pot, I was called and hit a miracle river that I scooped the lot and left the table.  I was still down a bit from my drunken play but thankfully nowhere near as much as I was before that hand or if I lost it.  I then in my infinite wisdom done something I never do, I clicked on the slot window and played a slot game.   I had to transfer some balance over to slots and did so, £200.  I played and hit a bonus or feature here and there and the £200 was gone.  I transferred more, £350 if I recall.  I hit a feature not long afterand while in that feature picked up the 3 sickle symbols that brought me through to a jackpot round where I could win the Main (think £1.6 million) silver (think £180k) or bronze (£65k) or red (£3000 odd) jackpots.  I scooped the bronze jackpot of £65k.  Of course I banked it and withdraw it and spent it on drink, drugs and women.......Well actually thats a lie, I proceeded to increase my stake to between £75-200 a spin, my slot balance yo-yoing up and down until it was all gone, not just the 65k but also the £16k I had in my stars balance.  Although no consolation but thankfully the £16k in my stars account was not my full bankroll.  It was though a mental head f*ck all the same to lose that amount.  I decided a few days later to sign up to Gamstop to prevent it happening again.  I made a error here because I didnt realise at the time in doing this it also closed my online poker accounts which prevented me from playing online.  

ISSUE - Saturday just gone, I been to a BBQ drinking all day and when I got home wanted to play some online poker, so I tried to sign up to a well know reputable UK online bookies using my personal details but when I clicked "Register" I got a error message saying to contact Customer Service.  I called them, giving them the error & they said they couldnt open an account as when you click "Register" it does a auto check against the Gamstop database to check if you are on there as self excluded, which being drunk I totally forgot.  So I decided to try another well known UK site that I havent had an account with before, this time changing my name and DOB slightly on the account sign up form and when I clicked register the account was created.  I deposited £140 using my own debit card registered to my address and went to go to their poker tab but they didnt offer poker, at all, not even as a network affiliate.  So I decided on playing slots ffs.  Long story short I span the money up from my initial deposit to just over £350k thanks to hitting a £90k jackpot and on another game 3 reels span in with expanding wilds and auto respin, another expanding wild came in and same again for £107k.   In my wasted stupor I carried on playing thinking I was invincible and dropped £100k odd over the course of the next 3-4 hours.  I left myself with £255k.  Thing is I cannot verify as my ID is different from the details I used to sign up with as I changed the them in order to sign up.  So my issue is what do I do?  Can you get removed from Gamstop?  If so then I might be okay as I can say I entered the wrong details on sign up and their T&Cs have a line to say you can do that if it happens, just let them know when you notice.

 

TLDR - Had big win on slots, spunked it all back in.  Registered with Gamstop so it dont happen again.  Opened new gaming account with slightly different details to circumvent Gamstop, deposited £140 and span it up to over £350k and then back down to £250k odd, I need to verify my ID to withdraw but my ID doesnt match the details I used to sign up.  What do I do?

 

[cocopop3011]

Wow! Well what do I say! First of all you must be the luckiest man in the world to win two massive jackpots like this so well done on that. Ssecondly, IMO it's not good news for you.

I don't know a lot about GAMSTOP so whether or  not you can take your name off - I'm not sure sorry but I do know our other members will answer that question for you. However, I don't think you have a hope in hell in getting your winnings. You changed both your name and DOB there's just no way the casino would believe that both of these mistakes were accidental. Maybe if it was like just one letter of your name or even a digit in your DOB, that could easily be done and has by many. But not both and I suspect you changed them both quite a bit did you? I'm sure it would raise suspicions with the casino for starters and you'll have additional verification checks considering the amount you're trying to withdraw is so big too.

I'm assuming you haven't gone ahead with the withdrawal yet? Let's see what your other members have to say. This is interesting to say the least.

[pinnit2015]

I don’t think Gamstop is the issue here: it’s the fact that you’ll not be able to verify with the casino (the fact that you can play there means the check against the GS database came back negative). The only explanation you can give is that you changed these due to the GS registration. 

You may get lucky and they may take your ‘I made a mistake’ - but I doubt it. Come May there are new U.K. rules regarding verification - more stringent. As such, I imagine they’re less likely to take a flimsy excuse for the different details. Plus, the large amount. So I’d say, you probably won’t see that money. May get your deposits back but even that’s at a push.

As for coming off GS - not a chance. You’re in there to the expiry date. Even then, there’s stories of issues in coming off it. 

[anonemouse]

1 hour ago, cocopop3011 said:

Wow! Well what do I say! First of all you must be the luckiest man in the world to win two massive jackpots like this so well done on that. Ssecondly, IMO it's not good news for you.

I don't know a lot about GAMSTOP so whether or  not you can take your name off - I'm not sure sorry but I do know our other members will answer that question for you. However, I don't think you have a hope in ***** in getting your winnings. You changed both your name and DOB there's just no way the casino would believe that both of these mistakes were accidental. Maybe if it was like just one letter of your name or even a digit in your DOB, that could easily be done and has by many. But not both and I suspect you changed them both quite a bit did you? I'm sure it would raise suspicions with the casino for starters and you'll have additional verification checks considering the amount you're trying to withdraw is so big too.

I'm assuming you haven't gone ahead with the withdrawal yet? Let's see what your other members have to say. This is interesting to say the least.

Thanks first of all cocopop3011 for allowing my post, I see you are an admin.   I was worried it might not be allowed or deleted because I signed up to Gamstop and found a way to circumvent signing back up to a online site.  I see from other threads here that self exclusion is taken seriously and the posts in reply to those that have self excluded are ones of support, so with that in mind my post might be deemed controversial or not of value to those who have self excluded.   If anything, although it shows a way round, it highlights the pitfalls of doing it if you win, big or small.

In response to your post, you make some valid points however there are a few things I didnt mention in my OP, purely because the post is a wall of long text as it is and people wont read it.   Yes lucky to win two big jackpots but stupid on the first one.   What is more unbelievable is the second one and how high I got with such a little deposit.

With regards to the slightly amended name and totally different DOB, this I thought would be the biggest issue when submitting my real ID & telling them that I entered them wrong on sign up & they'd likely close my account confiscating the balance using this as their reason.  However I have been using my Google Fu since the win and have found 6 separate instances, 1 on their forum in the support/help section and the other 5 instances on twitter where 6 separate customers going through ID Verification have posted/tweeted that their Name, DOB or in two cases both Name and DOB were incorrectly entered upon sign up and can they be changed.  The company forum moderator, as well as their official CS twitter account replied that yes they can do this while their ID is being verified, all punters responded thanks it has been sorted/amended in one way or another.  I have screen grabbed all 6 instances to cover myself incase they say no to me.  BTW, these were recent instances as well.  Furthermore in their T&C's (which I have read 100s of times now) one point actually has its own  line stating "You must keep your personal account details up to date, if you notice anything that is either incorrect or out of date, please let us know as soon as possible so we can amend this.

You are correct in saying that the casino might be on top of this due to the large balance, I have had numerous personal emails and calls from my newly assigned VVIP manager, offering tickets to their sponsored sporting events with hospitality, direct contact line and email circumventing normal support channels etc etc, theyve mentioned the win and congratulated me so deffo on their radar.

As for making a withdrawal as yet, nope, they froze my account after 72hrs asking for ID verification, freezing deposit, withdrawal and also playing with the funds.

 

Sorry the long ar*e response but rather respond properly so I give a full picture.  As your admin cocopop am happy to PM you screen grabs of proof so you can verify to other members this is not a wind up or billy bull post

[anonemouse]

1 hour ago, pinnit2015 said:

I don’t think Gamstop is the issue here: it’s the fact that you’ll not be able to verify with the casino (the fact that you can Play there means the check against the GS database came back negative). The only explanation you can give is that you changed these due to the GS registration. 

You may get lucky and they may take your ‘I made a mistake’ - but I doubt it. Come May there are new U.K. rules regarding verification - more stringent. As such, I imagine they’re less likely to take a flimsy excuse for the different details. Plus, the large amount. So I’d say, you probably won’t see that money. May get your deposits back but even that’s at a push.

As for coming off GS - not a chance. You’re in there to the expiry date. Even then, there’s stories of issues in coming off it. 

Thanks, please see my response above to cocopop about the details on account and getting them changed when verifying.  They have set a precedence before as I have evidence of.

I am aware of the new GC rules regarding verification coming in May and that will prevent such a situation as this and its not a bad thing.    I figure that if I can get removed from Gamstop I should be fine based on what I said in response to cocopop.  I am wondering if anyone knows if this has happened before?  

I am also conscious that the company concerned will move heaven and earth to find a reason not to pay out purely due to the balance amount, especially when considering how much was staked, wouldnt surprise me if they security checked the slots i played to see if an error or something as it literally is something unheard of.

[ValDes]

Hey there and welcome to AskGamblers. 

Sorry to disappoint, but IMHO you are chasing a dead cause here for the following reasons: 

1/ No, there is no way you could be de-registered from Gamstop. Please check their Terms for reference, it's clearly and unambiguously written there your SE is irreversible until the agreed period is over. 

2/ Even if there wasn't the Gamstop  issue, you confirmed 'slight change' of your registration data which most online casinos could and most probably will use against you /blatant violation of Terms, etc/, especially against someone who has just won hundreds of thousands... 

[pinnit2015]

10 hours ago, anonemouse said:

Thanks, please see my response above to cocopop about the details on account and getting them changed when verifying.  They have set a precedence before as I have evidence of.

I am aware of the new GC rules regarding verification coming in May and that will prevent such a situation as this and its not a bad thing.    I figure that if I can get removed from Gamstop I should be fine based on what I said in response to cocopop.  I am wondering if anyone knows if this has happened before?  

I am also conscious that the company concerned will move heaven and earth to find a reason not to pay out purely due to the balance amount, especially when considering how much was staked, wouldnt surprise me if they security checked the slots i played to see if an error or something as it literally is something unheard of.

The other thing with Gamstop is that you may find that many casinos refuse to do business with you, even if you’re off the register/time elapsed. Unfair? Perhaps but, putting my risk hat on, if I have someone who’s been on GS and then wants to play again then, give the big RG issues, I would be debating about whether to offer the services to them. Just a thought. Personally I think SE should be permanent: I think the number of people who have a problem, have 6 months off etc can come back and gamble responsibly from there on, is low.

I know one guy who is struggling to get many of his accounts open after its expired.

 

[cocopop3011]

@anonemouse Interested to know where you've taken this? Is your account still frozen or have to taken any steps with the casino?