Despite the UK government’s efforts to standardise and regulate the gambling industry through the introduction of the Gambling Commission, player disputes are still alarmingly frequent. Resolving a dispute with an online Bookmaker or Casino can be a lengthy, stressful and drawn out process.
In this post I’ve detailed each of the steps you need to take. It won’t guarantee success — but it’ll certainly give you a decent chance.
 
Online Gambling: An Evolving Industry
Before diving in, it’s important to note that the online gambling landscape is still evolving in terms of its regulations. Despite efforts to standardise the industry, rogue Bookmakers and Casinos still operate without licenses or adherence to established laws. This complicates resolving disputes.
The following steps aim to streamline the process and minimise the resources—time, effort, and money—you might otherwise expend when dealing with a Bookmaker or online Casino that fails to uphold their end of the bargain, be it through non-payment of winnings, voided bets, or alleged breaches of terms and conditions.
Let’s get started.
 
Step 1: Identify The Problem
It’s crucial to determine why a dispute has arisen between you and the Casino/Bookie. Are you truly innocent?
There are three primary reasons a Bookmaker or Casino may justify withholding payment:

Suspected fraud or illegal activity
Documentation not supplied
Breach of terms & conditions

I’ll address each of these one by one.

1. Suspected Fraud or Illegal Activity
Gambling companies may freeze accounts and withhold payouts if they suspect fraud or illegal activity on their platform. “Fraudulent activity” is a broad term in online gambling, not necessarily indicating a breach of the law. For instance, claiming a signup bonus twice or using a friend’s betting account might be seen as fraud by the Bookmaker.
Illegal activities like money laundering or underage gambling lead to immediate account freezing and denial of payouts. If found engaging in such activities, you don’t stand a chance of winning a dispute.
This article is only aimed at those wrongly accused.

2. Documentation Not Supplied
Many disputes arise from documentation requests. Usually, Bookies require a scan of your ID and a recent utility bill or bank statement to process withdrawals. Challenging this request is pointless as it is the industry standard.
However, some requests aim to delay payments. For example, you may be asked to:

Show all corners of your ID to prove that your scan is “legitimate”
Increase the resolution of your documents (to give the Bookie the luxury of viewing your perfectly legible scan in HD, perhaps?)
Show your face holding up the ID, to confirm that you are in fact the person placing the bets
Provide a notarised ID, authenticated by a Notary Public

Most gambling companies pay out after fulfilling their documentation requirements.
However, absurd requests, such as providing a notarised ID, are costly and inconvenient. So you have two options: comply or lodge a complaint by continuing through this article.

3. Breach of Terms & Conditions
Gambling websites protect themselves with detailed terms and conditions, often including clauses favouring the house. This is precisely why disputes regularly arise from bonus terms or promotional requirements that players overlook, or do not fully understand when they take up an offer.
During a dispute, it’s essential to examine the vendor’s website to uncover any potential breaches that either you (the player) or the gambling site may have committed. Although breaches can complicate winning a case, vague or unfair terms, or unjustified withholding of winnings, can bolster your position.
Gather all strong evidence with screenshots. If you can’t find the precise terms & conditions from the date(s) your case relates to, then try using a site like archive.org to see if there’s a older version of the web page saved.
After reviewing the terms and conditions, if you strongly feel that you have been unfairly treated, don’t give up. Simply gather and save the evidence, and proceed to Step 2.
 
Step 2: State Your Innocence (In Writing)
Now that you’ve done your research, gathered the relevant terms and conditions and established you have a strong case, it’s time to give the Bookmaker or Casino a chance to come clean before esculating your case.
You need to follow the gambing sites own complaints prodecure. This means submitting the complaint formally. In the UK, the gambling business has 8 weeks to resolve your complaint from when they receive it. When the investigation is complete, they should tell you the result of your complaint and what happens next.
Remember that you want to get the Bookmaker to state, in writing, precisely what they think you’ve done wrong (even if you have a good idea of what that is). It’s a lot easier to win a dispute if you know what their side of argument is.
Always email them so that you’ve got a record of the correspondence. In this email chain you must:

Plead innocence, and state that you opened an account in good faith.
Remain polite, assertive and calm.
State that you have not breached terms and conditions.

Present evidence using the screenshots you’ve gathered.

Reiterate that you have willingly complied to documentation requests.
Push them to present you with evidence that justifies non-payment.

In non-payment of winnings from a Casino it’s common for the vendor to deflect from giving any reason. They may try their luck with an ambiguous excuse such as “betting patterns”, “suspicious activity” or “breach of terms”. Don’t get frustrated by this — poor, unjustified excuses may help your case.

You may not ever receive a satisfactory response from your correspondence. You may not receive a response at all.

If you’re getting nowhere, give an ultimatum:

Threaten to escalate the situation to their gambling regulator and other third party mediators. Make it clear that you don’t want to waste any more time if it’s avoidable.

If there’s still no resolution here then you need to follow through with your threat.
Onward to Step 3….
 
Step 3: Compile a Detailed Account of Events
If reasoning with the vendor hasn’t helped matters, and you’re still convinced that you have a case, then you should follow through with your threats of escalating the complaint. It’s the only course of action.
To do so, you need to compile a report of everything that’s happened, with a very clear timeframe of events.

Step-By-Step Guide to Compiling a Report

Open up your favourite Word Processor (e.g. Google Drive, Microsoft Word).
Start by noting down the dates of when everything occurred,
Fill out each date with explicit details of what happened and what was said. Point out where you believe the vendor to be in the wrong / you in the right.
Add in any supporting screenshots: emails, chat logs, t&cs — anything that backs up your case.
Now you’ve established a clear timeline, ensure that your case has a readable title and introduction. It has to be immediately obvious what the dispute is all about. If it’s relating to a large sum of money thenmention this in the title as it may be given priority e.g. “£6,000 withdrawal dispute. Wrongfully accused of breaching T&C’s“
Proof read everything you’ve written. Not just the spelling and grammar but the tone, too. You need to come across as reasonable, level-headed and, of course, coherent. Don’t use exclamation marks, foul language or abuse. Try not to appear too desperate or arrogant, either.

Sympathise with the reader of your complaint. They deal with a lot of disputes. You need their help, so don’t bring any more emotion or rambling into the report than is absolutely necessary. Be clear, concise and to-the-point with what you present. This will make things easier for all parties involved.

You Could Take Your Case to a Lawyer Now…
I received some criticism from someone who claimed that my advice on this post “misguides” readers. He strongly felt that players should always go straight to a lawyer. My thoughts on this are as follows:

Some cases do not warrant legal expenses. If your dispute is for £200, then I can’t imagine any lawyer (in the UK, anyway) being cost-effective.
You still need to provide a lawyer with full details. Just because you hire someone doesn’t mean you won’t have to put in the time to compile a detailed report. Nobody is going to understand your case without your input.
Many people don’t have sufficient funds to pay for a lawyer. Pushing players to take the legal route presumes they have the money to do so; an assumption I haven’t made in this post.

If there’s a lot of money riding on it, then yes, perhaps it’s more efficient for you to go straight down the legal route from here. That’s your choice.
But if you’re still keen to try your luck with ‘cheaper’ routes, step 4 awaits…
 
Step 4: Escalate Your Case to Third Parties
Ok, you’ve stood your ground and it didn’t work out. You’ve put together a neat little case file. Now it’s time to delegate your complaint to people with more clout.

The Regulator
Unfortunately, in my experience, regulators aren’t as helpful as one would assume. Most will not deal with complaints directly.
One of the issues is that, to some extent, regulators have a business relationship with the Bookmakers & Casinos. They issue an expensive licence to Bookies/Casinos that meet their requirements, enabling them to sell gambling products to the public. So when a customer makes a complaint it puts the regulator in an awkward position. Hence, it often feels like a losing battle.
Nonetheless, if your regulator has their own complaints procedure, then your complaint can be sent there first. 
Response times can be fairly slow, so I also recommend submitting disputes to other, more enthusiastic third party mediators in the meantime.

Third Party Mediators

Recommended Mediators
In the UK, third party mediators are referred to as Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) providers.
The UK Gambling Commission states that you must have gone through the gambling providers own complaints procedure before you can use an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) provider.
At this point you can use one of the UK Gambling Commission’s list of accredited ADRs. Alternatively use one of my third party recommendations below:

IBAS (Independent Betting Adjudication Service) — a free service for consumers to resolve disputes with licensed gambling operators
Ask Gamblers — one of my favourite gambling review websites. Excellent advice.
Gambling Grumbles — a popular, well-established website with a great success rate on dispute resolution.
CasinoReviews — authorised by the Malta Consumer Affairs Council (CAC) to act as an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) service for the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) license.

Please only use one at a time so that you avoid your complaint being followed up from multiple sites at once; this won’t speed up the mediation process!

Not Recommended Mediators
There’s two very well-known mediators you should at least be aware of. Truth be told, I don’t recommend them.

CasinoMeister. This website works very closely with online Casinos. While the website is likely to steer you well clear from some of the world’s seediest gambling sites, it’s essentially an affiliate site disguised as a third party mediator. You can file a complaint, which they call a “pitch a bitch”, but most aren’t entertained; thus reaffirming my belief that they aren’t genuinely siding with the players.
eCogra. Online gambling sites bearing their seal are supposedly subject to constant monitoring, annual inspections and reviews. My experience with their dispute resolution process wasn’t a positive one, as from the outset they seemed to assume that the Casino was ithe innocent party.

Failing to reach a resolution using one of these mediators would suggest that you’re dealing with a particularly stubborn Bookmaker. If you still feel that you have strong grounds to settle your dispute with a positive outcome, then don’t give up, continue to the next step…
 
Step 5: Seek Legal Assistance
There aren’t too many complaints that go this far unless they involve very large sums. There are a few professional services you can turn to for help.

Lawyers with an expertise in gambling (they do exist. Google it for the city you live in)
Small Claims Court
Advertising Standards Authority (if your complaint relates to an advertised bonus/promotion).

Taking legal action against a Bookmaker is most effective — but it’s expensive. There aren’t quite as many success stories involving the Small Claims Court and ASA for gambling disputes, but it may be worth a try.
Beyond legal action, there aren’t many more options available. You can shout to the top of your lungs about a Bookmaker/Casino ripping you off — but you sadly won’t be heard.
Until gambling regulations tighten up and enforce more transparency within the industry, player disputes will continue.
The Twitter account @BettingScams is a good place to network with other players that have experienced disputes just like yours.

I hope this post saves you some frustration, and helps you to resolve gambling disputes. Many of you will come to find that Bookmaker/Casinos will back down provided you can adequately argue, and prove, that you did nothing wrong. If you don’t, they’ll take full advantage until you escalate the matter.
The post How To Resolve Disputes With Casinos & Bookmakers appeared first on Punter2Pro.