Wazamba Casino - No se concedió el intento del jugador de suspender su cuenta.

Hello everyone,

so today and after collecting all evidence i'm raising this case against the well known casino wazamba that doesn't respect the big section called responsible gambling. So let me explain you the facts further ladies and gentlemen. It was on the 21th of september 2022 and after trying my luck this day on this online casino wazamba i reached a total of winnings 7925 Euro i contacted the support team via chat to set a break for 3 days that was extremely and highly needed for me to bring the money in safe way and avoid the loss due to gambling disorder which affects when someone reachs big wins. Even regarding their terms and conditions they are stating a big section called responsible gambling and it says that "if you think that you need a break from gambling, you can contact the support team and we will exclude you for a while" So i got neglected and they gived me no sense response which honestly confused me like it's not available and they can't. Sadly that turned badly where i got lost everything and even they caused me a big trouble where i tried to retake back the win where i played extra 1490 Euro during the 22th, the 23th and the 24th of september but indeed no chance. You'll find below the chat transcript where i asked for break and they ignored me and the rule stated in your website. I'm really desperate and i'm seeking your help right now to bring me back justice to this case where i get the full refund of the amount and be sure that the casino will respect the red flag section responsible gambling because my life is red line and it's not a game i have to be respected as i respect them too. If you need further informations or something still unclear I am at your disposal at any time.

best regards,

rad234

Dear rad234,

Thank you very much for submitting your complaint. I’m sorry to hear about your problem. I have checked your forwarded communication and unfortunately, didn't find any justification for your request to put a cooling-off period on your account. Please understand that if you have mentioned gambling problem while communicating with the casino they would be obligated to close your account (even with pending withdrawal inside). Sadly, you haven't done so even if you refer to gambling disorder in your very first comment.

"It was on the 21th of september 2022 and after trying my luck this day on this online casino wazamba i reached a total of winnings 7925 Euro i contacted the support team via chat to set a break for 3 days that was extremely and highly needed for me to bring the money in safe way and avoid the loss due to gambling disorder which affects when someone reachs big wins."

Please understand that casinos offer different Responsible Gaming tools, but they’re not obligated to have all of them. However, if casino doesn't respect requests for self-exclusion it is a very serious issue and we investigate each case thoroughly. Sadly, that's not the case this time.

Please let me know if there is any additional information that I have overlooked, but I’m afraid I will be forced to reject your complaint as unjustified. I wish I could be of more help. Thank you in advance for your reply and understanding.

Best regards,

Petronela

Dear Petronela,

i just sent you an email with further details and explanation. I hope you will help me further with the case because it's my only chance to get justice back against such an unfair behavior.

Best regards,

rad234

Thank you, rad234, for your reply and forwarded email. I have checked the general terms and conditions, as you suggested, and this is what I found:

Now I understand why you haven't requested self-exclusion or mentioned gambling problem. I will now transfer your complaint to my colleague Matej (matej@casino.guru) who will be at your assistance. I wish you best of luck and hope to see your problem being resolved to your satisfaction in the near future.  

Hello rad234.

I am sorry to hear about your troubles.

I completely understand the problem, and I would like to invite the casino representative into the case:

Dear casino representative, could you please explain to us the way how the problem gamblers should self-exclude in your casino without losing any balance?

Good day,

Thank you for reaching out.

Here at Wazamba Casino we are fully committed to supporting Responsible Gambling. Therefore, we have opted to close the customer’s account as soon as we were notified of his problem in the customer’s post here. Please note that the account is closed permanently.

Please note that prior to this dispute the customer never informed us of their problem. When the customer has contacted us asking for a temporary break, our agents informed him that the account closure is not possible while there is an active balance in accordance with the Terms and Conditions accepted by the customer during registration, specifically:

3.8 You can only close your account if it has no remaining balance (positive or negative) and no pending withdrawal requests.

The customer proceeded to ask to clarify the withdrawal limits and seemed satisfied with our reply. Furthermore, during the use of our services no signs of gambling-related problems were detected. Therefore, the Terms and the requirements were unarguably fulfilled by our actions. Since the client did not inform us of their problem at the time of the request, we were not able to offer any resources or strategies to assist him.

We hope the above clarifies our position.

We advise the customer to seek professional help, and also consider using applications and resources, which limit the access to gaming.

Sincerely,

Wazamba

Good evening everyone,

i'm writing in reply to the answer from the wazamba casino representative. Unfortunately and with all my respect you don't seem to be fully committed to the responsible gambling since you're highlighting the fact that in case a break is needed simply reach the customer team out and a break will be set which wasn't the case at all (see the picture as attachment below) That's a misuse of the terms and conditions to the casino's favor so the player could never withdraw the winnings. In second place if ever i informed you about my problem you will just void all my winnings and give me back only the last deposit which's totally unfair. Regarding the satisfaction that i found a simple assumption from your side, well in both chats i just left because you made me speechless with the injustice i experienced. That was twice and both requests in a short time frame and you say that there's no sign for gambling related problems ?! Either the customer team isn't doing the task properly or you're just fooling the player so that they'll never get the money cashed out. It's not a professional help that i should seek but i should look after a serious online casino that pays the money instantly and respect the big section called responsible gambling when a break is requested without playing with the terms and conditions to their favor.

best regards,

rad234

Dear Wazamba casino representative.

Imagine a situation in which you are a player and currently have $1M winning in your account. Now imagine that you are a problem gambler, and you know that if you keep that money in your casino account for the next 24h, you will lose them.

In a good casino, there is a way out from this, and it is a self-exclude. If you self-exclude yourself, you cannot play anymore; however, you can withdraw your winnings.

Unfortunately, because of rule 3.9:

You have no option to keep the money and self-exclude yourself.

If the self-exclude in Wazamba casino would work correctly, we will be on your side, simply because rad234 could self-exclude himself and prevent money loss.

Unfortunately, I believe that in this case, we found a problem with the terms themselves, where the SE policy is very wrong.

So please imagine you are in the position of a player with $1M winnings and problem gambling in Wazamba casino and tell me what will you do to prevent losing all the money.

Good day,

Thank you for getting back to us. We are currently reviewing all the details. Due to the complexity of the case we require more time than expected. We will do our best to come back with the response in the nearest time.

Thank you in advance for your patience.

Sincerely,

Wazamba

Good day,

We appreciate your patience.

As mentioned before, we were not informed of the customer’s problem prior to this dispute. Therefore, we did not have a chance to assist him accordingly and take any actions to protect his winnings. Nevertheless, we understand that the customer has faced a difficult situation and may have been confused as to which steps to take to get help. Therefore, we will reach out to the customer to suggest a solution. We will do our best to make sure the dispute is settled.

We will keep you updated on the progress.

Sincerely,

Wazamba

Hello rad234.

Please let me know when you find a satisfactory solution with the casino representative.

Thanks.

Good evening Matej,

Unfortunately , I have not been reached yet by anyone.

I have been waiting for some sort of contact but in vain.

So if you could please recontact them to check it out.

Thank you!

We would like to ask the Casino to reply to this complaint. We are extending the timer by 7 days. If the casino fails to respond in the set time frame, we will close the complaint as ‘unresolved’ which may negatively affect its rating.

Good day,

We have reached out to the customer once again on Tuesday, November 1st. We have not heard from him back yet. We kindly ask the customer to confirm the receipt of our email. If needed, we will send it again.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Sincerely,

Wazamba

Dear Casino representative,

i can't find the following email anymore. Could you send it again so i'll confirm the receipt.

Best regards,

rad234

Dear Customer,

We have just sent the email once again. Please let us know if you do not receive it.

Thank you in advance.

Sincerely,

Wazamba

Dear Casino representative,

i just received the email i will send you my final word via email once a decision is taken.

Dear Matej,

i‘m asking you kindly to extend the timer for 3 weeks since i have to take my time and think about the matter wisely before taking a decision.

Many thanks in advance.

Best regards,

rad2344

Dear rad234,

We are extending the timer by 7 days. Please, be aware that in case you fail to respond in the given time frame or don’t require any further assistance, we will reject the complaint.

Good day,

I have reached out to the casino representative on Tuesday, December 8th. The reply was sent via my lawyer. I'm kindly asking for a confirmation of the receipt of our email. If needed, we will send it again.

Thank you in advance.

Best regards,

rad234

Dear Customer,

We confirm the receipt of the letter from your lawyer. We have forwarded it to our legal team.

Sincerely,

Wazamba

Dear rad234,

Could you please tell me if you still need our help?

Good evening Matej,

First of all i would like to thank you for your message and follow up.

The case has, for now, been forwarded to the legal team so at this moment a further intervention from your side wouldn't be necessary.

If the case is solved from the legal team or if we have encountered any issues, i will be keeping you updated.

I really want to thank you for all your efforts and your support through this case which i appreciate and so wishing you a happy new year in advance.

Best regards,

rad234

Hello rad234,

Thank you for the info.

I am closing the complaint as resolved. If you have any troubles, you can reopen the complaint anytime.

We’ve reopened this complaint at the request of rad234. We would like to allow this case one more chance to be resolved and help both parties involved to reach a satisfactory conclusion.

Dear Matej,

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for reopening the case and for your quick reply. So I and my lawyer have made an offer, where the pain threshold really lies. By this offer would really no further escalation or prosecution in court and I renounce myself to all future events with this company. However, we have not received any feedback so far and we felt compelled to report the case to the Curaçao Gaming Control Board first, as the injustice is very clear and trivial to see. So I think that the casino administration should better cooperate with us and so both parties will find a mutually agreeable solution as you stated in your post before court.

Best regards,

rad234

Hello rad234,

I spoke with the casino representatives, and I believe that in the current situation, we should wait a bit longer to decide what to do next. The lawyers are already included in the case, and we have very few options in such a situation.

Hello rad234,

We spoke a lot about your complaint recently, and we believe we have already helped as we could in the current situation. We negotiated a deal with the casino, which you refused (your decision, and we accept it), and now lawyers are involved. This is kind of out of our specialization. We must wait for the result from the lawyers and respect it. Therefore I will close this complaint with the status: waiting for the regulators' decision (which, in this case, means that we will wait for how the lawyers/court decide). I hope you understand, and please let us know when there will be some update in this case.

Dear rad234,
We hope this finds you well. We would like to ask you to provide an update regarding this case, which was previously marked as "Waiting for Regulator" on our website. Your complaint has now been automatically reopened, and we are eager to know if there have been any recent developments or resolutions since our last communication.
If the ADR or the Licensing Authority has resolved things in your favor, please update the thread and send over the official statement to my email. Alternatively, if the ruling favored the casino, your insights are just as crucial.
We understand that some time has passed, but updating your complaint will allow us to take appropriate action, such as issuing black points to the casino in case the ruling is in your favor or warning other players and users about instances where the authority supports the operator.
We truly appreciate your cooperation, and your response would be of great assistance to us.
Thank you in advance for your reply.

Dear Matej,

i hope you're doing more than great. I just sent you an email.

I'll be looking forward to hearing from you back.

Best regards,

rad234

Hello Sami,

I apologize for the delayed response. I have sent you an email.

Dear Matej,

No worries about the delay in reaching out ^^

I just replied to your email and I'll be looking forward to hearing from you back.

Many thanks in advance.

Hello Sami,

I have sent you an email.

Dear rad234,

We are extending the timer by 7 days. Please, be aware that in case you fail to respond in the given time frame or don’t require any further assistance, we will reject the complaint.

Dear Matej,

I hope you had a joyful Christmas time. My sincere apologies for the delay in reaching out. I wanted to bring to your attention that I sent you an email on the 22nd of December, and unfortunately, I overlooked mentioning it in the thread.

Could you kindly proceed to close the complaint with the mention awaiting the regulator's decision, along with the add on you proposed? Rest assured, I'll keep you promptly updated once there are any developments on the matter.

Thank you for your understanding and wishing you happy new year in advance.

Best regards,

rad234

Thank you for the update.

I am closing this case with the status: waiting for regulator's decision.

We’ve reopened this complaint at the request of rad234. We would like to allow this case one more chance to be resolved and help both parties involved to reach a satisfactory conclusion.

Rad234 has expressed interest in proceeding with the mediation about this complait. Casino representative, kindly reach out to Rad234 regarding the previous offer to facilitate the resolution of this matter.

We would like to ask the casino to reply to this complaint. We are extending the timer by 7 days. If the casino fails to respond in the set time frame, we will close the complaint as ‘unresolved’ which may negatively affect its rating.

Dear Matej,

just for your Information I haven‘t got reached by anyone till now.

Best regards,

rad234

I am trying alternative way of communication, please be patient.

I apologize for the delay, I am doing my best...

Hey Matej,

no worries at all.

Just for your information and to keep you updated, I haven‘t been reached by anyone till today.

Best regards,

rad234

I am in contact with both parties via email and Skype, but for some unknown reason, the casino representative is not responding here.

Dear Matej,

Thank you for bring this to our attention.

We will review and revert if necessary.

Best regards,

Customer Support

Thank you for the update, we will be awaiting your decision.

We would like to ask the casino to reply to this complaint. We are extending the timer by 7 days. If the casino fails to respond in the set time frame, we will close the complaint as ‘unresolved’ which may negatively affect its rating.

Dear casino representative.

Could you please tell us if you made any decision regarding this case?

Dear all,

Thank you for reaching out.

We would like to inform you that the review is still ongoing and we will revert if needed.

Best regards,

Customer Support

Dear casino representative, 

Do you have an estimated timeframe for when the decision will be made?

Dear all,

Thank you for your patience.

We would like to inform you that upon rigorous review and examination of the relevant circumstances, we concluded that there is no basis for a refund.

Please consider this reply as final.

Best regards,

Customer Support

After several internal meetings regarding this complaint, we have decided to reject it.

Our conclusion stems from the fact that rad234 did not mention his gambling addiction in the chat; he only requested a break. He stated that he didn’t self-exclude due to casino rules. We believe he should have reported his gambling addiction and filed a complaint had the casino confiscated his balance, which the casino confirmed never occurred, and their terms changed shortly after we raised this issue.

We recognize that some confusion may exist, and we offered a resolution to rad234, but he declined and chose to pursue the case instead.

After a year, all casinos using this platform revised their rules to be clearer, which we appreciate; however, rad234 was still not compensated.

The second part of his claim pertains to other casinos operating under the same company, which do not share management and thus do not share their self-exclusion lists. Therefore, they were not aware that rad234 had self-excluded due to his gambling addiction at another casino. Upon being informed, these casinos immediately closed rad234's account. We believe that a central registry for self-excluded players within the same license/operator would be beneficial and could prevent such issues, but this is not standard practice. Consequently, rad234 is not entitled to a refund.

We sincerely apologize, but after a year of dedicated effort and the events that transpired, we have no choice but to reject the case.

Dear rad234,

We are extending the timer by 7 days. Please, be aware that in case you fail to respond in the given time frame or don’t require any further assistance, we will reject the complaint.

We are rejecting this case for the reasons stated above.