Bet-At-Home – Bonus Terms nowhere to be seen !!!
Ruling
Found for the Player - Bet-At-Home offer a player an exclusive bonus through an affiliate partner but failed to make the term and conditions for the bonus adequately available and as the terms were different from the general promotional terms and conditions the lead to the player being force to comply to rule that they'd never agreed to. Alongside this the casino failed to engage with the mediation process. Very disappointing behaviour.
Read our Bet-At-Home Casino Review.
Player's Complaint
Hello,
I signed up an account at bet at home casino on 29/7/14 via an affiliate link that offered a 400% bonus up to 400gbp. I received the correct bonus without any problems and won some money, so thinking I had exhausted my luck on that particular game I changed slot games and was told I had to wager a further 12,120 which sounded correct. I wagered this amount and was told the slot game I had wagered only counted 50% towards wagering. I said I read the terms and general terms of the site and according to them ALL slot games count 100% and had this confirmed by a chat rep...it turns out if you sign up and get the regular welcome offer that is indeed the case but because I have signed up via an affiliate totally different terms apply...how on earth am I supposed to know that !!! all bonuses given by casinos should have specific terms attached to the relevant offer applied for and if it does not the general terms should be adhered to surely ? I was then given a mocked up list of games not in any order on what looked like a4 and was told what game weighting each game contributed and the game I played (conveniently) was at the top and said brackets (50) ie 50%. My argument is that I should have been made aware of this when I deposited as I would have not accepted the bonus on the basis that the large majority of their slot games count 50% towards wagering.
I made contact with the relevant casino yesterday and they are polite and friendly and said that I can track my wagering in the bonus tab...thats fine but again my main point is that they completely mislead the customer into thinking that you should adhere to the terms on the site when in fact they have another set of terms, im sorry but unless the player is made aware form the outset the general and bonus terms on the site should be adhered to and that is why I urge the casino to accept that I will not be wagering anymore and take my wagering as done as per the general terms that ALL slot games count 100%.
thank you.
username - [EDIT]
3 Responses
Hi MAVRICK84,
Having reviewed the affiliate site in question and specifically the landing page arrived at when you click through from one of the site's links I can confirm that the terms being used here are only present on the affiliate site and only on the Bet-At-Home casino review page.
My honest opinion here is that if you want your money you are going to have to complete the wagering requirement. That's not to say that I agree with the casino's practices here - these terms are far from easily accessible. If Bet-At-Home wish to offer an improved welcome bonus where the terms and conditions differ from their standard terms and conditions through certain partners they should be providing customised landing pages for all links from that affiliate site that detail all the relevant terms. As things current are, any player that clicked through from any link other than the casino review page would never see these terms, which is for obvious reasons unacceptable.
I'll contact the casino now and see what I can do.
ThePOGG
Hi MAVRICK84,
I've had a response from Bet-At-Home and I'm afraid to say that they've point blank refused to discuss this issue with us. Obviously this means that I won't be able to help with this issue.
Regarding the issue itself, you are absolutely right. I've looked at the affiliate site in question and the Bet-At-Home website. The only place that the terms and conditions for this bonus can be found are on the Bet-At-Home casino review on the affiliate website.
Most casino that run improved bonus offers through affiliate sites will have a customised landing page for anyone that clicks on the affiliate's links. This page will display the term and conditions for the specific offer the affiliate is advertising. This means that the bonus in question have clearly displayed terms in a relevant position where player can't miss them.
Having terms and conditions only displayed on the affiliate's website is a terrible practice in of itself and obviously creates massive room for conflicts between the bonus terms and the general terms.
What escalates this to an even more damaging issue is the fact that the bonus terms and conditions for the bonus were only available on the Bet-At-Home review page. Given that there are links to Bet-At-Home in many places across the website that means that players will regularly be clicking through and accepting the bonus without every having even seen or having been directed towards these terms. This is incredible poor practice on the side of Bet-At-Home and something that no halfway competent casino should be letting happen.
I do want to make clear that I in no way fault the affiliate for this issue. Bonus terms and conditions are the responsibility of the casino. Failing to make them clearly available for players is the casino's error.
I am going to publish the casino's statement so you can see the alternatives they suggest;
"Dear ThePOGG,
Thank you very much for sharing your point of view with us. We value complaints of our customers because they enable us to improve and reflect upon customers’ expectations. Therefore we strongly encourage each and every customer to express their opinion as this is a source of continues learning for us.
As we already mentioned yesterday, we will analyze the case once again and do our best to find the best possible solution after the customer contacts us directly at complaint[@]bet-at-home.com.
If the customer prefers to complaint to the independent body, she/he might also contact The Lotteries and Gaming Authority at complaints@lga.org.mt. As mentioned in out T&C H.1. this is the only third party entitled mediate in case of disputes.
We believe this will be the best solution, which indeed shows our willingness to communicate with our customers.
Kind regards,"
ThePOGG
Hi MAVRICK84 - welcome to ThePOGG.com!
Before I contact Bet-At-Home I'd like to see the affiliate site that you signed up through. Could you provide me the URL of the page that the link is on?
Thanks,
ThePOGG