Bet Luck – Malta Regulator Unresponsive – Plus Five Gaming

Ruling

Resolved - The Plus5 casino network is in the process of shutting down and it took the involvement of the MGA to get them to pay this players remaining balance.

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Player's Complaint

Hello,

I played at Bet Luck Casino way back in April 2014. My username at the casino was [EDIT] and my email was [EDIT]. I managed to get my balance up to £6,500 so I decided to withdraw my winnings. I could only withdraw £1,000 a week which was a disappointment, but I requested this and this is where the problems started.

After lots of excuses, I finally received the first £1,000 in July 2014 3 months later. I then received £2-3,000 sporadically over then next 2 months. By this time I had contacted the regulator in Malta as the delays were ridiculous. The regulator replied and said they would look into my issue.

I received an email from Plus Five Gaming, saying Bet Luck was in financial difficulty, and Plus Five would pay out the rest of my winnings. Sounded good. I then received my remaining winnings over the next couple of weeks, except one missing payment of £1,000.

I contacted Plus Five Gaming who stated that they had sent all payments and sent me a screenshot to show this. The screen showed a list of "manual" payments. I replied with an export from my online banking showing all of the payments received from Plus Five Gaming. The export from my online banking showed there was still £1,000 outstanding.

I contacted Bet Luck, Plus Five Gaming and the Malta Regulator over 20 times to chase this last payment but I have not received a response from either the casino or the regulator.

Do you think you could try to contact either the casino or the regulator and try to resolve this missing £1,000?

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21 Responses

ThePOGG

Feb 04, 2015

Hi technorachel - welcome back!

I'll be more than happy to see what I can do here. Before I do so it would be very helpful to me if you could forward any communication you've had with both the Plus 5 network and the MGA. I'd also like to look at the screenshots you sent and the one you received.

Once I have these things I'll try to contact whoever I can.

ThePOGG

Feb 05, 2015

Hi technorachel,

Before I contact anyone regarding this I need you to provide me with a bit more evidence.

The extraction of the payments from your banking system could very easily be contested. Could you provide me screen shots of the affected time period from your online banking or photos of your physical bank statements?

Obviously there are some security implications to doing this. What I would ask that you do is remove all by the first and last number of both your account number and sort code and within the transaction history cut out the values of all non-relevant transactions and for non-relevant transactions leave only the first two letters of the group taking/making the payment. Obviously leave in the full details of any payment coming through from this group.

Thanks,

ThePOGG

Feb 11, 2015

Hi technorachel,

Before I proceed any further I need you to provide the information requested above.

Thanks,

ThePOGG

technorachel

Feb 11, 2015

Hi ThePOGG,

I sent the screenshot you requested on 6th February to your email address. Did you receive it?

technorachel

Feb 13, 2015

Hi ThePOGG,

I have received an email from Malta today asking for some basic details. It seems like a case of one hand not talking to the other, as they already have all my details and said they were looking into the issue in July 2014 :( I have sent them all the relevant information (again) so that there is no further delay.

technorachel

ThePOGG

Feb 14, 2015

Hi technorachel,

I can only offer my apologies here - yes I did receive your email on this 6th but had overlooked it and I have not yet done anything about this due to some unexpected family issues that have pulled me away from work.

I've recently been talking with some people at the MGA and I'll do my best to reach out to them about this early next week.

ThePOGG

technorachel

Feb 16, 2015

Hi ThePOGG,

I have received an email from Malta apologising that they "missed" my last few emails to them as they went into their SPAM folder.....

I have supplied them with all the relevant details, although they should already have the details from when I contacted them last year.

[EDIT]

ThePOGG

Feb 16, 2015

Hi technorachel,

That's great news! Before I involve myself any further in this issue, I would suggest leaving the MGA to do their work.

If you could keep me updated as to anything you hear I'd appreciate it. If we've not had any progress by the 16th of March I'll contact the MGA directly and see what I can find out.

ThePOGG

Mar 02, 2015

Hi technorachel,

I wanted to get back in contact and see if you've made any progress with the MGA? If not let me know and I'll contact them and see what I can do.

Thanks,

ThePOGG

technorachel

Mar 02, 2015

It has now been a couple of weeks since I contacted the MGA and I have not received a response.

ThePOGG

Mar 02, 2015

Hi technorachel,

I've got a couple of contacts over at the MGA and I'll see what I can find out for you.

Thanks,

ThePOGG

Mar 02, 2015

Hi technorachel,

Could you forward on your full name please?

Thanks,

ThePOGG

Mar 04, 2015

Hi technorachel,

Just to keep you in the loop, the MGA are currently liasing with the Plus5 network to investigate this.

I'll let you know when I have further information.

ThePOGG

Mar 12, 2015

Hi technorachel,

I am in contact with the MGA and I would ask for your patience. It appears that the MGA is dealing with several issue with this group at the current time so it may take a while to sort through everything.

ThePOGG

Mar 25, 2015

Hi technorachel,

Just to let you know I have followed up with the MGA about this issue. They are still working on this and several other issues with this group and hope to make progress soon.

All the best,

ThePOGG

Apr 03, 2015

Hi technorachel,

While I can't give you much in the way of new information I can say that the MGA are still pursuing this and as the operator has failed to show the expected and necessary levels of cooperation with the MGA, has escalated this to their "Investigation and Enforcement" team.

Thanks,

ThePOGG

technorachel

Apr 10, 2015

Thank you for continuing to chase this, I do not mind waiting a few weeks when it has already been over 6 months :)

ThePOGG

Apr 15, 2015

Hi technorachel,

I have had an update from the MGA regarding this issue - basically that they've not made any progress so far but are still working on this.

Given that the investigations are likely swinging towards legal teams given failure to adhere to contractual agreements, I'd be prepared for an extended delay.

I'll keep chasing this and let you know when I have further information.

Thanks,

ThePOGG

Apr 22, 2015

Hi technorachel,

The MGA have just got back to me confirming that your payment was indeed missing and that the payment should have been transferred to your account yesterday.

If you could check this is the case and get back to me I'd appreciate it.

Thanks,

ThePOGG

technorachel

Apr 24, 2015

I can confirm that the £1,000 hit my bank account yesterday 23rd April. I am very happy to finally receive the last of my winnings!!! Thank you very much for working with the MGA on this, as they were unresponsive to me as a player. I guess another success story to add to your list :)

ThePOGG

Apr 27, 2015

Hi technorachel,

Thanks for confirming receipt of your funds. That's great news. I'm closing this complaint as Resolved.

Regarding the MGA - my current expectation would be that the MGA's dispute resolution service is likely to markedly improve over the next 12 months. All of my discussions with them and other parties lead me to believe that improving complaint management has become a real priority for them - hence their willingness to work with me on this issue.

All the best,

ThePOGG