Fair Go - Responsible Gambling Failure

Ruling

Resolved - Both the submitting complainant and FairGo Casino have informed us that this issue has been resolved and the player has received their funds.

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Player's Complaint

Fair Go Casino exhibited predatory behaviour against me and manipulated my situation as a confessed gambling addict by delaying my self exclusion request, manipulating my situation to maximise my losses, deliberately delaying my payouts in spite of being a VIP and promised prioritised payouts due to having an extensive history of playing down wins and the casino wanting to benefit from this, failure to close my accounts when I admitted to having a gambling addiction and losing tens of thousands of dollars a month and instead offering me free chips to keep my account open and after admitting they failed me promised me a payout I only received partially, lied to me about payments made and have repeatedly ignored my emails for months and refuse to provide account deposit and withdrawal records for the purpose of this complaint.

Events as follows:

17/09/2018 - I emailed fair go requesting to permanently self exclude due to my impulse control disorder and compulsive gambling due to a benign brain tumour. I stated my gambling was out of control and ruining my life.

The casino responded stating they were unable to close my account and I would need to play the $100 free chip they’d added to my account first in case I won off it and attached a self exclusion form however like most modern day households I do not own a printer.

Being an addict and Fair Go keeping my account open I of course played the free money they added and proceeded to deposit. The casino and I emailed regularly over the next few days where I flagged I was unable to control my gambling and had lost $13,000 that week alone. They however kept my account open and allowed me to lose a further $3,343 after I had flagged my addiction and requested to self exclude before finally actioning the request once I sent the form.

I rejoined Fair Go following a 6 month break and my gambling remained out of control from day one. In the first 3 months back I lost $75,000. On the odd occasion I did have a win I would beg the casino to fast track the payout due to being a top VIP with an admitted impulse control disorder and extensive history of playing down wins, however they always found an excuse or quoted backlogs and even accidentally forgot to process payouts after promising to fast track them. This predatory behaviour causes me to lose a further $14,500 in pending payouts.

18/06/2019 - I emailed the casino after experiencing countless customer service issues and substantial losses and having just played down another $5,000 payout I had asked to fast track which they left sitting on my account once again in hopes I would play it down. I once again referenced my brain tumour, impulse control disorder and gambling addiction.

Instead of closing my accounts the casino phoned me and offered me 2 X $1,000 bonuses and $2,500 goodwill gesture payment to keep my accounts open. They also made me up a bunch of great new match bonus codes to encourage me to continue playing despite my repeated emails quoting my massive losses and gambling addiction.

After again referencing my gambling addiction Fair Go casino realised the risk in keeping my account open and disabled my credit card deposit options to protect itself from any backlash.

After ignoring my admission of my gambling addiction and aware of my losses of tens of thousands of dollars a month the casino kept my accounts open and I proceeded to lose a further $17,148 which I can prove however this figure I estimate to be much higher however the casino stopped sending me deposit confirmation months earlier and refuse to provide me with a financial history.

It was only on 15 July after again quoting my gambling addiction after playing down more wins they left sitting on my account that they finally closed my accounts. They agreed to pay $15,000 compensation over the next 2 months however from the very first week they forgot process the refund, continuously processed less than promised and eventually just stopped replaying to my countless emails chasing my refunds up.

I have emails dating back as fair as August 2018 to Fair Go admitting to having a gambling addiction and believe they should compensate me much further given my losses are well in excess of $100,000 however I am seeking reimbursement for:

$1,975 - Fair go advised 7 September was refunded to me 3 days earlier but never was

$3,343 - Amount the casino allowed me to lose after asking to self exclude citing a gambling addiction in September 2018

$17,148 - Amount the casino allowed me to lose after once again citing my gambling addiction and impulse control disorder and repeatedly flagging my losses of up to $40,000 in a single month and trying to close my account only to be coaxed back with free chips in June-July 2019

$17,500 - The amount of payouts I lost due to assorted excuses the casino found to delay processing my payments with the full knowledge of my history of playing down wins.

This is a clear failure to adhere to responsible gambling regulations. I tried to self exclude and the casino refused and instead offered me a free chip encouraging more gambling. I admitted gambling was ruining my life and lost amounts into the six figures because the casino displayed predatory behaviour and manipulated my situation with full knowledge of my addiction.

Please help me given the casino refuses to reply my emails and has done for weeks now.

Supporting documents backing my complaint have all been emailed.

Thank you so much for your assistance, guys.

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