Vegas Baby - Casino Delay Tactics

Ruling

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

Read our Vegas Baby Casino Review.

Player's Complaint

On November 20th I signed up to Vegas Baby

I verified my email and made 9 deposits totalling 190 euro. I refused the sign up bonus so all funds were mine. I played for several hours and ended up making 4 withdrawals totalling 20k for 5 k each as this was the max per transaction. I had funds left in my balance and the next day I play some more. On the evening of the 21st I reversed 2 of my withdrawals totalling 10k and played for hours. I finally got my balance up and made a further withdrawal of 22k on top of the previous 10k. My total withdrawals at this point were 32k. I left just over 480 euro in my online account. Immediately after making this withdrawal I was blocked from playing games. The next morning I contacted live help to ask why my account had been blocked. They stated it was under review and that they were not obliged to tell me why. They suggested that I wait to hear from them. I also asked at this point how i go about verifying my account as when i clicked on "Verify your account" in the account section it had a message stating "We do not need any documents from you at this time" I told the advisor that i wanted to verify my account from now to speed up the process. He did something his end and suggested that I try and click on verify again. I did. The documents I provided were my passport, a utility bill, and a copy of the front and back of the card i used to deposit. 2 days later i checked to see and my account was fully verified. I then contacted them to ask when my withdrawal would be processed. I was told it can take up to a further 3 days and then 5 days for payment to clear. I also enquired as to why my account was blocked from playing and was again told that they were under no obligation to discuss this with me. I send many emails and got the same response. I also during this time recieved an email from the responsible gaming section asking me to sign and return a form stating that i was aware of all of their responsible gaming procedures and that I was happy playing there. I had to fill out my name, address and sign and date it. I printed, signed and returned it immediately. Today I recieved and email congratulating me on my win and thanking me for verifying my account. It then went on to say that they will be paying my win in one lump sum to the bank account attached to my card and in order to do so they want a bank statement from me showing the following info

Account holder name

iban

swift code

bank name along with at least one transaction to their site showing on my statement.

I responded stating that I would not be providing any more info as I had provided enough already and that my account was fuly verified. I also pointed out and sent them the section in their t&c's that states that all withdrawals can only be returned to the same method used when deposited. This was the card that I had sent a copy of during verification. I also pointed out to them that since 7th May 2019 LCCP introduced changes stating

Where an operator delays a request to withdraw funds due to insufficient ID being verified, that operator may be in breach of a new licence condition and may find themselves subject to regulatory action as a result.

The new licence condition, Licence Condition 17 – Customer identity verification, requires that:

1 Licensees must obtain and verify information in order to establish the identity of a customer before that customer is permitted to gamble. Information must include, but is not restricted to, the customer’s name, address and date of birth.

2 A request made by a customer to withdraw funds from their account must not result in a requirement for additional information to be supplied as a condition of withdrawal if the licensee could have reasonably requested that information earlier. This requirement does not prevent a licensee from seeking information on the customer which they must obtain at that time due to any other legal obligation.

3 Before permitting a customer to deposit funds, licensees should inform customers what types of identity documents or other information the licensee may need the customer to provide, the circumstances in which such information might be required, and the form and manner in which such information should be provided.

4 Licensees must take reasonable steps to ensure that the information they hold on a customer’s identity remains accurate.

This means that licensees must have verified, as a minimum, the name, address and date of birth of any customer – new or existing – before permitting that customer to gamble.

“Additional information” in paragraph 2 means anything in addition to information required to verify the name, address and date of birth of the customer as required by paragraph 1.

The key expectation of paragraph 2 is that licensees should ask their customers for any additional information promptly where they have identified a need for that information based on their risk assessment, and that such information should not be requested solely at the point of withdrawal. This is consistent with AML regulations and our published guidance on AML and POCA which require ongoing monitoring of customer relationships and that risks are considered by the licensee at all stages of the relationship.

I have yet to recieve a response. My acoount currently has 8 withdrawals totalling 32,400 that are still unprocessed with the option to reverse.

6 x 5,000

1 x 2,000

1 x 400

I feel this casino is deliberately using stalling tactics and not following there own procedures in order to pay me my winnings. They also leave 24 hours between each point of contact via email

Read the casino review

5 Responses

ThePOGG

November 25, 2020

Hi harmo47 - welcome to ThePOGG.com!

Given your description about I would say that it's fairly self-evident that the operator does have AML concerns relating to your account which has resulted in the additional checks. They are entirely within their rights and in fact legally required to conduct these checks. You will need to comply with the verification process before there is anything we can do to help you.

Furthermore, I would direct you to the Vegas Baby terms of use with regard to the payment method:

"f. Withdrawals can only be paid out to the Account and payment method from where the player's deposit originated. We understand that at times this is not always possible for technical and/or policy reasons which are beyond our control. In these cases only We will affect the withdrawal to alternate Accounts in the name of player, once ownership of such an alternate Account has been confirmed and verified."

Once you have completed the verification process and provided the relevant bank info let us know and we'll contact the operator on your behalf.

Thanks,

ThePOGG

Harmo47

November 25, 2020

Hi I heard back from the casino today with this response Dear [EDIT],   Thank you for your responses. We would like to address the concerns you have raised.   Regarding the funds being returned to the same account you have deposited from, we will be returning the funds to the same card account ending **.    As you have already provided a copy of the card which displays your account number and sort code, we are able to use the information we already have if you are not able to provide a bank statement showing the requested information. The bank statement was requested simply to obtain the banking information to set up the payment, and not as a further verification requirement.   We also, as a responsible and regulated operator, are required to perform enhanced verification in a variety of situations including high value transactions. Where you reference the LCCP changes on May 7th, your name, address and date of birth was verified via electronic verification systems but as the wording you have provided states, this requirement does not prevent a licensee from seeking information on the customer which they must obtain due to any other legal obligation.   Please be assured that the funds will be processed today, you will see that your withdrawal requests (in small amounts) will be cancelled and a new withdrawal for the full amount will be actioned to the same account you have requested the funds to be sent to. You should allow 3-5 days for the funds to arrive in your account.   We appreciate your understanding and cooperation regarding this process.   Kind regards,   A short time later I logged in and was blocked from my account. I contacted live help and was told I was locked out because they had to go in my account to cancel the old withdrawals and issue the new one for the total amount. I just logged in again now. All of the withdrawals are now showing as declined. There is no withdrawal for the pm full amount as promised and I cannot see my winnings I contacted live help and was told the department who deals with it is closed  

ThePOGG

November 29, 2020

Hi Harmo47,

Have you received your funds?

Thanks,

ThePOGG

Harmo47

November 30, 2020

Hi hood morning. The funds were paid in full and cleared this morning. They have also removed the block on my account. Thank you

ThePOGG

December 2, 2020

Hi Harmo47,

Thanks for letting us know - it is appreciated!

ThePOGG