Karamba - Online Casino knowingly promoting to problem gamblers

Ruling

Resolved - The submitting complainant has become non-responsive to our repeated requests for additional information. As such we assume they have resolved their issue on their own.

Read our Karamba Casino Review.

Player's Complaint

Hi Guys,

I’m contacting with serious concerns regarding how Karamba Casino operates. There is so information I can provide but I will try make this initial email as to the point as possible.

I have been playing on Karamba for roughly a year and a half. I played on a couple other online casinos over the years but have never encountered these issues with any other casino.

I have always been very diligent and confirm my identity immediately when opening an account on an online Casino. Karamba would not allow me to make a withdrawal for nearly a year. My account would be fully verified until I would try to make a withdrawal. One time I can use as an example is in may 2022 after winning roughly 16k I tried making a withdrawal only to receive a msg stating my account needed verification. They were asking me to re verify a bank card I had not used in nearly a year but was verified at the time I was using it. I of course had replaced the card at my bank and had been using my new card to make deposits over the past year. I explained the situation to support chat and also got documents from my bank to re verify ownership of the old card. They did not review the documents for weeks. There was numerous times in the past that this happened and I would eventually end up losing the funds before they would review the documents. I noticed a pattern as they would complete the re verification process the following day after losing everything. I had lost a number of withdrawals ranging from 10k to 20k because of this. After the issue in may they told me my account was fully verified and would have this issue again. I was a fool to believe this to be true. While never accepting withdrawal requests saying my account needed re verification they allowed me to deposit roughly 60 to 80k over the course of the first year playing on the site.

During the end of September into October 2022 I lost roughly 60k on Karamba. This was also the first time a withdrawal was ever accepted by karamba. I was allowed to make a withdrawal of roughly 17.5k I believe although lost roughly 40k over the course of a few weeks prior. After making the first withdrawal was accepted I felt like things finally were sorted out. I then had won another 21k which I attempted to withdraw. They declined this withdrawal over and over. I contacted support chat asking for the cancel withdrawal option to be removed from my account. I explained to the support chat worker that I had lost a lot of money in the past due to delays with processing withdrawals and wanted to make sure I didn’t have the option to cancel the withdrawal and lose it all. They told me this option was not possible. This did not make sense as every other casino I played on set this up for me without issue. I once again tried making the withdrawal and received a email from management telling me to kindly cancel the withdrawal as I had reached my monthly withdrawal limit. This is something I have never encountered either with other online casinos. After weeks of trying to make the withdrawal my compulsive gambling got the best of me again and I lost it all within a matter of a couple hours. A few days after losing everything I received a email from management offering a large bonus and loyalty upgrade.

After losing nearly 60k over those couple weeks I contacted support chat. I made contact with them for 2 reasons. After being drawn back to gamble on their site by the large bonus I was playing the dog house slot and won a bonus round. I then received an internal error message. these msgs have never shown up on any other site I played on, they only ever popped up while playing on Karamba. I could not enter the dog house slot again afterwards. I logged in on my laptop and noticed a win of just over 5k was displayed in their recent win column attached to my name. The funds were not credited to my account but the win column showed it the 5k was won on the game I was playing as the internal error msg locked me out of the game. This slot was called the dog house. I contacted support to see what was going on.

While speaking with the support chat worker about the internal error msg and my name being in the win column I explained to them that I had lost a considerable amount of money recently while playing on Karamba. They did not offer any support services or transfer me ti the responsible gambling department or anything. They just said they would look into it and get back to me. I never received a email regarding the issue.

After losing so much money I started realizing I was having a serious problem with gambling. The other sites I was playing on had sent me automated emails saying they had noticed a large increase in play and they set daily deposit limits as well as monthly loss limits to my accounts in order to keep things fun and prevent me from playing to much. I was not playing on these sites near as much as I was on karamba but never encountered any issues with internal error messages, declined withdrawals nor any issues when asking to have the cancel withdrawal options removed from my account. Because of my increase in play these other casinos noticed I was developing a compulsive gambling issue before I even noticed it. They never declined withdrawals and worked with me to make sure I played responsibly.

After telling Karamba support chat that I had lost a considerable amount of money playing on their site I tried to distance myself from gambling. I started receiving emails from their management almost every couple days saying that had not heard from me in a while and this is what I was missing out on. They would offer large cash bonuses and loyalty upgrades etc. after staying away from gambling for about 5 to 6 weeks I was starting to receive these emails atleast 2 to 3 times per week.

One thing I should explain is that I now realize that I started gambling very irrationally to distract myself from a very harsh reality. [EDIT] I know it makes no sense and was an extremely unhealthy way to cope with the trauma.

[EDIT]I worked as a security guard at our local casino and never gambled in my life. I was in martial arts since I was 3 years old, was an assistant coach and at one time invited to compete at the world games for team Canada after winning the international championships. [EDIT] I do not drink or use drugs but I now know that gambling can be just as harmful.

[EDIT] I was doing very well with avoiding gambling after receiving the settlement. Karamba casino’s management continued to email me with large bonus offers etc knowing I had expressed considerable losses just a month prior. They were the only casino to push in this way for me to return to their site.

During the end of November/early December things took a turn for the worst. [EDIT] This all happened within about a week. Initially my fiancée took our daughter with her and I fell into a very dark place.

I broke and returned to karamba to gamble as they were yet again offering a large bonus. After losing roughly 40k over a weeks time i won back roughly 28k.I received a email from karamba management yet again this asking me to enter support chat to regarding account verification and to answer some questions. I entered support chat but was told to come back at a later date at 4 am my time. I asked what needed to be verified and they told me my phone #. Of course I was playing very irrationally and lost the 28k as I felt once again my withdrawals would not be accepted. I tried stopping gambling on the site again and in a matter of a few days was receiving more emails with large bonus offers and loyalty upgrades. This was all very confusing because I had also received a email from the same manager saying that he hoped I was doing ok and wanted to discuss responsible gambling with me. Asking me to enter support chat to speak with him about it. I entered support chat trying to reach him and even tried emailing him back but never received a response. I entered support chat asking what questions this manager had for me and they said that they couldn’t go over it with me and to come back at a later date. After losing another roughly 50k and a total of nearly 100k in a matter of a couple weeks I entered support chat yet again. I was left very confused regarding the account verification and this support chat worker told me that my account was fully verified the entire time. This was after being told my account needed to be reverified by previous support chat workers and the manager that was emailing me. I was very upset by this because he was telling me that I could have made withdrawals. Although I do not know if this was true or not because of all the difficulties I had faced attempting withdrawals in the past on Karamba. This support chat worker finally transferred me to the manager.

When finally getting through to the manager he asked me how I was doing. I told him the truth that I wasn’t doing good and explained what I had been going through. After explaining everything and my daughter’s condition he replied that he was very sorry to hear that. He then said don’t worry I will be giving you a very large bonus as soon as we were done in chat just to get me going for the weekend. He repeated this atleast twice saying that he was giving me this just to get me going for the weekend. I said that was very kind of him but that I don’t think I should be gambling anymore. He then said this is what he was wanting to discuss with me and asked me a few questions. I answered his questions honestly and explained that I believe I was gambling to distract myself from trauma.

One thing that really was upsetting is that the last thing he said to me was that he essentially knew that I was suffering from compulsive gambling for quite some time. He then abruptly disabled my account before I had the chance to take a photo of him saying that. He admitted to knowing I was playing irresponsibly for months yet he continued to flood my emails with offers of large bonuses and loyalty upgrades. He never replied to me through email when I tried emailing him back, nor did anyone in support chat help me address the problems with my gambling. I tried contacting him numerous times but was always told to come back at a later date. The conflicting responses from support chat workers was also very upsetting because I was being told I needed to re verify my account whenever I had a large amount of money to withdraw just to later be told my account was fully verified the entire time. Of course I was only told this after losing everything.

I had expressed considerable losses back in October and tried very hard to stay away from gambling. This manager admitted to knowing he was promoting gambling to a player with a gambling issue. The emails he was sending me with these large bonus offers said word for word this is what you are missing out on. The only thing I was missing out on was being taken advantage of and losing a lot more money. It was all done in a very shady manner.

Unfortunately I have now lost everything financially and am in considerable amount of debt. My daughter was dropped off because her mother (my ex) has decided that she wants to party and doesn’t want the responsibility of raising a child. I am sickened with myself because I could have given her a better life but am now about to lose my rental in a matter of weeks. I do not have family to turn to for help or support. My father is a heavy alcoholic and my mother who is an amazing lady lives in a shared rental situation and has been battling cancer for years. I do not want to put anymore stress on her and it would not be fair or right for me to do so. I have been reaching out to gambling support services but have not received a single reply in all weeks of trying to get through to them. I have checked myself into our local hospital trying to find support and even contacted family support services and mental health services. Unfortunately we are very limited in our area. Even when I’m the hospital I was told it could take weeks for someone to try contact me. I have tried reaching out to Karamba upper management in hopes of being able to report this manager for his actions. Unfortunately the only person that has been in contact with me is the very manager that admitted to knowing I was problem gambling all along. He refuses to tell me the total amount that I had deposited and lost to Karamba even though I have asked him a number of times and has refused to connect me with upper management. I have remained very civil with him and have not given any inclination that it is he who I plan to report. I believe he is no fool though and does want to give me the opportunity.

I also asked for a loss rebate considering the circumstances and the fact that the manager knew he was promoting gambling to a person with severe gambling issues. It’s also very strange and upsetting because he never bothered to respond to my email a a couple months ago but now has responded through email. He could have responded and we could have discussed issues with gambling but I believe he made the choice not to respond then. I believe the only reason he is responding now is because he made the mistake of admitting he knew all along I was suffering from compulsive gambling issues and is trying to cover for himself by not allowing me contact with any other members of management or upper management.

I apologize for this very long email. I really appreciate you taking the time to read this. I can provide proof of the emails that were sent to me. I hope there’s a way to get the support chat logs because the manager was blatantly admitting to promoting gambling to a problem gambler. The emails do prove it as well though. I have emails of this manager telling me to kindly cancel my withdrawals, then contacting me saying he hopes I was ok and that he wanted to discuss responsible gambling only to then send numerous emails with bonus offers and loyalty upgrades, only to then send emails saying I needed to re verify my account and discuss responsible gambling with him.

No other casino I’ve played on has ever conducted themselves in this way. I feel it’s important to report this and have an investigation into the matter.

Thanks again for taking your time to read this and I really look forward to hearing back from you soon.

Best regards,

Read the casino review

3 Responses