For the most part, online casinos are pretty straight up with players. They provide gamblers with extensive terms and conditions, which they must agree to before playing, and more often than not, an issue between a customer and the company will be pretty black and white.
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Either the terms say the customer is right or that the casino is.
However, very occasionally, there are issues between players and casinos that cannot be resolved without outside help.
In these instances, the benefits of playing at a fully-licensed casino really make themselves known!
You have the right to complain
In the following article, we detail the complaints procedure of casinos with licenses from the Malta Gaming Authorityand the UK Gambling Commission.
That said, most licensing bodies around the world follow similar. If at all in doubt, check the specific complaints procedure detailed at whichever agency licensed the iGaming venue in question.
Without further ado, here's how to complaint about an online casino in a few easy to follow steps.
Check Your Rights
The first thing you really must do when complaining about an online casino is find out exactly where you stand versus the rules they have in place.
Just because you feel hard done by doesn't mean the casino is actually at fault.
Almost every eventuality that could arise at an online casino will be covered by the company's terms and conditions.
You might never have actually looked at the document and it's almost certain that if you have, you probably didn't read it all.
However, like with most services these days, you will have agreed to the terms and conditions during the registration process.
The terms and conditions will detail things like withdrawals procedure, banking limits, claiming bonuses, and just about everything else.
Whilst most complaints get resolved during our next step, the resolution often involves reference to the terms and conditions.
You can sometimes save yourself some time by just checking them yourself.
Approach the Casino
After checking the terms and conditions, you might still feel that the casino is at fault. In such cases, it's time to escalate the complaint.
The first step of the official procedure will be to contact the casino, or to call on any one of numerous top guides who will have multiple ways of contacting them.
Any quality online casino will have multiple channels by which players can access support. These include live chat, the telephone, and email.
For formal complaints, we recommend drafting an email.
Although your response will almost certainly take longer to arrive, a well thoughtout email will allow you to get every detail down, as well as explaining why you feel hard done by, and what you think the casino should be doing to make the situation right.
The response from the casino might take a few days to arrive but it will usually reference the terms and conditions, informing you that you were in contravention of the rules, and thus your complaint in not valid.
That said, you might find that the casino sides with you and informs you that an earlier decision was incorrect or that it agrees that the service you received was not in accordance with the company's terms.
Obviously, if you get the result you want, that's the end of the complaints process!
Congratulations to you and top marks to the casino for sorting the grievance without requiring external assistance!
On the other hand, a less positive result might necessitate further action.
Step it Up a Notch
If for whatever reason you're not satisfied with the response you get from customer support, it's time to escalate the matter further.
The first thing you should be doing is checking which licensing agency the casino works with.
This will be detailed somewhere on the operator's website - usually right at the bottom of the homepage.
Each licensing body has its own external complaints procedure.
However, the two leading agencies, the UKGC and MGA, share a very similar one.
We've detailed how to take your complaint up a notch below, but must point out that the steps may differ for casinos licensed by other agencies.
After you have contacted the casino and received the bad news that they have rejected your complaint, respond by asking them for the details of the ADR (alternative dispute resolution) service they work with.
The UKGC and MGA both demand that every licensee works with an independent third-party service to handle complaints that cannot be rectified via a casino's own internal services.
If a complaint even makes it this far, the ADR provider will probably be the final stage of the process.
Provide the company all the details of the issue that they request.
They will determine whether the casino is in the wrong or whether their decision is legitimate in relation to both the casino's terms and conditions, as well as the relevant regulations under which the venue is licensed.
Still Not Satisfied?
In incredibly rare cases, the player might feel that they still have a case against the casino or that they are not happy with the services provided by the ADR firm.
In the former scenario, the only option remaining is to take the casino to court.
We recommend taking professional, independent legal advice before going down this route.
If the player believes the ADR to be at fault, they can register their grievances via the company's own complaints procedure.
They can also report the problems to the relevant regulatory agency. In the case of the UK Gambling Commission, the organization will investigate the matter, checking that the company did indeed handle the issue in the way they should have done.
However, players will not learn the outcome of this investigation.
The final step would be to launch a complaint about the UKGC, MGA, or similar licensing body itself.
This can be done via either email or letter and details of how to contact the specific agency will be found on their website.
We hope you never have to go through any of the above, and if you do, your issue gets sorted at the casino level itself.
However, if something unexpected were to happy, it's very reassuring to know that there are procedures in place to deal with legitimate grievances.
At an unlicensed iGaming venue, the complaints process ends at the casino itself. If they reject your case, there is very little you can do.
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