Online casino ombudsman
Contact the bookmaker and put forward your case, see the example below.
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How to make a complaint against a bookmaker
Should you not be able to resolve a complaint then you can approach the independent betting adjudication service (IBAS) or in some cases the advertising standards agency and the gambling commission.
IBAS is an impartial adjudicator for disputes between punters and gambling operators. This article gives information on how to use IBAS and other services as well as examples of common complaints and their likely outcomes.
Bookmaker / betting site complaint information
The contact details listed in this table are for the UK. If you would like an overseas or alternative phone number, additional email addresses or customer services postal addresses see our betting site reviews contact section.
How to make A complaint to a UK bookmaker
All terms and conditions relating to betting and funding must be listed and easily accessible from the home page or help centre. Familiarise yourself with the relevant sections before you email. Remember if you have contravened the terms but you feel the conditions are unclear or inaccessible you may still have a complaint.
Contact the bookmaker and put forward your case, see the example below. Try to be factual and use neutral language. If your complaint is eventually escalated to IBAS then these exchanges may be scrutinised so don't shoot yourself in the foot before you start. Maybe stay off social media in the first instance too.
Remember, bookmakers and betting sites are private companies and while they have a duty to adhere to their licence conditions they can decide at any time to terminate an account. On the other hand bookmakers need to make money and so they will generally be fair with customers to ensure your on going business.
Below is an example of where I felt I had been mislead by a betting offer and how I dealt with it. The bookmaker decided to be rational and even though technically they were correct, to the letter of their T&cs, they realised it was a pretty underhand thing to do, and they would ultimately lose my custom:
I recently placed a bet in line with your horse racing promotion "bet £10 on race X and get a £10 free bet the next day". As you can see form the attached screen shot I placed the bet at 12:30pm. The free bet was awarded later that day at 16:30pm. Unfortunately I was unable to login to my account until the following evening only to find my free bet had expired. I did know that the free bet was only valid for one day but having scrutinised the offer terms I feel that the deal was misleading. The terms state:
"place a £10 win single bet on race 'X' and get a £10 free bet…….Free bets are awarded for the following days racing and expire after 24 hours"
My interpretation of these terms is the free token is valid for the following days racing. I logged onto my account at 17:16 to use my free bet in the 17:35 race at 'Y' only to find the token had expired. I think it is reasonable to assume from the terms that the free bet would be valid for the entire days racing on the following day even if this was technically more than 24 hours from you crediting my account. Racing on this day continued until 18:05 and I think it is only fair for the bonus to remain valid until this time.
Having been a customer of yours for 2 years I would hope that you could see this was a genuine mistake and credit my account. I would like to say out of principle I would be unlikely to remain a customer if this isn't considered. I would also consider approaching IBAS and the advertising standards agency
The bookmaker did decide to reissue the free bet and accepted the terms were misleading.
Always try this approach first. IBAS won't consider your complaint if you haven't tried to resolve your issues directly.
The independent betting adjudication service (IBAS)
Once the panel make a ruling this is now binding for all parties without detriment to any existing legal proceedings.
IBAS operate in the following sectors:
- Adult gaming centres
- Bet exchanges
- Betting shops
- Bingo clubs
- Casinos
- Charitable lotteries
- Gambling machines
- Lotteries
- Remote gambling
- Totalisator betting
All bookmakers listed on this site are registered with IBAS. We recommend you do not deal with operators not registered with the service. If you are dealing with an operator not listed you may need to consider legal action, or see some of other options further down.
For a more detailed guide on how to complain see our dedicated IBAS page.
Advertising standards agency
The ASA can, and will, often rule in favour of the customer, even if that customer has technically contravened the terms and conditions of the offer or company. Should the ASA judge the advert, or its terms, to be misleading they will generally come down in your favour.
Betting sites and casino sites are obliged to adhere to advertising standards. Also because this is the gambling industry there are additional restrictions on adverts. Betting ads and offers cannot be aimed in any way at children (under 18) or vulnerable age groups and they cannot use sexualisation in their ads. The agency will also take into account 'the spirit' of an advert and consider if the ad was designed to mislead even if it technically ticks complaints boxes.
Gambling commission
It is not the job of the gambling commission to mediate customer complaints about individual accounts or bets. If however you feel a bookmaker has contravened the terms of their licensing agreement, particularly in relation to the gambling act of 2005 and 2014, then you can report an operator to the GC. Read more about licensing and law requirements is our dedicated article, read more.
Issues concerning operators breaking the law (fraud and crime, failure to enforce safe gambling, not protecting vulnerable people, etc.) can all be referred to the gambling commission. If, for example, you asked to be self excluded, or have your account restricted in some way, and an operator failed to do this properly then this would be breaking the law. If a bookie allowed a child to gamble this would be breaking the law, etc.
If you are gambling with an unlicensed operator then you do so at your own risk. If they are not based in the UK (which they probably won't be) there is not a lot you can do, even through the courts. All sites listed at onlinebetting.Org.Uk are fully UK licensed.
The senet group
Coral, ladbrokes, william hill and paddy power are all well known members of the senet group. The group covers around 75% of retail betting shop and over 40% of online gambling. If you have a problem with member brands, particularly in relation to responsible gambling complaints, then contacting the senet groups is a viable option.
Association of british bookmakers
The ABB is an industry trade association that represents betting shop operators in the UK. Don't get me wrong, it is their job to represent the bookies interests, but on occasion, if the complaint is obviously right and the operator just isn't listening, they have been known to help. This is more of a last port of call however. At the very least you can use the ABB to read about codes of conduct and other industry news that you could use in your favour.
Social media, twitter and facebook
Most operators have separate (and usually friendlier) teams here and this can often give you a new outlook in your complaint. At the end of the day no one want to look bad in such an exposing area so use it to your advantage.
Be careful though don't jump straight to social media before using official channels as this can actually hurt your case.
Keep A cool head
Aussieonline.Com
All of the online casinos that we have reviewed & recommended for you right here on this website are fully licensed by trusted authorities in well-known online gambling licensing jurisdictions, plus they are also monitored by independent third party organisations. Most of our featured online casinos are licensed either by the malta gaming authority, by the UK gambling commission, by the gibraltar regulatory authority or by the curacao internet gaming association / CIGA.
If you do have a genuine complaint about any of these casinos you can start by lodging a direct complaint with the actual casino. 99.9% of all complaints will be resolved in no time at all through the casino’s own complaints department. However, if your questions are going unanswered or if you think that the casino is not doing enough to resolve your issue, the next step would be to try and get hold of the authority that issued the casino a license, but only as a last resort.
When you lodge a complaint, it would be a good idea to provide as much evidence as possible and this means that you should try and support your complaint with as many screenshots as possible and any other evidence that you feel will be useful. It shouldn’t take any longer than 48 hours to receive some kind of response from the complaints department, but in most cases you should receive an instant automated response, or you may even receive some other kind of direct response from an actual person within just a few hours.
If you sign up to an UNLICENSED online casino you wouldn’t have this safety net available and this is why we only recommended playing in a fully licensed online casino. You will only receive the proper legal backing that you are entitled to as a player when signing up to a fully licensed online casino.
Before you go ahead and lodge a complaint, just make sure that you have read thoroughly through the casino’s policies, terms & conditions. For example, players often fail to read through the bonus T’s & C’s when claiming a bonus and don’t realise that they have to complete the wagering requirements before they can withdraw their winnings. Wagering requirements also generally need to be completed within one week or within one month of accepting the bonus, or they can end up losing their bonus cash which often leaves players feeling cheated by the casino.
To contact the casino directly you can head straight to the ‘contact us’ section or to the ‘support’ section and this will give you a list of appropriate email addresses or telephone numbers. If you can’t seem to find this information anywhere you may just need to launch the live chat and then ask them for further assistance. You may have to wait in a queue for a few minutes, but the live chat response time at most of our featured australian online casinos is usually just a matter of seconds and there’s generally never any waiting around.
You will also find that all of our microgaming powered casinos are ecogra certified. Ecommerce online gaming regulation and assurance is an internationally accredited online casino testing agency which has been keeping players safe and dealing with player’s complaints since 2002. You can contact ecogra directly should you have an unresolved complaint about any of our top-rated microgaming casinos.
This is a london-based, non-profit organisation and wherever you see the ecogra ‘safe & fair’ seal of approval at an online casino, you can pretty much guarantee that you won’t run in to any problems at the casino and you can always count on ecogra being able to resolve most issues for you.
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Making complaints
Learn about your options when online casinos misbehave. UK players have several options when it comes to lodging complaints against online casinos.
Making a complaint
While the majority of players will claim to have good experiences with online casinos, there is always the chance that an online casino will misbehave. If this does happen, players need to know how they can safely and effectively file a complaint about any online casino and have the issues addressed and hopefully resolved.
Complaining to licensing government
If players feel they have a legitimate complaint about an online casino, they will have to learn where the casino is licensed. The complaint can be directed to the governing body. Each online casino will usually have a link at the bottom of the page connecting players to the appropriate government website. Players will then submit complaint forms. In addition to the information required on the form, players should include any other relevant information as well as dates and times of incidents. Some governments will take immediate action and begin investigating the complaint. It may take weeks or even months to hear a response. If the claim is supported, the government will notify players on how to proceed.
Complaints to ecogra
Most online casinos that are reputable will attempt to handle any player complaint and rectify the situation. If the casino does not respond to multiple complaints and it is an ecogra casino, complaints can be directed to ecogra. This organisation will help players resolve casino disputes and will take any action against the casino as necessary. Since ecogra casinos must meet strict standards, player complaints are taken very seriously. Before filing with ecogra, players should always try to contact the casino directly and make sure that the complaint is legitimate and supported.
Use websites for complaints
When players have an issue with any online casino, they can make use of some websites to file complaints. While these are not formal complaints that are being filed, they will inform other players of the issue at hand. These websites are often referenced by new players looking for reliable and reputable online casinos and this information can be very helpful when making a decision. Players should direct their complaints to trusted sites, including casino meister and ask gamblers. These sites have a great reputation for reviewing and suggesting only the most reputable casinos available online.
ONLINE CASINO COMPLAINTS 04 MAY 2016
Casino sites experience a huge amount of complaints made to the customer service teams. Whilst some are justified and legitimate, others are unjustified and unnecessary. If you do have a grievance against an online casino there is a complaints procedure that will need to be carried out.
Write it down
Firstly, get the details of your complaint down on paper in a clear and concise way. You should ideally write down important information such as the deposit dates, the amount the deposit is worth, what went wrong and when. Instead of waffling, be concise, precise and detailed. You should attempt to include logs of gaming periods that are related to the complaint. Use any correspondence, whether it was by email, live chat or telephone calls to the customer service team, as references.
Submit your complaint
You should then submit the complaint to the online casino. If you do not believe your complaint has been answered and resolved sufficiently, a more formal complaint should be submitted. The evidence and information you have gathered about the complaint should be sent to the licensing authority that the site is licensed to.
If it gets rejected
If the claim or complaint is rejected by the authority have a good, long think about why it may have been rejected. If you still believe you have a solid case that should be re-looked at and could be legitimately won, the last attempt would be to call in a third party that could act as a mediator. Whilst some online casinos will not collaborate with third parties, some believe it is within their interest to collaborate because they may receive potentially damaging publicity if they don’t. You should also be aware that third parties do not have any legal substance or authority.
Contact ombudsman
Legal action may be taken. However, this is likely to be expensive and you cannot guarantee you will win the case. Contacting the relevant ombudsman might be a better solution as this might not cost you anything if you deal with the case personally. However, you should also be aware that representing yourself in a legal case requires hefty amounts of research, reading, time, preparation and often stress. It is usual for people representing themselves in legal cases to have to take time off work in order to carry out the necessary preparation work in order to be in with a chance of winning their case.
Check your facts
When battling to win a case against an online casino it is important to remain realistic. Gather as much solid information as you can, as the more details, facts and evidence you have to support your complaint, the greater chance you will have of the case working in your favour. It is imperative that you read the ‘small print’ of a casino site as attempting to put forward a complaint about something that is clearly written in the terms and conditions will not result in your complaint be taken seriously and you being given the compensation and apology you are looking for.
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Labour proposes a new ombudsman for gambling industry
The united kingdom gambling commission is one of the strictest and most respectable regulatory bodies in the world.
As a result, UK casinos and new slots sites licensed by it project an image of trustworthiness and are preferred by players who cherish security above everything else. The gambling laws in the UK have changed over the last couple of years, making the industry safer, while increasing the taxation levels. A big change is looming at the horizon as labour contemplates the possibility of setting up a new gambling ombudsman.
Tom watson is likely to make this proposal, as the deputy leader is concerned about the predatory practices in the gambling industry. A new gambling act will change betting regulation, in an attempt of dealing with what the party regards a serious threat for consumers. A few weeks ago, the discussion regarding the possible banning of credit cards for online betting rocked the UK gambling industry.
What to expect from the new ombudsman?
Tom watson wants the new ombudsman to work closely with the NHS, as well as the gambling commission to mitigate the risks of problem gambling. The goal is to address the threat posed by the gambling firms who take advantage of vulnerable people, by exploiting the existing holes in the regulatory regime. Some companies were exposed over the years for accepting money from problem gamblers, instead of limiting and restricting their access to online gaming services.
The UK GC does its part in maintaining a safe gambling environment in the united kingdom, but labour thinks that more needs to be done. While it is not common practice, some casinos offer bonuses and free bets to players who lose huge amounts, to keep them gambling further. Many changes are needed, with more transparency and clear terms and conditions among them. The current laws don’t do enough to address the threat of predatory bonus offers and this is something that some lawmakers want to change.
What changes can new gambling legislation bring?
At the time of writing, the UK GC can fine gambling companies that don’t respect the gambling license. The new ombudsman will be able to go a step further and compensate consumers if the bookmakers take advantage of them. The sensitive issue of problem gambling is yet to be fully addressed and according to those who have proposed these changes, the wheel should be set in motion quickly. Online gambling operators need to live up to their obligation and the ombudsman will keep a close eye on their dealings.
Not surprisingly, some online casinos and bookmakers were not happy with these proposed changes, but campaign groups safeguarding the interests of punters are celebrating. Some of them have been asking for a new ombudsman for years, as they regard him as essential for protecting customers. Labour also has other things in mind, such as a mandatory levy on gambling companies of nearly £100m, which would represent a tenfold increase compared to the current voluntary donation paid by the industry.
So, let's see, what we have: how to make a complaint against a bookmaker if you have a complaint against a licenced UK betting site, bookmaker or casino the first thing to do is to approach them. Part of their licence agreement means they must to everything that can reasonably b... At online casino ombudsman
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