Online Casino Safety: Part 14 (Who To Complain To When Things Go Wrong).

As anyone familiar with the online gambling industry will testify, it is not uncommon to suffer from withdrawal symptoms, and no, we are not referring to the feelings of compulsion that can accompany gambling, but rather the problems associated when withdrawing money from an online casino. If you cannot get your cash fix, i.e. your money back from the casino, then read this article which will help you to deal with problem casinos that are reluctant to part with your money.

When it comes to any form of business, this is true regardless of the nature of the industry they happen to be a part of, you will get good, honourable participants, but you will also find your fair share of dodgy dealers, underworld wheelers. And although it is beyond the powers of any casino to stop people from exercising their internet freedom and posting complaints about them, in one forum or another, a great majority of the issues that are brought forth through these forums are in actual fact inadvertent, there may be crossed-wires between player and provider, or the player may have misunderstood something important in the casinos terms and conditions, regardless of the reason, most casinos are concerned with maintaining a legitimate reputation. As such, before you attempt to get the said casino ‘blacklisted’ the first thing you should do is to contact them and talk to a higher level management if you have so far failed to get your complaint heard, they are most inclined to settle disputes before their reputations are in tatters.

By far the commonest problem that players complain about surrounds the withdrawal of funds, and the casino refusing to pay out. Those casinos who appear to be making a habit of this particular exploit are referred to as ‘rogue casinos’, and given the vast number of casinos in operation on the internet at any one time, you should find that it is no surprise that amongst these there will be a few who either refuse to ever pay out, or fail to pay out within an adequate or appropriate timeframe, it is no good if you win but you cannot withdraw your winnings for a few months!

The main reason why a casino will hold on to players funds longer than is deemed appropriate is usually because they hope that by dragging the process out players will continue to place wagers whilst they are waiting, resulting in them losing all of the money that they have won in the first place- in terms of the casino making its money this way, it is sad to say that it is a strategy that works, I myself have fallen for it once, but never twice.

This leads us on to the following question; what can you do as a player to ensure that you receive winnings that are rightfully yours within a reasonable space of time? The following guidelines should help if you ever find yourself in such a position.

Guide 1: Keep Your Own Records:

At any point that you find yourself conversing with an internet casino regarding a problem relating to withdrawals, then your best mode of communication would be by email. By making use of email you will ensure that you have a copy of all the correspondence that passes between you. You will be able to print them off so as to have a hard copy- something that might prove invaluable o any subsequent claims you may need to make.

Guide 2: Always Try To Speak To Someone In a High Position:

Whenever you are trying to settle a dispute with an online casinos customer services, and incidentally this piece of advice relates to all types of business too, make sure that you ask to speak to someone in a higher position than the person you are dealing with if they are unable to satisfactorily resolve your problem. It could be that you are talking to someone with little experience, and who may therefore not know their job thoroughly enough yet, or you may be dealing with someone who is having a bad day and they are taking their bad mood out on customers- if you are communicating with someone who is being difficult, or who is not getting to the bottom of your dispute, then you must insist on speaking to someone who has a greater authority than that person.

Guide 3: If Needs Be Recruit a Third Party:

If you have tried and failed to get a complaint satisfactorily resolved, if it is starting to feel as if you are banging your head against a brick wall, then our advice for your next port-of-call is to seek help from a third-party specialist. The first place you may begin to start is by contacting the source that originally directed you to that particular online casino. Such sources may include promotional e-mails, or affiliate websites, forums, etc, obviously if the third-party is a friend who knows nothing about resolving an issue then you will need to seek help elsewhere (more on this later in the article).

If your source was a third-party website then your best bet is to contact the webmaster directly, because they will surely be thoroughly conversed in the industry, and enjoy a good business relationship with that particular casino, they should be able to talk with the casino on your behalf- after all, they too have a reputation to uphold and will not want to give the impression that they direct their customers to ‘rogue casinos’. Additionally, if you came to the casino via a link on an affiliates website, then the webmaster will recognise you as one of ‘their’ customers and will be in a much more inclined frame of mind to help you, they will have a lot more negotiating clout than you and they will also have the incentive to help you as it may directly affect their revenue if they do not help when asked.

If after taking these steps you still do not have the outcome you had been hoping for, all is not lost, there are some alternative actions that are open to you, there are, for example, independent websites that have been created for the specific purposes of helping people to resolve such online disputes.

The Various Player Dispute Services:

If you have tried as many avenues as you can think of and you have still not had any luck getting to the root of the problem, particularly when the problem involves withdrawal of funds, then you should contact the company/jurisdiction that deals with the licensing of the relevant software in question. Many of the largest online casino software providers, such as RealTimeGaming, Microgaming and Playtech will provide disgruntled players with a ‘Player Dispute Service’, these services are specifically tailored for players like you, who are having problems with a particular online casino. The chances are that the issue will already be known to them and they will know the particular recourse of action that is needed to solve your dispute. This is the correct last-port-of-call for players playing at any type of gambling website, including bingo rooms, poker rooms, standard casinos and sports betting sites.

Such software licensors will be happy to hear from any player who is having particular problems with a casino for which they are providing the games. The reason being? These leading software providers will not want their good reputations tarnished by online casinos that are not willing to play by the rules, or in a fair manner.

eCOGRA:

Created in the early part of this decade, eCOGRA (ecommerce & Online Gaming Regulation & Assurance) was established by the software developers Microgaming and Cassava with the aim of functioning as a regulatory body for what is still a largely unregulated business.

Only casinos that meet eCOGRA’s stringent regulations are offered the companies prestigious seal of approval, this seal will usually appear somewhere on the home page and says “Play It Safe”- this is a trustworthy, reliable seal and any casino that is legitimately sporting it is a safe bet to play on. Online casinos belonging to the eCOGRA group will have a Player Dispute Form available somewhere on their site, which can be filled in and submitted to their company, after which they will do all in the power to reach a satisfactory resolve to the issue.

Gambling Portal and Webmasters Association GPWA:

The GPWA is the company that runs the world renowned “The Players Corner” forum where online gamblers can give voice to their problems with an online casino and receive advice from other players or business people in the industry. Because of the large customer base pertaining to the GPWA you will almost certainly be able to talk to someone that will have a contact within the particular casino that you are having difficulties with, and they may even act on your behalf in order to help you to resolve any issues you have.

Online Casino Forums:

An online forum is usually the first place that a person will look when they are faced with a problem casino; however, it is not always the most effective means of going about your problem. If you enter a forum and publicly voice that an online casino is operating in an underhand manner, and then you will not be very likely to receive your winnings once you have antagonised them, they will do more in their power to ensure that you do not get your money at all. But, if everything that you have tried has thus far failed, then it is probably more than worth your while to start bad mouthing them, especially if you know you are not going to receive your money, you will want other players to know so that they avoid that particular casino too.

SAFEST CHOICE OF ONLINE CASINO - LADBROKES

If your number one concern is safety then Ladbrokes Casino is your best choice. Ladbrokes are a publically traded UK company and the biggest gambling and online casino operator in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. As they are a UK company they are subject to the tightest financial and security restrictions in the world and must regularly pass rigorous integrity, anti-fraud, banking security and money laundering tests. This is why it remains the number one choice for high rollers.

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