Facebook and gambling sites
I recently tried to log into the Casino Vamp Facebook page only to be told that Facebook had taken it down as promoting gambling sites was “against its policies”. Now whilst I have to chuckle at the hypocrisy of that statement - in the past Facebook have allowed porn sites, animal cruelty - even crush sites which feature innocent animals being vilely slaughtered, and sites which promote religious hatred, racism and stir up hate - I know because my friends and I have reported some of these really disgusting and shocking sites only to be told they do not breach their terms and conditions. However Facebook have in the past removed pictures of a woman’s mastectomy scars, breastfeeding pictures and most famously a picture of a woman’s elbow because it resembled a boob….
Now there are literally thousands of gambling sites on Facebook so why should Facebook pick on ours… Well either someone has reported it or they have randomly found it and decided to disable it whilst letting other promote gambling and casinos - that seems more than a little unfair. Facebook allow sites which promote gambling to advertise with them - albeit you need to seek permission, and the big names all have Facebook presences. So why go after the little guy. We do not target under 18’s, we live in a country where promoting online gambling is legal and we only promote decent, fair sites which are fully licensed. We do not however advertise on Facebook - our page was just a community page which keeps people updated with the latest news and a few selected offers and promotions. Meanwhile sites which promote fly by night operations and dubious casinos seem to get away scot free.
We are waiting to hear back from Facebook to find out exactly why we have been shut down but I won’t be holding my breath - but if they truly do not want gambling and casino pages on their network why allow those who keep the advertising dollars rolling in to promote whatever they want. Either you allow gambling or you don’t Facebook - let’s hear you explain your policy.
Can online casinos snoop into your bank accounts?
A fairly disturbing case came to light recently, and one which sets a frightening precedent for the privacy of online gamblers. This case involves a player at William Hill who apparently had been gambling with them for some time and was a reasonably big player there. The player was contacted by support at William Hill who asked them to “justify their level of play” by providing financial records to prove that he or she was able to afford their gambling habit. The casino apparently wanted financial papers regarded the players income, including bank statements for 3 years and utility bills.
A quick scan of their terms and condition reveals that they are actually entitled to ask for these. This is listed under the money laundering section of their T & C’s.
In certain circumstances we may have to contact You and ask You to provide further information to us directly in order to complete the Checks. For this purpose, we will be entitled, at our sole discretion, to require that You provide us with a notarised ID or any equivalent certified ID according to the applicable law of Your jurisdiction or otherwise, proof of address, utility bills, bank details, bank statements and bank references. Until such information has been supplied to our satisfaction we may prevent any activity to be undertaken by You in relation to the Account or we may, where we reasonably believe that deliberately incorrect information has been provided by You, keep any amount deposited on the Account following the closure of the Account by us.
Now obviously all casinos need to ensure that they are not party to money laundering but 3 years bank statements seems a bit excessive by any standards. They also wanted the players proof of income and the player reported that they asked for other detailed information such as property records, savings. family savings and more.
Quite what prompted this level of intrusion is not clear, however William Hill have not responded to questions put to them by prominent members of the gambling industry on the question. Whether this is prompted by the new UK gambling laws but it does seem an excessive amount of scrutiny for one player to endure. One would think that William Hill would value large players such as this rather than interrogating them to this level.
It also begs debate as to where due diligence ends and intrusion starts. Over the many years I have been playing at online casinos I have never been asked to undergo this level of scrutiny. Of course I provide documents as requested to prevent money laundering but these are generally only a copy of ID, a faxback form, a utility bill, copies of any credit/debit cards used and perhaps a bank statement. Casinos have always accepted my decision to black out all financial information on my bank statements and my documents have always been accepted without quibble. If a casino asked me to provide three years financial information I would politely tell them where to get off and go and find a new casino who values my custom.
It will be interesting to see how this case develops and William Hill’s justification for all of this. Unfortunately, at the moment the silence seems to be deafening.
#gambling #onlinecasinos #williamhill
What’s happened to the Alan Lane and Katrina Smith Go Fund Me Campaign?
There has been another twist in the story of Alan Lane and Katrina Smith, the middle class couple “forced” to live in Heathrow Airport, as reported by the Daily Mail. If you haven’t actually read this story (where have you been!) you can catch up here To briefly summarise the story, this couple lost their 500k home, made a series of extremely poor financial decisions and ended up apparently sleeping rough in Heathrow Airport.
Quite why they are forced to live in an airport, and indeed whether they are actually living in the airport has been the subject of fierce debate this week. It has been revealed that the couple have an income of £1400 a month, spend around £400 a month on bed and breakfast and £350 to keep their belongings in storage. As a great many people have pointed out, they have more than enough money to rent a flat, albeit not in the expensive Sandbanks or Canford Cliffs area of Poole as they are used to, but certainly enough for a modest flat in the general Poole area.
Nevertheless a lady called Natalie Longford sympathised with this couple enough to set up a Go Fund Me Page to raise £2000 - enough for a decent deposit on a flat to help these “needy pensioners”. Natalie says she has never met the couple, nor has she corresponded directly with them in any way. Within hours the total had reached nearly £10,000 before Natalie bowed to the pressure of those who wanted the fund stopped as they smelt a rat with the couples story.
There are indeed a number of points that need clarification, and answers were far from forthcoming. Firstly Alan Lane is a media specialist and consultant who specialises in how to make a story go viral. The Daily Mail have been surprisingly quiet on updates to the story other to say that Alan and Katrina are overwhelmed by the generousity of the general public and the offers of accommodation that have flooded in. However they would be spending a little more time at the guest house as it was “prepaid”. Here are just some of the holes that people have pointed out in the story.
1. £1400 a month income is significantly more than many people have to live on and certainly enough to rent a small flat.
2. Katrina Smith has not worked for many years and qualifies for Job Seekers Allowance yet has not claimed it. She cites difficulties in getting to interviews at the Job Centre as the reason she has not done this. Why has she not claimed and what are these difficulties?
3. The couple claim to have contacted various charities and organisations for help. However Heathrow Airport has a dedicated team of social workers who specialise in homelessness and they have not been contacted for help.
4. The mysterious B&B. Why pay £100 a week (equivalent to rent in many areas) to stay at a B&B when this would cover rent on your own home.
5. Several GoFundMe posters pointed out that there was a B&B close to Heathrow which was run by a couple called Katrina and Alan. Some people even claimed there was a photo of the couple on Trip Advisor which was removed but no evidence has been put forward to back up this theory. The B&B appears to be run by a different couple yet they have been very silent on the matter, not even putting forth a statement which, if this were my business I would be disassociating myself from this story most vehemently.
6. Alan is associated with many businesses and one of which is registered to a very expensive flat in the Poole area which is currently up for sale. What is Alan’s association with this flat and does he own it?
7. It appears that the couple made many financial mistakes including taking on additional financial commitments ie a mortgage quite late in life. At one point they had released enough equity from the sale of one of their properties to comfortably buy a small property outright yet they chose to mortgage again putting themselves in further difficulties.
8. Alans name has been variously reported as Lane or Page - which is it? Why the confusion?
9. How did the Daily Mail photographer claim copyright on both the picture of the couple at the airport and the one of them taken in happier times?
10. Do they not have friends or family who can help. The paper reports Mr Lane’s daughters living in Canada but do they not have relatives in this country?
11. If Natalie has never met the couple how did she intend to turn over the money to them?
12. Why was their scheduled appearance on Loose Women cancelled?
13. Why are the couple now apparently in hiding and not talking to the media? If someone raised such a large sum for me I would be extremely happy to participate in publicity to thank those who donated.
After many of these points were raised on Go Fund Me requests for refunds started to pour in.
The latest twist in the tale is that overnight the GoFundMe Page disappeared completely overnight. The page now says the campaign cannot be found and no mention is given of the funds that have been donated already. Curiouser and curiouser.
