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
Casino Dukes - our best value for money casino
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Casino Complaints - how to complain about online gambling sites
If you have a complaint about an online casino, poker room, bingo hall or sports book, in the first instance you need to contact the operator. In many cases, customer services will be able to resolve your complaint quickly and to your satisfaction. But what happens when you are not happy with their response or if they are simply ignoring your complaint?
Luckily there are a number of dispute resolution services who can help when a player has a dispute with an online casino or gambling operator. The first thing to take note of is where the casino is licensed. Most licensing jurisdictions have their own casino complaint mediation service although they will want to ensure you have firstly attempted to resolve your problem with the gambling site itself. If the casino is licensed in the UK, under the rules of the Gambling Commission they must have an effective complaints and dispute service. Any casino which advertises to or accepts UK players must from October 2014 hold a license awarded by the UK Gambling Commission.
You can check whether a casino holds a UK licence by looking at the home page. All UK license holders should have a Gambling Commission logo displayed at the bottom of the page. You can also check for a UK license here : http://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/Find-licensees.aspx
Firstly, ask for a copy of the gambling sites official complaints procedure. They are duty bound to provide this to you. Next take your complaint through their disputes procedure and await the response from the operator. If you are unhappy with their resolution of your complaint, then the operator should provide you with the details of their Alternative Disputes Resolution service. The ADR is an independent third party to whom your complaint can be referred for investigation. The ADR may request further information or documentation regarding your dispute.
There are a number of ADR’s and which one your complaint will be referred to depends on the terms of the license issued.
If your complaint does not concern a casino or gambling operator which is licensed in the UK, then there may be other entities who can help. Make note of two key pieces of information - where the casino is licensed and what software it uses. All the big casino software providers have their own dispute resolution services - however these may be over ridden by the licensing jurisdiction. For example Microgaming software have their own disputes mediation service but if you are dealing with a Microgaming casino which holds a UK license then you will need to go through the ADR entity of that particular casino.
You can find more information on the software providers dispute services and those belonging to the main licensing jurisdictions here - http://www.casinovamp.com/articles/casino-complaints-and-dispute-resolution.html
Don’t forget too that if you saw the casino advertised on a casino site such as casinovamp.com you can enlist the help of the webmaster to solve your complaint. We will always assist with complaints about casinos who are listed on our pages and if we are not able to solve it for you then we can usually point you in the right direction of where to go next.
UK Gambling laws went live on November 1st 2014
If you are a UK player and have suddenly found yourself locked out of your favourite gambling site, this is due to the recent changes in UK licensing laws which went live on November 1st. Originally scheduled to come into force on October 1st, the new rules mean that any casino or gambling site who wish to advertise to or accept UK players should be licensed by the UK authorities. In addition they also need to pay an additional tax on all UK transactions.
This has meant a max exodus from the UK for many established brands, although many of the major brands have taken steps to ensure they meet the new requirements. Some have channeled UK players though to different brands or a special UK version of their casino. The legislation was originally due to come into force on October 1st but was delayed due to both a back log in UK licensing application processing and a challenge in the High Court from a group of gambling operatives.
The main objectives of the act are :
- prevent gambling from being a source of crime and/or disorder, or from being associated with crime or disorder and/or from being used to support crime;
- ensure that gambling is conducted in a fair and open way; and
- protect children and other vulnerable persons from being harmed and/or exploited by gambling
Exactly how things will pan out for UK players remains to be seen. At present it appears that only the major players are certain to remain in the market and there will be a lot less choice for players from the UK. These could lead to a monopoly by those using big brand software such as Microgaming and Playtech, with fewer smaller or independant software providers being able to afford to compete with the bigger boys. Fears that unlicensed casinos will still be offering their services to UK players, have also surfaced. Whether the “black market” which some commentators have predicted will come about remains to be seen - after all the new law has only been in force for three days.
More UK gambling casualities
The upcoming Point of Consumption Tax has led to more online casinos leaving the UK market. The latest group to announce their exodus is the Focalclick group comprising of Omni and Fly Casino. All Jackpots have already announced that they will be quitting the UK market and all players are being redirected to Betway Casino. The new licensing restrictions come into force on October 1st 2014 and are designed to ensure that all operators who face the UK pay tax on their income from UK gambling transactions. To achieve this any operators who wish to accept UK players or bets from within the UK will need to seek the necessary license from the UK Gambling Commission.
On a more positive note, William Hill and Casino Rewards Casinos have vowed to stay in the UK under proper licensing agreements. It is expected that 32red will also remain in the UK
Whilst the new regulations are being seen as negative by many of those in the gambling industry, licensing is primarily being put in place to protect UK consumers which is a laudable aim. The new act aims to stop gambling from being associated with or a source or crime, or the proceeds being used to support criminal activities. It is also designed to ensure that gambling is properly regulated and that gaming companies conduct businesss in a fair and open way. It also aims to protect minors and other vulnerable persons from being harmed or exploited by gambling.
It is hoped that more companies will seek licensing in the UK in the near future, in what is hopefully a positive move which can only improve things for players in the UK
Point of Consumption Tax Changes UK gambling laws
Big changes are coming to the UK gambling laws from December 1st 2014, with the introduction of a Point of Consumption Tax which will see remote gambling operations taxed 15% for every bet placed online in Britain. The legislation has already proved unpopular with gambling operators and is said to be responsible for several operators closing, including the popular Bingo Joy brand which will cease operations on 11th September 2014.
The new tax is expected to bring around £300 million into the UK governments coffers, but it is already being challenged by a group of gambling operators including well known bookmakers Victor Chandler and UK online casino 32 Red. The GBGA (Gibraltar Betting and Gaming Association) are seeking a judicial review. Companies which offer gambling activities to UK residents will also be required to be licensed in the UK, whether or not they are currently licensed in a “white label” jurisdiction. Operators fear that this will lead to a “black market” type of operation where unscrupulous companies operating on the other side of the world would be able to offer bets at preferable rates, leaving consumers vulnerable to unregulated and unlicensed operators.
There are also concerns particularly for the economy of Gibraltar, in that the new rules may prompt existing businesses which are licensed and operate in the jurisdiction to relocate to the UK. The gambling industry provides a boost to the economy of Gibraltar and there are fears that a mass exodus of gambling firms to the UK could lead to unemployment and financial losses.
Leading operators Ladbrokes and William Hill have chosen not to challenge the new rules, although they have expressed concern about the upcoming changes. A statement issued by William Hill reads
“As the UK’s leading operator, William Hill has chosen not to challenge the Government’s decision to impose dual regulation on the online gambling industry.
“However, our original concerns regarding the distortive effects on the market and the inadequacy of enforcement mechanisms, remain. Our message to Government would be to strike the correct balance between overlapping regulation and enforcement by setting an appropriate tax rate which encourages full compliance without damaging businesses”.
You can find out more about the proposed legislation and the summary of consultation responses at
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/229993/remote_gambling_summary_of_responses.pdf
