Casino Disputes – What to do when the casino won’t pay you

So your casino is withholding your payment? On this page we’ll explain the steps to take, give practical advice for fixing any of the known problems that may have caused this, as well as provide advice about avoiding such incidents in the future.

This is your go-to article for anything related to casinos refusing to pay you in one way or another, even if they’re masking it as a verification issue or something else. If you want to get paid, but aren’t, then you’re effectively already in a dispute with the casino. Based on our vast experience with online casinos, and several instances in which we had to chase payments, this is what to do.

Steps to take

As with any problem, you start at the bottom and then escalate the issue to a higher authority.

1. Talk to customer support

You probably already did, and were frustrated with their unwillingness to resolve the issue or the brain dead advice that the Terms & Conditions are what they are and that there’s nothing anyone can do about it.

Customer support employees never have any real power, so your only real goal while talking to them is to escalate the issue.

2. File a formal complaint via email

Calmly explain the issue and provide facts and documents. Quote the Terms & Conditions if they’re in your favour. Send it to customer support and ask that the relevant department gets back to you with a decision or with a request to submit more proof.

3. File a formal complaint with the regulatory body

If the casino decided against you, or you never even got past the customer support, what remains is that you escalate the issue past the casino.

If it’s a Curacao-licenced casino, you probably won’t get anywhere, though you might have a shot if the casino has a new government-issued Curacao licence. As in Step 2, provide all details about your problem, give facts and provide evidence for your claims.

If it’s a UKGC-licensed casino the regulatory body might take you seriously, but won’t really care if you’re not in the UK. You perhaps stand a better chance with Malta.

4. File a complaint with a third-party dispute resolution service

Some websites that are not that different from DashTickets have, in larger markets, grown so big that they now have the power to take your complaint to the casino and make them liable. We don’t yet have that power in New Zealand, but these bigger sites might twist the arm of the casino a bit and get your problem resolved. Google for ‘file a complaint against a casino’ and you’ll probably find some.

5. Let everyone know

We listen to players who tell us they have been done wrong at some casino. Make your voice heard, go to TrustPilot or whatever website comes up when you Google for the review of the casino in question. If they let you post your own review, post it. Be calm and provide arguments.

Why casinos refuse payment

All casinos have the power to refuse payment to certain players, and the devil is in detail, some casinos will do it to players who didn’t deserve it. Here are the four types of casinos in relation to how often they refuse payments.

Most of the time you’ll either be dealing with a casino that is trying to honestly protect itself from fraudsters and abusers – there are a lot of them! – but is inadequate about it and is sticking to firm Terms & Conditions, or a casino that is downright rogue and that is refusing payments for fun.

In the first case, proving that you weren’t attempting fraud or abuse should work. In the latter case, you don’t stand much of a chance and should have done more research. Should have only played at casinos that DashTickets recommends and should have read the reviews fully.

The usual problems that lead to refusal of payment

Casinos refuse payment in one of these ways:

Several reasons are the most common causes of refused payment:

The dreaded pending deposit

The latest trick in casinos’ arsenal is the neverending pending deposit. It’s when you know you’ve made a deposit, the payment went through on your end, and you don’t have the money anymore. You know the casino has it.

Yet they claim they never got it.

They tell you to provide further proof of payment, they tell you to take it to the card company or whatever. In short, they got the payment and are trying to fool you into thinking it’s been lost somehow.

Rogue casinos do this all the time. The one and only solution to not being stuck in this situation (it can take months off your life) is to never play at a casino that’s known to have done this even once.

The neverending KYC procedure

Some casinos use the KYC (Know Your Customer) procedure to halt the payment to a player. The player is given impossible hoops to jump through, such as being asked to submit a certificate of mental sanity (true story!) to become a verified player.

And as we all know, unverified customers can’t request a withdrawal. One way to never experience this is to play at no-KYC casinos, though they are even entitled to ask for documents if they suspect something is wrong.

The casino app that did not pay out

I must mention a case that doesn’t have anything to do with real online casinos, but with casino apps that you may have downloaded from Google Store or Apple Store and thought they were the real thing.

These casino apps aren’t real. Whatever they promise isn’t true. You’ll never get paid, no matter what you do, no matter how much money you deposit to make it to the next level.

The only way to gamble online and win real money is to play at real online casinos.

Things to do to avoid being refused payment in the future

Here are some tips on how to minimise the chance of being refused payment from now on.

Read DashTickets casino reviews

The most obvious, no-brainer thing to do. Read our reviews of casino brands, and believe us when we say a casino is good or bad. We did the research and aren’t just saying it lightly. Our mission is to be an archive of true opinions about NZ-facing casinos so you can always refer to us when you want to hear the truth.

If we haven’t reviewed some casino, be careful. It’s better not to play there.

Don’t open a second account

As tempting as it might be because the no deposit bonus is so great, just don’t. Or do, but don’t complain when they catch you and confiscate your funds.

Don’t try to game the system

Don’t pursue that brilliant idea on how you can abuse the bonus terms and conditions. Playing Aviator and auto-cashing out at 1.01 may work at some casinos that are clueless, but most will simply confiscate your funds when they look at your game history and see what you’ve been doing.

Be mindful

Be mindful of how your activity would look like to someone employed by the casino who’s looking at your every move. Are your bets normal ones, or do they look like they have an intent of gaming the terms and conditions of the bonus?

Don’t play at pending deposit casinos

Trust DashTickets reviews, but you can also do your own research. Don’t focus on confiscated winnings that much. Look for ‘my deposit never arrived’ type of complaints.

Play with small deposits at first

Though this is no guarantee, as some rogue casinos only steal large deposits, by depositing a little at first as $5 minimum, $10 minimum or $20 minimum deposit casinos, you can get a feel for the casino. Don’t trust the casinos at first, let them earn your trust.

Playing with small deposits is also a great way to quickly gain experience with a lot of different casinos. After a while you’ll start recognizing patterns of shady or rogue behaviour.

Conclusion

The advantage of playing at reputable casinos is exactly this – you minimise the chance of being refused payment. It’s difficult to point your finger at a casino and say downright is it a good or a bad one, but we at DashTickets are doing our best. Read our casino reviews all the way.

If you decide to swim in murky waters and are willingly depositing your money to a casino that may be shady but you ignore it because of the excellent bonus, that’s a risky strategy that might not pay off.

Update Log

5 Sep 2024: Expanded the intro.