Resolving disputes with an online casino

Last update: October 2020

If you have a dispute with an online casino, your complaint probably falls into one of these areas:

1. You think the casino's games are fixed.
2. You didn't get a bonus you expected.
3. You tried to make a withdrawal but the casino won't pay you.

Let's go ever each of these.

 You think the casino's games are fixed

It's highly unlikely that the casino is cheating unless you're dealing with one of the rare casinos that has a history of cheating.  (See a list of bad casinos at Casinomeister.)  Most casinos realize that cheating is counterproductive, because it would ensure they never got any repeat business — not to mention that getting a bad reputation in this business is the kiss of death.  A casino winds up making less money if it cheats, so cheating is rare.

Also, almost all online casinos run software from one of about a dozen reputable providers.  The software controls the game, so it would be hard for the casino to fix the game even if they wanted to.

Finally, remember that the casino has no need to cheat.  The odds are already against you.  If you're the kind of player who plays until your whole deposit is gone (and most players are), then fixing the games is pointless: the casino will get all your money sooner or later anyway.

Nevertheless, if you're convinced that a casino is cheating, then send me detailed records of your play and I'll try to see if anything looks amiss.  Detailed records means the cards that were dealt, dice that were rolled, or roulette numbers that hit for at least a hundred rounds.  If you merely tell me how much money you lost, or how many hands you lost I won't be able to help you.

 You didn't get a bonus you expected

Many online casinos make the bonuses really difficult to qualify for.  Usually you have to gamble a minimum amount of money, and often certain games don't count towards the play requirement.  For example, one casino ignores play on just about everything — Roulette, Craps, Baccarat, SicBo, Video Poker, and Blackjack.  (Gee, what else is left?)  Even my advertiser, Bovada, excludes Craps at the time of this writing.

So the first thing is to read the fine print on the casino's website and determine whether you really did qualify for the bonus.  If you think you did, write to the casino and ask them why you didn't, quoting the terms of their bonus offer back to them.  If they still disagree, then see the section below about resolving disputes.

You tried to make a withdrawal but the casino won't pay you

This is probably the most common complaint against an online casino.  If you win big, some casinos will look for an excuse not to pay you.  For example, many casinos (including Bovada) have a rule that there can be only one account per household, so if two people in your house are playing on separate accounts, then bam!, winnings seized.

The reason casinos have the "one account per household" rule is that they figure multiple accounts on the same IP address is really the same person, trying to score multiple bonuses that the casino gives when a player signs up or makes a deposit.  How can they determine whether multiple accounts in the same household are the same person or different people?  They can't, and they don't have to, because their rule is one account per household, so even if you could prove that your multiple accounts belong to different people, it doesn't matter.

So, don't have more than one account per household.

Resolving disputes

Let's say you've read the above, you've written to the casino without success, and you've waited a reasonable amount of time for the issue to be resolved, and it hasn't been.  Now what do you do?

If the casino is licensed, try writing to the licensing authority.  Most good casinos are licensed in the area they do business, and the licensing authority hears complaints about casinos they license.  But if you're in the U.S. playing at a casino that serves most of the U.S., then forget it, because no U.S.-wide casinos are licensed, because no licensing authority will touch a U.S.-wide casino, because online gambling isn't explicitly legal in the whole U.S.  (See states where online gaming is legal.)

Failing that, submit your complaint to a site that mediates online casino disputes, like Casinomeister or Ask Gamblers.  Those are free services that helps players with legitimate complaints.

Good luck!