How to complain about a UK casino

Most disputes with a licensed gambling site are about the same handful of things: a withdrawal held up by verification, a bonus voided for breaking a term, an account closed, or a promotion that did not pay what the customer expected. There is a defined route for all of them, and it is free.

Step one: complain to the operator

Every operator licensed in Great Britain must have a complaints procedure and must publish it. Use it rather than social media, which feels faster and usually is not.

Put it in writing, by email or through the site’s complaints form, and keep it factual:

• your account details
• what happened, with dates and times
• what you expected and why, quoting the specific term if you are relying on one
• what you want them to do
• copies of anything relevant

Save everything. Screenshot the promotion terms as they appeared when you claimed, the bonus balance, the transaction history and any live chat transcript. Terms pages change, and a screenshot with a date on it is worth a great deal later.

Ask them to confirm receipt and to tell you their expected timescale.

Step two: the eight-week point

If the operator has not resolved the complaint to your satisfaction, you can take it to alternative dispute resolution. In practice this happens when either the operator issues its final response, or eight weeks pass without the matter being resolved.

Do not let a complaint drift past this point while support keeps promising to look into it. The eight weeks is your entitlement, not a suggestion.

Step three: alternative dispute resolution

Every licensed operator must belong to an ADR provider approved by the Gambling Commission. ADR is an independent service that considers the dispute and reaches a decision, and it is free to the customer. IBAS is the best known provider in this market, but the one that matters is the one your operator names, which will be stated in its terms and on its complaints page.

Points worth knowing:

• ADR looks at whether the operator applied its own terms and its licence conditions correctly. It is not a second opinion on whether the terms are generous.
• Evidence decides it. This is where your screenshots earn their keep.
• Its decisions bind the operator, not you. If you disagree with the outcome you retain your other legal options.
• There are time limits, so do not sit on a final response for months.

What the Gambling Commission does

This is the part most people get wrong, so it is worth being blunt: the Gambling Commission does not settle individual disputes and cannot get your money back.

What it does is regulate operators. It wants to hear about conduct that suggests a licence breach, and reports feed into its supervision and enforcement work. So report it, by all means, and understand that you are contributing to the regulator’s picture of an operator rather than opening a case about your account.

Report to the Commission as well as using ADR, not instead of it.

Common disputes and what usually decides them

Withheld withdrawals pending verification. Operators are required to verify identity, and are entitled to complete checks before paying out. What is not acceptable is an open-ended delay or repeated requests for documents already supplied. Send exactly what is asked for, in the format requested, and keep a record of when you sent it.

Voided bonus winnings. Usually traced to a specific term: exceeding the maximum bet while a bonus was active, playing an excluded game, or missing an expiry. Check which term is being relied on and whether it was clearly presented when you claimed. Our guide to wagering requirements covers the terms that most often cause this.

A promotion that paid less than expected. Conversion caps and per-batch win caps are the usual explanation, and they are usually in the terms. If the cap was not presented alongside the offer, that is a stronger complaint.

Account closure. Operators can close accounts, but they must return your withdrawable balance. If a balance is being held, say so clearly in the complaint.

Self-exclusion failures. If you self-excluded and were allowed to gamble anyway, that is a serious matter. Raise it with the operator, take it to ADR, and report it to the Commission.

If the site is not licensed here

If the operator does not hold a Great Britain licence, none of the above applies. There is no UK ADR route and the Commission has no jurisdiction over it. This is the practical reason to check a licence before depositing rather than after, which our guide on checking a casino’s licence explains.

What we can and cannot do

Casino Menu is a comparison site, not a regulator or an intermediary. We cannot access your account, contact an operator on your behalf or influence a decision.

What we can do is correct our own pages. If an offer we have printed does not match what a site is actually giving, email [email protected] and we will check it and update or remove it.

If gambling has stopped being fun, the National Gambling Helpline is free and open 24 hours a day on 0808 8020 133.