PowerPlay Casino - 플레이어의 계정은 폐쇄되고 상금은 몰수됩니다.

I had a cash balance of $1501.22 dollars in my PowerPlay account. I did not use my account for a period of over one year. PowerPlay deactivated my account and seized the whole balance. They sent 1 warning email buried amongst over 50 spam emails.

On review with management, they arbitrarily agreed to return my original deposit amount ($1000.00) but not the $501.22 in winnings. They then forced me to complete an additional rollover of $860 in the casino or sports bets at odds >2.0 (not part of my complaint)

As justification for their actions they have cited their own current terms and conditions 4.13: "If your Account has had no activity for a period of twelve months, your Account will be considered a dormant account which can results in it being closed. To prevent your account from becoming dormant, you can log into your Account and make a real money wager, a deposit, or a withdrawal. If there has been no activity on your Account for twelve months, we will notify you by email month earlier of further steps and if there are any funds on your Account. If within a month of the notification you don’t withdraw the funds, PowerPlay reserves the right to seize the funds."

Power play is a regulated book in Ontario Canada and their actions and terms must adhere to the Registrar’s Standards for Internet Gaming. Per 3.11:

"At all times, the terms of the contract and the operation of the contract must comply with the Standards and Requirements and applicable Ontario laws." 

I signed up in May 2023 and used the account until July 2023. I do not recall term/condition 4.13 on signing up; PowerPlay has changed their terms and conditions since, and will not provide a copy of the terms that were active on signing up, nor any amendments that have been made since. This information should be available per 3.10 of the Registrar's standards:

"At a minimum, an auditable trail of events shall be made available for the following...Information regarding or relating to contracts with the player."

More importantly, my complaint is that their terms and conditions 4.13, as well as actions (seizure of the remaining $501.22 of my balance prior to deactivation), violates the Regulator Standards including section 3.22 which states: 

"Where an account becomes dormant or is deactivated by a player or another authorized individual, the player shall be able to recover the balance of their account owing to them."

My account became dormant, therefore I should be able to recover the balance of [my] account owing to [me].

Their behaviour also violates section 3.17:

"Reasonable efforts shall be made to inform players of player funds remaining in dormant accounts."

They made no efforts to inform me of a balance in the dormant account. Nowhere in the warning email does it say I have a balance. PowerPlay has also violated their own very terms and conditions they cite as justification for taking my balance - per their own terms they were to inform me that I had an outstanding balance in my account (4.13 "we will notify you by email month earlier of further steps and if there are any funds on your Account").

I would also argue that a single email warning buried amongst incessant spam does not constitute a reasonable warning for seizure of $1500. They did not confirm receipt or understanding of the email. They did not attempt to call.

I have submitted a formal complaint to them outlining the above, and am requesting payment of the remaining $501.22. If declined I intend to proceed with a formal complaint with the Ontario regulator.

I was hoping you might review and provide some advice on next steps, as well as feedback on what you think of the validity of my claim. I have used numerous other regulated books in Ontario and have never had funds taken. I have never had to make a complaint before.

Happy to answer any questions or provide documentation.

Thank you in advance.

Dear pickleballer,

Thank you very much for submitting your complaint. I’m sorry to hear about your negative experience with PowerPlay Casino.

Please allow me to ask you a few questions, so I can better understand the situation. 

• Have you learned or do you remember whether the balance originates from real money winnings or bonus winnings?
• Do I understand correctly the casino already returned 1000 CAD to your bank account?
• Have you completed account verification in the casino?
• Could you please share with me your communication with the casino to support your complaint? Send emails or chat transcripts to my email at tomas@casino.guru, or post screenshots here

I hope we will be able to help you to resolve this issue as soon as possible. Thank you very much in advance for your reply.

Best regards,

Tomas

Thanks Tomas.

To answer your questions:

As best I can recall, when I signed up there was an offer of a 100% deposit match up to $500, with a certain rollover (I cannot remember what amount of rollover was required - in reviewing my wager history I wagered about $6210 on sports betting during my period of activity). I deposited $1`000 and completed the rollover without issue and ended up with a cash balance of $1501.22 as of my final wager in July 2023.

PowerPlay refunded $1000 to my betting account. I requested a withdrawal of this amount but they declined it, and said I required an additional rollover of $860 (on sports at odds >2.0, or casino play) as apparently the bulk of my wagering was with bonus funds and did not count for their required rollover of deposits. I complained again but they would not budge. In order to secure some of my money back, I completed the wager requirement. This required me to log into the website again and accept their new terms and conditions. Unfortunately in this rollover I lost $105, but this is not part of my complaint and to be clear I am not asking for that back. They have since paid out the $895 to my bank account.

I have completed verification with the casino

I will send you my chat transcripts and bet history to your email

Thank you

Thank you very much, pickleballer, for providing the necessary information. I will now transfer your complaint to my colleague Adam (adam.m@casino.guru) who will be at your service. I wish you the best of luck and hope the problem will be resolved to your satisfaction in the near future.  

Hello pickleballer,

I have reviewed your case and will contact the casino to see if I can help.

We would like to invite PowerPlay Casino to join the conversation and participate in the resolution of this complaint.

Dear PowerPlay Casino,

Can you please explain why the player's winnings were not returned to them also?

Kind regards,

Adam

Hello pickleballer,

I had a response from the casino stating that they had returned all money to you, can I ask you for an update on the situation?

Have you now received the remaining amount, or is it still outstanding?

Kind regards,

Adam

Dear pickleballer,

Thank you for reaching out regarding your PowerPlay account and withdrawal.

We’ve thoroughly reviewed your case, including the account inactivity and the actions taken in line with our Terms and Conditions (section 4.13). As outlined in our policies, accounts inactive for over 12 months are considered dormant, and we notify account holders of any remaining balance. We understand your concerns about this process and appreciate your feedback.

As part of our review, we have refunded your original deposit of $1,000.00. Additionally, we have processed the remaining balance of $501.22, which should be reflected in your account shortly. While this was initially subject to dormancy policies, we value your experience and have opted to issue the full refund.

We hope this resolves the matter for you, and we appreciate you being a part of PowerPlay. If you have any further questions, feel free to reach out—we’re happy to assist.

Best regards,

PowerPlay Support Team

Hello everyone. I can confirm the funds have been restored to my gaming account. They have now been successfully withdrawn into my bank account. Apologies for the delay - I was waiting for the withdrawal to be sent.

Thank you Adam and Casino Guru for your help with my case.

Thank you Power Play for returning my funds. I will remove my negative review on Trust Pilot.

Thank you for your response and assistance, PowerPlay Casino.

Dear pickleballer,

We're glad to hear that your issue has been resolved. We'll go ahead and mark the complaint as 'resolved' in our system. We appreciate your cooperation and confirmation. If you ever encounter any issues with this or any other casino in the future, please feel free to reach out to our Complaint Resolution Center. We're here to help. 

As you know, we do not charge for our services, nor do we accept any gratuities. However, we would greatly appreciate it if you could take a moment to share your experience with our services on Trustpilot https://www.trustpilot.com/evaluate/casino.guru. An honest review, along with any suggestions for improvement, would be invaluable. Your feedback could help others who may be considering contacting us for assistance with online casino-related issues. 

Thank you in advance for your time. 

Best regards, 

Adam