UK Gambling Commission gives advice regarding casino bonus conditions

The United Kingdom Gambling Commission has released a statement regarding bonuses offered by casinos in order to offer some advice to operators that use them in order to promote their casino or special limited-time deals. Following a 2016 scenario where a casino faced sanctions due to their questionable bonus offer, the UKGC wants to ensure that operators remain fully transparent and fair.

It was pointed out that all UK operators need to take note of the failures that were made by TGP Europe Limited and Fesuge Limited from their collection of sports betting websites which included Fun88.co.uk, 12Bet.com, TLCBet.co.uk, as well as 138.com. All United Kingdom and Isle of Man license holders that were connected in any way with the Cheltenham Festival promotion back in March of 2016 are held accountable for the 800 plus number of complaints that were submitted to the UKGC as a result of customers having their accounts suspended. These suspensions were being handed out due to a violation of the terms and conditions that was included with the bonus event that many customers had no idea existed.

The operators had offered bonuses that were given out to both new customers and existing customers. However, customers were not allowed to have multiple accounts to ensure that they did not “double dip” into the bonus, ensuring that each customer only had one opportunity to use their bonus.

TGP Europe Limited had suspended over 5,000 accounts from their platform after running a mass analysis to finding that there were a large number of bets that were being placed by users that had more than a single account, which violated the terms and conditions. According to clause 15.2 of the terms, the casino had the ability to suspend any player from their platform if they had any suspicion that they had abused a bonus or promotion, meaning that they would be allowed to do this even if there wasn’t any proof that abuse had occurred. The United Kingdom Gambling Commission had found that this violated the fairness clause and gave unilateral power to the casino to suspend any account that they chose, and simply give a reason of “suspicion” without cause. Furthermore, they did no clearly spell out the rule for customers so that it was common knowledge for all players.

TGP Europe accepted that they were at fault over the suspensions and they had reached an agreement to pay out $8,652 in sanctions to cover the cost of the investigation. They also agreed to make changes to their terms and conditions so that there was as standard of proof required in order to suspend a player’s account and withhold funds.

The UKGC believes that this case provides a great example to both remote and off-shore operators must ensure that their terms with bonuses and promotions stay in line with the Consumer Rights Act that came into effect in 2015. Operators need to ensure that they take extra efforts in complying with the policy and offering a fair level of play to all users.