MyStake Casino - γενική συζήτηση (σελίδα 24)

Hey, is this your first withdrawal at this casino? If communication is slow, I understand that it's not exactly pleasant. On the other hand, if you've only been waiting for a short time, it may not be a disaster. I would try to wait a while and see if the money arrives.

We give casinos 14 days for this process, and if nothing happens, then we can try to help you.

Can you handle it? 

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for some advice regarding a MyStake case and would especially appreciate input from people who have dealt with similar situations.

I was registered with Spain’s RGIAJ self-exclusion system while using the casino. Between August 6 and August 10, I lost around €13,950 through sports betting, despite the very short period involved. A particularly large part of the total was lost on the final day.

On August 10, I contacted MyStake directly, informed them that I was experiencing gambling-related problems and mentioned my RGIAJ registration. I asked for my account to be closed. They did close the account, but they have refused to refund any of the losses. Their explanation is that MyStake is not connected to RGIAJ and therefore cannot access its restrictions.

I have since reported the matter to the Mossos d’Esquadra and I am also looking into reporting it to the Spanish Gambling Regulatory Authority (DGOJ).

I’m also trying to understand whether Spanish Gambling Law 13/2011 and the rules concerning operators offering online gambling services to Spanish residents without the appropriate authorization could be relevant to a possible recovery claim.

Has anyone here dealt with a comparable MyStake situation involving RGIAJ, a disclosed gambling problem, substantial losses over a very short period and an account closure shortly afterwards?

I would really appreciate hearing about any similar cases, particularly whether MyStake ever agreed to a refund or settlement in circumstances like these.

Thanks everyone.

I think withdrawal rules are something every player should check before joining any casino. I’ve had mixed experiences with different platforms, so now I usually look at payment options and terms first. I recently checked out Twinqo as well, mainly because I was comparing crypto payment options, but I still think reading reviews and understanding the withdrawal process is the most important step before playing.

Hi, I'm sorry to hear about the situation you've found yourself in.

There are a couple of different aspects here that are worth separating. Regarding RGIAJ, Spanish Gambling Law, and whether MyStake was legally allowed to offer its services to you in Spain, we unfortunately can't give you legal advice, as we are not lawyers. Since you are already considering contacting the DGOJ, they should be in a much better position to clarify how the Spanish regulations apply to your case and whether there are any legal avenues available to you.

Also, as the losses you describe came from sports betting, this is not an area we specialize in at Casino Guru. We mainly focus on online casino gambling, so we don't have the necessary expertise to properly assess the sports-betting side of the dispute.

From a responsible gambling perspective, though, one part of your timeline caught my attention. You mentioned that you informed MyStake about your gambling problem and requested the account closure on August 10, after which the account was closed. Had you contacted MyStake at any point before August 10 about your gambling problem or asked them to restrict or close your account?

That distinction may be important when looking at how the casino handled your responsible gambling request.

As for whether MyStake has refunded other players in similar circumstances, individual cases can differ considerably, so I wouldn't want to suggest that another player's outcome would necessarily mean the same result in your case.

Please keep us updated if you receive a response from the DGOJ or any further explanation from MyStake.

Thank you for the clarification.

To be completely accurate: before August 10, I had not explicitly told MyStake that I had a gambling problem or addiction, nor had I previously asked them to close or restrict my account for that reason. I had made numerous deposits — approximately €14,000 within just 3–4 days — but I had never previously informed them that this was related to a gambling problem.

August 10 was the first time I explicitly told them about my gambling problem and requested that my account be closed, and they subsequently closed it.

I am also registered with the RGIAJ (Spain's national self-exclusion register), which I believe is relevant regardless of whether MyStake had previously been informed about my gambling problem.

I have also filed a police report with the Mossos d'Esquadra and I am trying to complete the complaint with the DGOJ.

Taking all of this into account, do you think it would make sense to escalate or open a formal case with Casino Guru, even though the dispute also involves sports betting?

And although I understand that you cannot provide legal advice, could you perhaps advise whether it would be worth looking further into the possible application of Spanish law, including the rules concerning operators without a Spanish licence, the potential nullity and restitution of the payments, and any sanctions imposed on the operator or its group?

To be completely honest with you, there is one important distinction here.

A complaint with us can make sense in a responsible gambling case if, for example, you clearly informed the casino that you had a gambling problem or asked to be self-excluded, but the casino failed to act and allowed you to continue playing afterwards. Even if sports betting was involved, the issue we would be looking at in such a case would be responsible gambling rather than the sports betting itself.

However, based on the timeline you've described, your situation seems different. You lost the money first and only afterwards informed MyStake that you had a gambling problem and asked for your account to be closed. According to what you've told us, the casino then closed the account relatively quickly.

Because of that, I wouldn't want to give you false hope that the losses from before you contacted the casino would automatically be refundable. From our point of view, the key question in responsible gambling cases is usually how the casino acted after being clearly informed about the problem. If the casino was not informed until after those losses had already occurred, I don't think a complaint with us would be particularly promising based on the circumstances you've described.

Regarding your registration with RGIAJ, I would also be careful about assuming that every casino automatically has access to such national self-exclusion databases. Whether MyStake had any legal obligation regarding RGIAJ or whether it was allowed to offer its services to you in Spain is something we cannot properly determine. We are not lawyers, so the Spanish regulator or a legal professional would be much better placed to answer that part.

Of course, you are free to contact the relevant authorities and see what they say, but I personally wouldn't rely on that necessarily leading to a refund of losses that happened before you informed the casino about your gambling problem.

I'm sorry you're dealing with this situation. I just don't want to raise expectations that we would realistically be able to recover those losses based on the timeline you've given us.

I completely understand your point, and I appreciate you being honest with me. I also understand that, from a strictly responsible-gambling perspective, the fact that I only explicitly informed MyStake about my gambling problem on August 10, after the losses had already occurred, makes the claim more difficult.

However, I believe there are several other aspects of my case that may be relevant and go beyond the communication on August 10.

Within just 4 days, I made 19 deposits totalling approximately €14,000, with a very significant portion of that amount deposited on the final day. I am also registered with the RGIAJ, Spain's national self-exclusion register. I understand that such a high and concentrated volume of deposits, particularly considering my RGIAJ registration, could be relevant when assessing whether adequate responsible-gambling controls were in place and whether this activity should have triggered any warning or intervention.

I am also concerned about the way the payments were processed. The deposits were not all made directly under the MyStake name.

For the card payments, different merchant descriptors/names appeared, including Traski, Dkuepi and other names, rather than directly identifying MyStake.

On the other hand, the deposits made by bank transfer were channelled through UTORG PAY LTD, using a ClearBank Europe account. In other words, these transfers also did not appear as direct bank transfers to MyStake.

Furthermore, MyStake itself offered Revolut as one of the available deposit methods, alongside cards, Skrill, bank transfers and cryptocurrencies.

I believe the use of different third-party payment processors and payment channels may also be relevant when looking at how the deposits were presented to the customer and how the funds were ultimately channelled to the operator.

There is also a separate legal issue that I am currently trying to clarify with the DGOJ. Spanish Law 13/2011 regulates gambling activities in Spain and establishes the licensing requirements for operators offering gambling services to customers in Spain. My question is whether an operator without a Spanish licence was legally permitted to offer these services in these circumstances, and what the possible consequences could be regarding the validity of the gambling contracts and restitution of the payments.

I have also seen references to the possibility that gambling contracts with operators who are not legally authorised in the relevant jurisdiction may be considered invalid and that restitution of payments could potentially arise, although I fully understand that this is a legal matter and that you cannot determine whether it applies to my particular case.

Therefore, I am not asking you to tell me that I am definitely entitled to a refund. I would simply like to know whether, taking all these elements together — 19 deposits, approximately €14,000 in only four days, a particularly large amount on the final day, my RGIAJ registration, the use of different payment processors and the possible Spanish licensing issue — you think there is any aspect of the case that deserves further investigation, even if the traditional responsible-gambling route through Casino Guru is not particularly promising.

If you believe these issues should be dealt with exclusively through the DGOJ or a legal professional, I completely understand. I just want to make sure I am not overlooking a potentially relevant avenue for pursuing the matter.

Thanks for explaining the additional details. I understand better now what you're trying to determine, and I think it's fair to say that there are a few separate issues here.

Regarding the 19 deposits and roughly €14,000 deposited within four days, I can understand why you consider that pattern significant from a responsible gambling perspective. At the same time, the amount and frequency of deposits alone wouldn't allow me to conclude that MyStake was required to intervene or that the losses should be refunded. That would depend on the responsible gambling obligations applicable to the operator and on what information or warning signs the casino actually had at the time.

The payment side is also something I wouldn't simply dismiss, but I would be careful about drawing conclusions from the merchant names alone. Casinos can use third-party payment processors, so seeing names other than MyStake on a transaction doesn't necessarily mean that something improper happened. However, if you want to understand exactly who processed the card payments and bank transfers and how the transactions were presented, your bank, card issuer, or the relevant payment provider may be able to give you more information about the transaction trail.

As for the Spanish licensing question, I think this is probably the most appropriate point to raise directly with the DGOJ. Whether MyStake was permitted to offer its services to you in Spain, how your RGIAJ registration should apply in those circumstances, and especially whether any of this could affect the validity of the gambling transactions or create a right to restitution are legal and regulatory questions that we simply aren't qualified to determine. We are not lawyers, so I wouldn't want to speculate about the possible legal outcome.

From Casino Guru's side, I still don't think the traditional responsible gambling complaint route looks particularly strong based on the timeline you've given us, because the casino apparently closed your account once you explicitly informed them about your gambling problem.

So yes, I do think some of the points you've raised may deserve further investigation, particularly the licensing question and, if you have concerns about the transactions themselves, the payment trail. I just think the DGOJ, a legal professional, and possibly the relevant payment providers are better placed to investigate those aspects than our complaint team.

If the DGOJ gives you a substantive response regarding MyStake or your RGIAJ registration, I'd definitely be interested to hear what they say.

Thank you for the explanation. I completely understand your position regarding the traditional responsible-gambling aspect, and I am not asking you to assume that the losses should be refunded simply because of the number of deposits.

What I would like to clarify is that my main concern now goes beyond that particular issue.

Over a period of just four days, I made 19 deposits totalling approximately €14,000. In addition, the payments do not necessarily appear to have been processed directly under the MyStake name, as different payment providers/intermediaries were involved. In some cases, the deposit process was initiated through an option specifically labelled "Revolut" on MyStake, after which I was redirected to the Revolut app to authorise the transfer.

For this reason, I believe it may be relevant to establish exactly how these transactions were processed, which entities were involved, and how the payment was presented to the user.

There is also the issue that I was registered with RGIAJ in Spain and MyStake was not authorised to operate in Spain. I understand that you cannot determine the legal consequences of this, but this is precisely why I believe it could be relevant to investigate with the DGOJ.

I am not asking Casino Guru to make a legal determination or promise any refund. I would simply like to know whether, considering these additional elements, you think the case could be relevant to investigate from another perspective, particularly regarding the payment processing and the regulatory/responsible-gambling aspects.

If you consider that this falls outside Casino Guru’s scope, I completely understand. I just wanted to make sure that these additional elements are properly considered before the case is completely closed.

Thank you again for your honesty and for taking the time to look into this.

Thank you for clarifying. I understand your point better now, and yes, I think some of the additional aspects you've mentioned may be worth looking into further.

In particular, if you want to establish exactly how the deposits were processed, which companies were involved, and what information was attached to the transactions, I think your bank, Revolut, and the relevant payment providers would be in a much better position to clarify that payment trail. The fact that different processors or merchant names were involved doesn't by itself prove that anything improper happened, but I can understand why you would want to know exactly where the money went and who processed it.

The same applies to the regulatory side. The questions concerning MyStake's ability to offer its services in Spain, your RGIAJ registration, and any possible legal consequences are matters that I believe are best addressed by the DGOJ or a legal professional.

So I wouldn't say that these additional points should simply be ignored. They may certainly be worth investigating through the appropriate channels.

At the same time, based on everything you've explained so far, they don't really change my previous view regarding a complaint with us. From the responsible gambling perspective, the casino appears to have closed your account after you explicitly informed them about your gambling problem, while the losses you're seeking to recover occurred beforehand. The sports betting aspect itself is also outside our area of expertise.

If the DGOJ, your bank, Revolut, or one of the payment providers gives you some concrete information that changes the picture, though, you're very welcome to share it here. We can then look at whether that new information adds anything relevant from our side as well.