While online gambling can be extremely fun and fruitful for lucky players, sometimes you may find yourself in a pickle when your online casino account gets blocked. If you ever have your account blocked, before you start panicking, you should investigate what could be the reason for freezing your account.
There are several reasons for getting your gaming account blocked by an online casino. The sooner you understand why your access to your casino account has been restricted, the quicker you may be able to find a solution to the issue.
Just because your account has been frozen, that does not mean that this could be a permanent thing. If you comply with the requirements of the gaming site, you may be able to quickly resume the usual status of your online account. What is more, if you know the things to avoid, you may never get your casino account blocked in the first place.
Most Common Reasons to Have Your Account Blocked
Depending on the website where you make your casino/sportsbook bets, you may be notified in a different way about being banned from making other wagers on the respective website. While some websites will notify you as soon as you sign into your account, others will show the notification message about blocking your account only when you attempt to load a game or place a wager.
Patrons of gaming operators are typically informed about getting their accounts banned via email as well. If the reason for the suspension of the account is not that serious, players are allowed to make real-money wagers after a certain period. However, more serious cases will have one’s account permanently banned.
Usually, you can get your account blocked if the online casino believes you have broken its rules. In this article, we will cover some of the most common reasons why you may end up being banned from betting at a virtual casino.
Numerous unsuccessful sign-ins
One reason why an online casino account may be blocked is if there are too many unsuccessful attempts to log into the said account. This is done to protect the player’s funds as the failed logins may come from hackers that try to access the accounts of some players. In such cases, access to one’s gaming account can be restored by contacting the support team and asking to get your account reactivated.
If you are ever notified that your account has been suspended due to too many failed login attempts, you might want to activate two-factor authentication. This will make your sign-ins more secure and will protect you from hacker attacks.
Not verifying the account
Once you open your online casino account, you will be asked to verify your identity by completing a KYC process. This step requires players to provide a copy of their ID or another document that can help them verify their account. This step is mandatory at licensed UK casinos as one of the licence conditions of the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) is for licensees to verify the accounts of all of their patrons.
By not verifying your account within a certain period following your registration at the casino, your account will be banned. If you have decided to play at a licensed UK casino, there is no reason not to complete the KYC process as you will not be able to open any game even in fun mode before you verify your account.
Underage gambling activity
One of the main reasons why new casino players are required to go through a verification process is to prove they are of the required age to gamble legally. As regulators are extremely strict about preventing underage gambling, if an online casino detects that a certain account belongs to an underage person, the said account will immediately be banned. This extreme step is taken as any operator caught providing gambling products to underage individuals may face serious sanctions and other harsh consequences.
Bonus Abuse
Another very common reason why your online casino account may get blocked is being suspected of abusing a bonus. Usually, new players are eligible to receive some type of a welcome bonus, whether it will be a deposit match bonus or free spins. If the same player is caught creating multiple accounts to take advantage of such casino promotions, all of his/her accounts will be permanently blocked.
You may also read in bonus terms and conditions that a certain offer is available only to a single individual from the same household and IP address.
Non-compliance with casino terms and conditions
In addition to not abiding by bonus terms and conditions, not following through with the general rules of the virtual casino may also lead to having your gaming account suspended. To make sure that you are using the website in accordance with its terms and conditions, it is important to get familiar with the full rules of the online casino. That way, you can rest assured that you will not be in breach of the website’s terms and conditions, risking having your account blocked.
Suspiciously high winnings
It is also possible to get your account suspended if you generate way too high winnings consecutively. As virtual casinos need to maintain a balance between their profit and the winnings they pay out, some accounts may be restricted if they generate suspiciously high profits. Winning a progressive jackpot will not cause the ban of your account, however, an unusually long winning streak may alert the casino about possible cheating techniques. For instance, the betting pattern of a card counter during live blackjack may tip the casino for possible cheating to gain an advantage over the house. This may certainly cause the suspension of your casino account.
Hacker attacks
In case of malicious attacks from hackers, the online casino’s system will restrict the access to the account of all of its users. This is a preventative measure taken by the casino operator to restrict access to your funds or personal information so they cannot be used by unauthorised third parties.
Most virtual casinos implement enterprise-class security technology that can handle any data breach attempts. In case of such attacks, it usually takes almost no time for the operator to fix the issue and unlock the accounts of its patrons.
Suspicious betting patterns
One of the reasons why an online casino account may be permanently blocked is showing suspicious activity. Since virtual casinos are using innovative software systems to track the gambling activity of all active players, unusual betting patterns can easily be detected and become the reason for the ban of certain accounts.
If the AI implemented in the operations of an online casino detects activities such as placing the same bet amount on specific poker hands or making maximum bets on slots at a specific time of the day, this may tip off the casino about the use of bots. That would immediately block permanently the suspected account.
Unusual payments from or to the casino account
All UKGC licensed casinos are required to comply with licence conditions concerned with the prevention of money laundering cases. As virtual casinos are often used by criminal organisations for laundering dirty money, gaming operators take various steps to prevent such activities. In cases of suspiciously high banking transactions, some operators are required to report such payments.
If your account is suspected of money laundering, it will be suspended immediately. Another way to have your casino account banned is by using a payment method that has been forbidden. In some cases, players from restricted countries are caught gambling on gaming websites through the bank account details that they provide during their casino payments.
Instances When You May Be Refused to Get Your Casino Winnings
In addition to blocking accounts, sometimes casinos may also restrict access to your gaming funds. If you have requested a withdrawal and the money never gets to you, there might be a reason for the casino blocking your payouts. In most cases, there are several reasons why the casino may fail to pay your winnings.
Cap on withdrawals
If the amount of the winnings you have earned by playing at an online casino surpasses the withdrawal maximum limit of the brand, then you will not be able to cash out the amount that exceeds the capped maximum. Before you proceed with requesting a payout, we recommend checking the withdrawal limits of the casino so there are no unpleasant surprises.
Bonus Abuse
In addition to being a reason to have your account blocked, a bonus abuse may also have your funds confiscated by the casino. While some casino incentives may sound extremely exciting and generous, some players get carried away and end up abusing the promotions they have been offered.
Misusing bonus money and having duplicate accounts to redeem the same offer multiple times are among the bonus abuse actions that may cost you all of your winnings. In addition to that, as mentioned above, not abiding by the casino’s bonus rules may have your account permanently banned.
Steps to Take If Your Casino Account Gets Blocked
If you believe your online casino has been wrongfully blocked or the reason was to keep your gaming profile safe, there are a few things to do to reactivate your account. While the situation may seem frustrating at first, you should try to stay calm so you can think straight and quickly resolve the issue with your casino profile.
In many cases, casino accounts may be banned due to players not following through with the operator’s terms and conditions without them realising they have done something wrong. That is why it can be useful to read the casino’s full terms and conditions when your account gets blocked. Sometimes something such as using the wrong payment method without knowing may be the reason to get your profile suspended.
When you have read the gaming operator’s terms and conditions, you can think of the actual reason why your account has been blocked. If there has not been a serious reason for disabling your casino account, you may be able to quickly reactivate your casino profile.
If you cannot find the reason you have been blocked, then you might seek the casino support team’s help. You can contact the website’s support agents via email and ask to unlock your account if you believe it has been wrongfully suspended. If there is a certain step that you need to go through to reactivate your account, the support team will let you know what you need to do to regain access to your profile and continue playing.
If your account has been blocked due to too many unsuccessful login attempts, you will yet again need to contact the support team and ask them to reactivate your casino profile. Do not try to open a new account as it can also be blocked due to not following the restriction about having only one account with the same physical or IP address.
In some cases, you may not be able to solve the issue simply by contacting the casino’s support team. If you feel like you are not speaking the same language and you are sure that you do not deserve to have your profile blocked, you can submit a complaint through a service that handles such issues.
There are several platforms that offer casino players help when they want to open a gambling dispute. Such organisations act as a mediator between the online casino and the players that had their accounts unfairly blocked. Typically, after you issue a complaint via a third-party platform, it will allow up to 96 hours for the virtual casino and the players to respond. After the time is up, the complaint is closed.
Before you resort to seeking the help of such platforms, make sure that you get familiar with the Complaint Guidelines. To be able to prove that there is no fair reason to get your account suspended you will most likely be asked to provide as many details as possible so they can help you issue a complaint.
