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Sometimes, even an honest casino can tie you up with red tape when you go to make a withdrawal.
Laura D, of Gibraltar, found that out when she won $110 at Aladdin's Gold Casino last October. She finally got her money today -- late January -- but only going over a bureaucratic road with some surprising obstacles.
To be clear, there was never an indication that Aladdin's Gold wanted to cheat her out of her money. It has been in business for quite a while and has a good reputation for honesty. Still, it can be frustrating to deal with it.
Laura had made her deposit via Neteller and wanted to make her withdrawal in the same way. When asking for it, she sent a copy of her passport to prove her identity and a recent utility bill to prove her address. She then waited a month -- nothing. Not even an e-mail telling her that there was a problem.
She spoke with the casino's Live Support and was told that she needed to fill out a fax back form and send it to them. She did so, completing it as an attachment, and sending it by e-mail. A few days later she received an e-mail telling her that she had to print it out, sign it, and then scan it and send it to them.
"This is a huge inconvenience as my printer is on the blink," she said, "so I went to the local library printed off the document, signed, took a digital picture and sent to the Cashier along with the other 2 forms of ID for verification."
Again, she did not hear from them. Again, she contacted Live Support, and this time "they were adamant that they had sent correspondence to my registered email advising that my documents were illegible."
Eventually, she wrote to Gambling Grumbles saying, "I sent documents again and was told most recently that they were still illegible (these same documents have been sent to 3 other Casinos and Neteller and have been authorised.)".
While Gambling Grumbles was waiting for a reply from Aladdin's, Laura sent us another e-mail:
"Ok so I am officially furious.
"They have refused my documents again - they now want me to complete the form I sent again and a driving license for more proof of Identification.
"Firstly I dont drive so I have no other form of ID, and the form was completed perfectly as when I first contacted them I made sure of what I needed to do.
"Help... please."
Not having gotten a reply from their Support address, Gambling Grumbles contacted someone we know to be close to the casino's management. In the meantime, Aladdin's Gold upped the ante and now wanted copies of Laura's birth certificate and marriage license.
She sent them and our contact got back to us saying, "We have the player id’s as requested but we don’t have the players fax back form. This form is required for all cashouts to help prevent fraud. If you can ask Laura to send it again to cashier we can process the withdrawal."
Laura did, indeed, send it again. This time it was rejected on two counts: a. It did not have her user name on it (which, as they knew what it was, they could easily have added). b. They said it was too blurry and pixilated and told her to re-scan it at 300 dpi.
Gambling Grumbles asked Laura to send us a copy of the attachment she had sent so we could judge for ourselves if it was clearly readable. It was.
Still, she sent it again, and finally it was accepted. Laura now has her winnings in her Neteller account.
In the end, "all's well that end's well", but Aladdin's might want to rethink its policies when it comes to customer service and payouts.
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