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Konstantia R. of Athens, Greece, won $20,570 playing at the Titan Casino and all they are willing to give her is the $200 she deposited.
More than that, they won't even offer her (or Gambling Grumbles) any explanation other than "The issue with your account is, that it is flagged for bonus abuse. The Processing company's Risk Department send us notifications in these kind of cases."
In short, even the casino has no idea of what Konstantia may have done -- if anything at all -- to disqualify her. It is simply taking the word of its "processing company" that she is guilty of "bonus abuse" -- whatever that might mean.
"Obviously this is not a valid excuse as there is nothing wrong with trying to make money off of a bonus," Konstantia told us.
The fact is that for a number of years, some casinos (fortunately, not most) have been using this term simply to avoid paying out winnings. In fact, Gambling Grumbles has yet to hear of even one case where a player lost money and was told, "We refuse to accept the money you lost because you are a bonus abuser, so we are returning your deposit."
When the first casino group started refusing payouts on grounds of "bonus abuse" about 6 years ago it had a specific definition for it. A bonus abuser was someone, it said, who only played when the group was offering a bonus. That person did not make deposits at any other time.
Gambling Grumbles did not accept even that reason. If you only shop at Macy's when there is a sale, does that make you a "sale abuser"? Does Macy's ever complain about you? Of course not.
(If a casino is unhappy with a player because he only bets when offered a bonus, then its solution should be just not to offer that player any more bonuses.)
Later, other casinos expanded the definition. One said that a bonus abuser was someone who has multiple accounts at the casino in order to collect bonuses. Of course, that is definitely against the rules of most casinos but it does not need to be covered with a vague term such as "bonus abuser". The casino can simply point to the multiple accounts.
Other casinos have said that a bonus abuser is someone who does not meet the minimum playthrough requirements for a particular bonus. That, too, has a simple remedy -- just tell the player how much more he is required to bet before being allowed to cash out.
Titan Casino has not contended that Konstantia has multiple accounts with them. In fact, it has not said anything other than it was told by its processing company that she is a bonus abuser.
Did she meet the minimum playthrough requirements? It is possible that she did not.
"I deposited $200 and received a $400 bonus so I had a balance of $600 which I used to play high roller slots, betting $100 a spin. I managed to win $20570," she said.
Konstantia did not tell us how much she bet while playing, nor how much Titan requires her to play. On the other hand, Titan is not saying that she didn't meet the playthrough requirements. In fact, when she tried to make her withdrawal last October, she said, "the casino asked me for documents which I provided. They received the documents but two days later (October 7) they told me that they are confiscating all of my winnings."
Gambling Grumbles wrote to Titan, saying Konstantia "was not told how she had abused the bonus or what other rules she may have violated. I am certain that you will agree that she at least deserves a full explanation of how she is in violation of your rules and, lacking that, she should be allowed to collect her winnings."
Titan did not bother replying. Somehow, we suspect, that if it did have a good reason for refusing to pay it would have made it very clear.
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