Might be a long shot but did you have ftp account that you closed or had any issues? For some reason stars thinks you have a gambling problem.

Tell "Jeff" that he is breaking the law by refusing to fulfil a data subject access request and he would be advised to pass your request to his company's data controller or data protection compliance officer.

Maybe you can elaborate on this. How do you think someone tasked with policing responsible gambling would view this behaviour?

Presumably they will respond to you regarding any funds that are in your account

good to see that Jeff got promoted in the last 24 hours!

As mentioned I deposited £85, I had to play through the bonus requirements for it to be converted into cash within the specified timeframe set by stars themselves. Besides I am sure there are people who bet through more than that in a day and don't get barred, but even so the circumstances for the occasion were at their own advice. I have been on Pokerstars for about 6 years now, till date I hadn't faced any issues. the deposit bonus was when I got an offer from pokerstars casino, see the exchange I had below with stars support:

Hi,

I was wondering if you could tell me how I can access the funds in my balance to use on the poker tables? It's my understanding that I've more than met the requirements to convert the casino bonus into cash, but maybe you can clarify for me? If by your records I'm yet to play through the bonus more could you advise me of how far off I am?

Thanks


.................................................. ........................................


Hello,

Thank you for your email.

After reviewing your account we can confirm, you have collected 10 StarsCoin, you need to collect 65 more. The terms of the bonus require play through within 72 hours in order to receive any bonus funds, you have 20 hours left to complete this bonus.

StarsCoin are earned at our casino tables based on the amount wagered. The rate you earn the coins depends on the game type and variant played.

Classic Blackjack: $54 in wagers placed = 1 StarsCoin

Note that its progress can be tracked by opening the Cashier → My Bonus Status → Instant Bonuses tab.

Should you need any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us back.

Regards,

Natalia
PokerStars Support

.................................................. ..............................................

As per the email above I played through the necessary requirements and completed the task. The playthrough amount as like other wagering bonuses is set by the Pokerstars/Individual gaming clients, I can't really be faulted for meeting their playthrough requirements when I win bonus funds. I was than asked to provide verification and had no issues till earlier this week when the account was closed down.

lol I think it's more like 72 hours as the original email from Jeff was earlier in the week. They have responded regarding the funds that were in the account, they were investigate any outstanding payments owed and send the funds to me - looking more promising than the rest of the communication I have had so far.

I said in a previous post that, I felt like there was something missing from this story that would lead to an explanation in regards to your account closure.

You stated that, you hadn't left anything out. Yet, i'm seeing more and more new info come to light (that hasn't been previously mentioned) as this thread progresses.

On further thought and based on the info provided so far, IMO - the most plausible reason for you account being closed is to do with problem gambling (hence why the responsible gambling team are dealing with your case and not Pokerstars security).

This may also be the reason you aren't receiving an explanation from them. It's unlikely there going to come out and say "we closed your account because, we think you have a gambling problem" or something to that affect.

IMO - I still think there are some finer details missing that would lead to an explanation as to why this has happened. Whether it be something to do with your bonus play, deposits/withdrawal or something else i'm not sure but, there's definitely something that raised a red flag and brought attention to your account.

You simply wouldn't have had it closed otherwise. Random closures for no reason just don't happen and account closures by mistake are quickly rectified and re-installed, which hasn't happened in your case.

Despite all the communication you've had with them since, they are holding firm and that can only suggest that no mistake has been made, along with them having a valid reason for closing your account in the first place...

It isn't really new information, if we were to go on that basis I would post every single advert email that pokerstars have ever sent to me which would be time consuming. The only extra information was when Peterdiva asked for an elaboration on the 2,000Euro played through in a 24 hour period and suggested this would amount to some form of problem gambling, however, the email thread which I posted was from stars themselves who told me I had a specified time period to make up the points to complete the playthrough in order to withdraw the bonus funds. If that is what led to the ban, they should have banned me when that playthrough occured, but they should be accountable for setting realistic limits on playthrough bonuses if they don't expect people to achieve them and when they do ban them.

Blackjack was my initial game of choice, it required more playthrough than slots, but I was in control of my stakes per hand and that easy progression allowed me to complete the playthrough. The amount staked was a stipulation their bonus had imposed on me.

Even after this I submitted my ID to them. In terms of problem gambling it could be argued that anyone who plays any form of gambling as a symptomatic issue, however, in 6 years on the site the biggest deposit I have ever made in a month was £150. This is both in a single transaction and overall deposits for that particular month, I would be very surprised if alot of people haven't deposited more. I could justify and argue whether or not it is an issue of problem gambling, however, in terms of my financial position I am very much controlled with my spend and also what I have bet. If winning £900 in 24 hours (after the bonus playthrough) amounted to problem gambling than I would want to know how others make more money than this and not raise any red flags.

I had an FTP account which was merged with this, however, I only really played on it once or twice and stuck with PS due to preference of gameplay.

I have accepted that my account will not be reopened, however, I will chase this up as I do feel some form of justification is owed. Thanks for the advice.

I've read many of these types of threads over the years, and two things usually come out after a few posts:

1) It becomes crystal clear that the OP is not giving us the full story, and
2) Somebody from Stars security (occasionally) pop into the thread to say "There's more to this than you're reading here folks. I can't say what, but the account was closed for a good reason".


Neither of these ring true here... I'm not reading any inconsistencies / problems in OP's story so far - it feels to me that it's a case of a 'false positive'.

It would be nice if somebody from Stars security can pop in here and either give us reassuring "More to this story than has surfaced" or, if needed, dig into and it right a wrong...

But the concept of "We can shut you down without telling you why" seems unfair...

OT

I welcome a response from PS in any form even if its to put me in my place. I was of the belief that whilst these sites have the right to grant access to their services to individuals at their own discretion they wouldn't close down an account unless there has been some form of nefarious activity.

I have taken it to their complaints procedure under FOI, asked simply if they can't tell me what the reason for closing down my account might be, than to at least reveal what info they hold for me hopefully there is a note or indication of some sort to justify the actions they took. Even if it rings true that I have unbeknownst to me done something wrong I'll share so others don't do the same...

To clarify on the above point further, I can confirm for all..

The account is registered in my name, it was fully verified.
My bank card was used to deposit (debit not credit card)
I don't have alt accounts not do I share an account with anyone
I have not been involved in any form of collusion.
I have not spoken rudely/taunted anyone on the site.
I have not abused deposit bonuses.
I am not on any self exclusion lists, neither at present nor in the past.
I have never transferred money to another player nor have I received funds from anyone myself.
I have read they TOS and can confirm I haven't breached any of them.

So if PS want to respond, I'm happy to receive feedback...

Also I appreciate everyones input in the thread so far and would like to thank those that have contributed whether you believe what has been said or not it's interesting to gather the thoughts of observers to the situation.

This happened to me. I asked FTP to close my account because they were taking wayyyy too long to cash me out. I ended up losing the $5k I was trying to cash out. Went on a bit of a rampage yelling at them in an email that they basically cost me $5k and I don't want to play on their site anymore so they put that I had a gambling problem and closed my account.

Fast forward to when FTP was bought by Stars and my Stars account got perm-banned as well because they told me that FTP said I have a gambling problem. WTF? Tried emailing them multiple times after that but they basically told me to go **** myself so I just don't play Stars anymore.

I'd love to get back on Stars again but it seems like that's never going to happen. I've even told them I am willing to write them a letter saying that I do not have a problem and take 100% full responsibility for any losses that occur but they still told me to go **** myself.

This is 100% correct. Here is support confirming it via email recently.

PokerStars Michael J use to comment on threads like this to provide some clarity, but unfortunately that account is no longer active

is any1 aware of a similar account that has taken over?

I know nothing about data protection laws, but once OP was told that they are sending him his money, I think the rest of this is wasted effort. If they don't want him as a customer, they don't have to have him, and spending a bunch of time on trying to find out exactly why they don't want him isn't going to change that.

+1

I don't see the harm in finding out why he was banned if he wants too.

Imagine issac newton took that same approach to life.

"why did this apple fall?"

"doesn't matter, I can't do anything about it"

Do you know how different life would be, we wouldn't even have gravity, things would float off in to space.

FaddyQ don't disappoint... become the next newton.

Good luck with all this if you actually did nothing wrong.

I think everyone is in the right to know whats the reason for something like this to happen.

Incredible how these companies have the "right" to not show you the reasons.

I quoted the comment almost word for word within my most recent post; I cc'd the support team as per their complaints procedure as Responsible Gaming, the team who initially mentioned the ban said they would not respond to any more emails.

Like I said I appreciate it may not change anything and that is more likely rather than likely, however, I don't like the way they have dealt with this incident when I know for a fact I haven't done anything wrong. As such any information I can obtain to understand why I was treated as such would just give me clarity.

Hey, it's all good if you know it's not going to change anything. The world needs more Isaac Netwons.

Could it be that one of your family members contacted stars and aksed them to ban you from playing?

the OP seems open about the info he is sharing and genuine in not understanding the reasons for the closure. i think its certainly worthy to pursue clarification as there have been reversals in the past due to some misunderstanding. ofc the OP could be hiding some big secret that makes everything clear, but im not getting that vibe from him

losing ur stars acc as an online player is a big deal and even a small chance of recovering it is worth it imo

No it isn't. I have checked with them. And none of them have an issue with this.

Definitely. At the end of the day I can only tell you what has happened and provide what I believe to be pertinent information.

I received the following response this morning:

Hello,

I have forwarded your request on to our compliance team who will follow up with you in regards to that request.

Regards,

Jeff
Stars Responsible Gaming Manager

I will await further communication from them and update this thread in due course.

Employer?

It's hard to find out the crucial details from this thread, but did you at some point do something like gamble constantly for 24 hours without sleep in order to clear a bonus?

FWIW, I think Stars should be telling you more directly why they are rejecting your business.

This is 2017 Stars...

Nope, no one I know personally could have reported. Whilst my professional life overlaps into my personal life; I don't bring aspects i.e online gaming into my working life.

I did playthrough the bonus requirements within the day, but I didn't play for 24 hours straight nor that many hours all in all either tbh. If I remember correctly I managed to clear the bonus requirements within 2-3 hours and even than that was staggered due to RL commitments.

And yes, they have been very sketchy about why they have shut me out, however, someone did post earlier maybe they may do that rather than saying that I have a gambling problem - though I do not believe this to be the case as I have no doubt there are alot of people who play higher stakes than myself; as a full time job too. The amounts staked, the time played for, and how long I have been on the site prior to all this happening, I couldn't really see that they would see problem gambling being the issue nor can I pin-point why they did what they did which is why I brought it to this forum after seeing a similar post on a google search.