So, I have been playing on redkings for around 6 months and I am a compulsive gambler. I have never broken any t&cs on their site nor done anything untoward.


On Friday 10 February and Saturday 11 February I contacted the redkings live chat facility through the poker client and requested my account to be closed "permanently" and "immediately". I was told through live chat that I had to wait despite me asking for it to be done straight away. This was not done. I was trying to be responsible as I felt my gambling was getting out of control and therefore the account should have been closed straight away.

I then tried to log in on Sunday 12 February and found that my account was still not closed. On 12 February I then went onto deposit and lose ~ £20,000 which was a deposit for a house with my partner. We will therefore be homeless if we do not have this money.


I have contacted them and asked for all deposits made on 12 February, which total around £19,800, to be reimbursed to me, as my account should have been closed and I should never have been allowed to deposit. I am aware that all deposits before the 12 February were all made when I wanted the account to be open so do not expect them to be refunded.

They have contacted me since saying as I did not use the exact phrase "self exclusion" that they are declining the request.

Can anybody help me here with what to do next?
thanks

gamblers anonymous would be a good start Sounds like you are def a compulsive gambler but you have to give a site at least 24 hours. The money is gone no way you will get it back. Just out of curiosity what method of payment did you use to deposit the monies?

No way you are getting your money back. Otherwise anyone could use that loophole trying to gamble it up. And lets say you deposit and manage to win big but wont get your winnings because your acc was suppoused to be locked? Would it be just fine? Yeah my bad I don't need that 100k.

Edit what you can do? Make it that you cant access that kind of money.

feel like dejavu seeing this story, but op that money was burning a hole in your pocket if it wasnt red kings it would have been william hill live casino etc etc. your not getting that back outside of a miracle.

Yeah I thought the same thing. How did he blow it so fast does red kings have casino games im guessing?

Every mpn skin has casino. In the pokerclient allso.

OP, my first instinct is that the fault lies only on you. However, I do think you have a leg to stand on. Whether I agree with it or not, any site or establishment will typically have some sort of responsibility to protect their customers. I think this falls into that area if everything happened in the order that you've stated. I have a difficult time believing that they are not liable here. Sites are very strict when it comes to self-bans, not out of the goodness of their heart, because these are typically the type of players they need to keep the site running. For that reason, I have to believe they have a liability to restrict these players upon request. I'm not saying that I agree that you didn't screw up and should have to live with it, but I am saying based on what we know about self-bans, that you may very well have a leg to stand on here.

Find help with your addiction and stop blaming others for your problems. There are probably 100.000 sites on the internet where you can gamble. Redkings is not the problem here. It's YOU. Getting a self exclusion on one site isn't going to change anything in your life.

Really? I don't. I mean, it's certainly possible they have some liability under responsible gaming laws, but it's also very possible that they don't - a lot of it depends on exactly what request OP made. He doesn't say anything about having mentioned a gambling issue to the site - just that he wanted his account closed. What if he's being intentionally ambiguous with his language so that they won't take his winnings away if they fail to close his account immediately, but if he loses, he claims that he's a compulsive gambler to get his money back?

I'm FAR from convinced they should be on the hook for this, with the little information we've been provided.

You did a much better job of examining his post then I did. I read he has a gambling problem, and I read he asked them to close his account. I merged the two without knowing if he mentioned this to them. If he told them he was a degen, then requested his account be closed immediately, I think they should be on the hook under responsible gambling laws. More details would probably be needed to be decisive. Doesn't matter though, it would be near impossible to get it back anyways.

Interesting one this. If you made no mention of problem gambling in your request to close the account then you have no recourse. If you asked for the account to be closed "permanently" and "immediately" due to a gambling problem and they didn't act on that then i would suspect the UK gambling commission would be very interested to hear from you. Begs the question as someone previously said if you spun up to £100k would you think you weren't entitled to any of the profit?

i bet if op gets the chat logs it will not show him mentioning his gambling problem and asking for permanent banning/exclusion which is different from asking for account closure

Thanks for your input everyone.

Yes that's what they have come back and said that because I used the words permanently and immediately and not self exclusion that they are rejecting the decision because I didn't mention my gambling problem. But in my eyes the fact that I asked for it to be immediately closed and for good and it wasn't is my main problem.

It seems stupid and I can guarantee that had I won a substantial amount of money they would not have paid out. Regardless of whether I'd spent the money elsewhere if it wasn't on red kings they should never have let me log in let alone deposit after I'd made the request.

Thanks again for all your comments

If you want to be frustrated with them for not closing your account as quickly as you'd have liked, that's fine I guess. But what you shouldn't expect is to get $20 K back for it.

Why wouldn't they?

I think it's much more likely that if you had won a substantial amount of money, you wouldn't be looking to give it back to them.

They should never have let you log in let alone deposit once they'd fulfilled your request. Until then, it was on you.

Leaving aside the ethics, it seems to me you may have some wiggle room based on the following.

From the Gambling Commission website:

From the Redkings Responsible Gambling section:

I can't see anything in the Gambling Commission rules or Redkings conditions that require the words 'self-exclusion' to be used. In fact the Commission seems to want to make it as easy as possible to self-exclude. Having to use the correct form of words would seem to be too much of a hurdle to jump. Nor can I see any requirement to admit to a gambling problem. A problem gambler wishing to self-exclude may have difficulty admitting their condition to a customer service agent. Again, requiring them to do so, as opposed to merely asking for an immediate closure of the account, may be considered an unreasonable obstacle.

In your position I might begin by asking for a copy of the chat logs so that you can see exactly what was said, considering whether there were "any clues that a player may have a gambling problem", and, I think most importantly, asking for the authority for their assertion that you are required to use the words 'self-exclude'.

The thread title isn't very accurate, and it's certainly unfair to Redkings (whatever that is).

How about something like "My struggles with gambling addiction: losing £20,000 in one night." That might actually help someone.

I really wonder how someone that actually needs the money for a house with his wife (!!) just takes that money and pisses 20k (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) away in one night.

Yes, it's painful to think about - definitely a warning to others.

Actually, its 25k as the pound is mightier then the dollar.

No, it's still 20 K - we're not all Americans, believe it or not. But you're right that it is close to 25 K USD.

Americans are convinced the USD is the only currency in the world

Agree with fadrus its a total freeroll to ask for the chat logs and make as much noise as you can with the UK gambling commission. You are fortunate to live in the UK which is a world leader when it comes to intelligent gambling regulation and they take helping problem gamblers very seriously.

False. To the top part

The chat logs would be interesting to see, it's possible the site made a mistake here.

My experience is that UK-facing sites are ridiculously cautious when it comes to problem gambling as it can put their license at risk. I used to self-exclude from casino wherever possible and a lot of sites would insist on a phone call to ask about gambling habits etc.

Not sure if OP could get his money back (or if it'd just be a slap on the wrist for the site) but RedKings do seem to be in the wrong here - they have to block an account immediately if asked. Responsible Gambling regulations are there for a reason, gambling addiction is a real thing.

It certainly is possible that the site has dropped the ball here, and I'd agree with those who have said that OP has nothing to lose by pursuing this further.

I still don't rule out the possibility that OP is trying to freeroll the site - but that will be for them to sort out.

This actually is about three totally seperate things, in order of importance:

- OP: OP should get help/therapy. This is by far the most important if you are able to piss away 20k that you actually need for something very important. Getting a single site to close your account isn't going to help you at all as there are thousands of places where you can gamble, on- and offline.

- Legally: Whether Redkings was obliged to close OP's account immediately. That's a case for legislators/possibly lawyers.

- Morally: Whether Redkings should have done the right thing and closed OP's account immediately. I think they should have, if someone can proof it's the actual person owning the account they shouldn't wait with that ****.