888poker username Machidon7 , country Romania
For anybody currently playing on 888poker or considering playing on it I would suggest reading this post , especially if they offer to give you
redeemable bonus money and you want to claim it.
Timeline:
On 11.05.2023 I received an email from their poker operations team telling me that I am under suspicion of trying to abuse their bonus system and I cannot access my account (the accusations in this email displeased me - because in my opinion I didn't do anything wrong, and because of this and because when I replied I had just woke up my first email reply to them it was maybe a little icy).
This email was a surprise to me, because I have received bonus multiple times before(if I remember correctly 3 or 4 times I got between approximative 200 to 600 USD and a few other small ones - like 2 to 20 USD ) and there was no problem .
I don't know if and what I have done wrong this time with the 230 USD bonus money.
In one of the emails I was told that "In the event that the Company has reasonable suspicion that a user of the Service is abusing or attempting to abuse a bonus, offer or other promotion, or is likely to benefit through abuse or lack of good faith from a gambling policy adopted by the Company, then the Company may, at its sole discretion, deny, withhold or withdraw from any user any bonus, offer or promotion, or rescind any policy with respect to that user, either temporarily or permanently, or terminate that user's access to the Services and/or block that user's account."
After I tried to explain to them that I am not that kind of player ( I have played on their site since 2018 - I paid in rake 42843 USD, I am a regular MTTs player and I have played on their site mainly because of their tournaments and not because of their bonus offers) , I last heard from them on 18.05.2023.
I tried to get an update on the investigation on 16.06.2023 and I was told by their support that they didn't receive yet a resolution from the poker operations team .
On 01.07.2023(Saturday) I contacted their representant on this forum in the official 888poker players thread and he sent my request to be checked by them.
On 03.07.2023 I received an generic email from them telling me that after my account was carefully investigated they took the decision to keep the account blocked ,to remove my membership and seize my approximative 2000 USD bankroll(about 2200 with the bonus money),without giving any proof whatsoever .
Other relevant information :
My 888poker stats :
I was an
VIP ELITE since 16.03.2023 on the site.
The redeem rakeback (1058 ron equals to about 230 USD) bonus mail :
I haven't found any relevant information about what one can do/play (stakes ,type of games ,etcetera) with the bonus money on their TOS, it only states that for bonus clearance one should use the restricted funds - aka bonus money , but when you register for a game they use first your available funds - aka your money/bankroll) .
Please let me know if you think there is a problem with how I used the bonus money or if you have used it in another way :
-First I registered with my bankroll 2000 USD to tournaments that were starting in the following days (the majority of them which I was gonna play)
-Then I registered with the bonus money and played some blast spingos(buy-in 1 to 10 USD) ,satellites(buy-in less than 5 USD), and cash games(buy-in less than 25 USD) .Sometimes I also played some tournaments.
Also ,I didn't wager all the bonus money in one session.
When they blocked my account I had left about 65% of the initial bonus sum.
In one of the mails they mentioned that for receiving rake bonus money one should have to play 3 or more games with the buy in of minimum 100 USD and I have played from 01.05.2023 till 11.05.2023 3 games over 100 USD - one 109 Sunday mystery bounty tournament game with my bankroll money and 2 blast spingos games of 100 USD each - in different days when I made profit playing 5 or 10 USD blast spingos ,and maybe they thought that I was doing it for getting more bonus money next month , but I usually play in every week the 109 Sunday mystery bounty tournament game with my bankroll money (and not with the bonus money) and the month wasn't over.
Final thoughts :
I have been playing poker for many years (on PokerStars ,888poker and GG) - and never encountered something similar .
The result of their investigation seems odd to me , almost shady- they didn't offer any proof.
I also don't know why they stalled for time .
If it was about the bonus money I offered to give it back to them.
They seized approximative 2000 USD(I don't know if its legal what they have done) ,but I was lucky that I didn't kept a bigger bankroll on the site .
It is unfortunate that this happened , I liked playing on their site
Please advise what can I do .
All help is highly appreciated.
Thanks in advance!
All communication with 888poker during this time period (emails):