GoWild uses predatory terms to confiscate players money

It has come to light that the online casino GoWild uses rogue terms to confiscate players money, even during play without bonus money. I therefore advice not to play there.

It was in August 12, 2017 a Swedish member called Jan Kristiansson turned to Casinomeister for some advice regarding a matter with GoWild Casino. Jan had gotten a total of 317.000 Swedish Krona confiscated by the casino using a vaguely formulated line of text in its terms. This is Jan’s own words:

Dear,

GoWild Casino have confiscated all my money by claiming that I have breaking a rule by change bet when I played slots.
Are a casino in Malta allowed to have any rules, even if it is brutishly?
The rule they refereeing to is following:

“Forbidden to building a balance and significantly changing play patterns for example bet size, game types and bet structures etc.”

This sounds totally crazy to me because all customers are of course from time to time
changing bet when playing slot and it must be customers choice on what to bet each time.
This is obviously a way for them to confiscate customers money if someone win big.

Slot machines allow you to change bet and how come that they then having a rule which opposite not allow you to do so? This rule is also not clear because it say “significant” and “etc”.
Then GoWild can themself be the judge and decide when they want to use this rule to confiscate customers money and the customers don’t know what rights they have.

All slots are also using a slot random generator so no one can predict the outcome if each slot.

It’s also even more strange that they claim this rule on me because I played with more or less same amount on more than hundreds of slot games before I got my biggest win which was on SEK 250.000 ( USD 30.500 ).

Gowild confiscated all my deposits which where on a balance of total SEK 205.000 (USD25.000) and then also all my winnings which where on SEK 112.000 (USD 13.600) which give the total of SEK 317.000 (USD 38.600) as they confiscated.
I where totally broken by this, both finance wise as well as a person and I therefore are now on a 8 weeks rehabilitationcenter for playing addition named “Game Over” in Linköping/ Sweden.

I will also add to this that I never play with any bonus and did not do that here with GoWild, it was just pure deposit money as they took.

Kind regards
Jan Kristiansson

The player was then adviced to submit a complaint on the site but a few days later the casino responded on the forum standing by its decision:

Hi,

This concern has been communicated to the customer clearly on why the decision was made. All needed specific information with explanation has been provided too to the customer.

The customer registered on the website with a full agreement to the terms and conditions. Having that said, he has fully agreed too to the specific clause below:

6.2. Without derogation from the generality of the foregoing, the following activities are not allowed and constitute a material breach of these Terms of Service: i) colluding with third parties; ii) using unfair advantage or influence (commonly known as cheating), including the exploitation of a fault, loophole or error in our software, the use of automated players (sometimes known as ‘bots’); or the exploitation of an ‘error’; iii) undertaking fraudulent activities to your advantage, including the use of a stolen, cloned or otherwise unauthorized credit or debit card, as a source of funds, or taking part in any criminal activities including money laundering and any offence with criminal repercussions; iv) irregular play, which may include but is not wholly restricted to any one or more of the following types of play: placing single bets equal to or exceeding the limit defined in the terms of the bonus campaigns of the value of the bonus credited to the player account, in advance of the wager requirement for that bonus having been met; using the double-up feature to increase bet values; placing even money bets on Baccarat, Blackjack and Roulette and/or building a balance and significantly changing play patterns for example bet size, game types and bet structures etc.

The casino will stand by the terms and for any other questions, the customer may freely contact us.

Thanks,
Gia
GoWild

GoWild has pretty much ignored Casinomeister after this which could see no other outcome other than removing the casino from the accredited list and to put it in the rogue pit. The admin writes:

Well, these guys have pretty much forced my hand. There is no way that an accredited casino can remove winnings from non-bonus play citing “irregular playing patterns”. That is absolute rubbish. And the fact that the casino support is confirming that one can play in this manner proves that the management of this casino isn’t what it used to be.

Furthermore, the other PAB that went pear-shaped (where the player was told he could bet 20% of his bonus amount, and confiscated his winnings after he did so) hammers home my thoughts on this. They should not be listed as an Accredited Casino.

The lack of discussion on their part really surprises me. I guess they have forgotten about their trials and tribulations they have had here since 2008. What this implies, at least to me, is that they find no value in being an accredited casino at Casinomeister. Their accounts manager even thought it was “not appropriate” to remove them from the Accredited section because their licensing jurisdiction ruled in their favor.

How could I not remove them? Their casino is violating our standards:

• Must not confiscate winnings for vague & unclear reasons, such as “irregular playing patterns” or “bonus abuse”, without specific
  T&C

  violations.

• Must not implement terms that can be construed as “unfair” towards the player.

These are rogue terms – I am sure most everyone would agree with me – and not only players, but affiliates and other operators. Enforcing rogue predatory terms = rogue casino.

So, I decied to do the same and place GoWild in my own list of rouge casinos using predatory terms. I therefore strongly advice all my viewers and visitors not to play there and affiliates still promoting them should put the safety of their visitors in best interest too.

Swedish visitors may want to visit www.swegamblers.se for more information.