Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing to you today to file a complaint against Stake Casino (Stake.com). Stake is a crypto currency casino which holds an Antillephone Curacao Gaming license (8048/JAZ).

The grounds to my complaint are that Stake's Customer Due Diligence (CDD), Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti Money Laundering (AML) processes are insufficient and in breach of the license requirements and curacao law, specifically the NOIS (Attached.) and regulations specified by the Curacao Gaming Control Board. With the insufficient processes in place I was able to create a new account even though I am self excluded permanently with Stake (Since May 2022) and deposit a large sum of money over a short period of time with no identity verification checks carried out at any stage. In total my deposits less any withdrawals made totalled 68 Litecoin (LTC). I am seeking a refund of the full amount due to the failure on stake's part to collect the required relevant CDD, KYC and AML information which would have prevented a self excluded patron from creating a further account and depositing this amount of money.

I will summarise my complaint briefly below however will submit a full word document detailing everything with supporting documents.

I would like to summarise my complaint below:

Failure to perform the required KYC, CDD and AML checks. Required by Law and License. I was able to sign up to Stake, deposit in excess of 100 LTC, withdraw in excess of 32 LTC and wager over €37,000 in a 2 month period without any identity verification checks being carried out. I have made stake aware of this in the prior disputes so they are well aware of this being an issue for self excluded patrons not being identified and they are well aware of what needs to be done to comply with these requirements.

Complete disregard for the protection of vulnerable customers and lack of procedures for responsible gambling. It is clear that Stake are completely ignoring their responsibilities with regards to vulnerable customers, self exclusions and KYC, AML and CDD policies. Given that the resolutions and answers of how to fix the issues are being handed to them I see this as a failure of the ‘reasonable’ responsibility to protect self excluded patrons and vulnerable customers. And it certainly shows an element of irresponsibility from Stake.

Proposed Resolution:

I am seeking to be put in the same position I was prior to creating this account and by my calculations that would mean a refund of 68 LTC however I am happy for Stake to check this figure.

Again the full details are in my file submissions, thank you for taking the time to look into my complaint.

Dear GaspardLou,

Thank you very much for submitting your complaint. I’m sorry to hear about your problem. Please allow me to ask you a few questions, so I can understand the whole situation completely. Do I understand correctly that you managed to register a new account? Could you please clarify if the personal details you entered while registering the new account matched the personal details from your old account?

Additionally, could you please forward me your self-exclusion request to [email protected]? Alternatively, you can post it here. 

Thank you very much in advance for your reply.

Best regards,

Kristina

Hi Kristina,

Yes, I managed to register a new account on Stake.

On my first Stake account which was excluded because of my gambling addiction that I mentioned to Stake's staff, I filled every personal details of the KYC that you can filled (I sent my personnal passport or ID I don't remember).

On this account, I never sent any personal documents because they never asked me for it, nor is it necessary to be able to play or to withdraw.

I don't have my self-exclusion request as my account was blocked after a chat on the live support of Stake. But I will send you the proof that my account was blocked for gambling addiction.

Best regards

Thank you for your reply, GaspardLou. Please note that I asked if you filled in the same personal details (name, email address, date of birth, etc.) when registering both accounts.

Also, do you still have access to your new account? Did you contact casino support regarding this issue? Could you please forward all the relevant communication between you and the casino to [email protected]? Alternatively, you can post it here. Thank you in advance.

Hi Kristina,

When you register a new account on Stake, you don't need to provide any personal detail, except date of birth, and it's what I did with mine. If I didn't make any mistake, I gave them my real date of birth. And yes, it's the same as the first account.

I would add that, it's a shame that an online casino doesn't ask for any personal information when registering a new account, except a date of birth. This is clearly an open gate to any trouble for players who suffer gambling addiction.

I also filled my personal details, with name, adress (which has changed since my first account as I moved in a new place) etc, but later, as you don't have to if you don't want, there was no obligation for me to do it before. But Stake never asked for it, or for any ID.

In the second mail I sent you, few days ago, you can see that on my new account, there are my real informations.

I still have access to my new account, even if Stake said that they closed it.

I contacted them, and they said that I broke their rules :

"We refer to our Self-Exclusion Policy. Stake applies all reasonable endeavors to ensure that compliance with the policy is fulfilled and the User acknowledges that they will not proceed to open new accounts to bypass Stake’s endeavors to minimize the negative impact gambling may have on the individual. 

When noticed by Stake that an additional account has been opened, we close such account at its earliest detection. In this case, you provided false and misleading KYC information (false name and different residential address) to bypass our security measures. 

We take reasonable steps to prevent you from gambling on any of our products. It is also the customer’s responsibility to refrain from breaching these agreed terms.

Further, as per multiple clauses in our Terms of Service (the Agreement) (3 and 5), the User agrees to have only one account and to not open multiple accounts, by doing so is a breach to the Agreement.

Accordingly, it is our understanding that you are not entitled to any reimbursement as per the reasons above. Also, due to policies mentioned above, we have proceeded to close the account "GaspardLou"."

So Stake said I broke their rules, but as soon as they don't apply any real KYC politic, they can't say that.

As soon as they don't ask for your personal details + a proof of ID (a picture, or whatever) to make some deposit/withdraw, they can't make sure who you are. So there is a lack of their own duties, which is to make sure who the player is.

I tried so hard to refrain myself, but I failed, and I'm still under treatment with a doctor to try to heal myself.

I will forward you a video I took, which prove that my real informations are on my Stake profile, and the exchanges I had with them.

Do you need anything else?

Best regards

Hi Kristina,

Can you please confirm that you’ve received the 3 emails I’ve sent to you ?

Best regards

Thank you very much, GaspardLou, for your cooperation. I will now transfer your complaint to my colleague Jozef ([email protected]) who will be at your service. I wish you the best of luck and hope the problem will be resolved to your satisfaction in the near future.  

Hi Kristina,

Thanks for your help, I will now wait for Jozef to reply.

Have a good day,

Best Regards

Dear GaspardLou,

I absolutely appreciate that you shared your experiences with the Casino Guru team. We will now try to get in touch with the casino.

Dear Casino Guru,

I would like to clarify as well :

a) The complaint I made before, with the regulator, was about the fact that I was able to play from France. So this argument is 100% not relevant. Using the regulator answer as an argument is just a lie. As soon as you can read the complaint, you can see that it wasn’t about any self-exclusion. So the part saying ? This player has already presented a complaint in the past before Stake and the regulator with the same arguments ? is a lie, and we may wonder if stake's answer is really honest.

Here the proof that my first complaint wasn’t about any self-exclusion which was ignored

b) I use my personal details as I shown you in my mail, with a video proving that my account was on my name. The only reason why they could say that I used different information, is because I tried to change the address on my personal details, and the Google auto-filled option changed everything, and filled with my wife name. When I saw it, I changed it back to my own personal details, it stayed like that for 1 minute. Once again, I registered with my own personal details, same as the first account. It was just a mistake when I changed my address but I changed it back.

Also, I would like Stake to provide any ID which they should have ask for. If they are keep trying to say that it wasn’t my personal details when I registered, then they must prove it by providing the ID related to the personal details they’re saying I used.

c) There is something which sounds weird, in the email they sent me few days ago, stake said I broke the terms 3 and 5, and now it’s 4 and 5. This can easily prove that Stake isn’t a serious company, and that they’re trying manipulate the full story. Once again, we may wonder if stake's answer is really honest, as soon as they changed their own version.

I proved everything I said, with screenshots, videos, etc. Stake answered with 1 screenshot, which is just a conclusion form the regulator, without the essential part : the complaint itself !

Once again, I never provided fake KYC, I registered with my personal details.

Please Casino Guru, turn the Stake answer to privacy mode, as they are some personal details in it.

Best regards

Dear Stake Casino,

Please, could you provide me with more information about fake identities? It is quite important information because if the player registered in your casino with incorrect information or provided you with fake documents, it is a serious breach of T&Cs, and the refund is irrelevant. It is only relevant in cases where the player used truthful information and there is no clear sign of attempting to bypass your system. You can send me evidence at my email address, [email protected].

Dear Casino Guru,

We have attended to send through an email.

Best,

Dear GaspardLou,

I can fully confirm that the casino team has provided me with relevant evidence that sustains their claims. There are clear signs of an attempt to bypass the system. You should always use truthful and correct information in the casino, ignoring it may cause multiple issues in the future.

Additionally, I would like to point out one small part of the casino statement (backed by the evidence), see below.

On top of the above, the User has been corresponding with us directly using the same false name which was used to create the second account. This clearly displays that it was not an autocorrect error, but rather a calculated decision to avoid detection. 

I am very sorry but after concluding all the information, I believe you are not entitled to receive the refund, and I am forced to reject your case.

You have a full right not to agree with our decision. Another option is to file an official complaint at the licensing authority of the casino. I will gladly help you with it, you may reach me at the email address mentioned below. Let me know if you have any questions or require further assistance.

Best regards, Jozef

[email protected]