Playhippo confiscated my winnings

In December I registered at Playhippo casino and in January they offered me a reload bonus of 50% and I made a deposit of 300€ and then I was unbelievably lucky to win about 12000€. 

I requested a withdrawal but Playhippo let me know that they confiscated my winnings because I had bet too big.  >:(

I had played  a slot making bets of 7,20€ a spin knowing that in their terms it said that one mustnt bet bigger than 8€ a spin. So I wondered what they meant. They told me they had changed this rule in January and the new max bet is 4€ a spin. I replied that they failed to inform me about this new rule and that therefore I never accepted it and it doesnt apply and they are obliged to pay me but they refuse to do so.

Imo a casino is obliged to let the players know it when they change the terms. They didnt inform me and therefore I wasnt aware of the new rule. Thus they should give the 12k I won to me, shouldnt they? 

You can contact their representative right HERE on the forum, I'm sure she will be able to help you.

I don't think they are under any obligation to tell us when they change their T &  C and there's probably something in the T & C to that effect. 

Gutted for you bass800.  I hope you get your win.

I believe they are legally obliged to inform the players about a change of the terms. And because they failed to do so I didnt accept the new terms and they dont apply. Thus it was illegal to confiscate the winnings.

Anyway I have sent a PM to their rep hoping he will do something about it.

I hope the rep can do something to help.  Please keep us updated.

I have sent a PM to the rep of playhippo with a link to this thread and he has been active today so he should have read it but obviously he has not posted anything in this thread. He has not replied to my PM at all.

Moreover I sent an email to the customer support of playhippo with a link towards this thread and I told them that I PMed their rep on this forum and that he didnt reply. Then I received a standard email that said we have received your email and we will reply soon but they have not replied.

What a poor performance by this casino. Guess why they ignore us. Could it be that they know that the confiscation of my winnings was not legit?

I really feel bad for you bass, and I hope that you will resolve this. I am not sure that casinos generally inform the players about the change in the TC,  but I don't get it why they allowed to make a spin with more than 4€ if it is not allowed in the terms...

I hope the rep can do something to help.  Please keep us updated.
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I shall keep you updated? No problem. There is nothing new. The rep of playhippo has not replied to the PM I sent to him and obviously he has not posted anything in this thread. Imo this is a very poor performance.

What can we do now? Could a rep of LCB please contact the rep of playhippo or the casino directly and ask them to do something instead of ignoring us?

Hi bass800, im sorry that you have experienced this i really hope you get your 12000 euros owed to you.

But also one thing that wasnt mentioned was, (Seeming the slots at playhippo is Microgaming and net entertainment slots) "i can understand that they cant change the max bet on them just for 1 casino", but maybe there should have been a warning message to let people know that players can only bet a max per spin of 4 euros a spin when they logged into the casino.

That way all players would have been aware, and they wouldn't have ran into this problem, i wonder how many others bet more than 4 euros and then got told they cant withdraw cos of this, it is disgusting, totally

In my eyes, it is just another way casinos get away with keeping players money and it is totally wrong, casinos try loads of things, and this is a totally new one on me too bass800.

And what is more bad is that the rep isn't even replying to this thread either, this is totally unacceptable

I really hope you get a reply or the staff at LCB try and help in some way so u can get some kind of a resolution.

Good Luck

And welcome to the forum bass800

DreamRJ

The worse feeling in the world is to win and get stiffed. Hope it works out.

On another note, maybe this forum should start listing this kind of information more clearly for casinos listed, so that players are aware that certain casinos have these rules, so if they went to that casino via this site, they hopefully saw that they have certain rules including this max bet per spin rule.

i mean how many of us read the terms and conditions properly anyway, i sure as hell dont read them fully, and i reckon 75% of new players who sign upto casinos dont even open the terms and conditions and read them at all, so many players who bet big per spin would fall victim to this kind of unfair disadvantage.

A player decided to do a straight deposit in a online casino and then he got told after requesting a withdraw he or she cant have the money because he or she staked more per spin than what was allowed, i mean come on, unless the slot itself had a limit stopping these big bets per spin which cant be the case when a lot of online casinos just buy licenses to have certain slot manufacturers on there casino (example - microgaming and net entertainment) then they must make it perfectly clear on there website that the max bet is 4 euros on all the slots in big writing.

casinos online get away with murder it is seriously unfair, people are spending there own money in these establishments and it isnt right they they can get away with such shady practices on soo many occasions.

I mean yes we can ask questions why they chose to do this new rule about max bet of 4 euro a spin, because maybe they are struggling financially, but that is beside the point, the point is they are obliged to let customers know in my opinion.

I really wish we had some kind of authority sometimes to contact when we need help with online casinos, i just find it damn right crazy that we are basically stuck with no where to go for help or to report such practices.

Ok rant over.

I really really hope you get a response soon and i am also sorry u havent had a resolution or response yet bass800

I have contacted them myself and this is what they replied :

" After reviewing the case I am confident that my colleagues have made a correct decision. The player has consistently broken our T&C and there are also other very relevant factors that have influenced the outcome of this case. Further, all T&C updates have been handled in line with regulations.

I have reviewed all correspondence and again it has been handled according to all regulations including informing the player where to turn to if he feels that our decision is not correct. "

Thank you for contacting them, Zuga.

However, their response is not helpful. It is true that I broke the max bet rule of 4€ a spin but like I said they failed to inform me about the change of the terms that occured in January and therefore this new term does not apply.

And what do they mean by other relevant factors? I am not aware of any other mistakes I might have made.

Why have the t&c updates been handled in line with regulations? What do they mean by that?

And yes, they told me they are regulated by the LGA (Lotteries and Gaming Authority) and that I could file a complaint but I know that wouldnt make sense because the LGA is notorious for not being helpful at all.

So the statements of Playhippo which are quoted by Zuga are not helpful and Playhippo should come up with better statements.

Do you recall accepting new T & C when you logged in at any point after January?

These are the rules regarding the updating of T & C

"3.    CHANGES TO THE TERMS OF USE

3.1.    We may need to change the Terms for a number of reasons, including for commercial reasons, to comply with new laws or regulations or for customer service reasons. The most up-to-date Terms of Use can be accessed here, and the date on which they came into force is noted. Please make sure you are updated on our latest terms and conditions by visiting this page.
3.2.Where we make changes to the Terms of Use which we wish to notify you of, we will do so by email or by placing a notice on the Website, the player must re-confirm acceptance before the changes come into effect and he is able to place bets on our website. "

Here is the particular Casino rule regarding betting at €8/€4.  I assume you are from either Netherlands, Germany, Romania, Italy, Canada or Croatia?

"8.10c  In the interest of fair gaming there is a maximum allowed stake per bet until the wagering requirement has been met. This is true for all bonuses given from the company and includes first deposit bonus, reload bonuses and all other bonuses. This maximum stake is €8 or currency equivalent. Players that reside or have id documents from Netherlands, Germany, Romania, Italy, Canada or Croatia can bet maximum €4 per spin/dealt hand while having a bonus to wager through. A bet is defined as one roulette/slot spin or one dealer's dealt hand in any table game, or one deal in any Video Poker game. This rule also applies when using any double up/gamble feature in any game, for example video poker. This means that the player may not continue to double a win to an amount larger than €16 (or 8 for Netherlands, Germany, Romania, Italy, Canada and Croatia) or currency equivalent . In case of a breach of this rule, the player agrees that his or her bonus and any associated winnings may be void."

In both instances (T& C and Casino rules) there is no date.

i think its ridiculous..if they failed to inform about the change, they cant stole winning..and how can be max bet 4 or 8 if acctualy max bet is higher ?? and if i will play and by my mistake i will press " max bet" and max bet will be 12 or 20.. then i can say bye bye to all my money i have in?

Yes you would sanchya but it does state "...while having a bonus to wager through". 

Not sure if bass800 had made the playthrough by this time?

Blueday, and do u think it is fair,

Because i sure as hell dont, i know if i made the mistake and played in this casino and did big bets, which i never do anyway cos i always do min bet, i would be totally fuming mad

Of course I would be pretty mad but the onus is always on the player to check the T & C before you start wagering on a bonus....and that's why I never take a bonus.

ok yes, i was just asking

Like I said I did violate their new max bet rule but they should inform the players about it when they change the terms and they failed to do so.

Even if they were not legally obliged to inform the players it would still be unethical not to do so.

And when you do a google search you see that they have done this to other players as well. There are several complaints by players who were not aware of new terms because Playhippo changed the terms but didnt inform the players about it. They did that already in 2013 and some complained about it but nevertheless they did it again in 2014. They must have saved a lot of money this way because this way they got a pretext for confiscating a lot of winnings,

@bass800 - yes i hear ya, and i agree with you 100%, i would say stay away from them - and i would also say it to others who played there in the past if they read this thread, i think casinos need to realize that if they want to keep customers they cant have unfair rules for players that are depositing there own money into there casinos and get away with murder.

Here I had this bad experience:
I made a deposit and and won 500 euro from a couple off free spins in Gonzos Quest.(3 or 4 rounds of free spins).I keep playing when my page frozes and I recive this message:we are under mentenance  ..bla bla bla...
Ok I send them a message asking why they dont sent me an email with this mentenace.
They don't replay to my email then.
And in 1hour I open the page again and is working.
I open again Gonzos and start betting(I had a bonus to wager becouse usualy wehn the game frozes or something strange happens I stop and make an withdraw if I can)Ok nothing I didn't get a line or no more then 10 euros  in free spins in 300 euros lost .
I have changed the game later but lost.
this is my email :
Very odd then.I was winning at gonzos quest and after that a screen apeared with a mentenance message.After an hour(i tried a few times in the period) the site was back online.After that now winn and lost everithing no matter of the free spins that I recived even on a 3 euro bet.
Very fishy situation from your part realy
Now the problem is that in a couple of hours this was the answer : Hi

We have gone through your gaming history and it is correct that you seemed to experience technical problems. Everything is fine though in terms of the game play and there is no discrepancy's.

Best

maria

And this one :

We don't have any planned maintenance currently. Are you still having the same problem and in that case what game are you trying to play?

Best

Maria

It wasn't only a problem with gonzos it was a problem with the site there .

Other times I won here and made an withdraw with neteller and had the money in 2 or 3 hours.
It was someth9ing fishy last time and didn't played there from then .

boy, this is spooky news, Thanks for ur story, now I can start even avoiding new netent casinos... dam this blows hard, wtf term is a max bet term? fhking limit it inside the games not fhk with players, I think you should find all these people they fhked over and make a big court case.

Yep just1million i hear ya too,

As i said in my previous posts, i get very passionate when i see threads like this about casinos unfair terms, but this one was one of those disgusting ones that is just an attempt for them to keep players money if the players dont know about that term, cos even 1 spin by accident above 4 euros would mean u lose your money, totally unacceptable

Well.. I have never made a deposit at a NetEnt casino, tried to make one but they wouldn't let me even get the deposit bonus and that was it, i'd rather waste my time & cash on other casinos, regarding the matter that bass presented, whenever there's a change in the T&C the casino must inform you and you decide if you accept or reject them, that's always been the situation for me. If they didn't do that, there's a lack in their managerial area and it's unacceptable. I wouldn't take any further measures if i were you because they can easily say that you accepted the terms and you have no proof whatsoever that they haven't informed or anything. I'm sorry, that a huge amount you lost. play3r's issue, on the other hand.. it's not new, always happend to me and I think to anyone else, you're on a winning streak and then, suddenly, the game freezes or in this case you get stucked with a maintainence message. Online gambling has many flaws and there's no "antidote", at least for now.

I had the frozen problem many times before that.
And I lost the money many times after that.
The problem is with the email from them that they didn't had any mentenace.
I know that usually all gamblers blame the loses on the site or on enithing else
when they should blame them for this.
But it was something very stange about this.
I only want to tell here if you are winning and this happens trie to withdraw(if you don't have a bonus like I did).
They give the money fast like I said .
They don't ask documents for small amounts like 300-500 euros to delay the process.
But they made this and I can't trust them now.

play3r211, this thread was about something else, not about maintenance, and i played on many other sites anyway and they went down for maintenance, it is just the way it is, it is not something odd.

Sometimes most sites do put a message up that they will go down for maintenance but not always.

I know that.
They sometimes email you and anunce the mentenace and you sometimes found the site like that.
The odd thing was that they told me that they didn't had any mentenace that day and that it was an error from my part.
This topic warn people that play there about the bonus limits.
I told people my experience there the good one when I won and cashout very fast on a saturday(in 2 or 3 hours) and that bad one when I lost the money after a mentenace that didn't existed .
I didn't tell them not to play only to know what happend to me and that it was odd(maybe only for me).
Have a nice day and good luck

This casino (from what i am reading)seems like a place to be wary of. I have had the technical issues too and not fun when CSR says its you.