Other Ways to Report Your Gambling Complaint

While we try our best to assist players whenever we can, there will always be situations that come up where we cannot offer any further support. These can include:

In the case that the gambling operator refuses to comply with your complaint and CasinoReviews cannot assist with your claim, you may want to look at alternative means of pursuing your case. Below we provide some suggestions and guidance.

The first option to consider is the operator’s regulator. Different regulators will have different processes for managing complaints. But any regulator worth the name will have in place some system to help players address complaints against their licensees. Any reputable operator will provide this information in the footer of their website. The first thing you need to do is establish which regulators the operator holds a license with and how the regulator manages complaints. We recommend that you read through our guide to How Online Gambling Regulators Manage Complaints further down this page for information about this topic. 

Currently the UK and Maltese regulator’s defer complaints to Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) services instead of managing complaints themselves. While CasinoReviews’ is an ADR service that can act on complaints against hundreds of different gambling operators, there are several other ADR services and many gambling operators that choose to work with other ADRs. You will be able to find out which ADR service a gambling operator uses by looking at their terms of use. Usually under a ‘complaints’ heading. You should be aware that most ADRs will require you to have completed the operator’s internal complaints process before they will consider your claim. That means that if the terms of use stipulates that the operator has 8 weeks after you submit your complaint act on it, you will need to wait 8 weeks after you inform the operator of your complaint before escalating the matter to their ADR.

Another option to pursue your complaint is to consider taking legal action against the operator. The first thing to be aware of is that use of an ADR service – whether formal or informal – does not usually impede your right to pursue a claim in court. An ADR ruling in favour of the operator may be used by the operator in the defence of their case, but it does not ordinarily prevent a case from being brought forward (nor does it guarantee an outcome). The difficulties in pursuing legal action against an operator relate to:

For well licensed operators, situations which necessitate court action are far less frequent and when it does happen, a legal advisor will be able to determine the correct court to approach. This is because well licensed operators will have a clearly established complaint management policy that results in most claims being resolved without the need for court intervention. For weakly licensed operators, resident in island states, complex company structures intended to mask those responsible for the business often make taking legal action unfeasible. For example, we have never heard of a player successfully taking legal action against a Curacao licensed operator.

Nevertheless, we are aware of some situations where court actions have benefitted players and it is worth keeping this option in mind.

The above options provide formalized approaches to the management of player complaints. They are rooted in regulatory and legal systems intended to protect consumers. A less formal path is to take your complaint to one of several online gambling communities that assist their users in resolving complaint issues. While these communities lack the authority to force any specific outcome, they often have large volumes of traffic visiting their websites. In some cases, where the community is inclined to do so, they can leverage the operators desire to access their traffic for the purposes of advertising to pressure the operator into helping a player. This recourse is far from foolproof but is another option open to players – and one that is far more commonly successful than legal action.When acting informally, outside of our ADR remit, CasinoReviews certainly falls into this category of community, relying on our relationship with operators to get players paid. Each community will have stronger and weaker relationships though, so if CasinoReviews has not managed to support you, it may still be worth contacting other communities.

If you are considering the option of complaining directly to the regulator of an online gambling operator, you must first establish which regulators the operator holds a license with and how the regulator manages complaints. 

Below, you will find information on the complaint management systems provided by the more widely used regulators.

The UKGC is a single country licensing program, meaning that the strictures and requirements of a UKGC license only apply to an operator when they are dealing with players from the UK. The regulator takes no interest in any issues experienced by players outside of the UK. The UKGC do not manage player complaints themselves. Instead, they outsource this job to ADR bodies who have to seek approval via the Gambling Commission. Each operator holding a UKGC license has to appoint an ADR from the approved list. Players can find out which ADR is responsible for the operator by reviewing the operator’s terms of use and looking under ‘complaints’. It should be noted that within the UKGC licensing system ADRs are restricted from managing certain types of complaints, most specifically those related to responsible gambling and whether or not a player should have been allowed to play, either due to failures in the national self-exclusion scheme GAMSTOP or where the player feels that the operator should have stepped in to prevent their gambling. In these cases, complaints should be directed to the regulator. However, players should be aware that the UKGC will not ordinarily offer a response to any individual complaint, instead using these submissions to look for patterns and indications of potentially problematic activity within the industry.

The GGL regulates the online gambling market in Germany by examining cross-border gambling offers to protect players from addiction and manipulation. Players can report complaints they believe may be violations through the GGL’s information portal, after which an expert will review your report in line with local regulations. Apart from reviewing reported gambling violations, the GGL also regularly update a Whitelist where you can view a list of operators that fall under the remit of the GGL, as well as those that are supervised by other gambling regulators. 

The Austrian Tax Office is the general gambling regulator for Austria. This regulator falls under the Ministry of Finance, with issues related to gambling managed by the Special Responsibilities Department, wherein the Official Gambling Experts Competence Center manages matters related to gambling.

The AGCO is an Ontario provincial regulatory agency reporting to the Ministry of the Attorney General (MAG).  It is a corporation under the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario Act, 2019.

When it comes to gambling online in Ontario, players/bettors should know that the AGCO is responsible for regulating online gaming and horse race betting, and also administers the charity lottery licensing for Ontario. 

All complaints related to the aforementioned areas must be submitted via the iAGCO Complaints Portal. Should you need assistance with the AGCO’s complaints process, you can view the AGCO’s guide to resolving complaints and/or get in touch with their Customer Service by submitting an Inquiry to the AGCO.

The ACGO also hosts an online database where you can search for existing ACGO licences, permits, authorizations, and registrations.

Players/bettors in New Zealand can forward  their complaints to any of the International regulators listed on this page. 

These regions are serviced by the international online gambling regulators listed below. 

The MGA is one of the international licensing programs, meaning that an MGA license covers all players that engage with the operator, not simply those players resident in Malta. The MGA do not manage player complaints themselves. Instead, they outsource this job to ADR bodies who must seek approval via the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority. Each operator holding an MGA license must appoint an ADR from the approved list and has the option to appoint more than one. Players can find out which ADR is responsible for the operator by reviewing the operator’s terms of use and looking under ‘complaints’.

The Commission oversees gaming and gaming related activities conducted within or from the Mohawk Territory of Kahnawà:ke. The Commission receives complaints about any gambling site that falls under its license and regulations. 

Players/bettors who wish to complaint about a gambling site to the Commmission can do so in one of the following ways: 

P.O. Box 1799, Route 138Kahnawà:Ke Mohawk Territory, QuebecJ0L 1B0, Canada

The licenses listed below apply to any player where the operator does not hold a license with a national regulator in their country.

The GGC are another international licensing program, with their license applying to any player resident in a jurisdiction where their authority is not superseded by a local regulatory entity. For example, the GGC license would not be applicable for UK players where the operator also held a UKGC license. The GGC licenses most of the biggest names in the industry. The GGC operates a quasi-ADR system. They do not appear to have in place any requirements that their licensees offer an ADR, but where they do, it would appear to direct players to submit their complaint to the ADR rather than the GGC. Where this is not possible, and subject to a lengthy set of caveats, the GGC will review player complaints. Players can find information on the complaint process here. ‍Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC)

The AGCC are an international licensing program, meaning that their license applies to any player not covered by a local licensing system. The AGCC does manage player complaints directly. Players can submit a complaint to the regulator here.

The Isle of Man GSC is an international licensing program, meaning that their license applies to any player not covered by a local licensing system. The Isle of Man GSC does manage player complaints directly. Players can submit a complaint to the regulator here.