PlayYourBet: "Bad math and bad English"
by Steve Russo
July 2020Angelica B of Germany deposited 200 Euros at PlayYourBet, received a 400 Euro bonus, wagered the required playthrough and wound up with 4017 Euros -- at least in her account, certainly not in her wallet.
When she tried to cash out, she was told "You made max bets of 5 euro and once hit a big win dropped the bets to more than 40% just to complete the wagering.
"This is bonus hunter behaviour and it is not allowed.
"You did the exact minimum wagering required and cashed out as soon as finished."
The casino's T&Cs say that "Placing high-value bets with the single intention of increasing the balance, followed by decreasing the bet value by more than half of the prior bet value, in order to meet bonus wagering requirements without meaning fully decreasing the balance."
Angelica, however, says "The bets I placed were 5 EUR and 2.7 EUR so it does not breach any Terms. Casino just does not want to pay me because the amount of my win is not small."
Firstly, let's take care of the casino's English. Its statement that she "dropped the bets to more than 40%" is obviously not correct and, in fact, it is the opposite of what its T&Cs say. What the casino was trying to say is that it is a violation to drop the bet to less than 40%, not more. Is it trying to say that it would be happy if Angelica had dropped her bet to 1 Euro? That, certainly, would mean she had dropped the bet by more than 40%.
Okay, that was a rather unimportant mistake. The more serious one is in its math. If Angelica made bets of 5 Euros and after getting a big win drop the following bets to 2.7 Euros, she did not drop her bet by "more than half of the prior bet value". Half of 5 Euros is 2.5 Euros -- and any bet of that size or larger is perfectly valid under the casino's T&Cs.
When Gambling Grumbles wrote to PlayYourBet we received no reply.To tell the truth, we were not surprised by this.
The casino's website says, "Playyourbet is owned and operated by GONGWARE NV of Maria House, Avlonos and its wholly owned subsidiary, PLAYYOURBET LTD Address Avlonos,1, MARIA HOUSE, 1075 Nicosia Cyprus. Playyourbet operates under Master License No.OCHVCCOTV#2020 granted by the Curacao."
For many years we have been getting complaints about casinos which are owned by companies in Cyprus but are licensed in Curacao, Costa Rica, or other countries which offer little or no protection to players who are cheated by these casinos. Are all Cyprus-owned casinos cheats? No -- but enough are to warrant a careful search about each before playing.
Over a decade ago, Cyprus licensed online casinos but there were so many problems with them that the country banned them. A loophole in the law, however, allowed the owners to have the casinos licensed in other countries.
Why is it a special problem with Cyprus? Are the Cypriots less honest than other people? Again, no. In fact, many of these casinos are owned by people from other countries, especially Eastern European, Middle Eastern, Asian, and African countries whose passports can be very problematic when traveling. What they really want are EU citizenship and passports. Those who have (or can raise) 2 million Euros have an easy path to get Cypriot citizenship (which entitles them to a EU passport). In fact, they never even have to spend a day in Cyprus.
If they invest that 2 million in a Cypriot company, or establish one themselves, not only do they get immediate citizenship but so do their entire families -- including children up to age 28. To top it off, their income is tax-free in Cyprus for 17 years (and, after that, enjoy the lowest income tax in Europe). Of course, they want to get their 2 million Euros back and have discovered that opening an online casino, while finding every possible reason not to pay winners, makes that goal much easier. This is why they do not open their casinos in Malta or other European countries which have licensing authorities which can require them to pay those who win.
PlayYourBet is licensed in CuracaoPlayYourBet