Self-exclusion at Online Casinos Can affect your Future Play
In the interest of responsible gambling, online casinos offer player the option to apply for self-exclusion from the casino in question. Self-exclusion is a formal agreement between a player and an online casino that the casino will no longer accept your bets for an agreed upon period or indefinitely.
Many players use this option when trying to curb their gambling habit, or simply as a way to ensure that for a period that they are saving money for something else, they are not tempted to spend it at the casinos. Some players however, will use the self-exclusion option instead of closing an account, while this is not advised, many argue that it is often easier than closing the account completely and provides some security against hackers.
For all intents and purposes, self-exclusion can be helpful to both problem gamblers and those trying to cut down on playing. There is however something that you need to be aware of when making use of this option at online casinos...it can affect your future play at other casinos!
You may be under the impression that you have to apply at each casino to be excluded but in some cases if you apply for exclusion at one casino in a group your exclusion will be carried over to all of the properties that a group manages and this is often when things go seriously awry.
There have been reports of online casinos allowing players who have previously excluded themselves from play at a single casino to then play at casinos in their group but when they win large sums of money, the casino in question will then block the account and refuse to payout the winnings owing citing the self-exclusion clause.
While this is somewhat of a rogue tactic by the online casinos concerned, it can occur and you may find yourself at the end of a difficult, if not losing battle altogether. In a perfect world, should an online casino group's policy be that you are not permitted to play at any of their casinos due to you exercising the self-exclusion option, then you should not be able to even open an account at any of the group's properties, let alone play and win, yet in reality this can and does happen only to have players have their wins voided. You just have to visit the player forums to see proof of this.
Some casinos will even use self-exclusion on any casino using the same software, for example, Microgaming, Playtech or IGT as an excuse to void winnings, so do consider this before using this option and always read the terms and conditions associate with it before proceeding with this decision as it has to be a serious, long-term one and if you happen to end up playing and winning, you may end up on the losing end if you're not careful.