Bitcoin Forum

This happened to me this week.

Am a sports gambler for many years, I know, it is a vice but my only one and I gamble with my hard-earned money.
This week I received a warning from a big exchange about the fact that I deposited fiat and immediately withdrew to a gambling site.
Well, I have been doing this as well for many years and so far there was no complain from their side.

I am fully KYC'ed with the exchange for some years, they know how much I earn per month and they can easily see that deposited amounts are within my means.


I went checking the terms and conditions and it is true that they do mention internet gambling as one of the prohibited activities.
Thing is, gambling is allowed in my country of residence.
Plus, the gambling sites I use are big known names, with valid licenses, not shady casinos.

Have to be careful now so it seems as for sure I will be monitored thoroughly now.

Did this happen to anyone else?

Would using an intermediary wallet to receive gambling funds be the solution?

Did this happen to anyone else?
It didnt happen to me because since from the beginning im that really very cautious on trying out to make some violations on every site/platforms/services that im using.
This is why they do have that terms and conditions in the first place on which for people to read up on what are the prohibitions that they do set out and for you to be able to avoid such problems.

Would using an intermediary wallet to receive gambling funds be the solution?
This is the solution for this one if you dont like for that exchange account to be locked due to violation of their terms and conditions. We do have that tons of specific wallets out there on which
you can make use on when trying out to deposit into your exchange account.

Good thing that they do still give you a warning in regarding into that manner and didnt locked up your account immediate just because of that violation. They might not be able to
lock you up earlier and you do sees out that its fine by them but now that they do notice it out already then its safe to assume that you have been monitored. If you dont like
to experience such potential headache then that top solution will be your best shot.

Maybe it's time you start looking to use exchanges that has no prohibition against gambling platform because I don't think this particular exchange you talking of will send you another warning message again before they take action that you wouldn't feel comfortable with.

This why it's important as gamblers we check ToS of the exchange we use about what their terms are towards withdrawal and deposits in and from gambling platforms so we don't lose our funds out of ignorance.

Your exchange operates in countries where this is prohibited or monitored. Although in your country you are not violating any laws based on what you said, you are breaching the rules of your exchange service, which will eventually become a problem for you. It may be time to use an intermediary between your betting platform and the exchange, as you have mentioned. Otherwise, you could go from a simple warning to having your funds confiscated, so it is always better to prevent than to regret.

This isn't even a question of maybe. He has to stop using that exchange completely for anything and move to another exchange. This time, he should thoroughly read their terms of service to avoid getting into a similar situation again. On a personal note, I have been using a particular exchange for my gambling activities and not once have I received any message from them about my gambling maybe I have to check their ToS first.

It's not a problem as long as it's from exchange to gambling site and it is not prohibited but what is prohibited is depositing funds from casino to exchange which can leads to account suspension/termination. So if you did in the past then just keep using the account as long as they allow you to because the termination can happen on random with no prior warnings.

And using intermediary wallet is not enough, the exchange can go and track the origin to a few layer as part of AML procedure.

I feel this post is better suited in gambling discussion board than trading discussion.

It is just a warning that you’re breaching their terms and conditions and if you want your funds not be confiscated, then you have to stop breaking their ToS. You are lucky that you’re not penalized for all the times you’ve breached their times. If you want to continue funding the gambling site, then use another means to do that and not through the exchange you’re using now which sees it as a violation of terms.

I've heard two side of the coins. Gamba folks whose accounts were flagged and those who are not—from exchanges which prohibit gambling using in their terms of service. Essentially, I think it could be a hit or miss as there is no trigger system with 100% accuracy especially if you do address hopping.

But I'd say the solution is to find an exchange which doesn't prohibit gambling usage under their terms of service. Otherwise, you'd be living your life on the edge wondering which transaction will be flagged or nah. And if they flag it, it will most likely be a nightmare for ya.

This was your mistake, you should have practiced checking the ToS first before using the site to avoid similar problems in the future.  I'm also aware that there are exchange platforms strictly prohibited from linking transactions to gambling casinos because these exchanges rely heavily on relationships with traditional banks, payment processors, and regulators.  By distancing themselves, exchanges protect their financial ecosystem and their partnerships with government entities.

Fortunately, for that first warning, you now know that it's against their rules.  So you can simply avoid it if you want to steer clear of trouble.  Not only on an exchange, but also you must be careful in using a centralized wallet like a local wallet.

You already know the problem.. the exchange doesn’t allow gambling, so you need to avoid letting them see that your crypto is coming from or going to a casino wallet.

The best way is to use a wallet that supports CoinJoin or similar privacy features. That helps keep your transactions private, and the exchange won’t see the direct link unless they do a deep investigation using blockchain analysis, which is unlikely for regular users.

Yes, this did happened to many members here and that's why we're all aware about this rule of exchanges that don't withdraw and deposit funds incoming and outgoing to a casino.

Yes, use a wallet that's just from the desktop wallets or any other wallets that you have. No association with a casino or what not.
So you do this instead, exchange <--> personal wallet <--> casino.

Just because you’ve been doing it for years doesn’t mean it won’t become a problem. Keep in mind that laws can change over time, and exchanges are regulated, so they have to follow the rules.

You’re actually lucky you’re just getting a warning.
Some exchanges might just shut down your account right away since it's already stated in their terms.

So it’s important to act now. Avoid sending money directly to or from a casino wallet. The safer option is to use a mixer, it might be a bit costly, but if the exchange allows it, it’s a much safer route to protect your account.

The thing is some exchanges have actually put gambling platforms or big casinos in this same category as mixing platforms and they usually tag funds coming from those platforms into the exchanges as tainted exchanges as they believe that people who move funds through this platforms simply just want to mix their coins and nothing more. Since you saw the prohibition on their exchange I will advice you don’t ever move any coins from that exchange to any gambling platform as it would the confiscated coins and you might lose them. Best thing is to have an intermediary between the two platforms which is send to a custodial wallet first and then move to anywhere of your choice.

Centralized exchanges don't care where you withdraw your money too, if I am right they only care about your source of deposit. In other word, they care about origin of your fund that is sent to your account at their exchanges. That's it.

If their tools detect that your deposit origin has traces from mixers, tumblers, gambling sites or any source with sort of money laundering activities, they might pull their account suspension, termination or KYC card against your account. They might ask you providing proof of your deposit fund before they make final decision to release your account back to normal use or eventually terminate it.

Sanctioned Services and the service traceability to this forum, Any danger? (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5476169.0)
Be careful using Binance & Centralized Exchange (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5495092.0)

Ya now almost all regulated exchanges (they have license so you know) will prevent this from happening. But it's not just gambling, basically, any site will do checks on anything, so even some exchanges won't like other exchanges, like if Luno detects you use Coinbase they get it all problematic.

To be on the safe side, always use your own wallet as a bridge.

Exchange/Casino/Mixer <> own wallet <> Mixer/Exchange/Casino

They don't care about the origin of the origin in this sense. Only the previous address used to deposit or sometimes even withdraw. @OrcTradism says they usually don't care about withdraw and this is true in most cases BUT your withdraw becomes a deposit on the other end, so always use your own wallet as buffer.

It’s pretty obvious, when you withdraw from an exchange, the source of funds is the exchange itself, so there’s usually no issue there. But when you deposit to an exchange, that’s when they check where your funds are coming from.

They have systems in place, and they can detect if the funds came from a casino. So if their terms clearly state that gambling-related funds are not allowed, then we really have no choice but to follow the rules.

If we insist on ignoring that, we’re just putting our funds at risk of getting frozen.

If gambling legal on your country then why should you use an exchange to convert crypto and make deposits into gambling sites? Also, instead deposit directly to gambling platforms. What's the problem if you bring funds into your own address first and change a couple of addresses to break the link? You have to follow the exchange terms. Otherwise, you might be in trouble soon. Don't risk that exchange again; they track your address.

So breaking a transaction with gambling sites and exchanges is quite important. I face the same issue, though not with gambling sites, but it was related to mixers. So they froze my account with funds, though later they released my funds. So please avoid such a deal with exchange to avoid freezing your account.

Good thing that he was given a warning rather than on completely being that banned or locked up that account on which considering that he's been long time making use or having that behavior on directing out crypto gambling withdrawal to exchange deposits on which this is always been that a violation of terms and conditions. We do know that majority of these exchangers are similar when it comes to terms and conditions on which its safe to say that they wouldnt be wanting nor allowing direct deposits that came from with these services on which mainly including gambling or casino sites. We do know that these businesses are regulated on which most of them share up with that default terms and conditions. Just like on what been said that he's still lucky that he hadnt been that locked up immediately and given up a second chance. Now that he had already been that giving out some notice then it do simply shows that he's that needing up to adjust and stop out on making deposits directly from the gambling site if he do wishes up to continue to make use of his exchange account or else if he would be deciding to continue on what he had been doing then we do know on what would happen next. Exchangers might not be able to notice it out due to number of users that needs up to be that monitored but sooner or later once those regular checks be done or trying out to check the system then time will come that you would be noticed out and just like on this one. Its a good thing that they do give out some warning instead on applying out the immediate actions or consequences since you have violated their terms. Thats a good consideration from the exchange and at least given up op some chance to change.

thank you for your perspectives, very good insights.

Thing is I cannot be sure that the exchange themselves did not update the terms and conditions throughout the years since I joined them to include these conditions (yes, fault on me for not checking, I know)

So, where do they draw the line?
As said gambling is allowed in my country.

I cannot use USDT or none of the leverage products (due to Mica regulation in europe), but the exchange still allow USDT to non-europeans.
People like to use whatever they want with crypto, investing in meme coins such as TRUMP coin, for me that is worst than gambling.
Reason why I prefer these instead of fiat sportsbooks is all about settlement, I can immediate withdraw and receive funds in my account/wallet, isn't that reason enough?
I hate banks but we cannot leave without them, even worse ECB will get us all "digital euro" in October which surely have restrictions in place (such as not allowed to use funds for gambling)

Don't mind them, exchanges have the highest risk than using a gambling platform, since we have our entire hard earned money with them and they are custodial wallet, our assets on them are not safe, if anything happened to them, we are completely gone with our money on them, why should they also warn about gambling, this is a big question I still can't understand why they are placing demand of such, though if they ask you not to, then try not to do so, it's either you change the exchange or use a non custodial wallet for your gambling.

Do not use centralized exchanges unless you really have to folks. Don’t use them and certainly don’t keep big amounts on them for a long time. Bitcoin transactions are visible to anyone and you are a fool if you think they don’t analyze your transactions. How to protect yourself? By giving them nothing. As long as you don’t touch a damn centralized exchange which asks KYC, nobody can attach your identity to your addresses and believe me, that’s exactly what you want when dealing with crypto. Be smart. Use decentralized and/or no-KYC services.

I still don't understand how in a country that legalizes gambling but the exchange platform regulates gambling as one of the prohibited activities.
Maybe the exchange has its own policy to determine the flow of transactions on its platform by excluding the flow of funds from gambling.

If you get a warning of course it is related to a possible violation involving your account. You should be more careful, or maybe you can use another exchange. But it would be better to use a decentralized exchange, using an intermediary wallet will not change everything. because transactions can be traced by everyone.

My question, what's the regulation about online casino in your country? what's the criteria of legal and illegal online casinos? if possible is there any list of legal online casino in your country.

You have to know that, if you country allow gambling and the gambling sites allow your country to gamble, that's not enough.

Anyway it's not surprising to see exchange prohibit source related to casino, just like how banks restrict source related to cryptocurrency, sometime they have ridiculous rules.

Sending funds directly from the exchange to a gambling website may cause you issues.

I think you should do this first you purchase crypto from the exchange using your debit/credit card then you withdraw those funds into a wallet and send it to where you want to gamble.

Exchange>> Your wallet >> gambling website.

It could help minimize the risk, but it’s still not completely safe. If the exchange is checking where the money is coming from, they might trace all the sources, and with personal wallets, it’s easier to link previous transactions. I don’t know, but it still feels risky to me. The best way to really handle this is through a mixer or CoinJoin for better privacy.

So you deposit fiat into exchanges and withdraw crypto into gambling?

So far I have not encountered this kind of problem, but in the past there was a problem where there was a warning from the exchange about deposits from gambling, but after filling out the form provided, it is now normal, which means there is no problem (Binance) is an exchange that is often used.

But if you already know that the exchange has banned gambling (deposits/withdrawals) then you should stop using other exchanges I think there are many other exchanges that accept funds from gambling.

Can you mention what specific exchange that has ToS like this. I’m not aware that some exchange prohibit gambling funds since I frequently use exchange to deposit directly on my casino wallet for more than 8 years with same exchange which is Binance.

I knew that mixer is the one that being prohibit but not casino funds at least on my knowledge

Yes. It happened to me once. In my case, I withdrew from my gambling account to my exchange account and I got asked by support to provide some more details. So yes, almost all top exchanges prohibit depositing/withdrawing from/to gambling platforms to their own platforms.

Ya. Just do it like this:

Gambling platform <> Own wallet <> Exchange account.

These exchanges don't just want to be tied directly to gambling platforms. Once you avoid that, you're good to go.

People can still be smart about it when making use of centralized exchanges because I do not think people can survive without making use of centralized exchange because people need it for trading of any cryptocurrency to the fiats of the country they are living in. Most people can not survive without the help of centralized services or people that gamble like myself, it is better to withdraw from the casino to your own wallet first and then you can move the cryptic to the exchange for trading or converting to any cryptocurrency of your choice. Exchanges are just trying to avoid charges from the government

I thought this is a common knowledge to don't deposit any amount from gambling to an exchange? Even exchange to exchange transfer too since you can't prove your ownership once a problem occurs, well, this is different story.
The former should always be taken into account regardless if the platform didn't inform you instantly after doing such transaction. It should be always non-custodial wallet to gambling or to an exchange, or to any service to avoid any issues like this and to prove ownership.

Binance actually has a clause that prohibits gamba activities.


From what I've seen it has been a hit or miss with gamblers. There are those who apparently was flagged and those who were fine. The latter actually includes me too lmao though I've never depo'd and withdrew directly. Essentially, I don't believe any exchange has a 100% accurate trigger system in place hence, the hit and miss.

Interestingly, my vague memory tells me there was a time binance had no such clause as well. I could be wrong though—emphasis on vague memory.

And if we notice, some gambling site lets you buy a coin to the exchange without going out on their platform. For the other, I think I have done that before but it was a long time ago where things are not strict yet. For us to be sure, we need to read the casino's terms and conditions first before doing such action.

Oh they will? But, I think this only applies to those who are guilty or highly suspicious, while if we only play gambling, then it should work just fine.

Usually the problem is when depositing money to the exchange from the casino not the opposite and I have never deposited money from the casino to the exchange or maybe I have but only a few times but after that I never did it and when withdrawing from the casino I will put it in my wallet and will only sell on the exchange when I need it because usually the money from the casino will only be used to play again at that casino or a different one.

Maybe this is a solution or you can use DEX if you intend to sell the results of your gambling.

Yeah this is actually becoming more common nowadays. Even though gambling is allowed in your nation and the platforms are properly licensed, several exchanges are tightening their policies either due to pressure from regulators or their own internal risk management. The fact that you're properly confirmed and your purchases are well within your means doesn't always help when they apply blanket regulations.

I think Using an intermediary wallet can serve as a workaround but it comes with its own concerns. If they see regular withdrawals to that wallet followed by on-chain transfers to gambling sites, they could still flag your account. It might delay the issue but not necessarily fix it.  I think the safest approach currently is to consider adopting platforms that are more amicable toward this kind of use or keep your gambling activities completely separate from your main exchange. Just be cautious since once you're identified it’s hard to reverse that perception.

That can happen to others because the regulation now become strictly. The exchanges will monitor all of the deposit from their users and check from where the funds come. If they found the deposit come from gambling or illegal source, they will warn you. The worst scenario is the exchanges can block your account and need you to clarify what you have done before.

Sometimes, exchanges don't update their T&C and warn us if they found that matters. They can do that because that is their business and all users must follow their regulation. So in this matter, using an intermediary wallet to receive gambling funds would be the solution. Or you can use P2P and send the funds to your exchange.

I heard one local exchange like this from our exchange, like if your outgoing transaction is worth more than $900 USD, they are asking for some information and putting the transfer on hold, like some information about who the receiver is, etc. I haven't tried this yet, but more likely the same with your case.

I think using an intermediary wallet that you own is a good idea as long as they have already sent it, and they are already safe, but your account could be in danger if they still care on the funds after you transfer it out from the intermediary wallet.

I only think of concern about origin of your deposit fund that is more important for centralized exchange to have good AML enforcement on their exchanges.

They only need to consider about a withdrawal if a receiving address is well known as from a mixer, that is the only case I think possible for triggering their AML bot with withdrawal. For withdrawals to non minder addresses or non sanctioned address, there is no reason for asking such question rather than intention to scam users through AML card.

If you have received this kind of warning message from an exchange platform, then you can feel free to send money from your own wallet to the gambling platform. I have deposited money from the exchange platform to the gambling platform, in that case, I did not receive this kind of warning message from the exchange platform. Maybe they sent you a warning message for your safety, but I think you will not have any problems, you can deposit money from the exchange itself. Also, if you have any problems, you can talk to the exchange platform team directly and get everything cleared up.

If you think so, you can definitely solve it by using an intermediary wallet to accept gambling payments.

Your address is a good one as long as anyone would want to prioritise their privacy, but aside centralized exchanges  are there no other centralized online platform we're using that our identity are already with them? It's a true fact that cex can't be trusted and people shouldn't leave big sums of cash with them but there's a roles cexs are playing in helping keeping the crypto ecosystem in motion. It's about users being cautious of the type of sizes of transactions they choose to make on cex and Dex, if they can demarcate it then it would be better for them. But sincerely, we can't entirely escape centralized platform usages.

I think very differently than you.

If I receive such messages, I'd like to withdraw my money in an account on that exchange to either my non-custodial wallets first, before broadcasting it to my gambling accounts.

It is risky and kind of suspicious if I withdraw all my fund from that exchange to a gambling account that was already flagged by the exchange system. Withdraw it to one or some non-custodial wallets is a safer choice. It's my keys, it's my coins; and the exchange did not flag those addresses in my non-custodial wallets.

Or I can create completely new non-custodial wallets as destinations of my withdrawal.

After receiving red flag, and continuing to store your fund on the exchange, or continuing to withdraw it to a gambling account, is too risky, that I would avoid as most as possible.

This makes our life easier and is the true essence of using cryptocurrencies. To be honest, these centralized exchanges also hate this, but the only problem is the government authorities, where they required for sure these centralized exchanges to comply to avoid and prevent these criminal activities.

I had an experience before in my local exchange where my account was frozen because I sent funds to a gambling site. I haven't thought it was wrong, and even checking their rules did not there. So I wonder when their support will send me a message about the issue and a certain violation. Reading their rule is quite important. We'd be more careful because many exchanges are strictly implementing this. Even if it was not mentioned in their rules, it is much better not to send it directly to any gambling site.

In the first place dude, you already know that it's in their terms and conditions that it's forbidden but you still did it. why? because it's been several times that you've been able to transfer without any problems for a while that you've been doing it on their exchange so you still continued and ignored their terms and conditions? Maybe they just didn't notice right away or maybe you've reached their withdrawal limits accumulatively so that's why you noticed.

So the mistakes are yours not theirs, because they know that it's forbidden but you still did it, so you should expect that anytime they can really do
the thing you don't want but you still did it, you get it.

Funny how you and the first two replies talk about reading the exchange term of service knowingfully well that majority of us don't care about reading the terms and conditions of the platforms we use daily. This is not just about the exchange but including the gambling platforms we use to pass time. The bold part in your post shows that you haven't read the terms of service of the gambling site you use and you aren't even sure of reading it yet. Unfortunately, we give our consent and agreed to this unknown terms just to proceed and complete our registration on the platforms and this means we have no excuse.

The best thing for Op is to abandon the exchange if he wants to continue gambling using that method of funding his gambling wallet through exchange or he should stop using the exchange to fund his gambling wallets if he wants to continue using the exchange since he's fully KYCed. The exchange was very fair with him for even sending him a warning about terms of service violation.

OP, if you would have googled it, you would see that quite a fair amount of users complain about having problems with withdrawing or depositing funds from or to a gambling platform. Some users recommend using an in-between wallet because all the exchange seems to care about is plausible deniability, and they seem to believe that they do not care as long as the funds are not directly connect wallet to wallet.

Although I personally have no experience with this and cannot give you any advise except to stay away from any and every CEX (centralised exchange).  

Gambling sites to exchanges are many cases reported with many users lost their funds with freezing accounts because they caught during these exchanges while many exchanges already put things like these into their rules and terms. Mostly peoples feel they could be able to do but things gone against them, and they had to face consequences for their work which is not allowed even in many cases few caught as they used their wallets, but their funds are coming through gambling sites so just because of these things also gone against them.

Having funds these into wallets always better option or using third parties are also ok because many exchanges never welcome customers those are having addictions of gambling but still always staying into positive way helps and increase chances of having better results instead of having problems which always never been sorted out easily.

I think that's probably one of the reasons why many gamblers don't know that, especially on centralized exchange site platforms, so for example if you have funds to withdraw from gambling, it's probably better to transfer them to non-custodial wallets before sending them directly to the exchange itself.

And maybe this way at least we won't have the problem of being overlooked by an exchange in my opinion, rather than going directly to the exchange platform, right?

People do get confident just because they have tested out earlier and turned out that they havent been blocked nor being that banned because of such violation until they have decided to ignore those terms and conditions and believing that it doesnt work or not effective just because they've been able still to make use the platform until the time comes that they have been that suddenly blocked or locked out because of violation. Never ever make yourself that being confident on keeping on continuing on violating those terms and conditions on which we know that they might just that observing you into the things that you've been doing. They might be able to have some lapses on checking out on every user on which basing up into the user base of Binance or those exchangers out there, then you cant be able to monitor out everything. If it turned out that they have made out some warning then consider yourself lucky because they do made out some warning rather than on blocking you immediately.

The solution on here is that you should be that making up some withdrawal from gambling site to your personal wallet and then from there then you do transfer from wallet to exchange site on which this way then you would be able to save up yourself into that potential violation. For me Im pretty sure that i have done this also on making up some directly deposits from gambling site to and exchange and havent been warned out but since i have done it twice or thrice and also im not that always winning at gambling then this is where it do limits out my no. of transactions and this is the reason on why im not facing up on the same problem. Those terms and conditions being placed there because it does have its purpose and for you as a user of the platform on which the thing that you do need up to do is to make yourself that follow those rules for you not to be able to face up some potential problems.