Fees on Dormant Accounts on Crypto Gambling Platforms

[Bttzed03]

I looked through some ToS online casinos for a year I did not find a collection point for account inactivity, that's what I managed to find on this topic, for example, gambling regulation in the UK prohibits any fees from inactive accounts https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/licensees-and-businesses/guide/page/account-inactivity

Account inactivity
Operators cannot use the grounds that the consumer’s account has been inactive to:
confiscate all or part of the funds in a consumer’s Deposit Balance, or otherwise deduct any amount therefrom use, enforce, or seek to rely on any term in a consumer contract or consumer notice which has the object or effect of permitting the operator to confiscate all or part of the funds in a consumer’s Deposit Balance, or otherwise deduct any amount therefrom

In short, casinos cannot confiscate a user's balance on the basis of inactivity but they're allowed to deduct fees for the maintenance of their account after specific conditions are met.

~
In particular, I'm even more suspicious of platforms that implement very short inactivity period for remaining funds to be forfeited. 5 months, for example, is too short. This too much intolerance against inactive accounts is suggestive of an ulterior motive.

Yeah, that seems too short. As mentioned in the article above, UK gambling commission allows up to 12 months of inactivity before it could be considered dormant. Those mentioned casinos have their license issued by less reputable providers and yet........


You should probably include those casinos and their terms in the OP. It seems some members don't read it before commenting.

[Darker45]

This is a good discussion if we have one existing casino that's implementing this feature so far checking other members' replies there was one in the past, but right now casinos do not implement this, I have accounts on many casinos that I'm not active anymore and some have small balances on them but I never received notifications of dormancy fees.

Please refer to the quoted post below, which is just 6 posts above yours.

But it's there in many crypto gambling platforms. Inactive accounts could be charged for being inactive. They could be permanently closed. Not only that, it could mean that all money left is permanently taken away. So if you frown that your inactive account is being charged for up to 15% monthly, you'd surely be aghast to know that other platforms could simply take everything away.

Roobet:

You acknowledge that the Company may close your account if you did not log into it for 365 days (one year), and all remaining Roollion (funds/money) in the Iron Pouch (wallet) will be permanently lost.

(^*red mine)

Bitcasino:

We reserve the right to close player accounts that have been inactive for more than 12 months. In case your account has deposited funds after the 12-month inactive period, we reserve the right to use the remaining deposited funds for administrative costs for closing the account.

Sportsbet:

If you do not use your account that has deposited funds for 3 months, you will receive a notice from us. If you do not use your deposits after our notice within 1 month, we reserve the right to deduct monthly administrative costs from your deposit remaining on your account. The administrative cost may be up to 15% from your deposited funds remaining on your account. After 180 days we may remove the balance from your account to increase security on the funds.

CryptoGames:

If you do not access your Account for any consecutive period of 180 days, we reserve the right to shut down such and retain any associated funds.

These are just a few examples of crypto gambling platforms that implement what I'm talking about. Please note, though, that while some close accounts, others only suspend accounts, and they could then be reactivated upon request.

I looked through some ToS online casinos for a year I did not find a collection point for account inactivity, that's what I managed to find on this topic, for example, gambling regulation in the UK prohibits any fees from inactive accounts https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/licensees-and-businesses/guide/page/account-inactivity

Account inactivity
Operators cannot use the grounds that the consumer’s account has been inactive to:
confiscate all or part of the funds in a consumer’s Deposit Balance, or otherwise deduct any amount therefrom use, enforce, or seek to rely on any term in a consumer contract or consumer notice which has the object or effect of permitting the operator to confiscate all or part of the funds in a consumer’s Deposit Balance, or otherwise deduct any amount therefrom

Thanks for this!

Sadly, it seems the gambling regulators and authorities in Curacao, where the mentioned crypto gambling platforms are registered, don't have this customer funds protection system. If they do have it, as expected, it isn't enforced or implemented.

~snip~

In short, casinos cannot confiscate a user's balance on the basis of inactivity but they're allowed to deduct fees for the maintenance of their account after specific conditions are met.

~
In particular, I'm even more suspicious of platforms that implement very short inactivity period for remaining funds to be forfeited. 5 months, for example, is too short. This too much intolerance against inactive accounts is suggestive of an ulterior motive.

Yeah, that seems too short. As mentioned in the article above, UK gambling commission allows up to 12 months of inactivity before it could be considered dormant. Those mentioned casinos have their license issued by less reputable providers and yet........

Interestingly, one of the conditions is that "the operator should have attempted to repay the deposit balance to the last payment method used." I'm amazed at this specific condition!

Apparently, there's a slight yet significant difference between inactive and dormant. Dormancy seems to be referring to a much longer period of inactivity. Funds of inactive accounts seems to be more protected than funds of dormant accounts. Nevertheless, the rights of account owners over their funds left in their wallets are not prejudiced.

[krishnaverma]

I am not surprised to know about this. There are all kind of companies in the world who do these things mainly to remain profitable. I was already aware about one such company in crypto field which is Zebpay, an Indian crypto exchange.  It charges users each month if they have not placed any trade in that month. The reason they give is that they provide the infrastructure to buy and check crypto and thus expenses are there. Same login can be applied to gambling platforms but from the user point of view this is not good. We can do one thing and that is to avoid these kind of exchanges completely. If people do this together, these exchanges will be compelled to remove this restriction from their platform.

[Poker Player]

I am not surprised to know about this. There are all kind of companies in the world who do these things mainly to remain profitable.

Yes, that's for sure.

I don't know if this applies in fiat casinos or in the ones where I play poker, as I play regularly. In any case, a fee of this kind does not seem so strange to me. It is clear that casinos, just like banks, are interested in keeping the money moving. Of course, if I were one of those who spend time without gambling, I would not leave my funds in the casino to be charged up to 15% monthly fees.

[dothebeats]

This is why it's always better to just drain your funds every session on the casino or withdraw it out if it's still something that can be taken out from it. I never know that this existed, but I'm always on the notion that whatever money you leave in third-party sites that you do not control are as good as lost before you can log back in and withdraw it. Now that I know that these ToS clauses exist, it's way easier for me now to siphon whatever dollars/cents are left on my gambling accounts.

[len01]

Are you familiar with this? Or has anybody here been actually charged for having his/her crypto gambling account inactive for several months?

I am one of those who have experienced this problem.
3 years ago before I left gambling I still had money / funds on several online gambling platforms around $50 and after I came back again to play gambling on those platforms the money became 0. after that I tried to contact customer service and I tried to negotiate with him finally My money which was taken over by the platform was returned but only 50%. but for me it's a very good policy when i have been inactive for 3 years and the gambling sites still want to give me back half of what i have

who knows what conditions or perhaps KYC information they would require just to have your money back?

they will definitely ask for KYC before asking to return the money held by the gambling platform. but that applies to people who haven't done KYC before leaving the gambling platform for a few months. if before leaving the gambling platform they have done KYC they only need verification from email only

For the sake of discussion, let's set aside the fact that one shouldn't leave money in gambling account wallets

keeping small money in the gambling wallet and not leaving it for a long time won't be a problem for me

Do you think this policy is fair?

I think that's fair. because it has become a policy that has been set by the owner of the gambling platform and cannot be changed or complained about. if indeed a gambler does not want his money to be held by the gambling platform, do not leave funds or money in the gambling account wallet for a long time

[QueenVera]

This shouldn't be a case to call for alarm, reason being that you have the option of atleast logging in your account and making just one bet in a year.
I see no reason why one should have a funded account and in 365 days, you don't make any use if it, why then was the account created. One if the company even stated that a message will be sent after 3 months of inactivity which is fair enough to me and the penalty for not use it month even after a notification is still fine.
If you no longer want to use the casino, then you should make a withdrawal until you're ready and not store funds.
Most sites will also statebit clear to you that you're not allowed to use your gambling wallet in place of a bank and funds not meant for playing shouldn't b stored and I guess that's the reason for the actions they take.

[xSkylarx]

I am not surprised to know about this. There are all kind of companies in the world who do these things mainly to remain profitable.

Yes, that's for sure.

I don't know if this applies in fiat casinos or in the ones where I play poker, as I play regularly. In any case, a fee of this kind does not seem so strange to me. It is clear that casinos, just like banks, are interested in keeping the money moving. Of course, if I were one of those who spend time without gambling, I would not leave my funds in the casino to be charged up to 15% monthly fees.

Ohh, I really haven't heard that they will get fees because of the doorman account. I only received a message that my account will be disabled if I haven't visited for 30 days. But having fees is good because they can maintain their database and its security, but the problem is that it's too huge. I have no problem with it, but I don't know why you leave money on online casinos when it's better to withdraw it because we don't know if they will just get hold of money, for whatever reason. Just to be safe, withdraw your money.

[ethereumhunter]

This shouldn't be a case to call for alarm, reason being that you have the option of atleast logging in your account and making just one bet in a year.
I see no reason why one should have a funded account and in 365 days, you don't make any use if it, why then was the account created. One if the company even stated that a message will be sent after 3 months of inactivity which is fair enough to me and the penalty for not use it month even after a notification is still fine.
If you no longer want to use the casino, then you should make a withdrawal until you're ready and not store funds.
Most sites will also statebit clear to you that you're not allowed to use your gambling wallet in place of a bank and funds not meant for playing shouldn't b stored and I guess that's the reason for the actions they take.

We don't need to keep funds for long to avoid things we don't want. Even though we play gambling quite often, if we get a win, we must immediately withdraw it and maybe if you want to leave money in your account, leave a small amount that you can afford. This is to anticipate if we forget our account or do not want to continue playing gambling at the casino. But some gamblers want to try one casino site and only play a few times, then leave it and hopefully, they don't leave a huge amount of money behind.

[abel1337]

This is quite an interesting topic, I've never experience or not know if the casino has deducted some kind of storage fee or close my account. I have a habit of cashing out the balance I have on a casino every time I play unless it is little that I can tolerate. I've also never heard that anyone has a problem losing their balance because of inactivity or being dormant after a while. I think it's fair for them to charge depending on the situation if it is indicated on their TOS but I do hope that they charge fairly and not overpriced. For me 15% is just ridiculously high and that 15% will matter on high rollers. They should at least send an email or warning that they will charge a fee to you when you didn't touch your balance in their casino platform.

[Casdinyard]

Are you familiar with this? Or has anybody here been actually charged for having his/her crypto gambling account inactive for several months?

The monthly charge could be as high as 15% of the remaining balance. Or, worse, the entire balance could be withheld by the platform itself. Although it could be for security's sake and be returned upon request, who knows what conditions or perhaps KYC information they would require just to have your money back?  

For the sake of discussion, let's set aside the fact that one shouldn't leave money in gambling account wallets. Do you think this policy is fair?

This is similar to a bank policy that requires accounts to have transactions every now and then or be active or else dormancy fees could be charged. But this feels weird to a gambling platform. What happens to seasonal gamblers who don't mind leaving money in their account wallets? One could only be betting during annual work breaks or vacation or during annual sports championship events. Say, the NBA playoffs, The International, and others.

Edit:

As suggested, and probably for the interest of a better discussion, I'm quoting here a post of mine which mentioned a few crypto gambling platforms that are actually implementing certain policies pertaining to funds of inactive and dormant accounts.

Thanks for all your responses!

Honestly, I was surprised when I encountered this. Although I have been gambling for some time already, I have to admit I really wasn't familiar with this. So it isn't surprising either to find out that many of you, including old gamblers, are also surprised with this specific term.

But it's there in many crypto gambling platforms. Inactive accounts could be charged for being inactive. They could be permanently closed. Not only that, it could mean that all money left is permanently taken away. So if you frown that your inactive account is being charged for up to 15% monthly, you'd surely be aghast to know that other platforms could simply take everything away.

Roobet:

You acknowledge that the Company may close your account if you did not log into it for 365 days (one year), and all remaining Roollion (funds/money) in the Iron Pouch (wallet) will be permanently lost.

(^*red mine)

Bitcasino:

We reserve the right to close player accounts that have been inactive for more than 12 months. In case your account has deposited funds after the 12-month inactive period, we reserve the right to use the remaining deposited funds for administrative costs for closing the account.

Sportsbet:

If you do not use your account that has deposited funds for 3 months, you will receive a notice from us. If you do not use your deposits after our notice within 1 month, we reserve the right to deduct monthly administrative costs from your deposit remaining on your account. The administrative cost may be up to 15% from your deposited funds remaining on your account. After 180 days we may remove the balance from your account to increase security on the funds.

CryptoGames:

If you do not access your Account for any consecutive period of 180 days, we reserve the right to shut down such and retain any associated funds.

These are just a few examples of crypto gambling platforms that implement what I'm talking about. Please note, though, that while some close accounts, others only suspend accounts, and they could then be reactivated upon request.

In this regard, I'm also happy to share that I've encountered at least one platform that do not do this.

Betfury:

BetFury does not block or suspend Inactive accounts (an account that has not been used for a long period of time).

I'm now interested to open another thread comparing top crypto gambling platforms' policies on dormant or inactive accounts, especially on how they would handle funds left in wallets. This might matter to some gamblers who are unfamiliar with these terms and, like me, seasonal bettors and have the tendency to leave a certain amount in their gambling wallets for easy betting anytime. This may also significantly matter to those who are comparing and considering which platform to use.[/size]

I think this is their way to ensure that activities in their casino are made, after all that is where they make the money, not in keeping your funds sitting on their proprietary wallets. Though this isn't really something that I think is fair or by any means legal, I believe this is mentioned in their exclusive Terms and Conditions as well as Policy Manual, who most of us agreed to blindly, already voiding our chance at appeal. At the end of the day, if you're a seasonal gambler, I suggest just depositing enough money in your gambling accounts you think you could spend and use. Otherwise expect your extra money being withheld, or worse be subjected to dormancy fees.

[Jemzx00]

This shouldn't be a case to call for alarm, reason being that you have the option of atleast logging in your account and making just one bet in a year.
I see no reason why one should have a funded account and in 365 days, you don't make any use if it, why then was the account created. One if the company even stated that a message will be sent after 3 months of inactivity which is fair enough to me and the penalty for not use it month even after a notification is still fine.
If you no longer want to use the casino, then you should make a withdrawal until you're ready and not store funds.
Most sites will also statebit clear to you that you're not allowed to use your gambling wallet in place of a bank and funds not meant for playing shouldn't b stored and I guess that's the reason for the actions they take.

We don't need to keep funds for long to avoid things we don't want. Even though we play gambling quite often, if we get a win, we must immediately withdraw it and maybe if you want to leave money in your account, leave a small amount that you can afford. This is to anticipate if we forget our account or do not want to continue playing gambling at the casino. But some gamblers want to try one casino site and only play a few times, then leave it and hopefully, they don't leave a huge amount of money behind.

There are some cases like from one of my friend who seldom gamble on certain sports and E-sports event like a few times per year. Unfortunately, on his case, he only withdraw certain amount and leave the rest of his balance on the account as his partner doesn't know about his gambling activities. As he said, that is also for convenience of not depositing whenever he'll gamble and avoid not spending it or allocating gambling funds whenever he needed to.

Good for him, that the gambling platform his betting on doesn't charge for any inactivity fee on his account. I've also confirmed it to him since he recently bet on some E-sports event after not gambling for almost 5-6months.

[goaldigger]

This is quite an interesting topic, I've never experience or not know if the casino has deducted some kind of storage fee or close my account. I have a habit of cashing out the balance I have on a casino every time I play unless it is little that I can tolerate. I've also never heard that anyone has a problem losing their balance because of inactivity or being dormant after a while. I think it's fair for them to charge depending on the situation if it is indicated on their TOS but I do hope that they charge fairly and not overpriced. For me 15% is just ridiculously high and that 15% will matter on high rollers. They should at least send an email or warning that they will charge a fee to you when you didn't touch your balance in their casino platform.

They said they will email the user for being inactive before charging a fee for that, I’m also shock that they are being too strict for a dormant account, and with Sportsbet charging a 15% for just 3 months of not playing is quiet high, dormant account should be longer and with banks it started for the next 2 years of being inactive. If you are planning not to play on that site anymore, just make sure you don’t have any balance with your account because they will confiscate it.

[TimeTeller]

This is quite an interesting topic, I've never experience or not know if the casino has deducted some kind of storage fee or close my account. I have a habit of cashing out the balance I have on a casino every time I play unless it is little that I can tolerate. I've also never heard that anyone has a problem losing their balance because of inactivity or being dormant after a while. I think it's fair for them to charge depending on the situation if it is indicated on their TOS but I do hope that they charge fairly and not overpriced. For me 15% is just ridiculously high and that 15% will matter on high rollers. They should at least send an email or warning that they will charge a fee to you when you didn't touch your balance in their casino platform.

They said they will email the user for being inactive before charging a fee for that, I’m also shock that they are being too strict for a dormant account, and with Sportsbet charging a 15% for just 3 months of not playing is quiet high, dormant account should be longer and with banks it started for the next 2 years of being inactive. If you are planning not to play on that site anymore, just make sure you don’t have any balance with your account because they will confiscate it.

Maybe, it is short when it comes to gambling sites because  the time period for them is so fast.
Most of them are actually exiting this business without a warning. And holding those funds may possibly incur them expenses when it comes to maintenance.
But I don't agree the high percentage of fees. With this in mind, the players should just keep himself active even using small funds.
As the OP said, not considering getting out of funds, I believe the percentage of fees should be lower.
It is now on the player's responsibilities if he will leave his funds to the site for longer period of time.

[QueenVera]

One of the reasons why a casino holds the right close down most inactive accounts is for a reason to avoid money laundering and some criminal activities on the account because most times some people kaunder money and go abandon them at an online casino which can't be track.
And you also made mention of seasonal gamblers which is actually excusable and on that ground, casinos should at least send a notification in form of a email to a user with a dormant account over 3 months just as on me of the casinos stated, as a reminder to the user if it's account without taking any other further actions.

[Solosanz]

I don't see anything wrong if the gambling platform charge some fees or confiscate all gambler funds when the account isn't active anymore because no one should leave their coins on the casino, similar like we shouldn't leave our coins on centralized exchange. When the casino already charge fees on the gambler account and the gambler realized if he have coins on the casino, this will make them learn to move their coins on non custodial wallet.

[Bitinity]

I don't see anything wrong if the gambling platform charge some fees or confiscate all gambler funds when the account isn't active anymore because no one should leave their coins on the casino, similar like we shouldn't leave our coins on centralized exchange. When the casino already charge fees on the gambler account and the gambler realized if he have coins on the casino, this will make them learn to move their coins on non custodial wallet.

It is not wrong but it is not common terms in gambling. Some people may forget about their gambling account, I've seen such experience in this crypto gambling industry where players forget that they still have some balance in their account. If I can recall it correctly there was someone in coinroyale with some nice amount of btc left in the account, good thing is that coinroyale can recover it and the player get his money after few years of inactivity and the casino did not charge any fee if I remember it correctly. For this kind of case, players did not have any intention to store/leave the coin in the casino.

[Obari]

There isn't any reason one should leave their one especially a huge one on a gambling site especially when it is a legally made one and this is the aspect you wanted us skip which actually the major and right to do which is never to leave our money on gambling site and most of this casinos states this very one clearly, that only money meant for gambling should be deposited on the casino.

Skipping this very one, the best thing the casino should do when they notice an inactive account, so to first send the user an email to know the reason for the inactivity and no response then they can go ahead to seize the funds but also make availability of return when the funds are demanded by the owner.

[ethereumhunter]

This shouldn't be a case to call for alarm, reason being that you have the option of atleast logging in your account and making just one bet in a year.
I see no reason why one should have a funded account and in 365 days, you don't make any use if it, why then was the account created. One if the company even stated that a message will be sent after 3 months of inactivity which is fair enough to me and the penalty for not use it month even after a notification is still fine.
If you no longer want to use the casino, then you should make a withdrawal until you're ready and not store funds.
Most sites will also statebit clear to you that you're not allowed to use your gambling wallet in place of a bank and funds not meant for playing shouldn't b stored and I guess that's the reason for the actions they take.

We don't need to keep funds for long to avoid things we don't want. Even though we play gambling quite often, if we get a win, we must immediately withdraw it and maybe if you want to leave money in your account, leave a small amount that you can afford. This is to anticipate if we forget our account or do not want to continue playing gambling at the casino. But some gamblers want to try one casino site and only play a few times, then leave it and hopefully, they don't leave a huge amount of money behind.

There are some cases like from one of my friend who seldom gamble on certain sports and E-sports event like a few times per year. Unfortunately, on his case, he only withdraw certain amount and leave the rest of his balance on the account as his partner doesn't know about his gambling activities. As he said, that is also for convenience of not depositing whenever he'll gamble and avoid not spending it or allocating gambling funds whenever he needed to.

Good for him, that the gambling platform his betting on doesn't charge for any inactivity fee on his account. I've also confirmed it to him since he recently bet on some E-sports event after not gambling for almost 5-6months.

I think they can leave the rest of the balance in their gambling account but preferably not for large amounts because we will never know if it is a good thing or if it can put us at risk. Indeed it comforts us because we don't have to deposit money too often to gamble, but we also have to remember its risks. Do not let us regret one day because of the risk.

But as for this inactivity fee, I guess it will depend on the policies of each casino and maybe they will close gambling accounts that have not done any activity for a certain time. And the remaining balance in their account will be considered miscellaneous expenses by the casino.

[LUCKMCFLY]

This shouldn't be a case to call for alarm, reason being that you have the option of atleast logging in your account and making just one bet in a year.
I see no reason why one should have a funded account and in 365 days, you don't make any use if it, why then was the account created. One if the company even stated that a message will be sent after 3 months of inactivity which is fair enough to me and the penalty for not use it month even after a notification is still fine.
If you no longer want to use the casino, then you should make a withdrawal until you're ready and not store funds.
Most sites will also statebit clear to you that you're not allowed to use your gambling wallet in place of a bank and funds not meant for playing shouldn't b stored and I guess that's the reason for the actions they take.

We don't need to keep funds for long to avoid things we don't want. Even though we play gambling quite often, if we get a win, we must immediately withdraw it and maybe if you want to leave money in your account, leave a small amount that you can afford. This is to anticipate if we forget our account or do not want to continue playing gambling at the casino. But some gamblers want to try one casino site and only play a few times, then leave it and hopefully, they don't leave a huge amount of money behind.

There are some cases like from one of my friend who seldom gamble on certain sports and E-sports event like a few times per year. Unfortunately, on his case, he only withdraw certain amount and leave the rest of his balance on the account as his partner doesn't know about his gambling activities. As he said, that is also for convenience of not depositing whenever he'll gamble and avoid not spending it or allocating gambling funds whenever he needed to.

Good for him, that the gambling platform his betting on doesn't charge for any inactivity fee on his account. I've also confirmed it to him since he recently bet on some E-sports event after not gambling for almost 5-6months.

I think they can leave the rest of the balance in their gambling account but preferably not for large amounts because we will never know if it is a good thing or if it can put us at risk. Indeed it comforts us because we don't have to deposit money too often to gamble, but we also have to remember its risks. Do not let us regret one day because of the risk.

But as for this inactivity fee, I guess it will depend on the policies of each casino and maybe they will close gambling accounts that have not done any activity for a certain time. And the remaining balance in their account will be considered miscellaneous expenses by the casino.

Well, you are right about that, what happens is that it is a topic that can lend itself to a lot of speculation, those of us who live in the forum know that we are always playing and making sports bets, it is already something natural and normal, only those things how inactivity fees is something that I at least had not considered, but it is important, but I am not sure if something like this appears in the terms and conditions? Yes, I have read it, I have done it so quickly that I did not pay attention to it, I do not know if the policies of the casinos have any global position on this, I think that these things apply to very specific casinos.