Is Stake.com allowed to lock account with $6,000 untill I lose it all?

[ITDex]

This was approximately a year ago, and I would like to share a recap of what occurred.

In late June of last year, I had a fortunate sports betting experience and won around $6,000 in LTC (120 LTC). Following my win, I promptly requested a withdrawal, but unfortunately, it was denied. This surprised me since Stake is typically known for their quick withdrawal times. To understand the situation, I reached out to their support team for an update.

Upon inquiring about the denial, I was informed that this was a routine check and they requested me to undergo KYC verification up to level 4. Level 4 is the highest level of KYC, which involves providing a picture of my Passport/ID, a personal banknote to demonstrate proof of funds, and a bill to verify my residency. Initially, I found this request rather unusual and tried to obtain a valid reason as to why I was being singled out for verification when I simply wanted to withdraw my winnings. However, the support team was unhelpful, claiming they didn't know the reason or attempting to avoid the question by insisting on KYC verification.

After submitting the required documents, I received a notification stating that the documents I had provided were insufficient. They cited poor image quality, unclear details, and sometimes even failed to provide a reason, leading me to believe they were deliberately prolonging the withdrawal process.

Interestingly, despite the withdrawal issues, I discovered that I was still able to place bets on the platform. Unfortunately, like any other addict, I continued gambling until I lost all my winnings within four days. I attributed this to sheer bad luck, convincing myself that it was solely responsible for my losses.

However, I later spoke to a friend who underwent the same KYC procedure and learned that his verification process took less than a day, enabling him to withdraw his funds instantly.

Curiosity led me back to stake.com to review my betting history and investigate what had truly transpired. To my surprise, the tickets had disappeared, and when I questioned the support team about this, they attributed it to a platform issue, stating that neither party could access the tickets and that nothing could be done about it (refer to the images below).

1st image: [https://ibb.co/nmxBBG8]
2nd image: [https://ibb.co/1qSqgS2]

I don't wish to dwell on this matter any longer, but I would appreciate hearing your thoughts. Personally, I feel that this is a highly questionable practice, allowing users to continue gambling while demanding verification for withdrawals, and then conveniently erasing the tickets and evidence. It appears to be nothing short of shady and potentially predatory to me.

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[Broadanbig]

OP at first this board I think is not the right place to make such post as I see this has to do with the reputation of the casino and moreover your complaints possibly lacks proof to back it up and this would make members here see you as a paid blackmailer on course to tarnish the image and reputation of the casino as they are presently and fully represented here and it would please you to know that they have a running signature campaign and has invested so much on it.

I would advise you to  pm their representative here if you feel you are not satisfied with the outcome of the judgement based on the last events as to know what really transpired and not to discourage members here to desist from doing anything with them not when you do not have proof at hand.

Nevertheless, I checked your profile and I saw something that bothers alot.

https://ibb.co/94xTPvQ

How do you explain this OP and coupled with this topic you have brought here for us to handle. Do you not think it is alarming?

[ITDex]

OP at first this board I think is not the right place to make such post as I see this has to do with the reputation of the casino and moreover your complaints possibly lacks proof to back it up and this would make members here see you as a paid blackmailer on course to tarnish the image and reputation of the casino as they are presently and fully represented here and it would please you to know that they have a running signature campaign and has invested so much on it.

I would advise you to  pm their representative here if you feel you are not satisfied with the outcome of the judgement based on the last events as to know what really transpired and not to discourage members here to desist from doing anything with them not when you do not have proof at hand.

Nevertheless, I checked your profile and I saw something that bothers alot.

https://ibb.co/94xTPvQ

How do you explain this OP and coupled with this topic you have brought here for us to handle. Do you not think it is alarming?

You make a good point, however, I've already told you that the tickets I was meant to provide was deleted for some reason.
And yes, I was looking for a loan but forgot to specify collateral, very irrelevant to bring up something such as that in a conversation like this.
Makes me question if you're hired from stake to mislead others? I'm not hired by anyone, I'll tell you that much  

[Broadanbig]

OP at first this board I think is not the right place to make such post as I see this has to do with the reputation of the casino and moreover your complaints possibly lacks proof to back it up and this would make members here see you as a paid blackmailer on course to tarnish the image and reputation of the casino as they are presently and fully represented here and it would please you to know that they have a running signature campaign and has invested so much on it.

I would advise you to  pm their representative here if you feel you are not satisfied with the outcome of the judgement based on the last events as to know what really transpired and not to discourage members here to desist from doing anything with them not when you do not have proof at hand.

Nevertheless, I checked your profile and I saw something that bothers alot.

https://ibb.co/94xTPvQ

How do you explain this OP and coupled with this topic you have brought here for us to handle. Do you not think it is alarming?

You make a good point, however, I've already told you that the tickets I was meant to provide was deleted for some reason.
And yes, I was looking for a loan but forgot to specify collateral, very irrelevant to bring up something such as that in a conversation like this.
Makes me question if you're hired from stake to mislead others? I'm not hired by anyone, I'll tell you that much  

It is obvious  looking at the whole situation, and looking at your profile it makes one to ask series of questions but notwithstanding, your matter is still not clear as to what really transpired. As for me, I am just a concerned member of this platform making inquiries as to know the head way to profer  opinion as it is the normal norm here for members to do when it comes to situations of this nature. I mean no offence.

[dimonstration]

However, I later spoke to a friend who underwent the same KYC procedure and learned that his verification process took less than a day, enabling him to withdraw his funds instantly.

I believe the resurgence of this topic is due to the recent issue about Stake asking for the same requirements. Your friend already told you that this verification procedure can only take less than a day which means the problem is on your side and nto Stake themselves. You are providing incomplete and low quality image that makes verification failed. Honestly, I will trust Stake on this matter because they process withdrawal amount that is greater on your requested balance. Singling you out will not gonna benefit them.

Also your loss is also your problem because you didn’t control yourself that time. All I can see on your issue is that you are upset that time that's why you are attributing all your mistakes to Stake because they hold your funds for KYC verification.

[Wiwo]

Mate don't take this as an attack but just a friendly advise that before you place your first bet on a centralized casino,  you should first make sure to have pass through all the kyc process.

Unless you have not made up your mind to gamble at the casino if not,  KYC should be the first thing you should take care of because if you want to verify the account when it runs into trouble,  you may find it hard to pass through the verification process due to pressure to withdraw your winning.

[Cantsay]

Interestingly, despite the withdrawal issues, I discovered that I was still able to place bets on the platform. Unfortunately, like any other addict, I continued gambling until I lost all my winnings within four days. I attributed this to sheer bad luck, convincing myself that it was solely responsible for my losses.

However, I later spoke to a friend who underwent the same KYC procedure and learned that his verification process took less than a day, enabling him to withdraw his funds instantly.

Normally you would have so many users blame you for not being patient enough (including myself) but I believe that what has been done has already been done, if we should start pointing out faults or suggesting solutions it would be the same as beating a dead horse for not running fast in the last race he(the horse) took part in, in other words, it will be nothing but a waste of energy.

Now that this has happened I guess you now have the experience and should be able to move in the right direction. BTW, Op I think you should start to work on your addiction, you have seen what being addicted can result in, and also keep in my that this is just the tip of the ice what addiction is capable of. you can start by reducing your gambling activity, which could work magic if properly put to use.

[ralle14]

You already admitted that you got addicted at that time, but you still put the blame on their system, and self-exclusion was an option as well.

They already mentioned the reasons why your verification got rejected. How many attempts have you made when you submitted the documents?

When I checked my older tickets, I still see most of them, but there's a big gap in the ticket dates (30w-88w) that was around last year, so mine probably got deleted as well.

[AbuBhakar]

Answering the main question, They are allowed to lock your account if they saw something suspicious on your gambling activity. You agree on this when you sign up and check the small box acknowledgin the terms of Stake. Also they didn’t confiscate your balance but just temporarily hold while the KYC verification is ongoing.

You will still have that money if you didn’t lose it by continuos gambling inside the casino. Stake has a vault feature, You should use that to keep safe your balance while waiting so that you will never see your balance frequently while you are accessing the casino.

[Yogee]

Is Stake.com allowed to lock account with $6,000 untill I lose it all?

They are allowed to do that if they find you cheating or violating their rules but your account wasn't locked or banned from the platform. It was only your withdrawal that was put on hold pending KYC approval which is a different case. That's the reason why you're still able to place a bet.

You can dispute if they have an unreasonable KYC procedure but I doubt you can ask for reimbursement of what you laready lost.

[Slow death]

The casino is not to blame for anything, they asked you to do kyc and after you went through the kyc you could have withdrawn all the money, but you couldn't withdraw all the money because you're addicted to gambling and you gambled and lost everything. so now you're looking for things to hurt the casino because you blame the casino for your losses, you believe that if the casino had been quick to complete the kyc you would have taken everything out of the casino and with that you wouldn't lose all the money. but be honest with yourself, do you really think that if they had approved your quick kyc it would change a lot in relation to your money that was still in the casino? would you not play again?

thinking about what you would have done in the past is not the best way to solve your problem with gambling addiction, you need to focus on the present and the future, you have to think now if you can stay away from gambling or not, if you can't stay away from gambling so tell your family and seek help in the real world and stop gambling for years, prioritize healing from this serious illness that will destroy your life. the casino is not to blame for anything and the sooner you admit this the better you can help yourself

[Agbe]

Op you made a very big mistake by staking again when you know that you have a case with the casino, you would have stopped staking with them until the issue was solved. You would have steer clear for anything betting in the stake.com site. Now how will people judge this case like this without evidences. If your tickets disappeared from the site, what about your conversations with the support team? Did they disappeared too? I cannot say you are 100% wrong but you have to present something to back up your accusation. And also as @Broadanbig said, you have to move this thread to this board https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=83.0 which is the appropriate place to lay your complain.

[LEVSKI7]

this is an old scam practice of the sites. endless verification for nervousness and playing the balance. countless have been cheated like this.
 

[Gozie51]

When we are staking with centralised exchange we have to know that KYC is important when they require it and even along the way the casino might still introduce it even if abinitio it was not required and this happens because it is centralized and we can do little or nothing about it. In this case when you were having this back and forth with stake, you continued trying your luck to win more but you admitted that you couldn't win because of your own fault. Now regarding to your ticket history, you said this issue was along time ago. So do you know if it was stated in their ToS that history might be deleted after a certain time? Or that it was deleted because you have stayed away longer. But it is given that KYC when requested should be fulfilled before further activities on the casino or exchange because you won't be allowed to withdraw your funds.

[Sim_card]

Mate, you should have provide with the the KYC requirements for stake to grant you access to your withdrawal but instead you took it for granted and decided not to stress yourself by using the funds to gamble back in stake. I don't know why gamblers are finding it difficult to provide their choice of casino with the required KYC but will want to gamble in the platform and they will deposit their funds into the casino. Remember that if your KYC is not provided,if provided when you win big you will be asked to provide it or the casino will deprive you from withdrawal. Casinos don't care if you deposit your funds without completing the KYC requirements because they know it is to their own benefit.

[Wiwo]

this is an old scam practice of the sites. endless verification for nervousness and playing the balance. countless have been cheated like this.
 

Despite the fact that some shady casino could make the KYC procedure so unbearable and unrealistic,  it is important for us to make sure we have all the available evidence to prove the injustice of those casinos and how we nail them in the end.

It is indeed unfair to the players to be subject to endless KYC processes and this mostly happens when the customer wants to either withdraw or deposit an amount higher than $5,000 gamble should be aware of that risk and try to make their transactions below that amount.

[Mahdirakib]

Interestingly, despite the withdrawal issues, I discovered that I was still able to place bets on the platform. Unfortunately, like any other addict, I continued gambling until I lost all my winnings within four days. I attributed this to sheer bad luck, convincing myself that it was solely responsible for my losses.

You had continued your betting activity instead of solving the KYC issue by resubmitting appropriate documents. What is the point of creating this thread after so long while Stake isn't holding any of your funds? Source of funds and proof of address verification is a bit complicated on each casino (at where it is required).

Anyway, I can still see my 254 weeks old conversations with Stake support team. And it looks like all of my old conversations with the live support agents are still available. Maybe they have deleted your conversations as you were inactive for a long time and didn't complete the KYC verification.

[Gozie51]

It is indeed unfair to the players to be subject to endless KYC processes and this mostly happens when the customer wants to either withdraw or deposit an amount higher than $5,000 gamble should be aware of that risk and try to make their transactions below that amount.

It is a lesson for everyone to learn about KYC when it is requested that is why we need to make enquiry about a casino procedure for KYC and if we are not satisfied on it we can walk away and check the next door. It is not just about the amount to be withdrawn but to be sure we get the KYC verified before committing to stake. If for example KYC was already verified then when there is no release of fund, that becomes a pure red light for possible scam.

[Wiwo]

It is indeed unfair to the players to be subject to endless KYC processes and this mostly happens when the customer wants to either withdraw or deposit an amount higher than $5,000 gamble should be aware of that risk and try to make their transactions below that amount.

It is a lesson for everyone to learn about KYC when it is requested that is why we need to make enquiry about a casino procedure for KYC and if we are not satisfied on it we can walk away and check the next door. It is not just about the amount to be withdrawn but to be sure we get the KYC verified before committing to stake. If for example KYC was already verified then when there is no release of funds, that becomes a pure red light for possible scams.

I agree with you on that,  the big lesson there is that it is better and more easier to pass through KYC when it is not triggered but opted in by the player from the beginning,  this is why I always advise people to always perform at least level one KYC at the point of registration as long as you already trust the casino and want to play on the site.

Handing out KYC documents is not too much of a big deal,  if you don't have anything to hide like users in the US have been facing this level of restriction and verification demand since most casinos in that region are regulated.

[goldkingcoiner]

Mate don't take this as an attack but just a friendly advise that before you place your first bet on a centralized casino,  you should first make sure to have pass through all the kyc process.

Unless you have not made up your mind to gamble at the casino if not,  KYC should be the first thing you should take care of because if you want to verify the account when it runs into trouble,  you may find it hard to pass through the verification process due to pressure to withdraw your winning.

^Exactly this

Get your KYC done beforehand. Otherwise you might find yourself in a tangled web of unjustified bureaucratic nonsense. The reason being quite simple: Even though most people mistake a complicated KYC process with malice from the side of the casino owners, the truth is that a long KYC process is because you tripped a lot of red flags like using a VPN, using a bot or just because you broke a rule from the terms and conditions. People really underestimate the terms and conditions and would rather not read through them because they can be quite long. But that laziness always has a price in the end.