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A few weeks ago a great debate stirred up on message boards regarding responsibility and deposit age. Most internet casinos allow players to deposit if they are over 18, but then cover their asses in their terms and conditions by stating that the responsibility of legal gambling age per jurisdiction is up to the player. In other words, if you live in a place where the legal gambling age is 21, such as Nevada, and you are under 21 but over 18, it is up to you to know that you can not deposit into an internet casino and to refrain from depositing. The internet casino is not responsible (in their eyes) to know the legal requirement for every place in the world. In all fairness, why should an internet casino know and program for the legal requirements of every state in the US when they don't know and program for the legal requirements of every country in the world? Not to mention the fact that the legality of depositing for US citizens is still under debate. The real issue at hand here is not really who is responsible, but when responsibility was called into play. Bella Vegas is the only internet casino that I have played at and was left with almost nothing positive to say. I really dislike this casino. As a previous customer service manager I am a real stickler for customer service and theirs just sucks. I wrote them two emails with questions when I was deciding to put my money in there back in July 2005 and they never bothered to write me back. I even wrote to their management email address and nada. This is why I wasn't particularly shocked to find out that they were at the heart of this debacle. player from Nevada had deposited and played in Bella Vegas several times over. They were 18, while the legal gambling age in Nevada is 21. This player had even received three payouts for winnings previously with Bella Vegas. However, once the player had a major win their account was scrutinized and the internet casino found that the player was under legal age for their jurisdiction. In my opinion the right way to handle this would be to pay the player and then close their account with an explanation. Why pay? Bella Vegas should pay the winnings because they had paid this player winning's previously and should remain consistent in their policy. Instead Bella Vegas called their terms and conditions into play and only paid the player their deposit amount, recalling their winnings. This time, however, their terms and conditions didn't actually help them. The terms and conditions regarding age for Bella Vegas casino are as follows: "The casino is limited to individuals of legal age of majority in their jurisdiction (the "Player"). You cannot play under any circumstances if you are not at least eighteen years of age, however, should the legal age of majority in your jurisdiction be older than eighteen – you shall abide by those restrictions. Participation in the activities and games (the "Game") of this casino are open only to residents of those jurisdictions where such participation is legal." I would have read that and thought that one had to be 21 as that is the legal age of gambling where the player is. However, I would have been wrong. My guess is that the player is a pre-law student because they knew and understood that the legal age of majority in Nevada is 18 (19 if the person is a student in university). As such the player is within the legalities of the terms and conditions. I have to admit that I am really enjoying that the casino failed to cover their ass appropriately for this circumstance. With that said, they could simply call a different point into play. The player resides in a state where internet gambling is still illegal. This means that the winnings could have been taken by the casino regardless. The player has appealed to eCogra and several other player advocates to no avail. As I mentioned before, this isn't an internet casino which takes pride in their customer service so that didn't surprise me either. This player should be happy they got their deposit back. The bulk of internet casino players come from the United States. It's estimated that over 80% of internet casino players are from North America. Internet casino gambling is illegal in much of the US and Canada. This is why Bella Vegas didn't use the location issue as the reason to refuse winnings, they would be cutting their own throat by giving many of their customers good reason to not trust them. Why would a player from the US want to deposit and play in an internet casino which would use their location as a reason to not pay their winnings? Players don't want to be bothered with the brunt of finding out whether their state allows internet gambling or not. Plus some of the states which have internet gambling as illegal are the most populated states, such as New York and California. Internet casinos still allow for deposits from these states as the casinos are off-shore and can't be prosecuted anyhow. It is simply assumed by the player that the internet casino will honor their winnings regardless of their location and this is typically what is done. This new case of age discrimination may end up calling this issue into play. While Bella Vegas is within their right to refuse the player winnings, so much as they have returned the players deposit. However, in the big picture Bella Vegas is going onto a slippery slope, not that they care. Ultimately, this is another reason why players should read reviews of internet casinos before bothering to deposit in them. Had this player done this research they would have known to avoid this casino at all costs. It's all about research. While this player is left without winnings and frustrated it could have been worse. They could have been left without their deposit as well. This is why players should always read message board reviews and site reviews before deciding where to deposit their hard earned funds. Posted on: February 21, 2006
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