Stop taking players funds and using verification to keep thier money

[STEVE_LEWIS]

So Unibet was suggested to me via Youtube by one of the senior poker players, I register with the site, add some funds and then get banned from playing.

I recieve a notification that I bneed to upload spome douments, which of course I do, we are now on day 5, still no verification, still account is blocked from playing and above all else, still holding my money which as far as I can see is more akin to theft rather than anything else.

Why do UNIBET think its ok to hold players funds when we are prevented from playing, As im a reasonable human being, I understand the need for checking that players are who they say they are, I get that players need to offer Unibet relevent proofs, but what I dont get is why Unibet feel its acceptable to wait for a player to fund their playing account and then freezer thier account, NOT 100% SURE THAT THIS IS Legal.

can someone advise and what the best course of action is or should I just report the site to my bank and move back to GG poker, as they seem to operate legally.

[STEVE_LEWIS]

So Unibet was suggested to me via Youtube by one of the senior poker players, I register with the site, add some funds and then get banned from playing.

I recieve a notification that I bneed to upload spome douments, which of course I do, we are now on day 5, still no verification, still account is blocked from playing and above all else, still holding my money which as far as I can see is more akin to theft rather than anything else.

Why do UNIBET think its ok to hold players funds when we are prevented from playing, As im a reasonable human being, I understand the need for checking that players are who they say they are, I get that players need to offer Unibet relevent proofs, but what I dont get is why Unibet feel its acceptable to wait for a player to fund their playing account and then freezer thier account, NOT 100% SURE THAT THIS IS Legal.

can someone advise and what the best course of action is or should I just report the site to my bank and move back to GG poker, as they seem to operate legally.

[Stubbe-Unibet]

@STEVE_LEWIS, welcome to the community, and welcome to Unibet poker!

I'm sorry to hear about your bad experience, but I just want to set a couple of things straight:
1. It hasn't been 5 days. In fact, it hasn't even been 3 days yet.
2. The documents were reviewed just a few hours after you sent them (at 2 in the night - I'd call that a pretty speedy service!). Unfortunately, only your ID and card were approved. The proof of address was rejected, and on the 20th (still less than 24 hours after you sent the documents) an email was sent to inform you about this.

I can't see the document details - I own the poker product and don't have anything to do with this part of the experience - but you can reach out to CS to get further details.

It's not just okay to freeze your funds, it's a legal requirement - I of course get it can be very frustrating, but that's a different discussion. There are many reasons as to why it can happen, and one of them is anti-money laundering, and we'd be in breach of several rules, if we just freely let you withdraw, when there was reason to request documents. It's quite simply impossible to request all documents before you deposit, as we can't predict your playing behavior, deposit sizes, deposit methods etc. etc. You can be requested to send in documents even when you've been a customer for years; if you for instance win big and the local regulation requires us to verify your identity before processing the withdrawal (is the case in all markets operated under the Maltese license).

NB GG Poker is quite an interesting operator to highlight in this regard, considering their recent cases on 2+2 and the like

[benetoo]

As an auditor myself I can tell you it is ok to freeze account for documents , what is not ok is to freeze account for so long. It sounds straight away dodgy as any other bookmaker makes decisions on verifications in minutes, maximum couple hours. You are holding it for days , even weeks , god knows what are you doing with people's money on that freeze moment. Stocks, investing? Who knows. But it is definitely not alright. I submitted my documents and still nothing is accepted, it's frustrating as you treat people as money launderers but in general it is you who are doing dodgy things. I hope my verification will be accepted in next couple hours.

[Geoffdonna]

Hi, I am in exactly same situation. Joined up and deposited money and was allowed to play increasing my bank lol then banned from playing until verification. I did this and waited 2 days only to find my address verification has been rejected, now waiting for it to be reviewed again  , haven't been able to play for 4 days now. What a joke. Think I will withdraw money and play a decent site 

[Stubbe-Unibet]

@benetoo, can see it's less than 24 hours since the documents were requested. Don't have access to see when you submitted them. Today is a public holiday in many countries, and our operations aren't running on full speed either, so it can take a bit longer than usual.
@Geoffdonna, can't see any details about yours, but hope it gets resolved soon.

I'm off myself today, so can't follow up on anything. Merry Christmas!

[benetoo]

@Stubbe-UnibetI submitted everything yesterday evening. If you know you won't be able to check documents straight away why are you even asking for them in the first place especially when my all documents were provided when registering, my cards, Paypal, skrill, neteller, all are verified, how am I money launderer? in addition I'm not even winning player , It doesn't make any sense and now this vibe is killing all the mood for holidays as I can't access nor bet my money.

[Stubbe-Unibet]

So you're saying we should suspend the account and wait to request the documents, further postponing everything, because we don't have the same resources for document verification today? I can't see that any documents were provided back when you registered the account, but again, I have limited access in this regard.
I never said you were a money launderer- it was mentioned an example in a previous post that wasn't a reply to you. There are many other reasons for document requests

[benetoo]

@Stubbe-Unibet Is it normal for a company which made 509 million profit in 2019 not to have resources to check few photos and documents in such longs periods? There are loads of bad comments about verification process in Unibet as it takes ages and asking so many different documents. I understand it is procedure for anti money laundering but you should be able to handle this way better and much faster as many many even smaller bookmakers check documents instantly , maximum couple of hours. You personally know it is a big issue in Unibet and you should admit that. Again I hope I'll get verified in couple of hours as it is really pissing me off treated as criminal and not able to access my own money as my account is in negative deposit/withdrawal balance. I added statement of paypal for you to see that I don't do anything wrong , I am just regular player.

[Stubbe-Unibet]

From the info I have available on the 3 cases here, everything was reviewed within 24 hours, and OP had his documents reviewed within a few hours in the middle of the night I consider that satisfactory, but sure, there's always room for improvement

[benetoo]

@Stubbe-Unibet As I understand my documents were not reviewed within 24 hours, as not even one document is approved yet. Maybe I am selfish but I don't care about other cases , I care about my case.