Peter had just opened an account at a small casino with a Danish license and deposited DKK 100 to get their welcome bonus, but it never appeared. He therefore wrote to their customer service, and was surprised to learn that his account had been blocked from receiving bonuses. For Peter, it made no sense, because he had just opened his account, and therefore he could not have broken their rules. In desperation, he therefore wrote to Casinopenge.
At Casinopenge, we have now heard from three players who have had experiences similar to Peter’s (made up name), and while the casinos have not given the players a clear message in any of the cases, we have managed to get an explanation: The player had cheated or taken advantage of the bonuses at other casinos operated by the same company, and this meant that he had been excluded from receiving bonuses at all casinos operated by the company. However, it can be difficult for players to know which casinos are run by the same company, since all casinos are marketed as independent casinos.
There are two types of casinos
30 casino licenses have been issued in Denmark, but there are more than 80 casinos that have a license to operate a casino in Denmark. While all the biggest (and best) casinos such as Mr Green, Royal Casino and LeoVegas have their own license, 2 of the licenses are owned by casino operators who offer other companies a complete casino package that these companies only have to market. This is called “white label casinos”.
It is often small companies that run these white label casinos. They choose a name for the casino, create a website with a logo and graphics and decide which bonuses the casino will offer, but as soon as a player starts playing at the casino, it is a bigger company that takes over.
A player can have an account at several casinos that are run by the same casino operator, and will not know that they are run by the same company. While it is often possible to get a welcome bonus at every casino, we have now seen examples of players in both white label groups being excluded from receiving bonuses across the entire group.
What are bonus cheats?
If a player breaks the casino’s rules to receive bonuses they are not entitled to, this is obviously bonus cheating. It can, for example, involves creating several casino accounts with different email addresses in order to receive more than one welcome bonus.
However, the casinos will often have a much broader definition of bonus cheating, and they may therefore find themselves excluding players, even if they do not break any specific rules. In order to do this, there are often rules in the casino’s terms and conditions that give the casino the right to deny players a bonus or close accounts at its “sole and absolute discretion”. In practice, this can mean that casinos can decide to exclude players, just because they have played in a way that the casino loses money, e.g. if you withdraw your winnings immediately after the playthrough requirement has been completed.
Which casinos are run by the same companies
As I said, there are two white label operators in Denmark, and you can be excluded from casinos in a group if the casino considers that you are cheating with their bonuses or perhaps simply that they expect to lose money on you.
In fact, these casinos’ terms and conditions state: “By receiving the welcome bonus offer at [name of casino], you are excluded from receiving a welcome bonus at other Aspire Global brands.” Despite this, most players can easily receive the welcome bonus at several casinos in the group.
The other group is Skill On Net Limited and they have a Danish license for the following casinos.
In addition to these two groups, there are other companies that operate several different casinos and/or other gaming sites under the same license. Here, however, it is the same company that is responsible for both the operation and the marketing of typically 2-3 gambling sites, and we have not heard of similar problems in some of these places.
If you experience being denied your welcome bonus at other casinos, you are very welcome to write to us at info[at]casinopenge.dk. We naturally treat your information confidentially, unless you ask us to proceed with the information.