Claiming the prize

A mother of three from the UK has won a gambling battle payout with Jackpotjoy that had initially refused to pay out her ￡13,000 ($17,000) winnings.

Donna Keeling, 42, from Stoke-on-Trent, a city in central England between Manchester and Birmingham, placed a ￡25 ($32) deposit in her name on the gambling site with her son’s debit card, reports the Mail Online. Keeling, who claims that she didn’t gamble before, used the deposit on the online site’s slot machines and soon had winnings of ￡150 ($196).

She then switched to Blackjack and eventually won?￡13,000. However, when she tried to withdraw her money, Jackpotjoy refused. According to the report, this was because she had gambled under her own name, but had used her son’s debit card.

“I was using my son’s card to play and didn’t think that would be a problem. But after I withdrew the money, I received an email asking me to call them,” Keeling said. “As far as I could see, there was nothing in the terms and conditions which said I couldn’t use somebody else’s card.”

Unfortunately, the gambling site thought otherwise. In Keeling’s opinion, if the winnings had been less, around ￡200 ($261), she believes they would have paid out, but because it was a high amount they held up payment.

Keeling was asked to provide additional personal information before Jackpotjoy agreed to pay out her winnings. Son Dan Lyons, whose card Keeling used, said of the successful payout: “She’s going to take the kids away on holiday and will treat me and she’ll just use it on stuff she wouldn’t have been able to do before.”

Understandable measures

In this situation, it’s easy to see why the site initially refused to pay out the money. It could be very easy for someone to use another person’s debit or credit card to place bets without them knowing.

In order to ensure that all is above board, the operator needs verification from the player, such as bank details, when they submit for their first withdrawal. In some cases, though, winnings can be denied to a player if the account the player has opened doesn’t match the name on the card.

In an effort to protect consumers, the UK’s gambling regulator announced in February that new rules will be coming into force in May. The Gambling Commission says that online operators will have 72 hours to verify a person’s age and their identity details and, before accessing free-to-play alternatives to gambling games, potential users will have to confirm and verify their ages. These measures are also aimed at making it safer for children.

Elsewhere, in February, it was reported that the regulator was thinking about a possible ban on credit cards, with the report pointing out that ￡8.6m ($11.2m) a year is being gambled via credit cards. At the time, a review into the matter was due to begin, which could result in a tightening of the law.