Having a positive experience with online gaming depends on a number of factors. While the quality of the service provided by the online casino is important, we’ve found that a lot the negative experiences reported by players often originates from their own decisions. One of these problematic areas surrounds the topic of credit card use and chargebacks. There are a number of reasons that players decide to perform a chargeback with an online casino.
In some cases, the decision might be justified, but we have the tendency to believe that most chargebacks done by players are in fact not fair to the online casino. The problem is that players don’t understand the consequences of online casino chargebacks, which influence both the player’s continuation as an online casino fan, and the industry as a whole.
Play Smart
Making smart choices as an online casino player is central to having an enjoyable casino experience. For some reason, when it comes to anything casino-related, some people have a strange attitude with regards to how they relate to a casino as a business. Maybe it’s because of the “beat the house” idea. Or maybe it’s the fact that the relationship between a casino and its customers is based around a sensitive issue – money. Whatever the reason is, your attitude as a player is important in ensuring that you can have the best time possible playing casino games online.
Many of the most important decisions you can make as an online casino player revolve around how you manage your funds. You need to know how much money you can afford to lose before you start playing. While we don’t play casino games in order to lose, it is a possible mathematical outcome. If you prepare for this outcome, you will be able to play casino games online without a care in the world. And the added bonus is, you will enjoy your wins even more.
How does this relate to chargebacks? Well, many players choose to perform a chargeback for emotional reasons. It’s not that they truly believe they’ve been scammed by an online casino, but instead, the experience of losing more money than they should have allowed themselves to, creates an intense feeling of remorse and anger. This then leads them to the idea that need to fight back and the opponent becomes the online casino. This emotional reaction contradicts any rationality since online casinos don’t force anyone to deposit money or play games. It’s always the choice of the player. It’s your responsibility to manage your money, and if you end up spending more than you should, that’s on you.
Performing a Chargeback against a Fraudulent Casino
In cases where a player is scammed by an online casino, or any other fraudulent online business, it of course makes sense to perform a chargeback. If you are certain that your money has been taken illegally from you, then it’s part of the credit card company’s service to help protect you and your money. The thing is, an illegal act is something that clearly oversteps a legal boundary. There are no grey areas. If the casino is licensed, if you are a legitimate player (over 18 years old etc.), and if you’ve agreed to the terms and conditions, there’s not much you can do to really prove that the casino has done you wrong. Yes, it’s possible that you’ve stumbled upon an activity used by the casino to cheat players, but most of the major online casino brands don’t do that kind of thing. If you do feel that you’ve been cheated and that the law has been broken, then by all means perform a chargeback and seek legal advice immediately. However, if your claims that the online casino is “unfair” are based upon statements that can be considered completely subjective such as “I played 3 different slots for 3 hours and only won twice”, then wait a moment before you act. Do you really think you’ve been cheated? Or, is this an emotional response to having lost money?
It might seem that we’re taking the side of the online casinos here, but that’s a very short-sighted viewpoint. In actually fact, we’re trying to protect players by highlighting the truth – your money is your responsibility and stepping over a line and then trying to fix things with a chargeback can have serious consequences.
Gambling Chargebacks – What are the Consequences?
If you’ve come out of a disappointing session playing at an online casino, in the heat of the moment, you might feel that performing a chargeback to stop your money from being transferred is a good idea. What you might not take into account is the consequences of going through with a chargeback.
Online transactions make dealing with money seem a little bit like a game, but the truth is that it’s no different to making payments in real life. In a sense, although this might be a bit extreme, a chargeback is like buying some shoes in a store, and then walking back in and taking your money, while keeping the shoes. If you think that sounds like stealing, you’re right. An online casino doesn’t promise to make you rich and will never guarantee you will always win. It makes much more sense to think of an online casino as an entertainment service. You pay the casino with the money you lose so that the casino can pay its employees, develop new software, market itself and give you perks. Yes, of course the casino is making a profit, but that’s what businesses are out to do.
This is the core of the problem and where a lot of players get into trouble. Performing a chargeback is like stealing, or, like claiming that the online casino itself is stealing. When you perform a chargeback, you are essentially telling the credit card company that you’ve identified a company with malicious behavior. The credit card company takes your side, since you’re their client, and they cancel the payment. What players don’t realise, is that at this point, the credit card company targets the online casino as being a potentially criminal organization. This can lead to the casino not being able to offer that credit card to players. In the case of major credit cards, it can also lead to an online casino closing completely.
On the side of the player, since a chargeback can be so harmful to an online casino, that player will undoubtedly be banned. But things could even go further. The casino might warn others about the “problem player” making sure to ban that player completely. So, from trying to cancel your losses, you can be banned completely from playing at online casinos.
In Conclusion
In cases where you’re sure you’ve been scammed and had your money illegally taken from you, then performing a chargeback makes sense. The law will be on your side. However, in all other situations, always keep in mind that performing a chargeback is a very serious act towards an online casino. It can cause a lot of trouble for the casino, and since it’s like using a service but refusing to pay for it, it can cause a lot of trouble for you as well. In any case, our advice is to try not to make any rash decisions based upon emotion. Remember that there are consequences. Instead, manage your funds and make sure you are playing with amounts that don’t’ affect your household budget.