Promotional play restrictions
You must ensure that terms and conditions setting out any Promotional Play Restrictions clearly specify all prohibited types or patterns of play, and do not reserve sole discretion on the operator to:
- determine when play falls within these specified categories
- determine other forms of play to be in breach of the terms and conditions.
Your terms and conditions should be structured so that terms setting out prohibitions and sanctions on account fraud, collusion, use of multiple accounts, manipulation of software, exploitation of loopholes or other technical forms of abuse or other behaviour which amounts to deliberate cheating, are contained in separate terms to those relating to any Promotional Play Restrictions.
If a decision has been made that a consumer is to lose winnings or will be refused a requested withdrawal from their account on the grounds of a breach of Promotional Play Restrictions, the consumer must be provided with a full explanation of the breach of the relevant Promotional Play Restriction, including the specific terms breached.
For the avoidance of doubt, this does not require the disclosure of information to the consumer to the extent this would cause an operator to breach any General Regulatory Obligation.
What you should do
Operators should ensure that all prohibited types or patterns of play are listed within terms and conditions. They must also make sure that all types of banned play are listed and that players are aware of these.
Terms and conditions highlighting the possible penalties if fraud/cheating/collusion is identified, must be separate to the terms relating to the promotional play restrictions.
Operators must clearly distinguish between terms intended to prevent fraud, collusion, cheating, bonus abuse etc, and those which outline broader play strategies it wishes to prevent players from engaging in.
Operators must ensure that players are fully informed about the impact of play restrictions.
If a player has not followed the play restrictions and rules of a game and their win or withdrawal is refused, the operator should explain why.
When advising a player that they have not complied with the play restrictions, operators should explain what happened but do not have to reveal any information that would result in them breaching any General Regulatory Requirements.
What not to do
Terms cannot contain a general reference to banned types of play as this is too vague. Players must be provided with as much information as possible, therefore, each type of prohibited play should be specifically listed.
Operators must not ban a form of play that was not clearly outlined to the players in advance.
Operators must not reserve sole discretion to determine when and what forms of play breach terms and conditions.
Example of what not to do
- Your membership of the rewards scheme may be removed if it is abused, and we will decide on what behaviour and types of play constitutes an abuse
- ‘We reserve the sole discretion to determine prohibited types or patterns of play’.
Restrictions on withdrawing deposit and deposit winnings Next page
Terms giving licensees undue discretion on their application
Last updated: 19 July 2023
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