Restrictions on withdrawing deposit and deposit winnings
Players must be informed that they are allowed to withdraw their deposit balance at any time, including when a bonus is pending or active on the account. Players must be allowed to withdraw without restriction, except as necessary to comply with any General Regulatory Obligations.
You must also ensure that:
- your general terms and conditions clearly reflect this right of withdrawal
- this right of withdrawal is clearly stated to consumers during the sign up process for a promotion and on the consumer’s account page (or equivalent).
This doesn't prevent an operator from deducting a fee charged to consumers for processing that withdrawal or, where a consumer seeks to withdraw less than their full deposit balance, reasonably to limit the size or number of separate withdrawals that a consumer may make, provided that this is done in accordance a fair and transparent term in the contract that the consumer has agreed to.
Any fee should not exceed a reasonable estimate of the costs incurred directly by an operator in relation to the processing of that withdrawal.
You must ensure that:
- the deposit balance and (if applicable) the bonus balance are always clearly displayed separately to the consumer
- that Promotional Play Restrictions and Wagering Requirements (if applicable) do not apply to any play by a consumer with their Deposit Balance except where in-game mechanisms automatically prevent a consumer from placing a wager that contravenes the Promotional Play Restrictions
- that Promotional Play Restrictions and Wagering Requirements (if applicable) do not apply to any play by a consumer with their Deposit Balance except where in-game mechanisms automatically prevent a consumer from placing a wager that breaches the Promotional Play Restrictions.
What you should do
Operators must allow players to withdraw funds from their deposit balance, even if they are allocated to a bonus including when a bonus is pending or active in the account. We recognise that numerous small withdrawals can be costly for an operator, therefore, operators are not prevented from deducting a cost-reflective processing fee for withdrawals. However, this must be made clear to players before they deposit. Any charges for a withdrawal must not exceed the direct processing cost.
Operators are required to comply with General Regulatory Obligations.
The deposit balance and bonus balance must always be displayed separately in a clear and prominent manner.
Operators do not need to display balance and bonus pots within the in-game view, as long as this information is displayed on the account homepage.
Promotional play restrictions and wagering requirements must not apply when a player is playing with their deposit balance.
Operators can only apply play restrictions when a player is playing with their deposit balance, when they have software that stops the player from breaching them. For example, if there is a maximum stake limit, the player must not be able to exceed it when playing with their deposit balance.
Operators are free to require players to meet wagering requirements for bonus winnings so long as they can withdraw winnings made with their own funds, no matter how much or how little they have played.
What not to do
- layers must not be made to meet wagering requirements before they can withdraw money from their deposit balance
- funds from deposit and bonus balances must not be mixed together or displayed to the player as a single pot of money
- players must not be asked for information at the point they request a withdrawal from their account if the operator could reasonably have asked for this information at an earlier time. Further information on the rules on identify verification can be found in our age and identity verification consultation response document.
Example of what not to do:
- "Your withdrawals are limited to one per day and no more than five per week"
- "You may withdraw up to £5,000 per day once you have wagered your original deposit"
- "Before making any withdrawals from your deposit account, you must first wager the value of this 5 times"
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Promotional play restrictions
Last updated: 15 February 2022
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