Casino Ban

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We’ve all come across stories of online casinos banning players for winning too much. In fact, this sentiment isn’t reserved just for the online gambling space. On the contrary, this sentiment is also prevalent in land-based casinos and bookmakers.

The PGCB’s Casino Self-Exclusion list does not ban player participation in all PA gambling venues. However, gaming providers may have stricter Self-Exclusion policies, including banning Self-Excluded persons from all forms of gambling at their venues (casino gaming, horse racing, iGaming in other jurisdictions.). Specifically, the ban on smoking may have inadvertently turned casinos into a great destination for Baby Boomers and Millennials who are the least smoking generations in the United States to date. Put another way, Isham argued, that is what customers want and expect.

But why?…

Well – and much like any other sector in the UK, gambling companies are in the business of making money. After all, that’s why they afford you the opportunity of walking away with more than you started with.

So that begs the question – how much is too much?

There is no one-size-fits-all answer to this, as it is a subjective, risk-based decision made by the online casino in question.

Read on to find out more!

The Perfect Online Casino Player

Without stating the obvious, the ideal punter for online casinos is a player that loses money. In other words – whether it’s blackjack, slots, or video poker – when you lose money, the casino makes a profit. In the world of UK casinos, this is known as the ‘gross gambling yield’.

This refers to the amount of money that an online casino collects throughout the month, less the amount that they paid out in winnings. For example, let’s say that in the month of April the online casino facilitates £500,000 worth of bets across its suite of gambling games.

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In return, the casino paid out £350,000 in winnings. This means that the gross gambling yield amounted to £150,000. The overarching objective for online casinos is to maximize their gross gambling yield. In doing so, this results in more profit.

This is especially the case with online casinos that are publicly-listed on the London Stock Exchange. Think along the lines of William Hill and GVC Holdings (parent company of Ladbrokes), not least because they have shareholders to please.

Now, if the gross gambling yield of a particular online casino does not meet expectations, this typically means one of two things. Firstly, this could mean that the casino is not generating enough income. This might because the platform does not have enough active players on its books – or deposits numbers are down.

Secondly – and perhaps most pertinently for this article, the gross gambling yield might be down in a certain month because players are simply winning too much. This is just the nature of the random algorithm that governs casino games.

For example, while one player might go through a major winning streak for weeks on-end, another player might do the exact opposite. In other months, more players might experience an extended winning streak in comparison to the previous month.

When is a Winning Streak Deemed Too Long?

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It is important to note that online casino websites are not in the business of banning players left, right, and centre. If they did, they wouldn’t have a viable business model. Crucially, if word gets around that a specific casino is closing more and more accounts, its damaged reputation would be beyond repairable.

As such, online casinos will think very carefully before banning a player. You see, online casinos utilize risk-based strategies when assessing the viability of a player. They will look at key metrics such as the types of games, stakes, and bet-types the player generally installs.

Let’s take a reckless player as a prime example. The player likes to play roulette with average stakes of £500. The player simply chooses a few single numbers and then hopes for the best. However, the player has experienced a remarkable winning streak, and the casino is down £10,000 for the month.

Will the casino ban the player? Absolutely not! You see, the online casino would make a risk-based decision and in doing so, would conclude that the overall likeliness is that the reckless player will eventually lose the £10,000 at the platform – and then some.

At the other end of the spectrum, let’s take a player that claims a £1,500 casino bonus. The casino allows players to use bonus funds on live dealer tables, so the player decides to play roulette. The player covers 50% of the available numberS of the table, meaning he has a 50/50 chance of winning or losing.

However, an acquaintance of the player is also playing at the same live roulette table via a different account, and placing bets of an opposite nature. This is with the view of engaging in bonus fraud. As the casino’s risk department catches onto the scam, they quickly ban both players.

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The Verdict?

On the one hand, casinos know that both winning and losing streaks are part and parcel of online gambling. As such, it’s rare for online platforms to ban a specific player simply for winning more than they lose. On the other hand, casinos are in the business of making a profit.

With that in mind, if a player is simply winning too much, there is every possibility that the player will be banned, and subsequently have his account closed. Can online casinos do this? Unfortunately, they have the legal remit to ban players whenever they see fit.

It’s installed in the terms and conditions that you agree to when you open an account. The good news is that we at CasinoSites.org only recommend online casinos that have a track record of playing fair. In other words, our selected platforms have to date never banned a player for winning “too much”.

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James King is an iGaming journalist with over a decade worth of expierence. Having worked as part of varous online casinos digital content team, he moved into journalism covering the latest news and devlopments in the iGaming world.