A Curaçao court has ruled that Parimatch unlawfully confiscated funds from a player.
Suncast Furore NV and ex-master licence holder Cyberluck Curaçao NV have been ordered to jointly pay $19,630 to a player advocacy group that took over the claim as a result of the ruling – which was made on 13 March 2023 but only published on Monday (1 September),
The case dates back to June 2021 when Parimatch froze and confiscated a customer’s account balance, accusing the player of breaching its rules related to multi-accounting by gambling from multiple IP addresses.
However, the Court of First Instance of Curaçao ruled in favour of the Foundation for the Advocation of Victims of Online Gambling (SBGOK), which successfully argued that the players IP address shifted due to local internet service providers using dynamic IP addresses.
In addition, the court also ruled that the clauses in Parimatch’s terms and conditions which the defendants were citing could be nullified as the operator failed to make them properly available to players.
Following the decision, Cyberluck and Suncast will have to repay the $19,630, as well as SBGOK’s legal costs.
iGaming Expert has reached out to Parimatch for comment.
Other operators in firing line over player protection failures
Elsewhere in Curaçao, authorities have taken action against operators failing to meet player protection requirements.
In July, an out of court settlement was reached by 12 operators in Curaçao over player protection shortcomings.
It was cited by the Public Prosecutor’s Office (PPO), investigating the case, that these operators fell short in terms of KYC procedures.
The operators at the centre of the case remain unidentified. However, it is reported that all involved in the case were accepting of the sanctions.
Prosecution in the case centred around player verification, with it being found that players were allowed to open accounts and deposit without any friction or verifying their identities.
Originally, 17 firms were targeted in the investigation, which was codenamed Operation Nebraska and spearheaded by the specialist police forces.
A statement from the office said: “The PPO sees several reasons to settle the matter out-of-court. Since the suspects are legal entities, it is unlikely — in the event they are proven guilty — that the criminal court will impose a penalty other than a fine.”
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