No More Withdrawal Reversing for Dragonfish Customers

A handful of online bingo brands have introduced a new feature wherein pending withdrawals will no longer be subject to reversal. The decision to introduce such a measure was taken by Dragonfish – a major player in the online bingo industry and it wasn’t one taken lightly.

For many of years now, bingo and slots players have been able to request withdrawals and providing it’s done within a 24-hoour period, the withdrawal can be reversed. This would allow them to continue to play instantly. Great feature, but not so great for players with a gambling problem.

The UKGC introduced new ‘tighter’ gambling legislation purely on fears of problem gambling and as soon as it was read, Dragonfish sprang into action. The guidance for online operators was put in place to ensure consumers (the players) were protected during the current period of uncertainty.

Despite a YouGov poll suggesting gambling in whole is down overall, the scores of data analysed also took into account land-based venues too and with those being closed, the data is bound to be a lot lower than usual. Gambling Commission chief executive Neil McArthur said:

“Operators must use the data they hold to protect their customers and now, more than ever, it’s vital that online operators really know their customers by monitoring how long they are playing for and understanding how financial uncertainty is impacting them and what they can afford to gamble with. 

To ensure operators do that, we are strengthening our guidance and expect operators to take account of that to prevent bonus offers or inducements being offered to customers who are showing any sign of harm.‘’

Warning to All

The stark warning from Neil McArthur was the basically the loaded-pistol and as soon as that was fired, major brands decided to implement the ‘no withdrawal reversing system. It read: ‘’We will continue to monitor and publish the data that we are collecting, and we will take further measures if required. We are monitoring online operators closely and if we see irresponsible behaviour we will step in immediately, suspending licences if we need to.”  

At present, the withdrawal policy over at Cracker Bingo has not been updated to show such changes and continues to offer a withdrawal request: “Can I reverse a withdrawal request? Once your withdrawal request is submitted (by clicking the 'Confirm withdrawal' button in the Site cashier) we will attempt to process such withdrawal request within one business day, unless you cancel your withdrawal request prior to your withdrawal request being processed by us.”

Top-rated UK bingo sites honouring this feature will include 888 Bingo, Kozmo, Hunky and Cracker Bingo. As of yet, there is no indication of when these measures will be introduced, however, we suspect it will be fairly soon and furthermore, we suspect many more operators to implement this same feature.