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Guide to Formal Gambling Complaint Options

Formal complaint options are built into each country’s regulatory system. These options are designed to safeguard players and bettors who have been treated unfairly by an online gambling operator. Through such channels, you can file complaints against any type of regulated online gambling site operating in your region, from online casinos and sportsbooks to lottery and bingo sites.

In this guide, we cover everything you need to know about pursuing your complaint: what formal complaint channels are available to you and how to use them, plus useful tips on each method.

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Legal Disclaimer: The contents on this page are provided for informational purposes only and are not intended as a substitute for legal advice. When pursuing a complaint against an online gambling operator, always seek legal counsel from the appropriate entities in your jurisdiction.

What Are Formal Complaint Options?

These options are player safeguards built into the regulatory system. The regulatory structure and formal complaint options available to players/bettors vary for each region.

When Should I File a Formal Gambling Complaint?

When deciding whether to file a formal complaint against an online gambling operator, you must consider two factors:

Whether you’ve already taken your complaint as far as it can go through the gambling operator’s own support channels.
How far you wish to pursue your complaint (in terms of the time, energy, and sometimes, even finances, available to you).

⭐ Expert Tip: if you've already exhausted your options with the operator’s support team and still haven’t reached a satisfactory outcome, you may consider exploring some of the formal options available to you.

Types of Formal Gambling Complaint Options

If you wish to file a formal gambling complaint, there are 3 options available to you:

Submit a complaint to an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Service
Appeal to the online gambling regulator/s in your region
Go through the court systems

⭐ Expert Tip: Browse the overviews of each formal complaint option below to decide which course of action suits your needs best.

How Gambling Regulation Affects Your Complaint Options

Different online gambling regulator/s are responsible for different jurisdictions. Consequently, most licensed offshore gambling sites available to you are regulated by the international licensing bodies listed in this section.

If the gambling operator holds a national license, this is a big positive for you. Your national regulator will have far more authority over the operator, likely enforce more stringent regulatory standards, and companies that hold a national license will be easier for you to reach if you intend to pursue legal action.

We have listed the main international gambling regulators you will encounter below:

Malta Gaming Authority (MGA)
Gibraltar Gambling Commission (GGC)
Isle of Man Gambling Supervision Commission (GSC)
Alderney Gambling Control Commission (GCC)
Kahnawake Gaming Commission (KGC)
Curacao Gambling Control Board (GCB)

Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Services for Online Gambling

ADR services for online gambling are intended to provide a more easily accessible means of addressing player complaints, acting as an alternative to the small claims courts.”

If your complaint is about a gambling operator licensed by the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA), the operator is obliged to provide you with what is known as an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) service.

Those operators obliged to supply such a service cannot simply select any 3rd party to act as their ADR. They must choose from the list of approved ADR services that have been confirmed competent to manage player disputes by the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority (MCCAA). You can find a list here: Approved Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) providers

ADR services for online gambling are intended to provide a more easily accessible means of addressing player complaints, acting as an alternative to the small claims courts.

How to Submit a Complaint to a Gambling ADR

To submit your complaint to a gambling operator’s ADR you will need to follow the steps below:

Go to the operator’s terms and conditions page. Locate and read the section on complaints and/or disputes. You should find contact information, including a link, for the relevant ADR included in this section of the operator’s terms.
Make sure you’ve completed the steps outlined in our online gambling complaints guide. These are the operator’s internal complaints policies. Most ADRs will decline any complaint if the player has not exhausted the operator’s internal complaints policies.
Submit your complaint. Go to the ADR’s website and submit your complaint. If you’re not sure where to submit your complaint, we recommend the CasinoReviews gambling complaints service as it’s free of charge and holds a great reputation in the industry.

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📑 Important Information About Gambling ADRs

⭐ Expert Tip: keep the information below in mind when taking a complaint to an ADR.

Your ADR service is chosen by the operator
Whilst the regulator does approve multiple ADR organisations, it is the licensee (i.e.: the online gambling operator) that gets to select which ADR is used. You can only take your complaint to the ADR entity listed in the operator’s terms of use.
Enforceability of rulings are subject to terms
For operators licensed by the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA), an ADR’s rulings are legally binding on the operator up to the value of €5,000. While ADRs will review claims for higher values than this, the rulings they give are not legally enforceable.
Service standards may vary between ADRs
The quality of service that you will receive from ADRs can vary quite substantially from ADR to ADR. From the time it takes to manage disputes, to the frequency/quality of communications, to the support you will receive from the ADR and even the proportion of rulings delivered for the different parties – there is significant divergence in the way different ADRs will approach managing complaints.
Rulings are not always legally binding
In most situations, the player is not legally bound by the ADR’s ruling and you are free to pursue other options available to you even if the ADR does not find in your favour. The only exception to this is where the case concludes with a negotiated settlement. In this case, you should be clearly informed before agreeing to the settlement that you will be legally bound not to pursue the matter further.

Online Gambling Regulators

Important to note: it is unlikely the regulator will assist you to recover your funds, though that may happen as a consequence of action taken if the regulator identifies wider problematic trends that it decides to intervene in.”

ADRs are approved to manage most types of complaints. But there are a few exceptions. Specifically, ADRs are approved to manage transactional complaints, but anything related to a breach of licensing conditions is reserved for the review of the online gambling regulator dedicated to licensed operators in your location.

Will the Regulator Intervene on My Behalf?

While it is possible to submit your complaint directly to the regulator, the regulator does not intervene directly in individual complaints and instead uses submitted evidence to identify problematic patterns across the sector.

The most commonly impacted types of complaint are those relating to the gambling operator’s duty of care, i.e. whether a player should have been allowed to play, or whether the operator should have identified indicators of gambling harm and prevented further access.

The practical implications of this policy are that it is unlikely the regulator will assist you to recover your funds, though that may happen as a consequence of action taken if the regulator identifies wider problematic trends that it decides to intervene in.

💡 Can I Submit a Complaint to a Gambling Regulator?

Yes, you can. With the exception of the Curacao Gambling Control Board (GCB), which is currently overhauling its regulatory practices, the regulators licensing sites that accept players/bettors in your region do review complaints directly. However, note that you must first complete the operator’s internal complaints policy and Independent Adjudication (ADR) Policies before contacting the regulator. If you fail to do so, your complaint is likely to be rejected.

How to Submit Complaints to Gambling Regulators

To take your claim to a regulator, you will first need to identify the gambling regulator that licenses online gambling operators in your region (whether that be an online casino, sportsbook, lottery, bingo or other type of gambling site).

⭐ Expert Tip: if you don’t know how to identify the regulator, take a look at our quick guide.

Once you’ve identified the regulator, follow the links provided below to visit the relevant complaint channels for each main international gambling regulator. If you have already exhausted the operator’s internal complaint process, you can file a complaint about their license holders through the links provided.

For MGA licence holders: Submit your complaint via the MGA online complaint form
For GGC licence holders: Read the Gambling Commissioner's advice to complainants
For GSC licence holders: Read up on how to file a complaint about an Isle of Man Gambling Licence holder
For GCC licence holders: Submit your complaint via the GCC online Contact Us form
For KGC licence holders: Submit your complaint via the KGC online complaint form
For GCB licence holders: at the present time there is no mechanism to escalate a complaint via the regulatory system in Curacao

💡 Why must I comply with the gambling operator’s complaints policy before going to the regulator?

While online gambling operators licensed by the MGA, GGC and GSC require their license holders to have an internal complaint management process in place, they do not dictate how an operator must manage such complaints.

Anyone submitting a complaint about a license holder is therefore required to exhaust the operator’s own internal support measures before contacting the regulator directly. This may mean that complainants are expected to use an ADR service chosen by the gambling operator prior to escalating any complaint to the regulator.

📑 Quick Guide to Identifying Gambling Operator Licenses

Learn how to read online gambling license information quickly with the tips below.

To find out what license a gambling operator holds: look at the footer (very bottom) of the homepage of their website. Most regulators will require the operator to display information on their license and a verification seal, which will ordinarily link to a matching license page on the regulator’s website.

And what if there’s no licensing information? If there’s no regulatory information, or the license seal does not link to the license page on the regulator’s website, it’s highly likely that the operator does not have a valid gambling license which will substantially reduce the options available to you. There are still some options, but they are more limited.

⭐ Expert Tip: Once you have identified the regulator, follow the relevant links set out in the section How to Submit Complaints to Gambling Regulators

The Court Systems

This is a serious step and can have substantial consequences for you, so make sure you have considered your options fully before you start down this path.”

The final option if you have played with an operator who is licensed in your region is to consider taking legal action against the gambling operator. This is a serious step and can have substantial consequences for you, so make sure you have considered your options fully before you start down this path.

📑 Important Considerations When Appealing to the Court Systems

⭐ Expert Tip: consider the information below when taking your gambling complaint to the courts.

Unlicensed operators pose a greater challenge

The courts system is only practically viable if your complaint is against a gambling operator that is licensed and regulated by an international licensing body like the MGA. Any unlicensed gambling operator will be extremely challenging to pursue via the court systems.

You must have exhausted your options beforehand

Always ensure that you try the operator’s published complaints policy and their ADR before you move on to considering court action.

Court claims are subject to legal fees

Depending on the monetary amount you are contesting, if your claim loses you may end up facing financial costs for both your own legal representation and potentially the legal representation and costs of the gambling operator.

How to Pursue Complaints via the Court System

If you have already exhausted the operator’s internal complaint process, you can consider moving forward with a court claim by following the procedures set out in the expert tips below.

For sites licensed by the Malta Gambling Authority (MGA)

We cannot provide you with legal advice but we can direct you to sources with detailed information on pursuing your claim via the courts in Malta.

For claims of €5,000 or less you can pursue your claim via the small claims court. The costs of this process are €23, but this is just the basic fee and does not include any tangential costs (like legal advice) you may incur during the process. You can find advice on pursuing your claim via the small claims court here: small claims tribunal application form

For claims of more than €5,000 but not exceeding €15,000 your claim will be tracked to the Magistrate’s Court. Unlike the Maltese small claims courts, the Magistrate’s Court is not nearly as straightforward to access, requiring all applications and filings to be submitted in Maltese. This effectively necessitates any consumer engaging legal representation in Malta if they intend to pursue a claim of this size.

For claims of more than €15,000 your claim will be tracked to the First Hall Civil Court. As with the Magistrate’s Court, applications of this nature will almost certainly require you to engage legal counsel.

For sites licensed by the Isle of Man Gambling Supervision Commission (GSC)

We cannot provide you with legal advice but we can direct you to sources with detailed information on pursuing your claim via the courts for The Isle of Man.

For claims of £10,000 or less: you can pursue your claim via the small claims court. You can find advice on pursuing your claim via the small claims court here: Isle of Man Small Claims Procedure.

For claims of £10,000.01 up to £100,000: your claim will be tracked to the Summary court. You can find information on pursuing your claim via the commercial court here: Isle of Man Summary Court.

For claims greater than £100,000: you will be tracked to the Ordinary procedure. You can find information on pursuing your claim via the Ordinary court here: Isle of Man Ordinary Procedure.

For sites licensed by the Gibraltar Gambling Commission (GGC)

We cannot provide you with legal advice but we can direct you to sources with detailed information on pursuing your claim via the courts. Please see: The Courts Service of Gibraltar

For sites licensed by the Alderney Gambling Control Commission (GCC)

We could find little information online about the Alderney court systems. What we could locate indicates that there are crossovers with the United Kingdom and Guernsey legal systems. With little publicly available information to guide you, if you are seriously considering taking legal action against an Alderney licensed gambling operator the best advice we could give you would be to engage legal representation on the island itself.

For sites licensed by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission (KGC)

Kahnawake is a native American reserve territory within Canada. It does have a court system and you may be able to pursue a claim. However, this is a territory with its own legal system, separate from the rest of Canada, and a small population (~8k people). It seems reasonable to suggest that you will certainly need to engage legal representation within Kahnawake to pursue a claim and that the process may take a long time.

For sites licensed by the Curacao Gambling Control Board (GCB)

Whilst there are legal systems in place to facilitate court address of consumer disputes in Curacao, we could find little information regarding how a consumer would go about this. If you are considering legal action in Curacao your first action should be to locate and engage legal representation on the island itself. They will be able to guide you as to the processes and costs.

Understanding the Next Steps

After going through this guide, you’re probably considering one of the formal online gambling complaint options described. If you’ve already exhausted your options with the operator’s internal support channels and still haven’t reached a satisfactory outcome, then you may have a valid case. At this stage, you can take the following steps:

Identify which regulator license the gambling operator holds (learn how with our quick guide)
Based on the answer to (1), choose one of the formal complaint options described in this guide
Next, follow our complete expert guide on how to file online gambling complaints

More Gambling Complaint Guides From Our Experts

Online Gambling Complaints Guide

Learn what options are available to you, how to file a complaint against a casino or other gambling site, plus helpful advice and tips.

Informal Gambling Complaints

Pursuing a gambling complaint through informal channels offers an alternative way to pursue your case against an operator. Learn more here.

Responsible Gambling

These initiatives are designed to protect players from harm and enable informed choices. Find responsible gambling support, tools and resources in your region.