I think I’ve heard someone calling this shotgun KYC. They will allow you to deposit but as soon as you show signs of using that money they take it as hostage until you prove you are not a criminal.
Sites like Paypal and Skrill did this because they know most people would otherwise just cancel on sign up , and when you've got money locked in you have no choice but to complete verification. Thankfully i haven't had to deal with their crap in the past 4 years due to better options existing.
Wise has brutal aml and zero kyc - I was abroad and using wise as I thought it intended, as a means to transfer from my US accounts to my EU accounts, both happy and kyc'd through the roof. Account closed, would you like to click a button that feigns an appeals process? Click here to have it instantly denied!
My brother actually abandoned 50€ 10+ years ago because he refused to do that verification ... I wonder if he could actually get that money back in any way still ...
Common with offshore online casinos: you can deposit and lose your money, but as soon as you try to withdraw winnings the KYC rolls out and you better hope you're not a US citizen because you weren't even supposed to sign up in the first place then.
Why is "if you gambled but we found out you weren't allowed to gamble, we'll take back your winnings but not give back your losses" legal? Shouldn't it have to be either "we'll reset everything back to before you gambled" or "everything you already did stands; you just can't do anymore (and are probably in trouble)"?
> Why is "if you gambled but we found out you weren't allowed to gamble, we'll take back your winnings but not give back your losses" legal?
I don't know the actual law is, but it could be that the customer is the one who committed the crime of illegal gambling. If that's the case, it doesn't matter if keeping his winnings is legal or illegal, if the gambler brings suit he puts himself in legal jeopardy and I don't think the courts will enforce contracts associated with illegal activities (e.g. a hitman can't go to court to force his client to pay).
It is likely not legal but the gamblers are too lazy to take it to courts I would guess, and the casinos are in jurisdictions where it might be really tedious or expensive.
It probably isn't, but generally their ToS says you're not allowed to be in the US when you sign up, and they don't operate in the US. So you'd have to go sue them in the jurisdiction of whatever island nation they're operating in (or get the authorities there to care).
Additionally, if you're within the majority of people who deposit money and lose it all you're not going to even know this unless you do some active research about the casino.
