Austria: online casino must pay back 1.6 million Euro to client

A recent judgement by the Austrian Supreme Court will not go down well with the online gambling provider PokerStars. The judges condemned the providers to pay back the gambling stakes to the player who sued them. These came up to around 1.6 million Euro. But how could it be possible that a single player had lost such a high amount when playing at PokerStars?

Just recently we had published an article about the fact that even more online casinos are putting up a fight when they are being sued by players. In this recent case from Austria, the lamenting player however managed to come out as a winner. The online gambling provider PokerStars was condemned to refund the losses to the player. These came up to around 1.6 million Euro.

Court orders provider to reimburse client

The Supreme Court has found in favour of that the player, and in its judgement, it ordered the provider to refund the player all the losses he had suffered. The provider does not hold an Austrian licence and is thus operating illegally.

The player who sued the operator is a gambling addict. Therefore, he has lost the sum of around 1.6 million Euro when playing at PokerStars over a longer time period. He should now be getting a refund of his losses. In an older article from March 2021 we had already asked, whether it is a good idea, to request a reimbursement of the losses suffered at the casino.

Will the player actually be receiving the money back?

It is currently still not clear whether the player who sued the casino will actually be getting back his losses which come up to over a million. Till now, PokerStars is refusing to refund the losses. The gambling addict’s lawyer, Oliver Peschel is also assuming that it will not be easy to get a refund of 1.6 million Euro.

Since the claimed amount is very high, Lawyer Peschel is hoping that the Maltese Authorities will cooperate with Austria in this case. Peschel further adds that it cannot be possible that a company in an EU country persistently dodges a court judgement of a Member State. In Austria there are currently still cases pending in which players are suing casino providers for the losses they suffered.

Just two weeks ago we had reported about a case from Germany, in which although there was a legal judgement a player did not receive a refund of his losses at the casino.

Conclusion

The Supreme Court in Austria has ruled in favour of the player and ordered the provider to refund the sum of 1.6 million Euro to the player. However, it seems as if it will be difficult and time-consuming for the player to get the money back. The provider is based in Malta and till now does not seem to be cooperating. It will be exciting to see if the player will manage to get back the 1.6 million Euro which he had lost in the casino.

Image Source: https://pixabay.com/de/illustrations/euro-stapel-geld-währung-96289/