Data protection complaint to get lost casino money back?

More and more players are filing complaints against foreign gambling companies with the German data protection authorities. However, the primary aim is not to ensure data protection, but instead to reclaim casino losses suffered. But can a data protection complaint actually lead to casino players being refunded their bets?

Both the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the German Federal Data Protection Act are designed to protect the public's personal data. As the State Data Protection Commissioner of North Rhine-Westphalia, Bettina Gayk, has now announced, more and more users of online casinos without a German license are flooding the data protection authorities with complaints. In most cases, the casinos in question are based in Malta, do not have a German gaming authority license and are therefore illegal.

Data protection complaint to reclaim casino losses?

In the past, GambleJoe was often concerned with the fact that more and more players were reclaiming their casino losses. The background to this was that a large number of online casinos were active on the German market without the required license from the Joint Gambling Authority of the German federal states (GGL). Back in March 2021, we asked ourselves whether it was a good idea to reclaim the casino losses you had suffered.

In the meantime, however, a new trend has clearly emerged. More and more online gamblers are flooding the German data protection authorities with complaints against gambling companies from abroad. Due to alleged breaches of data protection law, some players are hoping to reclaim casino losses they have suffered.

In the complaints, the affected users complain that they were not provided with information about stakes placed within the one-month period or not to the desired extent by the online casino in question. In December 2023, an article published on GambleJoe also dealt with the fact that the legality of data storage under the GlüStV was legally challenged.

However, the State Data Protection Commissioner of North Rhine-Westphalia, Bettina Gayk, now points out that the chances of such complaints being successful are not really high. Such complaints are forwarded to the relevant authorities in Germany or abroad, whereby the cooperation of these authorities is required.

"We have forwarded numerous complaints to the Maltese supervisory authority in recent months. The supervisory authorities of other German states and neighboring European countries have also submitted similar complaints."

The problem: the supervisory authority in Malta has been refusing to hand over transaction data in many cases for several months. The German data protection authorities have now started to collect such complaints and then forward them to the Maltese data protection supervisory authority.

Back in the summer of 2022, we at GambleJoe reported that there may have been a massive breach of data protection by an online casino in the UK.

Conclusion

Anyone attempting to reclaim their casino losses due to possible data protection violations currently has relatively little chance of success. The procedures are complex and it is difficult for individual players to provide evidence. In addition, the Maltese supervisory authority has been refusing to cooperate for several months now, citing national laws. Nevertheless, it should of course be a matter of course that both German and foreign online casinos comply with the applicable data protection laws.

Source of the image: https://pixabay.com/de/photos/datenschutz-it-computer-sicherheit-2117996/