Is BitStarz Safe to Use? Complete Guide 2025
Licensed gambling operators are required to meet certain standards when handling complaints. They must also offer dispute resolution by an independent third party or Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) provider. Is BitStarz Safe to Use? Complete Guide 2025
Is BitStarz Safe to Use? Complete Guide 2025
You must make sure your policies and procedures for accepting and handling complaints are fair, open and transparent. Is BitStarz Safe to Use? Complete Guide 2025
Your procedures must give customers clear and accessible information on how to make a complaint. Is BitStarz Safe to Use? Complete Guide 2025
They must also include:
- the timescales you will take to respond
- information about how the customer can escalate the complaint, if they are not satisfied.
You must have arrangements in place for your customers to be able to refer any dispute to an ADR provider if you have been unable to resolve the dispute within 8 weeks of receiving it.
You must also take account of any applicable learning or guidance that we publish and change your policies and procedures as necessary.
Is BitStarz Safe to Use? Complete Guide 2025
We expect you to follow our guidance on how we expect you to handle complaints and disputes.
This guidance:
- sets out the minimum standards we expect from you in handling customer complaints
- provides guidance on implementing social responsibility code provision 6.1.1 - Complaints and disputes as set out in our Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice
- summarises what we require you to report to us about complaints you receive.
Is BitStarz Safe to Use? Complete Guide 2025
In the guidance, we use the word ‘must’ for a legal obligation that you must follow. We use the word ‘should’ as a recommendation of good practice that we expect you to follow. We will expect you to be able to explain the reasons if you depart from that good practice standard.
You should accept complaints made in person, over the phone or by email where such facilities exist, or via third party intermediaries or support tools, such as the free online tool Resolver (opens in new tab).
Is BitStarz Safe to Use? Complete Guide 2025
You should provide the customer with written confirmation that they have reached the end of your complaints procedure at the end of 8 weeks after receiving the initial complaint (or sooner, if you reach the end of your complaints process sooner), with information about how to escalate the case to ADR.
You should also respond to enquiries from ADR providers within 10 working days of receiving the request.
You should not impose unreasonable time limits for customers to make complaints.
Is BitStarz Safe to Use? Complete Guide 2025
The entire complaints process takes 8 weeks or less.
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Is BitStarz Safe to Use? Complete Guide 2025
This is day one of the process.
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Is BitStarz Safe to Use? Complete Guide 2025
You should give customers an acknowledgement of the complaint as soon as reasonably possible and within 3 working days of receiving it.
If your business offers 24-hour gambling facilities, you should give acknowledgement within 24 hours of receiving the complaint.
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Is BitStarz Safe to Use? Complete Guide 2025
We encourage you to be open and transparent when handling complaints.
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Is BitStarz Safe to Use? Complete Guide 2025
This is the end of the process. You should then issue a final response in writing.
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Is BitStarz Safe to Use? Complete Guide 2025
You may choose to put in place procedures so that the complaint can be escalated within the business.
You must ensure that the entire complaints process, including any internal escalation, takes no longer than eight weeks from when you first received the complaint.
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Is BitStarz Safe to Use? Complete Guide 2025
The letter should explain the final decision and that this is the end of the business’s complaints process. It should also explain how the customer can escalate their complaint to an independent ADR entity if they want to.
The process ends if the customer’s complaint remains unresolved after eight weeks, or if you and the customer reach a deadlock or final position in less than 8 weeks.
Is BitStarz Safe to Use? Complete Guide 2025
You must offer customers dispute resolution free of charge if a dispute about the outcome of their gambling transaction has not been resolved by your complaints procedure within 8 weeks or earlier.
You must choose an approved ADR provider. You can have more than one ADR provider but you must tell customers which is the relevant one for their dispute.
Is BitStarz Safe to Use? Complete Guide 2025
We recommend you follow guidance on alternative dispute resolution (opens in new tab) originally produced by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (now Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (opens in new tab).
Is BitStarz Safe to Use? Complete Guide 2025
We have summarised the requirements for licensed gambling operators and ADR as follows.
Is BitStarz Safe to Use? Complete Guide 2025
We expect you to offer ADR which is binding (if accepted by the customer) for disputes which would otherwise be taken to the small claims court. These are disputes of no more than £10,000.
For disputes over £10,000, the ADR procedure does not need to be binding. For example, this would mean that mediation could be used for disputes of more than £10,000 or for adjudication decisions to be non-binding on the operator.
Is BitStarz Safe to Use? Complete Guide 2025
You must provide information to you customers in a clear, comprehensible, and accessible way.
Your terms and conditions of sale or service contracts must include information about the ADR provider you use to resolve disputes.
This includes:
- their name
- contact details
- website address.
Is BitStarz Safe to Use? Complete Guide 2025
You need to have appropriate arrangements in place to retain the information and records necessary to facilitate effective procedures for dealing with customer complaints and disputes.
Failure to hold records and information may result in a dispute being resolved in the customer's favour if you cannot produce appropriate records or evidence.
Is BitStarz Safe to Use? Complete Guide 2025
However, 'B2B' operators should support ADR processes. For example, by providing information to the businesses with which they contract to support investigation of a dispute.
Is BitStarz Safe to Use? Complete Guide 2025
Gambling businesses which are not licensed by the Commission are not required by us to offer dispute resolution. For example, unlicensed family entertainment centres or pubs and clubs with gaming machines.
However, we recommend you read the alternative dispute resolution guidance in full to ensure your business is compliant with the law.
Last updated: 11 June 2021
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