Possible illegal lottery

Danglydino

Long post alert, please kindly bare with me. I am looking for some help and the competition site in question has sent me round in circles! So this competition site is very popular on facebook and has a website. They aren't licenced as they have a free postal entry route and have pristine trust pilot reviews - more on that later.

So they have flash comps, night owl comps, and other competitions that are only up for 12 hours so impossible to enter using the free postal route some 24 hours long, some only 48 hours and some for weeks. I have had several complaints regarding this company such as paying people for trust pilot reviews (I have evidence). I have reported them to the gambling commission for being an illegal lottery and misadvertising and also sent the proof of them paying for trust pilot reviews - trust pilot are looking into the paid reviews also.

The GC are investigating but don't let us know the outcome - so not sure how we know they are even investigating. I sent lots of evidence as these short draws are overnight and gone by the morning. 

This company comes across as lovely and charitable and I fell for it all and spent an awful lot of money with them. It is worth noting that I have several mental and physical disabilities - including ADHD and severe anxiety and depression. This company had said it would reach out to people who they believed to overspend so I was reassured that they monitor everyone's daily spend and would never let me overspend. I asked them my spend and it was quite a small amount so I spent more - it turned out, after my partner checking, I had actually spent thousands over 3 different bank accounts and it was almost 15 times what they advise my "all time" spend was but based on their incorrect advised spend I spent more. I have complained to them and was not happy with their response so escalated it, first they refused to escalate it as I had advised I got advise from the GC. They eventually did and copied and pasted their first response. When I asked for their ADR provider that is stated they have on their website, they provided me with one who confirmed that this competition site are NOT registered with them so they are unable to assist with my individual case. I went back to the competition site and they said legally they don't have to be registered (why did you send me there and why does your website state you will refer if not legally required too). I contacted several other ADR providers and all said they cannot look into individual cases unless the competition site is registered. Argh. They made it as complicated as possible for me to complain and didn't address all issues such as allowing people to have several accounts - defeating the object of maximum tickets, they state all over Facebook they have a duty of care and will reach out to people spending large amounts, they did not reach out to me. They stated they have a 24 hour cooling off period for spend limits, my spend limit was lifted within minutes to hours on several occasions - is this legal? They made me send my complaint in three times too, trying to make it difficult for me to get respondes.

This competition site in question has all instant win games and advised that ALL competitions have a main live draw on facebook meaning an extra chance to win in each competition - this is not true and alot of others, as well as myself bought ALOT more tickets based on these extra chances that did not exist. Is this legal?

They do not promote their free postal entry route in any of their adverts and posts on facebook. You can see the free postal route on the website but the price and paid route is highlighted and in large font stating the price and the free postal route is there but not highlighted and small font. They state on their website thay any entries received after the Closing Date will not be included in the draws - like I say, at least 5 draws per day are impossible to enter this way.

Trading Standards are also investigating but again I do not get to know the outcome.

This company has got so many people hooked, constantly bombarding their group and page to buy tickets, to spend their last money, on trust pilot they mock negative reviews about someone who won £1, one review even stated their daughter ended up in hospital because of them, they mock anyone who complains about them. I did not realise that the 5 star reviews were paid for! They were offering £1 site credit to each person who left a review. Clearly if it was a negative review, they wouldn't get said money. I relied on the trust pilot reviews and also spent believing players money was going to other charities which there is no proof of. I feel so stupid for believing in them and how they seemed to help people. I shared them everywhere as they were offering lots of free money to people and I feel really guilty for believing they would draw these and people who are struggling would gain money. They did honour some freebies which is why I thought they were amazing helping people but alot were never drawn and a few paid main live draws were also forgotten or not drawn so people have spent to not even get a draw. I'm so frustrated. Alot of their responses to my complaints completely contradicted their Ts and Cs and when questioned they did not respond. I'm exasperated and determined to get some kind of justice for myself and many others - this company is 100% aware of the vulnerable players and one person had five accounts so five more chances than others and had a serious problem stating they spend £5k in one week. Another £1k in one morning. How can they not reach out like they constantly say? They are now a multi million pound company and I genuinely believe based on the information above alone that this money was earned illegally. Am I wrong? The people with extra accounts are still playing although I'm not sure how many accounts they have now. 

They never ask for ID or proof of age prior to spending so technically my 14 year old could play!

Their website states all competitions have a start and end time but they only have and end time. I asked admin when certain draws started and they didn't know as it was really hard to decipher which draws we were all in so had to search our emails but alot of draws are/were repetitive so impossible to find this out. They moved to a new site and I asked to close my account. They got back to me pretty quickly asking if I had live tickets in future draws, I advised that I did not know as upcoming draws had sold out and main live draws had been done so showing as outstanding but noway of working out what had been drawn early. They advised me to keep my account open for future draws due to be done but when I asked them to clarify which draws they didn't come back to me. It's important to note that they only closed/blocked my account (with live future tickets) when I had mentioned the GC. I feel prior to this they didn't clarify my draws so I would keep my account open.

Facebook actually banned their page and the owners page and they had to start again from scratch offering 20 people £20 for leaving reviews on their new page, trustpilot and Google. 

They lied about starting the company from their overdraft, making people think thwy came from nothing, the owner actually got scammed herself which is in a few newspaper article yet she tells all her players she could never gamble. It's just constant lies with them and I'm sure it's to get people to feel sorry for them and join in. There's so much more that's wrong but the above sums up the majority of it. 

They state they comply with the gambling act 2005 but I believe alot of the above goes against this?

How can I get them to be held accountable? I'm at my wits end and how they are working is so wrong, manipulative and very underhand. People have spent alot more than me in just one week after being encouraged constantly to buy more tickets. The tickets are cheap, the odds are ridiculously high and they make treble what the prizes are actually worth. I'm talking £36,000 profit on some games, £100,000 on others, £10,000 on others. It's sickening and I'm worried for the most vulnerable like myself. What can I do?

Danglydino

Long post alert, please kindly bare with me. I am looking for some help and the competition site in question has sent me round in circles! So this competition site is very popular on facebook and has a website. They aren't licenced as they have a free postal entry route and have pristine trust pilot reviews - more on that later.

So they have flash comps, night owl comps, and other competitions that are only up for 12 hours so impossible to enter using the free postal route some 24 hours long, some only 48 hours and some for weeks. I have had several complaints regarding this company such as paying people for trust pilot reviews (I have evidence). I have reported them to the gambling commission for being an illegal lottery and misadvertising and also sent the proof of them paying for trust pilot reviews - trust pilot are looking into the paid reviews also.

The GC are investigating but don't let us know the outcome - so not sure how we know they are even investigating. I sent lots of evidence as these short draws are overnight and gone by the morning. 

This company comes across as lovely and charitable and I fell for it all and spent an awful lot of money with them. It is worth noting that I have several mental and physical disabilities - including ADHD and severe anxiety and depression. This company had said it would reach out to people who they believed to overspend so I was reassured that they monitor everyone's daily spend and would never let me overspend. I asked them my spend and it was quite a small amount so I spent more - it turned out, after my partner checking, I had actually spent thousands over 3 different bank accounts and it was almost 15 times what they advise my "all time" spend was but based on their incorrect advised spend I spent more. I have complained to them and was not happy with their response so escalated it, first they refused to escalate it as I had advised I got advise from the GC. They eventually did and copied and pasted their first response. When I asked for their ADR provider that is stated they have on their website, they provided me with one who confirmed that this competition site are NOT registered with them so they are unable to assist with my individual case. I went back to the competition site and they said legally they don't have to be registered (why did you send me there and why does your website state you will refer if not legally required too). I contacted several other ADR providers and all said they cannot look into individual cases unless the competition site is registered. Argh. They made it as complicated as possible for me to complain and didn't address all issues such as allowing people to have several accounts - defeating the object of maximum tickets, they state all over Facebook they have a duty of care and will reach out to people spending large amounts, they did not reach out to me. They stated they have a 24 hour cooling off period for spend limits, my spend limit was lifted within minutes to hours on several occasions - is this legal? They made me send my complaint in three times too, trying to make it difficult for me to get respondes.

This competition site in question has all instant win games and advised that ALL competitions have a main live draw on facebook meaning an extra chance to win in each competition - this is not true and alot of others, as well as myself bought ALOT more tickets based on these extra chances that did not exist. Is this legal?

They do not promote their free postal entry route in any of their adverts and posts on facebook. You can see the free postal route on the website but the price and paid route is highlighted and in large font stating the price and the free postal route is there but not highlighted and small font. They state on their website thay any entries received after the Closing Date will not be included in the draws - like I say, at least 5 draws per day are impossible to enter this way.

Trading Standards are also investigating but again I do not get to know the outcome.

This company has got so many people hooked, constantly bombarding their group and page to buy tickets, to spend their last money, on trust pilot they mock negative reviews about someone who won £1, one review even stated their daughter ended up in hospital because of them, they mock anyone who complains about them. I did not realise that the 5 star reviews were paid for! They were offering £1 site credit to each person who left a review. Clearly if it was a negative review, they wouldn't get said money. I relied on the trust pilot reviews and also spent believing players money was going to other charities which there is no proof of. I feel so stupid for believing in them and how they seemed to help people. I shared them everywhere as they were offering lots of free money to people and I feel really guilty for believing they would draw these and people who are struggling would gain money. They did honour some freebies which is why I thought they were amazing helping people but alot were never drawn and a few paid main live draws were also forgotten or not drawn so people have spent to not even get a draw. I'm so frustrated. Alot of their responses to my complaints completely contradicted their Ts and Cs and when questioned they did not respond. I'm exasperated and determined to get some kind of justice for myself and many others - this company is 100% aware of the vulnerable players and one person had five accounts so five more chances than others and had a serious problem stating they spend £5k in one week. Another £1k in one morning. How can they not reach out like they constantly say? They are now a multi million pound company and I genuinely believe based on the information above alone that this money was earned illegally. Am I wrong? The people with extra accounts are still playing although I'm not sure how many accounts they have now. 

They never ask for ID or proof of age prior to spending so technically my 14 year old could play!

Their website states all competitions have a start and end time but they only have and end time. I asked admin when certain draws started and they didn't know as it was really hard to decipher which draws we were all in so had to search our emails but alot of draws are/were repetitive so impossible to find this out. They moved to a new site and I asked to close my account. They got back to me pretty quickly asking if I had live tickets in future draws, I advised that I did not know as upcoming draws had sold out and main live draws had been done so showing as outstanding but noway of working out what had been drawn early. They advised me to keep my account open for future draws due to be done but when I asked them to clarify which draws they didn't come back to me. It's important to note that they only closed/blocked my account (with live future tickets) when I had mentioned the GC. I feel prior to this they didn't clarify my draws so I would keep my account open.

Facebook actually banned their page and the owners page and they had to start again from scratch offering 20 people £20 for leaving reviews on their new page, trustpilot and Google. 

They lied about starting the company from their overdraft, making people think thwy came from nothing, the owner actually got scammed herself which is in a few newspaper article yet she tells all her players she could never gamble. It's just constant lies with them and I'm sure it's to get people to feel sorry for them and join in. There's so much more that's wrong but the above sums up the majority of it. 
They state they comply with the gambling act 2005 but I believe alot of the above goes against this?

How can I get them to be held accountable? I'm at my wits end and how they are working is so wrong, manipulative and very underhand. People have spent alot more than me in just one week after being encouraged constantly to buy more tickets. The tickets are cheap, the odds are ridiculously high and they make treble what the prizes are actually worth. I'm talking £36,000 profit on some games, £100,000 on others, £10,000 on others. It's sickening and I'm worried for the most vulnerable like myself. What can I do?

CloWithTheFlow23

So sorry to hear that you've been stung like this.

I'm not familiar enough with the relevant laws and regulations around sites like that to advise but it does sound like they're operating very unethically if not illegally.

Perhaps a mainstream media consumer champion show like Radio 4's 'You & Yours' might be interested in taking this on?

I assume you've deleted, and unsubscribed from, all their platforms, pages, accounts and lists?

Avoid entering anything that comes from anywhere with paid entry routes and give yourself a break from all the hard-sell, advertising and spam. There's so many completely free comps and prize draws that, even if you only did those, you'd be kept very busy. 

Danglydino

CloWithTheFlow23 said:

So sorry to hear that you've been stung like this.

I'm not familiar enough with the relevant laws and regulations around sites like that to advise but it does sound like they're operating very unethically if not illegally.

Perhaps a mainstream media consumer champion show like Radio 4's 'You & Yours' might be interested in taking this on?

I assume you've deleted, and unsubscribed from, all their platforms, pages, accounts and lists?

Avoid entering anything that comes from anywhere with paid entry routes and give yourself a break from all the hard-sell, advertising and spam. There's so many completely free comps and prize draws that, even if you only did those, you'd be kept very busy. 

Thank you so much for commenting. I have 100% blocked and removed all signs of them. They also notified me that they had blocked me since reporting to GC but I had already done it when I requested my account go be closed (which they also didn't do until GC was mentioned).

Are the free comps you refer to genuine? I think I tried them in the past and just kept getting lots of spam emails and calls.

Thanks again for commenting 🙂 

KJ1986

I'm also not too familiar with the laws and regulations around this to advise but I agree that these sites should have spend limits similar to those imposed on bookmakers and casino sites etc.

Just to add to what @CloWithTheFlow23 said, if you struggled to control what you were spending on the site, especially when you mention how poor the odds were, it may be worth checking out https://www.gamcare.org.uk/ if you feel you could possibly have a problem with gambling. Apparently they're a great source of advice and support to assist you.

Danglydino

KJ1986 said:

I'm also not too familiar with the laws and regulations around this to advise but I agree that these sites should have spend limits similar to those imposed on bookmakers and casino sites etc.

Just to add to what @CloWithTheFlow23 said, if you struggled to control what you were spending on the site, especially when you mention how poor the odds were, it may be worth checking out. if you feel you could possibly have a problem with gambling. Apparently they're a great source of advice and support to assist you.

Thank you for commenting. I did have spend limits in place with 24 hour cooling off periods so they shouldn't be lifted until after 24 hours but unfortunately mine was on a few occasions within minutes to five hours. I don't feel as though I have a gambling problem as such, I think they just hounded and bombarded and convinced everyone they could win and to be fair the games were fun and the members of the group were so lovely but i just started seeing cracks that others pointed out and i ignored because the owner is very convincing and manipulative,  she came across so lovely and still does to most people but that's manipulation of their character but i have hundreds of pieces of evidence proving everything i complained of, but i do believe they think they are now untouchable and I did win a few times but nowhere near as much as I have lost. It's the trust pilot reviews for me and the lies. Paying people £1 "site credit" to leave reviews I mean, why? If you're genuine enough you'll get your genuine reviews. Then offering 10 people £20 when they reached 300 reviews for Google reviews, and also the same for their new Facebook page as Facebook removed the first which screams "caution" to me but no i still thought the sun shone from their backsides. They constantly offer people large sums of cash £100-£300 to who ever invites the most people to their group even stating "even if you don't like them" whether the highest inviters got that money i don't know but it's constant and greedy and wrong. I had a few members reaching out to me for help too because of how they left them. One person won a certain amount and withdrew it and they only sent 20% of what they withdrew leaving them without money all weekend. It's just disgusting. 

Misslayed

I'm sorry you've been caught out by these scammers. Almost all the competitions posted on this site are completely free, and genuine, the few that get through are soon spotted and booted off! 

Danglydino

Misslayed said:

I'm sorry you've been caught out by these scammers. Almost all the competitions posted on this site are completely free, and genuine, the few that get through are soon spotted and booted off! 

Thank you Misslayed. I think I have entered free competitions before but I was constantly emailed and getting phone calls as though my information had been passed on. Is this what happens with the ones you are referring too? Having to enter details such as email, phone, address etc?

Thank you for your help 😀 

Danglydino

Does anyone know if there is a more appropriate thread for this long post please?

powerful_Rogue

Danglydino said:

Long post alert, please kindly bare with me. I am looking for some help and the competition site in question has sent me round in circles! So this competition site is very popular on facebook and has a website. They aren't licenced as they have a free postal entry route and have pristine trust pilot reviews - more on that later.

So they have flash comps, night owl comps, and other competitions that are only up for 12 hours so impossible to enter using the free postal route some 24 hours long, some only 48 hours and some for weeks. I have had several complaints regarding this company such as paying people for trust pilot reviews (I have evidence). I have reported them to the gambling commission for being an illegal lottery and misadvertising and also sent the proof of them paying for trust pilot reviews - trust pilot are looking into the paid reviews also.

The GC are investigating but don't let us know the outcome - so not sure how we know they are even investigating. I sent lots of evidence as these short draws are overnight and gone by the morning. 

This company comes across as lovely and charitable and I fell for it all and spent an awful lot of money with them. It is worth noting that I have several mental and physical disabilities - including ADHD and severe anxiety and depression. This company had said it would reach out to people who they believed to overspend so I was reassured that they monitor everyone's daily spend and would never let me overspend. I asked them my spend and it was quite a small amount so I spent more - it turned out, after my partner checking, I had actually spent thousands over 3 different bank accounts and it was almost 15 times what they advise my "all time" spend was but based on their incorrect advised spend I spent more. I have complained to them and was not happy with their response so escalated it, first they refused to escalate it as I had advised I got advise from the GC. They eventually did and copied and pasted their first response. When I asked for their ADR provider that is stated they have on their website, they provided me with one who confirmed that this competition site are NOT registered with them so they are unable to assist with my individual case. I went back to the competition site and they said legally they don't have to be registered (why did you send me there and why does your website state you will refer if not legally required too). I contacted several other ADR providers and all said they cannot look into individual cases unless the competition site is registered. Argh. They made it as complicated as possible for me to complain and didn't address all issues such as allowing people to have several accounts - defeating the object of maximum tickets, they state all over Facebook they have a duty of care and will reach out to people spending large amounts, they did not reach out to me. They stated they have a 24 hour cooling off period for spend limits, my spend limit was lifted within minutes to hours on several occasions - is this legal? They made me send my complaint in three times too, trying to make it difficult for me to get respondes.

This competition site in question has all instant win games and advised that ALL competitions have a main live draw on facebook meaning an extra chance to win in each competition - this is not true and alot of others, as well as myself bought ALOT more tickets based on these extra chances that did not exist. Is this legal?

They do not promote their free postal entry route in any of their adverts and posts on facebook. You can see the free postal route on the website but the price and paid route is highlighted and in large font stating the price and the free postal route is there but not highlighted and small font. They state on their website thay any entries received after the Closing Date will not be included in the draws - like I say, at least 5 draws per day are impossible to enter this way.

Trading Standards are also investigating but again I do not get to know the outcome.

This company has got so many people hooked, constantly bombarding their group and page to buy tickets, to spend their last money, on trust pilot they mock negative reviews about someone who won £1, one review even stated their daughter ended up in hospital because of them, they mock anyone who complains about them. I did not realise that the 5 star reviews were paid for! They were offering £1 site credit to each person who left a review. Clearly if it was a negative review, they wouldn't get said money. I relied on the trust pilot reviews and also spent believing players money was going to other charities which there is no proof of. I feel so stupid for believing in them and how they seemed to help people. I shared them everywhere as they were offering lots of free money to people and I feel really guilty for believing they would draw these and people who are struggling would gain money. They did honour some freebies which is why I thought they were amazing helping people but alot were never drawn and a few paid main live draws were also forgotten or not drawn so people have spent to not even get a draw. I'm so frustrated. Alot of their responses to my complaints completely contradicted their Ts and Cs and when questioned they did not respond. I'm exasperated and determined to get some kind of justice for myself and many others - this company is 100% aware of the vulnerable players and one person had five accounts so five more chances than others and had a serious problem stating they spend £5k in one week. Another £1k in one morning. How can they not reach out like they constantly say? They are now a multi million pound company and I genuinely believe based on the information above alone that this money was earned illegally. Am I wrong? The people with extra accounts are still playing although I'm not sure how many accounts they have now. 

They never ask for ID or proof of age prior to spending so technically my 14 year old could play!

Their website states all competitions have a start and end time but they only have and end time. I asked admin when certain draws started and they didn't know as it was really hard to decipher which draws we were all in so had to search our emails but alot of draws are/were repetitive so impossible to find this out. They moved to a new site and I asked to close my account. They got back to me pretty quickly asking if I had live tickets in future draws, I advised that I did not know as upcoming draws had sold out and main live draws had been done so showing as outstanding but noway of working out what had been drawn early. They advised me to keep my account open for future draws due to be done but when I asked them to clarify which draws they didn't come back to me. It's important to note that they only closed/blocked my account (with live future tickets) when I had mentioned the GC. I feel prior to this they didn't clarify my draws so I would keep my account open.

Facebook actually banned their page and the owners page and they had to start again from scratch offering 20 people £20 for leaving reviews on their new page, trustpilot and Google. 

They lied about starting the company from their overdraft, making people think thwy came from nothing, the owner actually got scammed herself which is in a few newspaper article yet she tells all her players she could never gamble. It's just constant lies with them and I'm sure it's to get people to feel sorry for them and join in. There's so much more that's wrong but the above sums up the majority of it. 

They state they comply with the gambling act 2005 but I believe alot of the above goes against this?

How can I get them to be held accountable? I'm at my wits end and how they are working is so wrong, manipulative and very underhand. People have spent alot more than me in just one week after being encouraged constantly to buy more tickets. The tickets are cheap, the odds are ridiculously high and they make treble what the prizes are actually worth. I'm talking £36,000 profit on some games, £100,000 on others, £10,000 on others. It's sickening and I'm worried for the most vulnerable like myself. What can I do?

You said trading standards are investigating, so leave it to them.

Danglydino

powerful_Rogue said:

Danglydino said:

Long post alert, please kindly bare with me. I am looking for some help and the competition site in question has sent me round in circles! So this competition site is very popular on facebook and has a website. They aren't licenced as they have a free postal entry route and have pristine trust pilot reviews - more on that later.

So they have flash comps, night owl comps, and other competitions that are only up for 12 hours so impossible to enter using the free postal route some 24 hours long, some only 48 hours and some for weeks. I have had several complaints regarding this company such as paying people for trust pilot reviews (I have evidence). I have reported them to the gambling commission for being an illegal lottery and misadvertising and also sent the proof of them paying for trust pilot reviews - trust pilot are looking into the paid reviews also.

The GC are investigating but don't let us know the outcome - so not sure how we know they are even investigating. I sent lots of evidence as these short draws are overnight and gone by the morning. 

This company comes across as lovely and charitable and I fell for it all and spent an awful lot of money with them. It is worth noting that I have several mental and physical disabilities - including ADHD and severe anxiety and depression. This company had said it would reach out to people who they believed to overspend so I was reassured that they monitor everyone's daily spend and would never let me overspend. I asked them my spend and it was quite a small amount so I spent more - it turned out, after my partner checking, I had actually spent thousands over 3 different bank accounts and it was almost 15 times what they advise my "all time" spend was but based on their incorrect advised spend I spent more. I have complained to them and was not happy with their response so escalated it, first they refused to escalate it as I had advised I got advise from the GC. They eventually did and copied and pasted their first response. When I asked for their ADR provider that is stated they have on their website, they provided me with one who confirmed that this competition site are NOT registered with them so they are unable to assist with my individual case. I went back to the competition site and they said legally they don't have to be registered (why did you send me there and why does your website state you will refer if not legally required too). I contacted several other ADR providers and all said they cannot look into individual cases unless the competition site is registered. Argh. They made it as complicated as possible for me to complain and didn't address all issues such as allowing people to have several accounts - defeating the object of maximum tickets, they state all over Facebook they have a duty of care and will reach out to people spending large amounts, they did not reach out to me. They stated they have a 24 hour cooling off period for spend limits, my spend limit was lifted within minutes to hours on several occasions - is this legal? They made me send my complaint in three times too, trying to make it difficult for me to get respondes.

This competition site in question has all instant win games and advised that ALL competitions have a main live draw on facebook meaning an extra chance to win in each competition - this is not true and alot of others, as well as myself bought ALOT more tickets based on these extra chances that did not exist. Is this legal?

They do not promote their free postal entry route in any of their adverts and posts on facebook. You can see the free postal route on the website but the price and paid route is highlighted and in large font stating the price and the free postal route is there but not highlighted and small font. They state on their website thay any entries received after the Closing Date will not be included in the draws - like I say, at least 5 draws per day are impossible to enter this way.

Trading Standards are also investigating but again I do not get to know the outcome.

This company has got so many people hooked, constantly bombarding their group and page to buy tickets, to spend their last money, on trust pilot they mock negative reviews about someone who won £1, one review even stated their daughter ended up in hospital because of them, they mock anyone who complains about them. I did not realise that the 5 star reviews were paid for! They were offering £1 site credit to each person who left a review. Clearly if it was a negative review, they wouldn't get said money. I relied on the trust pilot reviews and also spent believing players money was going to other charities which there is no proof of. I feel so stupid for believing in them and how they seemed to help people. I shared them everywhere as they were offering lots of free money to people and I feel really guilty for believing they would draw these and people who are struggling would gain money. They did honour some freebies which is why I thought they were amazing helping people but alot were never drawn and a few paid main live draws were also forgotten or not drawn so people have spent to not even get a draw. I'm so frustrated. Alot of their responses to my complaints completely contradicted their Ts and Cs and when questioned they did not respond. I'm exasperated and determined to get some kind of justice for myself and many others - this company is 100% aware of the vulnerable players and one person had five accounts so five more chances than others and had a serious problem stating they spend £5k in one week. Another £1k in one morning. How can they not reach out like they constantly say? They are now a multi million pound company and I genuinely believe based on the information above alone that this money was earned illegally. Am I wrong? The people with extra accounts are still playing although I'm not sure how many accounts they have now. 

They never ask for ID or proof of age prior to spending so technically my 14 year old could play!

Their website states all competitions have a start and end time but they only have and end time. I asked admin when certain draws started and they didn't know as it was really hard to decipher which draws we were all in so had to search our emails but alot of draws are/were repetitive so impossible to find this out. They moved to a new site and I asked to close my account. They got back to me pretty quickly asking if I had live tickets in future draws, I advised that I did not know as upcoming draws had sold out and main live draws had been done so showing as outstanding but noway of working out what had been drawn early. They advised me to keep my account open for future draws due to be done but when I asked them to clarify which draws they didn't come back to me. It's important to note that they only closed/blocked my account (with live future tickets) when I had mentioned the GC. I feel prior to this they didn't clarify my draws so I would keep my account open.

Facebook actually banned their page and the owners page and they had to start again from scratch offering 20 people £20 for leaving reviews on their new page, trustpilot and Google. 

They lied about starting the company from their overdraft, making people think thwy came from nothing, the owner actually got scammed herself which is in a few newspaper article yet she tells all her players she could never gamble. It's just constant lies with them and I'm sure it's to get people to feel sorry for them and join in. There's so much more that's wrong but the above sums up the majority of it. 

They state they comply with the gambling act 2005 but I believe alot of the above goes against this?

How can I get them to be held accountable? I'm at my wits end and how they are working is so wrong, manipulative and very underhand. People have spent alot more than me in just one week after being encouraged constantly to buy more tickets. The tickets are cheap, the odds are ridiculously high and they make treble what the prizes are actually worth. I'm talking £36,000 profit on some games, £100,000 on others, £10,000 on others. It's sickening and I'm worried for the most vulnerable like myself. What can I do?

You said trading standards are investigating, so leave it to them.

powerful_Rogue said:

Danglydino said:

Long post alert, please kindly bare with me. I am looking for some help and the competition site in question has sent me round in circles! So this competition site is very popular on facebook and has a website. They aren't licenced as they have a free postal entry route and have pristine trust pilot reviews - more on that later.

So they have flash comps, night owl comps, and other competitions that are only up for 12 hours so impossible to enter using the free postal route some 24 hours long, some only 48 hours and some for weeks. I have had several complaints regarding this company such as paying people for trust pilot reviews (I have evidence). I have reported them to the gambling commission for being an illegal lottery and misadvertising and also sent the proof of them paying for trust pilot reviews - trust pilot are looking into the paid reviews also.

The GC are investigating but don't let us know the outcome - so not sure how we know they are even investigating. I sent lots of evidence as these short draws are overnight and gone by the morning. 

This company comes across as lovely and charitable and I fell for it all and spent an awful lot of money with them. It is worth noting that I have several mental and physical disabilities - including ADHD and severe anxiety and depression. This company had said it would reach out to people who they believed to overspend so I was reassured that they monitor everyone's daily spend and would never let me overspend. I asked them my spend and it was quite a small amount so I spent more - it turned out, after my partner checking, I had actually spent thousands over 3 different bank accounts and it was almost 15 times what they advise my "all time" spend was but based on their incorrect advised spend I spent more. I have complained to them and was not happy with their response so escalated it, first they refused to escalate it as I had advised I got advise from the GC. They eventually did and copied and pasted their first response. When I asked for their ADR provider that is stated they have on their website, they provided me with one who confirmed that this competition site are NOT registered with them so they are unable to assist with my individual case. I went back to the competition site and they said legally they don't have to be registered (why did you send me there and why does your website state you will refer if not legally required too). I contacted several other ADR providers and all said they cannot look into individual cases unless the competition site is registered. Argh. They made it as complicated as possible for me to complain and didn't address all issues such as allowing people to have several accounts - defeating the object of maximum tickets, they state all over Facebook they have a duty of care and will reach out to people spending large amounts, they did not reach out to me. They stated they have a 24 hour cooling off period for spend limits, my spend limit was lifted within minutes to hours on several occasions - is this legal? They made me send my complaint in three times too, trying to make it difficult for me to get respondes.

This competition site in question has all instant win games and advised that ALL competitions have a main live draw on facebook meaning an extra chance to win in each competition - this is not true and alot of others, as well as myself bought ALOT more tickets based on these extra chances that did not exist. Is this legal?

They do not promote their free postal entry route in any of their adverts and posts on facebook. You can see the free postal route on the website but the price and paid route is highlighted and in large font stating the price and the free postal route is there but not highlighted and small font. They state on their website thay any entries received after the Closing Date will not be included in the draws - like I say, at least 5 draws per day are impossible to enter this way.

Trading Standards are also investigating but again I do not get to know the outcome.

This company has got so many people hooked, constantly bombarding their group and page to buy tickets, to spend their last money, on trust pilot they mock negative reviews about someone who won £1, one review even stated their daughter ended up in hospital because of them, they mock anyone who complains about them. I did not realise that the 5 star reviews were paid for! They were offering £1 site credit to each person who left a review. Clearly if it was a negative review, they wouldn't get said money. I relied on the trust pilot reviews and also spent believing players money was going to other charities which there is no proof of. I feel so stupid for believing in them and how they seemed to help people. I shared them everywhere as they were offering lots of free money to people and I feel really guilty for believing they would draw these and people who are struggling would gain money. They did honour some freebies which is why I thought they were amazing helping people but alot were never drawn and a few paid main live draws were also forgotten or not drawn so people have spent to not even get a draw. I'm so frustrated. Alot of their responses to my complaints completely contradicted their Ts and Cs and when questioned they did not respond. I'm exasperated and determined to get some kind of justice for myself and many others - this company is 100% aware of the vulnerable players and one person had five accounts so five more chances than others and had a serious problem stating they spend £5k in one week. Another £1k in one morning. How can they not reach out like they constantly say? They are now a multi million pound company and I genuinely believe based on the information above alone that this money was earned illegally. Am I wrong? The people with extra accounts are still playing although I'm not sure how many accounts they have now. 

They never ask for ID or proof of age prior to spending so technically my 14 year old could play!

Their website states all competitions have a start and end time but they only have and end time. I asked admin when certain draws started and they didn't know as it was really hard to decipher which draws we were all in so had to search our emails but alot of draws are/were repetitive so impossible to find this out. They moved to a new site and I asked to close my account. They got back to me pretty quickly asking if I had live tickets in future draws, I advised that I did not know as upcoming draws had sold out and main live draws had been done so showing as outstanding but noway of working out what had been drawn early. They advised me to keep my account open for future draws due to be done but when I asked them to clarify which draws they didn't come back to me. It's important to note that they only closed/blocked my account (with live future tickets) when I had mentioned the GC. I feel prior to this they didn't clarify my draws so I would keep my account open.

Facebook actually banned their page and the owners page and they had to start again from scratch offering 20 people £20 for leaving reviews on their new page, trustpilot and Google. 

They lied about starting the company from their overdraft, making people think thwy came from nothing, the owner actually got scammed herself which is in a few newspaper article yet she tells all her players she could never gamble. It's just constant lies with them and I'm sure it's to get people to feel sorry for them and join in. There's so much more that's wrong but the above sums up the majority of it. 

They state they comply with the gambling act 2005 but I believe alot of the above goes against this?

How can I get them to be held accountable? I'm at my wits end and how they are working is so wrong, manipulative and very underhand. People have spent alot more than me in just one week after being encouraged constantly to buy more tickets. The tickets are cheap, the odds are ridiculously high and they make treble what the prizes are actually worth. I'm talking £36,000 profit on some games, £100,000 on others, £10,000 on others. It's sickening and I'm worried for the most vulnerable like myself. What can I do?

You said trading standards are investigating, so leave it to them.

Thank you. This is true but I don't get to know the outcome and that's where I'm struggling with both GC and TS. None of them give the outcome. I'd like to know if I am correct and therefore have missold and misadvised leading me to spend more money. I hope that makes sense 🙂