An account you stopped using can still be losing money, without a single bet being placed.
Do the arithmetic
You leave $40 in an account and stop playing. After twelve months of inactivity, the operator begins charging a dormancy fee of $5 per month.
| Month | Balance |
|---|---|
| 12 | $40 |
| 16 | $20 |
| 20 | $0 |
Eight months, and the balance is gone. No notification is required by most terms beyond the original clause. You will find out, if you find out at all, when you log in years later to find nothing there.
Where it crosses the line
A modest administrative charge on a genuinely abandoned account is arguable. These are not:
- No notice. A single email before the first deduction costs nothing and is omitted deliberately.
- A fee that exceeds any plausible administrative cost, applied monthly.
- A fee charged against an account that is inactive because the player self-excluded. Charging a person for the act of protecting themselves is indefensible. Where we find it, we catalogue it as a predatory clause and it costs the operator the maximum single-clause penalty on its TrustAudit Index.
- A fee applied while a withdrawal is disputed.
What to do
- 01Withdraw your balance when you stop playing. Not later. Now.
- 02If it is below the minimum withdrawal, contact support and ask them to process it as a closure payment. Licensed operators generally will.
- 03Close the account formally, in writing, and keep the confirmation.