The first advice we give to all customers of gambling businesses is to ensure that you have made every reasonable effort to try to resolve the situation with the company you’ve been dealing with.
We realise that sometimes having to deal with different individuals, departments or tiers within the same organisation can be frustrating and tiring, but the point of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) is that services such as IBAS exist to adjudicate when all else fails.
We have arrangements with a growing number of businesses that we will not look at a dispute until you, as the customer, have been advised in writing that you should contact us or you have been issued with a reference code or number to indicate that the company agrees it can do no more to resolve the dispute. Some operators will refuse to deal with IBAS on a dispute until they consider that their efforts to resolve the dispute have been exhausted.
The IBAS service is free of charge to consumers.
You can submit a Claim Form to IBAS online or by post. We will be happy to post you a Claim Form. Visit the CONTACT US page to find the email address or telephone number you will need to request a postal form.
The fastest way to register a complaint is to do it online. In order to complete a Claim Form online to begin the dispute process, you will first need to register an account with IBAS. Please note that the contact details you supply to us will be used only by us to communicate with you. Unless we are legally required to share these details, e.g. by the police or the Gambling Commission, they will never be sold, shared or otherwise passed on to any third party.
Your account will be based on your email address and a password of your choice. We will then send you an email which explains what you need to do to verify your account. Again, we only ask you to do this to ensure that we have a correct email address so that any future communication about the progress and outcome of your claim reaches you safely.
Once you have registered with IBAS and verified your email address, you should select 'MAKE A CLAIM' from the 'CONSUMERS' menu above. Enter your registered email address and password and you will see the Claim Form.
The IBAS Case Management team and Adjudication Panel are also experienced and knowledgeable on gambling issues, so you do not need to go into great detail about how particular bets or games ought to work.
When you complete an online or written adjudication form, we ask you to explain:
The online adjudication form will allow you to attach any evidence such as photographs or screenshots.
Please remember to provide details such as your account number or account username or receipt/ticket number, if applicable.
Please do not produce reams of correspondence between you and the operator. If your case relies on something that has been written in an e-mail or live chat, please just enclose a copy of that one e-mail or live chat. If we need to request further examples of correspondence we can do so at a later stage.
In many cases, the dispute process is slowed down because the customer has not realised that a follow up letter or e-mail has been sent requesting further information. Please do keep a look out for possible follow up communications.