PokerStars keeps my funds frozen indefinitely; eCOGRA doesn't want to help - my next move?
Hi, I could post the full story here that would take at least 30 minutes to read but nobody cba to read that so long story short:
May 2024:
PokerStars froze my account without providing the reason - after months of exchanging emails where they demanded me to provide countless documents (not to mention several situations where they wanted me to send them the exact same documents that I've already sent them as they're not sharp enough to keep good track of them) it turned out they froze it because they classified a $165 transfer from a friend as "suspicious". Both of us were playing professionally back in the day which makes this claim even more ridiculous. Note that the pop-up window in their software stated that these matters are usually handled automatically within minutes.
January 2025:
They finally reinstated my account after countless email exchanges. 7.5-month-long baseless ban ended. Yay! Note that their average response time to my e-mails was something like 3 weeks.
March 2025:
Two things happen:
1) My account gets frozen again without providing any reason (and they haven't to this day), except that it's undergoing a "routine security review".
2) PokerStars leaves Polish market where I'm based which makes me think they just want to steal my money as I'm unlikely to generate any more rake for them.
April-May 2025:
I contacted Malta Gaming Authority regarding my case, they told me to contact eCOGRA, after ~2 months or so eCOGRA replied to my e-mail saying that they can't do anything as "I haven't completed the operator's Internal Complaints Procedure" and instructed me to submit a complaint directly with the operator. After I replied to them that this way they can keep their internal procedure ongoing until I die, they basically told me to **** off, in a somewhat polite way.
Later in 2025 I received about two more ~identical, copy-pasted e-mails from PokerStars which said that there is an ongoing investigation and they still can't provide me the reason why my account was frozen in the first place.
Two reasons I can think of:
(more likely) 1) As I stated earlier, they just want to steal my funds relying on the loophole that allows them to extend the internal procedure - aka a made up "investigation" or whatever - indefinitely so eCOGRA and similar organizations can't intervene.
2) During the period of the first ban, I repeatedly insulted their staff pointing out their incompetence and they emphasized they really don't like it. Maybe it was some form of revenge, who knows.
From what I see here or on X I'm not the only one who got treated in such a bad way.
Anyway, what's my next move? eCOGRA doesn't care, MGA doesn't care. The amount frozen isn't big enogh to be worthy spending a lot of money on a legal case, but I might consider it just for the sake of it.
2 Replies
All sites hold power to end service and keep all the money, regardless of anything, we agree to these terms when we make poker account.
But yeah, they definitely have something on you. Maybe you grinded together with friend under same internet connection. Maybe you logged on someone's PC and IP address matched some poker account. Used screensharing software while being logged on PokerStars. Repeatedly opened HRC or other banned software's while PokerStars client is opened. That's enough to freeze and investigate your account.
For whatever reason they froze your account the crucial moment is your interaction with support. You admitted being hostile, therefore unprofessional, therefore problematic in supports eyes. Like problematic gambler, degenerate type problematic, maybe. You really don't wanna give reasons for support to think you're not in control of you gambling habits.
I def remember someone offering help on 2+2 or somewhere, regarding issues with support. They would help you write professional emails in professional manner. People would leave reviews of how that helped them get unbanned or fix some promotional issues etc., relatively fast.
But hey, you can still apologize and write the whole situation put you through incredible stress and it got the better of you. So you are sorry. Say you are a professional who wants to restore professional relationship with them. It would be mutually beneficial if you gained back access to your account and site. There will be no other nonsense from you questioning the operations and safety protocols that secure and keep the integrity of site safe. Something like that.
You've probably read this, but for general information:
2. Players must ensure that they have followed the operator’s internal complaints procedure and that all reasonable attempts have been made to negotiate a solution with the operator before submitting an ADR dispute form.
21. eCOGRA takes complaints seriously. Complaints about the ADR Service, not about the dispute outcome or decision, should be addressed via an email to Complaints ([email protected]). Upon receipt of a complaint, eCOGRA will investigate the matter and deal with the complaint fairly and promptly. The person responsible for submitting the complaint will be kept informed of the results of the investigation and the outcome determined.
https://ecogra.org/adr-policies-and-proc...
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19.2 If you have a complaint, please provide us with as much detail as possible. We will acknowledge your complaint within 24 hours from when we receive it, and we will provide you with a final letter as soon as possible and in any event within 8 weeks of the date we received your complaint. In the letter we will let you know our final decision, confirm that we have reached the end of our complaints process, and explain how to escalate your claim should you wish to do so. If you do not provide us with adequate information to help us process your complaint then we may not be able to keep to this timescale for handling it, and we may ‘stop the clock’ and wait until you provide us with adequate information.
19.3 If you feel your complaint hasn’t been satisfactorily resolved within 8 weeks of the date we received it (taking into account any periods when the clock was stopped), you may choose to contact our third-party dispute resolution provider, IBAS. For further details visit IBAS’s website
. There is no charge for using IBAS.
