Why Canadians should avoid Leovegas and their sister sites

[laukness]

Hello,

When a site changes their license agreements they should update all parties involved by email, and not just surprise you. I've been an active user on Leovegas dating back to 2017 and made multiple withdraws without any issues. My Canadian photo id card expired on April 1st, I was then requested by Leovegas to submit a valid photo card which I did on June 24th. After 7 days of waiting I got this response written below:

"Thank you for sending the requested documents. Unfortunately, I need to ask you kindly to upload some new pictures, as I was unable to approve your: Passport, as it is not uploaded and the document you uploaded is not showing your place of birth. The following information needs to be visible for us to be able to accept the ID: All 4 corners of the document and all information need to be visible."

After speaking with Leovegas support multiple times they said this is a new requirement for all Canadians and that they don't accept photo ID or driving license anymore due to a new gaming license requirement released in the past 4 days.

This is quite unfair for people who would never ever provide passports to anyone leave alone online betting sites, I have never provided my passport online and people who do so are under extreme risk of 1) identity theft 2) Passport sold by third parties 3) Data breaches. I usually triple check the sites and their rules before I sign up or play on these sites and confirm that the verification method can be done via my National identity card this is just for my own safety and since I don't really want to provide my passport online

According to the Canadian passport website: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration...ect-fraud.html

It mentions the following: ''Never give out personal information from your passport or your passport application unless you’re sure it is for a trusted organization or individual. This includes photocopies. You take all responsibility for giving information in your passport to a third party.''

I really don't see Leovegas as a trusted organization and this goes to every online betting sites, customers should be notified immediately when they do this massive new update in Leovegas license. Since I'm pretty sure they will lose customers like me who refuse to provide their passports online especially with an offshore licensed company.

I've already sent a complaint to SBR regarding this matter, and I also wanted to make Canadians aware of this pressing matter before signing up to leovegas.

So the question is, why is my National Identity document not acceptable anymore? Why is this betting site Leovegas requesting my passport to check my place of birth? This makes no sense me unless they are clearly trying by any means necessary to collect Canadian passports and for what? I'm sure this is for illegal purposes and I do hope that some correct party out there finally decides to take action against this. They are lucky they operate offshore.

I will be speaking to the Commissioner of Privacy in my province and I do hope they take action regarding sites like these that ask for passports since its clearly not a trusted organization.

Thanks for reading

[laukness]

After speaking to Leovegas support, they are now required to ask for a document that says the place of birth.

As of yet I can't find a single document other than a passport that has the following requirement, however what is the case for Canadians that don't travel/ don't use a passport/ use a nexus card for travelling which doesn't have a place of birth on the card unfortunately.

Any thoughts would be appreciated, as I don't want to give my passport to an online betting site

[Optional]

Birth certificate maybe?

Sounds like a very weird requirement though. Your place of birth.

Who do they claim requires them to do this?

[laukness]

Thanks for the response Optional.

Their MGA gambling license is the one that they claimed is responsible for this requirement, I don't have a Canadian birth certificate since I became a Canadian citizen in 2015.

The only document that is in my possession with a place of birth on it is the passport. However I don't feel comfortable enough sharing this document with an offshore licensed company its just too much of a risk in my opinion.

They are refusing to verify my account and are declining all withdrawals made, even though I provided a recent national identity document.

Its just a very infuriating situation as they aren't accepting any form of government documentation at all unless its a passport which I find to be extremely shady. Who do they think they are to ask me for my place of birth are they government officials? Since I'm not trying to travel through the site right? its quite hilarious

[Optional]

Thanks for the response Optional.

Their MGA gambling license is the one that they claimed is responsible for this requirement, I don't have a Canadian birth certificate since I became a Canadian citizen in 2015.

The only document that is in my possession with a place of birth on it is the passport. However I don't feel comfortable enough sharing this document with an offshore licensed company its just too much of a risk in my opinion.

They are refusing to verify my account and are declining all withdrawals made, even though I provided a recent national identity document.

Its just a very infuriating situation as they aren't accepting any form of government documentation at all unless its a passport which I find to be extremely shady. Who do they think they are to ask me for my place of birth are they government officials? Since I'm not trying to travel through the site right? its quite hilarious

I do not believe that.

Never heard of a book needing place of birth before and MGA give out licenses to anyone like cheap candy.


You can either email MGA yourself and ask about this, complaints.mga@mga.org.mt , or PM a copy of the message where they tell you this and I'll ask the MGA. Or both.

[laukness]

I do not believe that.

Never heard of a book needing place of birth before and MGA give out licenses to anyone like cheap candy.


You can either email MGA yourself and ask about this, complaints.mga@mga.org.mt , or PM a copy of the message where they tell you this and I'll ask the MGA. Or both.

Exactly this is why I found this to be very suspicious and I was sure somethings up since no site just asks for passports only to verify my place of birth, this is complete nonsense from their part.

I would prefer if we do both, I will go ahead and email complaints.mga@mga.org.mt, and I will also pm you the message that I received from Leovegas requesting the place of birth document so you can contact the MGA also.

[laukness]

I submitted a complaint regarding this matter to SBR a few days ago, how long does it usually take to get a response?

[laukness]

Spoke to Leovegas again today after they updated their terms and conditions asking for a passport and other forms of documentation. However they're still insisting that I provide a passport only even though in their terms it doesn't state only passport.

This is quite frustrating not being able to withdraw any funds from winnings due to something as pathetic as this.

[laukness]

Complete waste of time, avoid this site at all costs.

They locked my account now and are demanding I provide a birth certificate with my place of birth just so that I can play on their site.

I find this very funny as my place of birth is somehow necessary for gambling? I don't see how it correlates after providing a driving license and national ID they still refuse to verify my account or open it.

I have spoken to Pardee Consulta Ltd. agency 3 months ago, in order to investigate this case with Leovegas but its not surprising that they would take sides with the gambling operator.

Just never use this site at all unless you want to provide a birth certificate to improve your gambling skills on their site lmao

[lonnie55]

Did I get you right, they would now accept a birth certificate in place of the passport?

Did you consider to provide them with that document? I don't know how this is being handled in Canada but in my country (Germany) you can order your birth certificate online (and Germany is a third world country when it comes to eGovernment and online public services). The whole process takes a minute or two. It's not that big a deal.

Or are you "just" not wiling to send them this document because you are concerned about your data privacy? What I can tell you is that over the years I have sent more documents than I even knew exist about my person to much more shady books than Leovegas, I can guarantee you that. I have sent ID-related documents, personal data, bank data, ewallet data etc to more than 300 books, many of them turned out to be scammers. I am not aware that anything suspicious happened with my data though. The "only thing" that happened to me was a CC abuse of which I'm sure a sportsbook was responsible as I didn't use the CC at any other place. Also, the book required me to enter the CVC code in the withdrawal form.

Leovegas is a brand of a Swedish Company which is traded on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. They claim to have more than 900 employees. They run a big advertising campaign in German television. Of all books I ever used I would put them in the top 10% in terms of liability and integrity. I understand that it might look suspicious to you when they are so relentlessly insisting on a certain type of document but I really think the only reason for that is that they stick to a guideline of their licensor. If they give you the chance to send in the birth certificate instead of your passport I would take the chance, finish the KYC, withdraw your money and just move on. I think this is the only chance to withdraw your funds.