Casino Game Malfunction UK: Whose Money Is It Now?

What the rules require when a casino game breaks

RTS 10 states that it is intended to provide customers playing interrupted games or bets with certainty of how those games or bets will be resolved and the treatment that customers can expect in the case of an interrupted game or bet. The clause, 10A, states that operators should take all reasonable steps to ensure that their policies pertaining to service interruptions are fair and “do not systematically disadvantage customers.”

Then, the Commission does something unusual. It defines fair.

Now, the operator must take all reasonable steps to ensure that their policies pertaining to service interruptions are fair and do not systematically disadvantage customers. The treatment of service interruptions must be fair to customers.

• Spin already resolved: the result stands. Where the interruption happens after the operator has received notification of your gamble, and you can have no further influence on the outcome, the result of the gamble should stand. Your win is your win even though you never saw it land.
• Spin not yet resolved: the stake comes back. Where an interruption to a single-participant single stage event happens before an outcome has been generated, the customer should have any deducted stake returned to their balance.
• Bonus round: it should be waiting for you. For stateful games, meaning games with multiple stages or decision points, all reasonable steps should be taken to restore the game to its last known state so the customer can complete it.
• Progressive jackpot: restored. Progressive jackpot values should be restored to their pre-failure state.

RTS 10B delves deeper into operators’ responsibility to remember the state a deck of cards and any dealt hands, tokens gathered, any predetermined information such as maps or prize arrangement, and the value of any progressive jackpots. Read that again, because “maps or prize arrangement” is a pick-and-win bonus round. The regulator expects the system to return you inside the machine.

As a disclaimer, how binding everything is. Requirements 10A, 10B and 10C are the enforceable part. The bullet points describing who gets what are “should” happen and therefore, implementation guidance. This is the area the ten casinos below differ.

Malfunction, interruption or error: three different words

Before even trying to compare any of them, you have to determine which of the three things occurred, because the terms treat them completely differently, and most arguments start with the wrong one.

• An interruption. Your connection drops, the site goes down, a session times out. bet365's definition is the clearest published: an interruption in a gambling transaction for any reason, for example the failure of the internet or connectivity, severe latency, or technical failure due to some disaster or unforeseen event. This is the one RTS 10 protects.
• A malfunction. The software produced a result it was not designed to produce. bet365 defines it as an automated process failing to operate as designed or intended, producing a result that was not the result intended, and adds that malfunctions "may or may not be apparent to us or to you" and may surface only when outcomes are analysed retrospectively. Winnings from a malfunction are voidable at almost every casino on this list.
• An error. A human or administrative mistake: wrong odds, wrong price, a market that should have been closed. Errors get resettled at a corrected price under most terms.

So the useful question after a game breaks is not “did something go wrong”. It is which of those three the operator will call it. A dropped connection during a spin is an interruption and you have a rule behind you. A slot paying a prize it was never programmed to pay is a malfunction, and there you are on the wrong side of the contract at every casino here.

What the ten casinos promise on game malfunction

Read the second column first. It is the difference between a rule you can quote at someone and a hope that they will be reasonable.

There are three publish nothing on interruptions at all, and three publish only what they may take away, which is worth stating carefully. This does not mean those casinos would treat you badly. This means that if they did, you would have nothing of theirs to quote back, and you would be relying on RTS 10 alone.

The casino that copied the rule into its contract

bet365's Great Britain terms do something which I have not seen anywhere else on this list. Section 22.12 reproduces the Commission's interruption guidance, point by point, as contractual undertakings: the result stands where you could no longer influence the outcome, the stake is returned where no outcome had been generated, multi-stage games are restored to their last known state, and progressive jackpot values are restored to their pre-failure state, to the extent that is within bet365's control and not the game provider's.

Section 22.10 even borrows the regulator's own sentiment, stating that its aim is to address interruptions in a way that “is fair and does not systematically disadvantage our customers.”

Why that matters more than it looks. Regulatory guidance is enforced by the commission which does not settle individual disputes and cannot order anyone to pay you. A contractual term is enforceable by you. Writing the guidance into the contract converts a regulatory expectation into something you can hold the operator to directly.

When it comes to transaction commitment, MrQ is also impressive. It has perhaps the best reassuring statement in this entire study pass: even in the event of a game interruption after a successful bet was placed, the random number generator will determine the outcome, and the transaction will proceed as if the interruption never occurred. You will then see the outcome in your betting history. MrQ will also void the bet and refund the stake in instances where the outcome cannot be determined.

Betfred takes a different approach. Betfred has a malfunction policy stated by the principle: “Betfred will not gain any benefit from a malfunction”, and in the interest of fair treatment to affected customers, their bets will be void, and no winnings will be paid and no losses will be incurred.

The malfunction clause that runs one way

Grosvenor’s Section 11 is the complete opposite of Betfred’s principle, and it is worth quoting the statement in full as the language is particularly unpleasant: “Any Wager affected by an Error, Interruption or Malfunction will not count, and any winnings and/or Bonuses attributed to you as a result will not be payable to you.” In such a case, where a wager was processed, and you were paid, you are obliged to return the funds, and Grosvenor has the right to deduct the amount from the funds it owes you.

Notice the first word in that list. Interruption is in the same sentence as malfunction, so a bet affected by a connection failure would be covered by the same voiding clause.

Two other details relevant to this. Grosvenor does have a fairness promise at clause 11.8. If there is an interruption, Grosvenor will try to resolve this in a fair way, and not in a manner which would systematically disadvantage the customers. This promise is only regarding interruptions, not malfunctions. And clause 11.3.2 includes a malfunction as a game operating in a manner which is not within the published return to player percentage, so a slot with a malfunction would be running off the stated RTP.

In regard to liability caps, these fall into the same category. bet365 states that its total liability will be the greater of your stake, any money lost by them, or £10,000, and here they have excluded winnings that are rightfully yours. Grosvenor’s cap would be the greater of the stake or £1,000. MrQ has the strongest interruption wording of the three, however this still has the tightest liability cap. This states that the maximum liability will be the wagers placed on the game which caused the liability, with no minimum at all.

The seven day trap on reporting a game fault

The one thing I encourage you to take away from this is that the reporting deadline for a broken game has the most variation of any term on this site.

Clause 24.3 of Grosvenor’s terms describes a seven-day timeframe for complaints regarding the functionality or settlement of games or wagers. The terms reference the ‘availability of technical logs’. Betfred, in comparison, has a six-month window for general complaints. The same event, same industry, same regulator, and a timeframe that differs by a factor of 26.

Grosvenor also describes the information they require when you do report. This is useful info at other sites too. You need the Game ID and a screenshot of the game. Where a screen and a server conflict, several of the operators state that the server’s log is definitive. Your screenshot is not the outcome. It is the relevant round. This is what gets the appropriate log.

The obligation that sits on you

Hidden in these clauses is a responsibility that most players have never encountered. A breach of this responsibility would ultimately be to their detriment.

bet365's terms state that when you become aware or suspect that there may be a fault in one of their services, that you must cease use of the relevant service and contact them immediately. William Hill’s terms are the same. Logic is not unreasonable: a game that is noted as paying in excess of what it should, continues to be played; this is exploitation of a known fault.

The practical version is simple. If a game is acting in a way that is clearly not right, including acting in a way that is clearly in your favour, do not keep playing, and report the game. The one behaviour that turns a dispute that you may win into a dispute that you will definitely lose is continuing to play. It also poses the risk of the account restrictions described in our analysis of the fine print of each of the casinos.

What to do when a casino game malfunctions

Follow these steps in order, and the first two before you close the tab.

1. Screenshot the screen. Find the Game ID. Most lobbies show a round or game reference in the game history or the info panel. That reference is what support will need to pull the server logs.

2. Look at your game history and balance. According to RTS 10, resolved spins should settle. Many disputes are resolved here, because the win did land and the display just never caught up.

3. Determine which of the three words applies. An interruption is a connection failure, and the rules are on your side. A malfunction is a wrong result and they are not.

4. Report it under the shortest time frame you may be subject to. Assume 7 days unless your casino states otherwise, as the operator with the shortest time frame leaves no way for you to recover it.

5. Give the standard and then escalate. Name RTS 10 and the corresponding condition in your case. If you are not satisfied with the answer, the operator has 8 weeks, and it goes to its dispute resolution provider, and the route for each casino is available on our complaints page.

Let me conclude with the last point regarding how far a clause can extend. Even the operators with the most difficult wording safeguard your statutory rights. For example, bet365's liability section states that nothing in these terms will be interpreted to exclude or limit the operator's liability insofar as such liability cannot be lawfully limited or excluded, including your statutory rights as a consumer. Thebeginning of the argument is the statement "Malfunction voids all pays."

Frequently asked questions

My slot crashed mid-spin. Do I get my money back?

It would depend on whether the outcome had already been generated. According to the Gambling Commission's technical standards, where an interruption occurred after the operator has notified the operator of the gambling activity, and the player has no further influence on the outcome, the outcome of that gambling activity must be accepted. In the absence of the interruption, the stake must be returned to the player.

What happens to a bonus round if the game disconnects?

It should be waiting for you. The standards consider a game with multiple phases or decisions as a stateful game. They state that all reasonable efforts should be made to restore such a game to its last known state in order to allow completion. The Commission’s guidance on the systems that must be able to recover states including the number of tokens collected and the arrangement of the prizes.

Can a casino take back winnings caused by a game fault?

Most terms state that this is the case, and interruptions, which are either a service or connection disruption, are distinguished from malfunctions, which are cases of software behaving in a way that was not anticipated and for which a result was not designed to be produced. Winnings from such malfunctions, in such cases, are often voided, and several operators state that if you have withdrawn such winnings, you agree to forfeit them.

How long do I have to report a game problem?

It really depends on your casino. The range is significant. Grosvenor explicitly sets a time limit of seven days for complaints regarding the functionality or the settlement of a game stating that logs of such games can be obtained easily. Betfred’s general time limit is six months. That is an event with a twenty-six-fold difference in the time limit.

Does 'malfunction voids all pays' actually hold up?

It's a real legal term and operators use it, but it is not the most important term. Licence condition 2.3.1 states that the operator must comply with the Commission's technical standards, which in turn, require interruption policies to be fair and not be detrimental to customers. Operators maintain your consumer rights in their liability clauses. The argument begins with a blanket statement in a game screen.