GG: Clarifying withdrawal rules after first deposit

Originally posted by JasonDL221
Email #1:
You also have not made the sufficient gameplay requirement for withdrawal approval.

Email #2

As mentioned also, we will decline your next withdrawal due to not meeting the sufficient gameplay requirement for withdrawal approval.

Email #3
Unfortunately, we cannot disclose the amount of game-play that needs to be generated to prevent possible risks of misuse.

Hi JasonDL221,
Welcome to PokerStrategy.com

So sorry to hear that your situation spiralled out of control. Email #1 tells the whole story. You simply cannot deposit to any poker room then withdraw within a short time. International anti-money-laundering rules prohibit this. Had you merely continued to play there, and periodically requested a withdrawal, eventually you would have succeeded.

All the best at whatever room you play at next,
VS

Actually, I managed to deposit and withdraw at party once. Just once, not anymore. But yeah, everywhere is the same. If I remember correctly, you had to make bets totalling the amount of money deposited.

I like GG a lot and had no problems withdrawing. With that said, the end of your communication makes me want to punch something. It's like they don't understand English all of a sudden.

But let's not forget, NL2 players are known for their fraudulent behavior. It's mandatory for them to make sure you didn't cheat in a 20 cent pot or something awful like that.

And it's imperative that you pay rake if you want your 50 bucks laundered, so the room gets it's cut.

Also, their auditors are apparently very good at figuring out whether or not you are a terrorist just by going through your undisclosed amount of hand history. Their hand reading abilities are just that good. I heard Osama was found by a poker room auditor.

Let us know if disputing your deposit works out, although I highly doubt it. Good luck!

mostly comes down to having previous history playing on the site or not if can do that or not .

It's not a scam, it's standard procedure in gambling industry.
Every game provider works under a license, and to keep it they have to follow regulations. Money laundry regulations are the reason why withdrawals have to be made to same method as deposit. Those regulations are also the reason why you must actually use the money on certain amount before you can withdraw it. Otherwise it would be really easy to laundry money via gambling sites.

The thing is that all of that is in T&C, which OP has clicked "yes, I have read and understand" when creating an account.

GG has done some questionable decisions in the past, but this case is really standard and would have gone in the same way on every site.

OK, now I know why GGPoker has no license. Weak KYC, against withdrawal regulations, forces players to continue to gamble instead of protecting players against gambling risks. Three big red flags.

How do you launder money by depositing and withdrawing with the same method?

Originally posted by Rhodriguez
OK, now I know why GGPoker has no license. Weak KYC, against withdrawal regulations, forces players to continue to gamble instead of protecting players against gambling risks. Three big red flags.

GGPoker appears to have licenses, although I can find no evidence of these licenses — I've asked their support

from: https://help.ggpoker.com/article/706-what-licenses-does-ggpoker-hold-are-my-winnings-taxable
GGPoker holds licenses from both the UK Gambling Commission and a Isle of Man Gaming License. Whether your winnings in online poker are taxable is not related to the license, but to the legislation in the country in which you're residing. Please contact the tax office or check the regulations in your region.

Update: — There is at least one valid license from Malta
https://authorisation.mga.org.mt/verification.aspx?lang=EN&company=79421949-79f7-4433-bdb8-fceb0f364261&details=1

Ask Kyyberi pointed out, GGPoker has weaknesses — and for me, transparency is the biggest of all. There should be a prominent warning on the deposit page telling potential depositors that documentation of identity will be required, and that withdrawals will not be permitted until that documentation is verified. Yes, it is in the T&C, but hiding behind the "fine print" is scummy behaviour. In fairness, it is not only GGPoker

Originally posted by martins1337
How do you launder money by depositing and withdrawing with the same method?

 1: deposit illegally-obtained money, to a poker site using wire transfer — or some other means
 2: immediately withdraw that money using wire transfer to a different bank account.

If this was permitted, then the money coming from the poker site would appear to be legitimately obtained.

Originally posted by martins1337
How do you launder money by depositing and withdrawing with the same method?

 1: deposit illegally-obtained money, to a poker site using wire transfer — or some other means
 2: immediately withdraw that money using wire transfer to a different bank account.

If this was permitted, then the money coming from the poker site would appear to be legitimately obtained.

What if it's not a different bank account? And who the hell launders 50-200 bucks at a time anyway?
GG are not in fault for following the rules that every other room follows. But can we agree the rules are just stupid? Not that we can do anything about it... And isn't it better to let criminals launder their money a couple of times to follow the trace, figure out their scheme, build a case and prosecute them, instead of just blocking their money along with the money of 99% of other innocent players? Where is all that blocked money going anyway? Surely not a charity...

Originally posted by Rhodriguez
OK, now I know why GGPoker has no license. Weak KYC, against withdrawal regulations, forces players to continue to gamble instead of protecting players against gambling risks. Three big red flags.

1. What is weak about their KYC? It's the same as most other rooms, even PokerStrategy has the same if you want your free starting bankroll. I believe GG requires KYC before you deposit or before you play, which is better than others that require it just as you try to withdraw for the first time.
2. They actually follow strict withdrawal regulations, hence the problem this user is having... Or am I missing something? Maybe you meant transparency?
3. They do force players to play before being able to withdraw. And they do promote -EV gambling. Just like most of the popular rooms - Stars, Party, iPoker...

Originally posted by VorpalF2F

Originally posted by martins1337
How do you launder money by depositing and withdrawing with the same method?

 1: deposit illegally-obtained money, to a poker site using wire transfer — or some other means
 2: immediately withdraw that money using wire transfer to a different bank account.

If this was permitted, then the money coming from the poker site would appear to be legitimately obtained.

What if it's not a different bank account? And who the hell launders 50-200 bucks at a time anyway?
GG are not in fault for following the rules that every other room follows. But can we agree the rules are just stupid? Not that we can do anything about it... And isn't it better to let criminals launder their money a couple of times to follow the trace, figure out their scheme, build a case and prosecute them, instead of just blocking their money along with the money of 99% of other players that are innocent? Where is all that blocked money going anyway? Surely not a charity...

Originally posted by Rhodriguez
OK, now I know why GGPoker has no license. Weak KYC, against withdrawal regulations, forces players to continue to gamble instead of protecting players against gambling risks. Three big red flags.

1. What is weak about their KYC? It's the same as most other rooms, even PokerStrategy has the same if you want your free starting bankroll. I believe GG requires KYC before you deposit or before you play, which is better than others that require it just as you try to withdraw for the first time.
2. They actually follow strict withdrawal regulations, hence the problem this user is having... Or am I missing something? Maybe you meant transparency?
3. They do force players to play before being able to withdraw. And they do promote -EV gambling. Just like most of the popular rooms - Stars, Party, iPoker...

Wow, I'm sorry to hear you had so much trouble trying to access your deposited money. I've never had an issue with GG withdrawals, except for my very first attempt - they could not process my withdrawal request to my UK debit card because I had not made any deposit! My debit card could not be refunded because I'd never used it to fund, and the process for debit card refunds is how most merchants process refund and is not unique to poker economy.

As has been stated by other forum users, the rules for depositing and withdrawing money is tightly controlled by various national and international governmental organisations to combat money laundering and the like, and despite what you may think, is not GG trying to keep your money! They are simply not allowed to simply take your cash then give it back. As counter-intuative as that sounds, it's true.

The other thing that people forget is that when you make your first deposit, many sites offer a deposit-match bonus. Deposit $20, play with $40 kind of thing. In this case, the bonus money cannot be withdrawn until you've played with it - and that usually means you cannot withdraw it until they've made the equivalent amount back in rake - GG rake is 5% approx, so that's twenty times the bonus credit in wagers.

That should not prevent you from withdrawing the amount you deposited, though. But you do need to have played with your deposited money at least once.

Like I said, I've never had an issue at all,and all withdrawals are processed within 24 hours. But I had also sat with 50% of my entire bankroll sitting on the table of an NL10 game for several hands on more than one occasion on the first day I had ever deposited.

I should also note that I had been playing with the winning from their daily Freebie ticket for at least a month before I made that first deposit, and had $200 in my account before I made my one and only $20 deposit (which was made just to "unlock" my debit card as a method of withdrawing).

Once again, I'm sorry to hear you had so much difficulty in getting your own money back. I hope my post does reassure people that GG is not a dodgy network that keeps peeps money. Because that's not the case.

feels impossible to believe so many people play there with that rake its like a 7x rake and your rb being based on how big of a fish you are

ive beat mid-stakes online for 10 years GG always only site I could not beat why? because its a scam .

I don't know man, 10% regular tournament fee and 5% KO tournament fee doesn't feel that high without them being hyper turbo...
In fact it's the lowest out of any room.
And then there are also the Battle Royale which are very fast and without bubble ICM.

Have you considered switching to tournaments? If you like the freedom of cash games, at least try Battle Royale, although IDK how often they run these days. They take like 25 minutes to finish but start in Fast Fold format so you have plenty of hands to gain some edge.

sorry does not post directly but no not wanting tournaments , I win with very decent winrate elsewhere I dont need GG poker (+31k) this year on that site I posted graph . Tournament rake surely is fine there but cash games hardly beatable . They scum on your rb if your good its a big problem

I wish had read this post before.

My case is, yes I am new at the site, been playing for 10+ days.
I'm already a shrimp on their rakeback program, and only deposited 20usd. So yes I have already generated alot of rake.

Recently got a good run and managed to win a prize for getting to the FT. Then I try to withdraw, and I get a not sufficient gameplay refusal.

What is a sufficient gameplay? In this case its obviously not rake / deposit.

The site needs to be clear on their requirements and not treat their customers like this. I wish we had a bigger voice.

That's the lack of transparency. On other sites customer support tells you how much you need to rake to fulfill it and be able to withdraw. GG doesn't tell you, so you just have to rake some, try withdrawal and rake more if declined. I wouldn't be surprised if the amount varies from player to player, based on their profiling (like PVI and rakeback does).

Another thing to note is that if I have understood correctly, Mastercard doesn't allow withdrawals. You can deposit with it, but can't withdraw. Sites know this, but most of them don't really announce it if you make a deposit with Mastercard.

Originally posted by Guselis22
I wish we had a bigger voice.

The voice you have is your choices. If you play there, you support this behaviour.

Ill vont be playing there anymore after withdraw... but until then im FORCED to play.. fk** scam.