Last checked: October 2026
Few things in online gambling are as frustrating as a withdrawal that never arrives, or winnings that disappear from your balance with a one-line email. This guide walks through what you can actually do about it as a US player at an offshore casino, in the order that tends to work.
One thing to know up front: no US regulator stands behind these casinos, so there's nobody here who can order one to pay you. What you have is the casino's own complaint process, the dispute service some licenses require, independent mediators, and publicity. None of them can force a payout, but used in the right order they do get some cases paid. This isn't legal advice, and nothing on this page can guarantee you'll get your money.
First, find out exactly why
A refused payout usually comes with a reason taken from the terms, and if it doesn't, you're entitled to ask for one. The common ones are a bet over the maximum while playing through a bonus, a win above the bonus cashout cap, documents that didn't pass ID verification, a required deposit that was never made, or a second account in the same household. Our guide to how no deposit bonuses work covers each of these.
Ask support in writing for the exact term they're relying on, with its number. Then read it yourself, in the version that was live when you claimed the bonus. If the casino applied the rule correctly, a complaint won't change the outcome, and it's better to know that now. If the rule doesn't say what they claim, or they won't name one, you have a case.
Step 1: Use the casino's own complaint process
The mediators and dispute services below expect you to have tried this first, and several will turn you away if you haven't.
Put the complaint in writing, by email or through the casino's complaint form if it has one, rather than in live chat alone. Keep it short: your username, the amount, the date, what happened and what you want. If the first answer doesn't resolve it, ask in writing for the complaint to go to a supervisor or the disputes team.
Watch the deadlines. Sloto'Cash's terms say disputes must be submitted within 14 days. Slots.lv won't hear a complaint until seven days after the problem first came up, and won't hear it after six months. Under Curacao's current rules, licensed casinos have to accept complaints for six months after the problem, confirm they've received one within a week, and answer within four weeks. They can extend that once, by another four weeks, if they tell you.
Step 2: The casino's dispute service
This step depends on where the casino is licensed, and it's one most players don't know exists.
Curacao. Under rules the Curacao Gaming Authority issued in 2025 for casinos licensed under its new law, those casinos must offer an outside dispute service, called ADR, free to the player and paid for by the casino. The provider has to be named in the casino's terms, and the process should take no more than 90 days. The provider can turn you away if you haven't been through the casino's own complaint process first. Slots.lv, for example, names EGIS ADR in its terms, and says the ADR decision is binding, so read your casino's terms before you file. Look for a section headed "complaints" or "disputes" in your casino's terms to find the one it uses.
Anjouan. Casinos licensed in Anjouan have a similar system. You complain to the casino first, through the complaint link on its license seal, and the casino has 30 days to answer. If that fails, the dispute goes to one of four approved ADR providers. The deadlines are short: 14 days after the session for disputes about a game result, and 30 days for payments, bonuses and account problems. One catch for US players: Anjouan's policy doesn't cover players from countries a casino excludes, so check that your casino's terms don't list the United States before you count on this route.
Not every casino has this. Bovada's terms say you can escalate a complaint outside the company, but the link in that sentence doesn't name any organization. If you can't find a dispute service in your casino's terms, go to step 3.
The regulators themselves won't step in on a single player's dispute. Curacao's Gaming Authority says plainly that it doesn't handle individual complaints, though it still wants to hear about casinos breaking their license conditions. If a casino displays a Curacao seal, clicking it should open a certificate page on the authority's site. If it doesn't, that's worth knowing before you deposit anywhere.
Step 3: An independent mediator
Several large casino review sites run free complaint services. They have no legal power, but casinos care about their ratings on these sites, and a public complaint can move a stalled case.
- AskGamblers. Free, needs an account, and wants you to have finished the casino's own process first. It aims to reply within two working days.
- LCB. Free. It replies within 48 hours, gives each side 7 days to respond (extendable by 7), and says cases take about 21 days on average. Many US-facing casinos have support reps in its forum, which can be a quicker first stop.
- Casino Guru. Free, with complaints published openly. It has handled tens of thousands of complaints, according to industry press in 2026.
Pick one and see it through. AskGamblers asks you not to discuss the complaint publicly while it's open, so read each service's rules before you post the same case anywhere else.
What about a chargeback?
If you deposited by credit card, you may be tempted to ask your card issuer to reverse it. Go in with realistic expectations. Federal rules give you 60 days from the first statement showing the charge to dispute a billing error in writing. Those rules don't cover debit or prepaid cards, where you're relying on your bank's own policy. Even on a credit card, disputes about the quality of a service generally require the purchase to have been made in your home state or within 100 miles of your billing address, and an offshore casino usually won't meet that. Banks also have wide discretion over gambling transactions.
The casinos' terms spell out what happens if you try. Bovada and Slots.lv say a charged-back deposit voids your winnings since that deposit, and any negative balance becomes a debt they can send to collections. Sloto'Cash can close your account and any linked accounts. Jumba Bet and Lucky Creek charge a $50 chargeback fee. And at least one casino group has closed a player's accounts across all its sister sites after repeated chargebacks.
A chargeback might get your deposit back. It won't get you winnings, and you should expect the casino to close your account.
Crypto deposits usually can't be reversed. As the FTC puts it, once you pay in crypto you can usually only get the money back if the person you paid sends it back.
If it's outright fraud
Some cases aren't disputes. The site has vanished, the "casino" was never real, or someone is asking for a fee to release your winnings. You can report online fraud to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov and to the BBB's Scam Tracker. Neither promises to recover money. IC3 says it can't respond to every report. But reports help build cases against the people behind these sites.
Michigan residents can also send tips about offshore gambling sites to the Michigan Gaming Control Board at MIGamblingTip@michigan.gov or 1-888-314-2682.
Keep a paper trail from day one
The players who win disputes are usually the ones with evidence. The mediation services we looked at all ask for the same kind of thing.
- Screenshots of the bonus offer and its terms on the day you claimed it
- Your cashier history, showing deposits, bonuses and withdrawal requests
- Copies of every email, and saved transcripts of live chats
- Dates and amounts, written down as things happen
Terms change, and casinos don't always keep old versions. A screenshot from the day you signed up can be the difference between a closed case and a paid one.
The best fix is before you deposit
Most of the trouble on this page can be avoided by choosing carefully. Before you sign up, read the bonus terms and the withdrawal limits. Get verified before you have a win waiting, and stay well under the maximum bet. Our deposits and withdrawals guide covers the payout side, and our How We Rate Casinos page explains how payout records factor into which casinos we list.