SBGOK • Foundation for representation of victims of online gaming

How we work

Due to the complexity and high financial and legal risks of online gaming cases, for players, it is often difficult to enforce their claims themselves as high litigation and expert costs should be expected and the opposing parties are usually very powerful. Therefore, justified gambling cases remain often not pursued. As a result, players completely waive their claims and suffer considerable disadvantages. SBGOK conducts research, advises and holds unique experience in negotiations, litigation, process financing, alternative dispute resolution, filing complaints, negotiating and collecting claims.

The Foundation for the Representation of Victims of Online Gaming (‘SBGOK’) assists players with legitimate complaints and claims against Curacao licensed online casino’s and sportsbetting’s to restore justice through intermediary negotiations, facilitating ADR, filing complaints, pressing charges and/or litigation procedures through court. This is how we work in general:

    1. SBGOK takes over the entire procedure and all costs and litigation risks. Meaning that you do not incur any costs or face procedural risks, even in the event of a loss. Litigation financing is possible when your claim is legally justifiable and over € 5000* euro’s ($ 5500) per casino provider. We cover all procedural costs and litigation risks involved including court fees, security deposits, bailiff and expert costs and possible court conviction costs etc.
    2. All you have to do is name the online casino provider who defrauded you or took advantage of a gambling addition and submit your evidence when you register your claim for an (free) assessment. SBGOK and our specialized lawyers will then take care of the entire process.
    3. If we are successful, the Foundation receives a contractually agreed success rate of between 25% and 35% of the proceeds obtained of the proceeds from the litigation for assuming all risks and financing all costs to pursue our mission.

Hereto, the Foundation works closely together with trusted E-gaming specialists and is legally represented by specialized Curaçao lawfirms to keep things simpel for players with legitimate and justified claims:

We actively support well over 200 recovery cases from more than 40 different jurisdictions. In 98% of the concluded cases our clients achieved a positive recovery. The average recovery ratio is 94%. The average duration of concluded cases is 0,9 years.

* If you are a minor and your claim is less than EUR 5000 / USD 5500, please submit your claim anyway as we always support children and their parents/custodians regardless of the amount involved.

Because of the large amount of victims and claimants and limited capacity, we only work with clients, whose complaints and claims are proven and found legitimate by the Foundation. For this purpose, we cooperate with trusted gaming-experts in the field who carefully reviews and assess each case that reaches the Foundation.

As most clients and cases usually differ, they often require a taylor made approach regarding individual needs and case specifications. In general, when a player prefers the Dutch court to judge their case, the Foundation works on a contingency fee basis (‘no cure no pay’). The way the Foundation prefers to work is the potential client providing us a summary and evidence by filling in our form, followed by a phone/whatsapp/skype conversation. 

If our experts and attorneys deem your case legit and solid enough, a way a case may be handled is by having it transferred to the Foundation. This way, SBGOK is able to pool cases which lowers court and bailiff fees, plus we do not run the risk that once we put time, effort and money into a case, the licenseholder or corporate director refunds the player directly and subsequently doesn’t reimburse our costs.

In case – after assesment – the Foundation decides not to represent you as our client, that does not mean we think your claim is not legitimate or proven. It simply means we are of the opinion the Foundation cannot to be of added value. In that case we might be able to advise you and/or referring you to other lawfirms or experts in the field.