CGDL

Hi. 

This is common, not only with casinos - it happens all the time in the world of e-commerce. Especially with high volume traffic on sites where you book plane tickets (just to give you an example) and their servers crashes because of whatever.

The casino is not to blame, as they are - as you - waiting for the funds to arrive. It didn't happen, and now the diff. parties involved will have it fixed asap, 

So what's going on, really? 

I'll tell you. When you make a purchase online you initiate a payment, where the transaction details are communicated via a secure channel; card number, expiry date, validation code of the card. Once you start the transaction, there's a process in place to verify those details, including the balance and any (if any) limits to the funds to be taken from your account.

Once that magic happens, the bank freezes that amount from your account, where it'll be debited from your account within a few days - depending on which banks and payment providers are in the mix.

Online payments vs. physical payments.

There's two types on transactions: 1) Card Present, and 2) Card not present. 

While option 1 connects directly to the cardholders bank and the card issuers network channel (visa, mastercard, etc) and receives a "yes" / "no" directly in real time, 

Ever had to sign your card-purchase in stores lately? That's when the terminals are having technical issues, and the reason why people are able to overspend their limits at times. 

The very same technical issues happen with option 2. Technicalities, and I am not going to try and venture into deep water as I don't know all the details. Simply put, it's a technical issue. 

Option 2 requires a secure connection, doing the very same thing as option 1. Since there are more parties involved here on the interwebs, a technical glitch, or a server outage / restart, failed update, rollback of security systems, updates and more can cause hiccups. 

The reason your money left your account is because of something called a "reservation. That's when the bank is informed about your intended transaction. Like previously mentioned, your purchase amount is frozen to keep you from spending money you don't have. The money is "gone", from everyone's sight at this very moment, but rest assured it'll turn up quickly. 

The banks and merchants blaming each other is a classic scenario, but the gist of it is that somewhere along this timeline, there are systems in place that will find these "lost" transactions, and release back the "reserved" amount back in to your account. Usually within 24 hours. In rare cases, 2-3 working days. 

Some times, merchants / banks are able to help you directly. It depends entirely on the time of day, volume of transactions at that time and other variables. When you can't get help right away, it's because you're out of luck at that very moment. There are more often than not lucky moments though. 

If I had 10k NOK leave my account, and not arrive where I wanted the money to go, I'd be livid. Your frustration is legit, but please. The only advice I can give you is to be patient, and hopefully some calm while you read the above so you have a better understanding of what's going on. 

 Also note that the 1st line (the first support people you are in contact with) aren't experts on the matter (veeery rare). They're all-rounders who's job is to deal with what they can, and escalate more complicated issues if they arise to the experts / 2nd line, and / or correct departments. 

Therefore, if you ever experience the same issue - ask the support people to kindly escalate your matter to the correct department for quicker resolution of it. Usually, it's not necessary as these types of failed transactions will correct themselves automatically - but it doesn't hurt to ask. Especially when we're talking larger sums of money.