Gambling complaint evidence checklist: what to collect first

Before you complain, save the records that prove what happened: your account details, the exact dates, times (with time zone) and amounts, the transaction, bet or game round IDs, full-screen screenshots, the terms as they read at the time, and every message with support, including the operator's complaint reference. Do it before you escalate, because access to an account can be restricted once a dispute starts. Never include passwords or two-factor codes in a complaint, and send ID documents only through the operator's official upload area.

This checklist covers what to collect. Our guide to writing a gambling complaint timeline covers how to organise it into a dated account someone else can follow.

Why collect evidence before you complain?

Everyone who reviews your complaint later works from records. The UK Gambling Commission tells complainants to give the full details of the complaint, including dates, times and amounts, to share any evidence and to keep a copy of everything they send. Dispute services and regulators ask for the same things:

• IBAS, a British ADR provider, asks for your account number, username or receipt number, what you did and when, what you expected and why, the outcome and the operator's explanation, and says you can attach photos or screenshots.
• The Malta Gaming Authority's complaint form (for MGA-licensed operators) asks for the operator's website and name, your username, the game, the disputed amount, and the date and time of the incident.
• New Jersey's Division of Gaming Enforcement dispute form asks for your player ID, the website, the date of your original complaint to the operator and the date of its response, with supporting documents attached.
• Ontario's AGCO says you need the operator's complaint reference number to bring it a complaint about a dispute with a regulated site.

If you only start collecting once the operator has said no, some of this may be harder to reach.

The core checklist: every complaint

Save these whatever the product:

Who and where

• Operator name and the legal company named in its terms
• The exact website address or app name you used
• A screenshot of the operator's licence entry on the regulator's register, dated today
• Your username, account number or player ID (never your password)

What happened

• Date and time of each event, with your time zone
• Amounts: deposits, stakes, balance, the sum in dispute
• Transaction references for deposits and withdrawals
• Bet IDs, game round IDs or hand numbers for the bets involved. Our explainer on bet IDs, game round IDs and hand histories shows where to find them.
• Full-screen screenshots of the cashier, bet slip, game screen or error message

The rules at the time

• The general terms, saved as a PDF with the date in the file name
• Any bonus or promotion terms you accepted, and the date you opted in
• The operator's complaints policy

What was said

• Every email, saved as a file, not just left in your inbox
• Live chat transcripts, or ordered screenshots of the whole chat
• Notes of any phone call: date, time, name or ID of the agent, what was said
• Your formal complaint and the operator's reference number
• The operator's final response or deadlock letter, if any

Money outside the account

• Bank or card statements showing the deposits and any withdrawals received
• E-wallet or payment app records

Extra evidence by type of problem

How do you capture evidence that holds up?

• Capture the whole screen, including the address bar and your device clock. Cropped images invite questions.
• Keep originals unedited. If you highlight something, do it on a copy and say so.
• Export rather than photograph where you can: download histories as files, save emails, ask for chat transcripts by email.
• Write the time zone down next to every time. An operator may log events in a different time zone from your device.
• Record a screen video if a fault is happening now, showing the game, the round and the balance.
• Back everything up in two places.

How much is enough?

Enough to let a stranger check each claim you make against a record. A useful test: for every sentence in your complaint that states a fact ("I requested £300 on 2 March", "the game froze during a bonus round"), you should be able to point to a file that supports it. Where you cannot, say so plainly ("I did not take a screenshot at the time") rather than leaving a gap the reviewer has to guess about.

More is not always better. Dozens of near-identical screenshots slow a reviewer down. Keep everything, but send the items that prove each point, labelled with the date and what they show, and say that more is available on request.

Can you ask the operator for your own records?

Yes. Ask in writing for your transaction, bet and game history and the chat logs for the dates in question. IBAS advises that if you need evidence from the business, you "ask for it in writing".

In the UK, you also have a legal right to copies of your personal information through a subject access request. The Information Commissioner's Office says organisations "usually have one month to respond", sometimes longer. Other markets have their own privacy laws, so check the operator's privacy notice for how to ask.

What should you never send?

• Passwords, two-factor codes or recovery codes. No operator, dispute service or regulator needs them.
• Full card or bank numbers in an email. New Jersey's dispute form specifically asks complainants not to email personal identifiers such as Social Security, driver's licence or passport numbers, dates of birth, account or card numbers, or passwords.
• ID documents to anyone who contacted you first. Upload them only through the operator's own account area.

Hub of Luck will never ask you for any of these, and we cannot investigate or decide a complaint for you.

What to do next

1. Work through the core checklist today, while your account is still open.
2. Add the extra items for your type of problem.
3. Put everything in date order using our complaint timeline guide.
4. File your complaint through the operator's process, then follow the route for its licence on our complaints hub. Our guide to what happens after a gambling complaint explains the stages.

A dispute can take weeks. If waiting or the money involved is weighing on you, our safer gambling page lists free, confidential support.