How to escalate a bonus complaint to IBAS

How to escalate a bonus complaint to IBAS in brief

IBAS, the Independent Betting Adjudication Service, is a free alternative dispute resolution (ADR) service that rules on disagreements between players and the gambling businesses registered with it. It is the last independent step for most bonus disputes in Great Britain, but it can't be your first. Four conditions have to be met before it will look at your case:

1. The casino is licensed by the Gambling Commission and uses IBAS as its ADR provider.
2. You have made a complaint through the casino's own published procedure.
3. The casino has issued its final response, or eight weeks have passed without a resolution.
4. The complaint is about how a term or bet was applied, not about customer service or the casino's right to refuse your custom.

If all four are true, the rest of this guide shows how to prepare and submit the dispute. If you're still at the first stage, start with our guide on how to complain about a bonus.

What IBAS can decide on a bonus dispute

IBAS reads what you and the casino each submit and decides whether the casino applied its terms correctly. Our IBAS glossary entry has the background. For a bonus, that usually means asking: did the term exist and was it shown clearly when you opted in, did your play actually breach it, and did the casino follow its own rules in what it did next?

Registered companies agree to be bound by IBAS decisions up to £10,000, and the service costs players nothing. It isn't a regulator: it can't fine a casino or change its licence. What it can do is find that a bonus, a withdrawal or a winning bet should have been paid under the terms. You can read IBAS's own description of the service on the IBAS website (opens in a new tab).

The ADR system is changing. The Gambling Commission is amending its licence conditions so that ADR refers to providers accredited by the Secretary of State under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, and it removed some ADR information from its pages in May 2026. Check the casino's final response for the provider it names today.

Check IBAS is the right ADR provider for your casino

Every licensed casino must offer access to an ADR provider, but not every casino uses IBAS. The Commission's list of approved ADR providers (opens in a new tab) has included ADR Group, Pegasus ADR Service, Blexr Limited, CEDR, eCOGRA, IBAS, ProMediate and the Tattersalls Committee. Sending a dispute to the wrong one only wastes time.

For our partner casinos, the brand pages on Coral bonus complaints, Ladbrokes bonus complaints and PlayOJO bonus complaints explain where each publishes its procedure. Always rely on the provider named in your own final response, since arrangements can change.

Before IBAS: making the complaint to the casino

Disputes that skip the casino's process are turned away. In the Commission's consolidated data for October 2019 to September 2020, IBAS refused 43.9% of the disputes it received, and 30.8% of those refusals were because the operator's complaints process hadn't been finished. A complete first complaint avoids that.

The Commission's how to complain (opens in a new tab) guide says to give the business all the information about your complaint, including dates, times and amounts of money, and to keep copies of everything you send. For a bonus, a strong first complaint includes:

• the promotion's name and the date and time you opted in;
• your deposit amount and payment method (relevant to excluded methods such as PayPal or Skrill at Coral and Ladbrokes);
• the exact term you think was misapplied, quoted word for word;
• what the casino did (bonus removed, winnings voided, spins not credited) and what you're asking for;
• copies of any chat or email replies already received.

You can complain online, through the casino's help centre, or through Resolver, a free independent tool the Commission doesn't run; not every business accepts Resolver. Our page on how to contact support about a bonus covers the first conversation.

The eight-week clock, deadlock and the final response

The Commission's rules give the casino eight weeks in total, including any internal escalation, to resolve your complaint. The clock can be paused if you don't answer a reasonable request for information within seven days, and it restarts from the same point when you reply. The process ends either when eight weeks have passed or when you and the casino reach a deadlock sooner.

A final response is sometimes called a deadlock letter. If week eight passes with no letter, you can still go to ADR; keep a note of the date you first complained. The Commission's page on taking your complaint to ADR (opens in a new tab) explains this stage, and our complaints and ADR rules page sets the rules out in full.

How to escalate a bonus complaint to IBAS, step by step

1. Confirm the provider. Check that your final response (or the casino's terms) names IBAS as its ADR provider.
2. Check the timing. Make sure the casino's process has ended and you're inside the time limit IBAS applies.
3. Write a short summary. In a few paragraphs, say what the promotion was, what happened, which term is in dispute and what outcome you want.
4. Attach evidence. Add the terms as they stood when you opted in, deposit records, bet or game history, and complaint correspondence.
5. Submit through IBAS. Follow the instructions on IBAS's how to raise a dispute (opens in a new tab) page.
6. Answer follow-up questions promptly. IBAS contacts the casino for its side and may come back to you.
7. Read the decision. Note any appeal rights or time limits it mentions.

Keep your summary factual. IBAS is checking whether the casino followed its own terms, so a calm comparison of the wording with what happened carries more weight than frustration. If you're unsure whether the term itself was fair, our guide to how to spot unfair bonus terms helps you frame it.

Evidence for the most common bonus disputes

Each kind of bonus dispute turns on different records. The table matches the usual disagreements to the evidence that shows what happened.

Records made at the time are worth far more than recollection afterwards. Our guide to keeping records of bonuses suggests what to save as you go.

Bonus complaints at IBAS by the numbers

The most detailed public breakdown is the Commission's consolidated IBAS data for 2019–20 (opens in a new tab), covering October 2019 to September 2020. It's dated, but it shows where bonus disputes sit.

• IBAS received 4,475 disputes, down 14.5% from 5,235 the year before.
• Disputes about bonus or promotional offer terms made up 8.2%.
• The largest groups were disputed settlement or bet instructions (23.4%), customer identity issues such as closed accounts and delayed winnings (21.1%), and social responsibility or self-exclusion (16.8%).
• Average resolution took 45 days, down from 51.

In other words, roughly one dispute in twelve was about a bonus. Since then the rules have tightened: wagering has been capped at 10x the bonus since 19 January 2026, and Commission guidance on clear terms and play restrictions has been in force for years, which should leave fewer ambiguous terms to argue over. See the 10x wagering cap for what changed.

What IBAS and other ADR providers won't look at

The Commission's consumer guidance says ADR won't accept complaints about customer service, refusals to accept a bet or your custom, or decisions on whom a business accepts bets from. In the 2019–20 data, regulatory matters including self-exclusion were the main reason for refusals, at 33.2% of refused cases.

The Commission doesn't resolve individual complaints itself, but you can tell it if you think a casino is breaking its licence conditions. Our self-exclusion rules page explains the duties casinos have in those cases.

Weighing up a bonus complaint before you escalate it

IBAS compares what happened with the terms. A complaint has a fair chance when the casino's action doesn't match its own wording, and a weak one when the term was clear and applied as written. Two examples with real offer terms show the difference.

A weaker case. You deposit £25 at 10bet, get a £25 bonus and must wager £250 on slots within three days. You finish £210 of wagering when the three days end and the bonus is removed. The deadline is a published significant term and the shortfall is £40, so a dispute is unlikely to change the outcome.

A stronger case. You deposit £200 at Casumo, receive the £100 cap, opt in and complete the full £1,000 of wagering on eligible games within seven days, keeping every stake at or below £5. Your bonus winnings are then removed for 'irregular play', but no prohibited pattern is named. Commission guidance says operators must specify prohibited play in advance and explain any forfeiture in full, so this one is worth escalating with your screenshots and bet history.

If the term itself looks unfair rather than misapplied, the Consumer Rights Act matters too; see are bonus terms legally binding. For how casinos apply terms in the first place, read how bonus terms are enforced.

After the IBAS decision

If IBAS finds in your favour, registered operators have agreed to be bound by its decisions up to £10,000. If it doesn't, the Commission's guidance says you may be able to appeal, and the ADR provider should tell you about any time limits. Beyond that, the small claims court is an option, though the Commission suggests getting independent legal advice first.

Whatever the outcome, step back if the dispute is taking over. Chasing a lost bonus by depositing again is a risk sign rather than a fix. The National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133 is free and open around the clock, and our casino bonus guides hub links the safer gambling tools every UK casino has to offer.

Offers with fewer terms that can lead to a dispute

The bonus disputes that reach ADR usually involve wagering, max bets or caps on winnings. Our three closest partner offers are no-wagering free spins, so those terms don't arise, though eligibility, payment exclusions and expiry still apply. All are 18+ and terms apply.

• Coral: bet £10 on slots after a qualifying deposit to get 100 free spins at 10p (£10 of spins), accepted within 48 hours and valid 7 days, no wagering on winnings. Neteller, PayPal, Paysafe, Skrill, prepaid cards and certain debit cards don't qualify. Runs 1 October 2026 to 1 February 2027.
• Ladbrokes: spend £10 on slots to get 50 free spins a day for 10 days, up to 500 at 10p (up to £50 of spins), claimed before 23:59 each day, valid 7 days, no wagering. Prepaid cards, PayPal, Paysafe, Neteller, Skrill and Moneybookers deposits don't qualify.
• PlayOJO: first deposit of £10 or more for 80 free spins on Big Bass Bonanza at 10p (£8 of spins), winnings paid in cash with no wagering. New UK customers excluding Northern Ireland, via the designated offer link only, not combinable with other offers.

More detail on how these work is on our free spins no wagering page.

18+. Gambling should be entertainment that costs money, not a way to make it. Decide a budget before you play: set a budget. Free, confidential help: National Gambling Helpline 0808 8020 133.