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Geo Block Desk / Your balance
The money

What a restriction does to your balance

A territory restriction is a permission problem, not a debt. The account is usually held rather than erased — but “held” describes the account, not each balance inside it, and the differences between cash, bonus and unsettled bets are what decide what you actually get back.

Open the partner accountStart with why a territory closes
Direct answerA cash balance normally survives a territory restriction: it stays in the account and remains payable through the operator’s withdrawal route. Bonus balances are the fragile part, open bets settle under the rules that applied when they were struck, and the practical order is to secure the cash first and ask for the reason code in writing.

Four balances, four treatments

What a territory restriction does to each balance on an account Four horizontal bars. The cash balance is fully retained in green. A pending withdrawal is marked as payable after review in ochre. A bonus balance is marked as fragile, mostly likely to lapse. Open bets settle under the rules from when they were placed, shown in sea ink. BALANCE LAYER · LIKELY TREATMENT UNDER A TERRITORY RESTRICTION CASH retained and payable · withdrawal route set by the terms WITHDRAWAL IN FLIGHT reviewed, then paid · ask for the route in writing on day one BONUS fragile · bonus terms are per market and commonly lapse with it illustrative shape · the actual rule is the operator’s terms, the bonus terms and the licence for each market
FIG. 03 · The cash and the bonus sit in different documents, so they answer to different rules.

The distinction that saves money is the last one: a cash balance is money the player has, while a bonus balance is a conditional promise in a separate set of terms. When an account is restricted, the two are read by different clauses, and one of them usually survives while the other does not.

The order to do things in

  1. 01

    Ask for the reason code

    In writing, through the account. Which territory, which rule, whether the state is temporary. Everything after this depends on the answer.

  2. 02

    Secure the cash

    Request a withdrawal of the cash balance through the route already on file, and keep the request in the same thread. A balance that is asked for in writing on day one is much harder to lose than one left to be discussed later.

  3. 03

    Leave open bets alone

    They settle under the rules that applied when they were placed. Cashing out early is a priced trade, not a safeguard, and it is the wrong response to an account hold.

  4. 04

    Treat the bonus separately

    Read the bonus’s own market clause rather than the account terms. If it lapses, that is the bonus document doing its job, and it is not a complaint point on its own.

The two outcomes that are not rules

Silence

A restriction applied with no reason code is the most common complaint in this area — and it is a service failure rather than a licensing one. Ask once, in writing, for the specific clause relied on. A refusal to name a clause is itself worth recording, and usually worth mentioning to whichever body supervises the market.

Confiscation

An operator removing a cash balance because a player travelled is not a normal outcome of a territory rule. Where a balance is retained rather than returned, the clause that is said to justify it should be quoted. Terms that allow forfeiture usually attach it to prohibited play, not to the fact of crossing a border.

One deadline that matters

Territory rules and inactivity rules interact, and the interaction has a date on it. An account left restricted and unattended long enough can meet the operator’s dormancy policy, where a fee or a closure rule may apply. The clock and the fee order are set out on the sibling desk: account dormancy and dormant balances.

The disclosed partner link appears on every page of this desk. It is not a claim that any balance is protected, insured or recoverable, in any market.

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