Crypto Casino Rug Pulls: three dated cases and the pattern

The Dutch authorities consider the alleged offences fraud, embezzlement and money laundering in the only known case of the prosecution of casinos by the Dutch authorities. The FIOD arrested a 26-year-old man on 29 April 2024, for the alleged offences and the Public Prosecution Service considers the ZKasino scheme a rug pull. A country decides what the offence is in its own jurisdiction and this site does not render legal opinions.

ZKasino is the example. The platform launched on 20 April 2024 and promised to airdrop a token to users who bridged ETH. The ETH was to be returned in 30 days. More than 10,000 users sent 10,515 ETH to the platform, and around $33 million of it was moved to the Lido staking protocol instead. The prosecutors say the suspects’ communication demonstrated there was no intention to return the invested funds. The deposit route worked; the withdrawal route did not exist.

No check is a guarantee, so this site only covers what can be read. The licence as the casino states it, or NOT DISCLOSED. Where the balance is, in a company wallet or contract you can leave on your own. A withdrawal route tested with a small amount before a large deposit. Terms that state how and when withdrawals are made. Company and domain names that are provided and are current. The checks section above provides more information.

The ZKasino case shows over 11.4 million euros worth of assets seized at the first arrest including cash, real estate and a car. There is a Red Notice issued by Interpol dated March 6, 2025 and another arrest in the UAE with an extradition request. Cointelegraph also reported the accused losing $27 million in a leveraged position as ETH price fell. The money was not kept, users also didn’t get it back.

Not by the record. Luck.io announced its closure on April 24, 2026, and encouraged users to withdraw their Smart Vaults via its site or the Proov Protocol vault withdrawal tool, as reported by Cryptopolitan from Luck.io's X post. Luck.io’s site also states it is closed as of April 29, 2026. It also states that all Smart Vault balances that were withdrawable have been returned to their user’s wallets. A casino that closes and pays out is a closure. It is shown on this page due to vault design being the key difference between the two outcomes.

Designs where the balance sits in a contract you can leave without the operator's help dictates what a disappearance can be: Luck.io says the vault balances are back on chain, and Just.bet’s escrow contract on Arbitrum has an emergency exit by Merkle proof, per their review. The contract can still be written poorly, or drained by the authors, and no reviewed casino is fully on-chain, so the honest answer is: it narrows the loss to what the contract doesn’t cover.

It provides a regulator to complain to and a company to name in a court case, but doesn’t hold the money. BC.Game’s operating companies’ bankruptcy ruling (12 November 2024) by the Curaçao court, later contested, is the type of event a license makes visible. Each review quotes the licence as the casino states it, or NOT DISCLOSED, and, where possible, links the regulator’s register.

Document it. The date of the withdrawal request and the balance. The contract’s own exit is explained in Just.Bet’s review. Luck.io has a vault tool. For a company-held balance, there is no self-service exit, which is the entire argument for using a burner wallet and keeping deposits small.