Paf Review

A public association from Mariehamn, not a listed company

Clause 1 names the operator as Ålands Penningautomatförening, Paf, a public association with company identification number 0280695-6, domiciled in the Åland Islands, an autonomous province of Finland, at Lövdalsvägen 8, PB 241, AX-22100 Mariehamn. It offers its service under a licence from the Åland provincial government. The terms do not print a licence number. Our directory dates the company to 1966.

Paf runs several country sites on different licences. The terms discussed here are those of paf.fi. CasinoGuru's data covers the Estonian site, run by AS Pafer under Tax and Customs Board licence HKT000002 and dated 2018, and our directory also lists licences in Sweden, Spain and Latvia. Finnish law governs the Åland terms and disputes go to the District Court of Åland (clause 16). The terms were drafted in Swedish, and the Swedish version has priority over other languages (clause 1).

A EUR account, your own payment method and no stated payout time

The account currency is the euro (clause 3.1). Registration needs an e-wallet or a bank account in a country with which Paf has payment cooperation (2.1), each payment method must belong to the player, and a given method can be registered at one account only. Deposits and withdrawals may only go to and from the player's own methods (3.5). The player pays bank and transfer fees, and clause 3.2 says that if a fee is larger than the funds in the account, the funds are not paid out.

Clause 6 says winnings are credited to the account as soon as possible after the game ends, but the terms give no number of hours or days for a withdrawal and no daily, weekly or monthly limit. Directory data from LCB.org lists 12 deposit methods, including Visa, Mastercard, Trustly, Pay N Play, Skrill, Neteller, Swish, Apple Pay, MobilePay, Siirto and Zimpler, and 5 withdrawal methods: Trustly, bank transfer, Skrill, Neteller and Swish. The same directory shows 0 to 24 hours for both e-wallets and bank transfers. CasinoGuru counts 13 payment methods. Funds are kept apart from Paf's own money in a bank account and earn no interest (3.3 and 3.4).

Checks that can take up to 6 months

Paf may ask for proof of identity or age at any time, with copies of credit cards, photos or ID documents, and refusing counts as a breach (clause 2.1). Before any transfer it may also check the player's title to the payment method and entitlement to the funds (3.5). In the case of suspicious behaviour, clause 3.5 says the check may take up to six months, and the requested money sits as frozen funds in the account meanwhile.

Paf can also charge a customer whose account is used for something other than gambling, for example deposits followed by an immediate withdrawal (3.1). The terms give no deadline for completing such a check outside the 6-month ceiling.

The yearly loss limit: 15,000, 6,000 or 1,800 euros

Every player is covered by an automatic Yearly Loss Limit: 15,000 euros from age 25, 6,000 euros at ages 20 to 24 and 1,800 euros at ages 18 to 19. Loss is calculated as deposits minus withdrawals within a calendar year, 1 January to 31 December. Once the limit is reached, deposits are blocked until the next calendar year, and Paf says it makes no exceptions. The lowest limit is 12% of the highest.

Players can set their own deposit and loss limits, freeze categories and use gaming reminders and a gaming summary. Self-exclusion periods are 24 hours, 1 week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks, 4 weeks, 6 weeks and 6 months, and longer breaks go through support. Clause 3.8 lets a player lock the account, which bars a new one, and Paf may lock other accounts in the Paf Group. Clause 13 lets Paf apply its mandatory loss limits jointly across Group accounts.

30 days to complain, 23 months of silence, 3 years to claim

Clause 3.10 gives 30 days from the moment an error was or should have been noticed to complain in writing about an erroneous payment or unreceived winnings. After that the right is lost. Under clause 13 Paf can restrict, lock or end the relationship without notice or reason in several cases, including when no login has been registered for 23 months.

After a relationship ends, the player's claim to remaining money lapses if there is no contact within 3 years (clauses 12 and 13). Clause 8 C also says Paf reserves the right to set the result of each gaming event, with delays possible in its system. Clause 4.1 says a player who finds a bug must log out at once and may never profit from it, and a breach of the rules voids the gaming event and the winnings from it.

Ten Super Spins and four €5 free bets, no wagering

On paf.fi the welcome choice is called wager free: 10 Super Spins on the casino side or 4 x €5 free bets on betting. The bonus page lists smaller offers: 20 bingo tickets at €0.10 for playing €10, a €3 reward for playing €30, 5 free spins at €0.50 for playing €50 and 20 free spins at €0.20 for playing €30. It also lists a daily casino tournament with 2,000 free spins to share and €10,000 in monthly free bets for 2,000 winners.

Clause 3.5 adds that bonus money that has not been bet is not paid out. Each offer has its own terms on the site, which this review does not cover.

The Paf Jackpot costs €0.05 a round and returns 72%

The jackpot terms set a minimum bet of €0.10 and an extra €0.05 bet in each round, which counts as one attempt to trigger a jackpot. Seeds are €3,000,000 for Mega, €2,000 for Major, €100 for Minor and €5 for Rapid. The jackpot has an RTP of 72%, separate from the RTP of the game itself. Winnings are paid in cash with no wagering and follow the normal withdrawal rules, but are subject to verification by the operator and the software provider. The jackpot is available in Finland, Sweden and Estonia (clause 2 of the jackpot terms).

Beyond that, the site offers casino, live casino, betting, bingo, poker and video poker. CasinoGuru counts 135 providers, and the home page shows 77 new games. Paf also builds its own slots through Paf Games Studio, among them Sällskapsresan, Mieto vs Wassberg and Cash & Carry: Shopping Spree.

Safety Index 9.8, 7 complaints and 1.6 stars

CasinoGuru gives the Estonian-licensed site a Safety Index of 9.8, Very high, rates its terms fair with 0 issues, and finds no blacklist entry. Of 7 complaints on file, 1 was resolved, 1 is unresolved and 5 were rejected, so 5 of the 7 were rejected. The sources give no individual cases or amounts. CasinoGuru does not list 24/7 live chat for Paf. The AskGamblers review page for Paf has been removed. Trustpilot shows 1.6 stars from 102 reviews.

That leaves a record with two sides: a Safety Index of 9.8 and a Trustpilot score of 1.6 from a small base of 102 reviews. The terms add that Paf makes no promise of uninterrupted service or error-free results (clause 8 D).

Who Paf suits, and who should avoid it

It suits a player in Finland, Sweden or Estonia who wants an Åland-licensed operator with automatic limits and wager-free offers, and who does not need to withdraw quickly with no questions asked. A player aged 18 to 19 should know the cap is 1,800 euros a year, or 150 euros a month if spread evenly.

It suits less a player outside the markets Paf serves (clause 4.3 names the USA, Russia and Turkey as examples), anyone who may miss the 30-day complaint window, and anyone who deposits large sums and wants guaranteed fast withdrawals. The terms promise neither, and the 1.6-star Trustpilot score from 102 reviews is worth reading first.

Complaint history

The operator