A higher balance can hide a loss. In our synthetic example, the wallet starts at £100, receives £200 in deposits and pays out £120. It closes at £130. With no bonuses, fees, transfers or unsettled bets, that is a £50 loss from play, even though the balance rose by £30: £130 − £100 − £200 + £120 = −£50.
Keep three things separate: the wallet balance, the result of play and money received outside the casino. The examples below show why those figures can disagree without an arithmetic error.
Check your casino balance: fix the period, currency and wallet
Write down an exact start, end and timezone. Use the opening cash immediately before the first included transaction and the closing cash after the last included transaction. Do not pair last Monday’s opening balance with today’s cashier screenshot if the export ends on Sunday.
Choose one currency and one boundary, such as the casino cash wallet. If the account has separate poker and casino wallets, a transfer into the casino wallet is not a new deposit from your bank. For a combined account ledger, include both sides of each internal transfer so they cancel. Do not add a transfer twice.
Keep the original export. In a working copy, retain each transaction ID, posting time, status, signed cash amount and balance after the row. Keep request and settlement timestamps when provided. Record the export’s timezone rather than guessing it from your device clock.
A documented place to get the records
PokerStars’ public help page describes a Playing History Audit covering deposits, withdrawals, transfers and play. On desktop its documented route is Tools → History & Stats → Playing History Audit. The request lets you choose a period and an Excel 97–2003, HTML or text file. It describes a separate file-protection password and email download instructions. Do not reuse your account password as the file password. PokerStars account-history instructions
Its separate casino-history page describes game records accessed on desktop through Tools → History & Stats → Get Casino Game History. That is useful for matching game references to cash entries. PokerStars casino and live game history
These are public-document checks made on 9 September 2026. We did not sign in, request an export or test a PokerStars account. The instructions do not establish availability for every regional product. Use the help route for your own licensed service.
What the British rule actually covers
For remote gambling within the UK Gambling Commission’s remit in Great Britain, RTS 1B requires easy access to at least three months of account and gambling history without contacting the operator. At least 12 months must be available on request. The rule includes relevant credits, debits, bonus information and movements between products. RTS 1C also requires access to net-deposit information. Its guidance defines this as lifetime deposits minus withdrawals across all payment methods. If full lifetime history is unavailable, the minimum span starts on 1 April 2018 or the account-opening date if later. The displayed timeframe must be explained. These are British requirements, not a worldwide export guarantee. UKGC RTS 1
Reconcile your casino balance before calling anything a win
Here, cash means the balance in the selected cash wallet. It does not certify that every pound is immediately withdrawable. Bonus balance means restricted promotional funds kept outside that wallet in this model. A displayed total that combines both cannot serve as the cash figure without a breakdown.
| Entry | Effect on this cash wallet | Treatment in the reconciliation |
|---|---|---|
| Deposit posted to the wallet | Increases cash | Record the credited amount, not an unmatched bank debit |
| Withdrawal debited from the wallet | Decreases cash | Count once when cash leaves this boundary, even if delivery is pending |
| Transfer between product wallets | Increases or decreases cash | Keep separate from deposits and play |
| Standalone cash fee | Decreases cash | Count once, provided it is not already netted from another amount |
| Correction or refund | Either direction | Preserve its sign and the original reference |
| Restricted bonus award | No cash effect in this model | Keep in the bonus ledger |
| Bonus released into cash | Increases cash | Record the cash credit once and the bonus reduction separately |
| Cash stake and credited return | Stake decreases cash, return increases it | Use actual debits and total returns, including any stake returned |
For the selected period, use positive totals for deposits, withdrawals, transfers in, transfers out and fees. A correction keeps its positive or negative sign.
Net other cash movements = transfers in − transfers out − fees + signed corrections + bonus converted to cash.
Expected closing cash = opening cash + deposits − wallet withdrawal debits + net cash play + net other cash movements.
Then calculate difference = actual closing cash − expected closing cash. A zero difference means the listed rows reconcile under your classifications. It does not prove the operator posted every row correctly.
The shortcut closing cash − opening cash − deposits + wallet withdrawal debits gives a cash residual. It equals the result of cash play only when other cash movements are zero and the period does not leave unresolved gaming effects. Otherwise subtract net other cash movements and reconcile the game records before naming the remainder.
Do not subtract a stake again if the statement already reports a net game result. In the examples below, returns are total amounts credited, not profit alone.
Scenario A: the balance rose but play lost £50
All three ledgers are synthetic teaching examples created by YPA. They do not describe real accounts or typical player results. Each uses GBP in one casino cash wallet from 1 September 2026 at 00:00 UTC inclusive to 8 September 2026 at 00:00 UTC exclusive. Every game shown is settled inside that period. There are no open wagers at either boundary.
| Row | Cash movement | Cash after row |
|---|---|---|
| Opening cash | Starting snapshot | £100 |
| A01: deposit | +£200 | £300 |
| A02: first cash stake | −£120 | £180 |
| A03: total return | +£90 | £270 |
| A04: second cash stake | −£60 | £210 |
| A05: total return | +£40 | £250 |
| A06: withdrawal | −£120 | £130 |
The wallet grew from £100 to £130. That £30 increase is not a £30 win.
Cash play: £90 + £40 − £120 − £60 = −£50.
Balance check: £100 + £200 − £120 − £50 = £130.
The shortcut also gives £130 − £100 − £200 + £120 = −£50 because this example has no other movements. Deposits minus withdrawals is £80. That £80 figure leaves out the £30 increase still held in the wallet, so it is not the £50 loss from play.
Scenario B: the cash residual hides transfers and a bonus
This example starts with £50 cash and no bonus balance. A £30 restricted bonus is awarded during the period and kept separately. Later, £10 of that bonus is released into cash under the example’s assumed terms, leaving £20 restricted. This is a bookkeeping assumption, not a claim about a PokerStars promotion.
| Row | Cash movement | Cash after row |
|---|---|---|
| Opening cash | Starting snapshot | £50 |
| B01: deposit | +£100 | £150 |
| B02: restricted bonus award | £0 cash, +£30 bonus | £150 |
| B03: transfer from another product wallet | +£25 | £175 |
| B04: cash stake | −£80 | £95 |
| B05: total return | +£60 | £155 |
| B06: transfer to another product wallet | −£15 | £140 |
| B07: standalone fee | −£3 | £137 |
| B08: correction of an earlier service debit | +£10 | £147 |
| B09: bonus released into cash | +£10 cash, −£10 bonus | £157 |
| B10: withdrawal | −£50 | £107 |
The simple residual looks positive: £107 − £50 − £100 + £50 = £7. Cash play was £60 − £80 = −£20.
The missing bridge is £25 − £15 − £3 + £10 + £10 = £27 in other cash movements. Subtract that £27 from the £7 residual and the result is −£20. The full check is £50 + £100 − £50 − £20 + £27 = £107.
Closing cash is £107 and restricted bonus is £20. Adding them gives £127 but that combined number does not belong in this cash formula. The correction here concerns a service debit. A correction to a game settlement would need to be reconciled with that game instead.
Scenario C: a £50 difference belongs to a pending withdrawal
This synthetic wallet starts at £80. A £100 deposit takes it to £180. A £70 stake and £30 total return leave £140, a £40 loss from settled play. At 22:00 UTC on 7 September, a £50 withdrawal request is debited from cash. Delivery is still pending at the cutoff, so closing cash is £90.
If you count only withdrawals received by the bank, you enter zero and calculate £90 − £80 − £100 = −£90. That disagrees with the game records by £50.
For this wallet’s stated posting convention, the withdrawal debit belongs in the cash ledger: £90 − £80 − £100 + £50 = −£40. Another check gives £80 + £100 − £40 − £50 = £90. The £50 pending amount stays on a separate tracking line. Its later arrival at the bank is not a second cash-wallet debit.
This does not mean every pending request reduces every operator’s cash balance. If a request remains inside the reported balance, do not subtract it yourself. Ask which balance the statement reports and when the debit takes effect. For a delay after that accounting question is resolved, use our separate guide to casino withdrawal stages and delivery times.
When the figures still do not match
Check the first point where the running balance diverges, not just the final total.
- Match the cutoff. Check timezone, posting date and whether the export includes the final day. A requested transaction and a posted transaction can fall on different sides of it.
- Match the wallet. Keep cash, bonus, reserved stakes and pending withdrawals identifiable. Do not combine currencies without an explicit conversion record and rate.
- Match the rows. Look for duplicate IDs, missing pages, reversed withdrawals and fees already included in a net amount. A rejected deposit with no cash credit contributes zero to cash deposits.
- Match the game meaning. Distinguish stake, total return and net win. If a stake is debited before the cutoff and settles after it, a cash reduction alone cannot establish a final loss on that wager. Obtain the open-wager details and reconcile settlement separately.
- Keep the remainder unexplained. Write down its amount and sign. A difference is a question to resolve, not evidence of theft, a hidden win or money you should wager again.
This ledger does not value open bets, combine exchange rates or calculate tax liability. Use our separate articles for the price of a sportsbook cash-out offer and US gambling tax reporting. Neither question is answered by the cash residual here. Preserve the original records if you need advice on tax treatment in your jurisdiction.
Ask the operator to explain the rows
Send this through the operator’s official support route. Fill in the bracketed fields and keep the originals privately. Do not share passwords, full payment-card details or an unredacted account history publicly.
I am reconciling my [currency] cash wallet for [start timestamp and timezone] to [end timestamp and timezone]. My statement shows opening cash of [amount] and closing cash of [amount].
Using the attached relevant rows, I calculate expected closing cash of [amount]. Actual closing cash minus expected closing cash is [signed difference]. The first mismatch is at transaction [reference].
Please confirm which balances the statement includes, when pending withdrawals are debited and how transfers, fees, bonus conversions and corrections are recorded. Please explain transactions [references] and provide any missing entries for this period, including posting times, statuses and balances after each entry. Please identify any open wagers or reserved amounts at both boundaries.
Please respond in writing with the calculation that connects the opening and closing cash balances.
Before you close the statement
Does a matching ledger prove I made a profit?
No. It proves only that the included cash entries add up under the stated boundaries. Scenario B reconciles while cash play loses £20. A positive result in another period would not establish future profitability or a reason to keep gambling.
Can I use deposits minus withdrawals as my loss?
Not by itself. You still need the opening and closing cash, other cash movements and the treatment of unsettled activity. Scenario A has £80 of net deposits and a £50 loss from play.
What did YPA check?
We created three synthetic ledgers with transaction IDs, timestamps and signed amounts. The worked examples above show the inputs and arithmetic needed to repeat the checks. This is an educational reconciliation exercise, not a test of a live casino account. The illustrations are conceptual, not screenshots or numerical evidence. Public documentation was reviewed on 9 September 2026. No operator export, payment, bonus conversion or complaint process was tested.
Read YPA’s evidence methodology or report a factual correction. This article has no affiliate links and recommends no gambling service. A loss is not a target to recover. Stop the calculation before it becomes a reason to place another bet.
