Privacy policy

Play Full House (“we”, “us”, “our”) publishes Alcove Poker. This policy explains what personal data we collect across the web app and any Alcove Poker mobile app, why we collect it, and the choices and rights you have over it. It sits alongside our Terms and conditions.

• Account data — your display name, avatar choice, and, once sign-in launches, an email address or sign-in identifier and the result of your age check.
• Gameplay data — hands you play, actions you take, your chip balance and history, and table activity. Fairness data — the shuffle commitment, seed, and dealt cards for a completed hand — is intentionally public and verifiable by anyone; see how the shuffle works.
• Device and technical data — IP address, device and browser type, and connection information, needed to run real-time play and to apply location-based access rules.
• Purchase data — once chip purchases launch, a record of what you bought and when, from the app store or payment provider. We do not receive or store your full card details ourselves.
• Support messages — anything you send us at hello@playfullhouse.com.

In this beta, before sign-in exists: your age-check result, display name, avatar, and responsible-play settings are stored locally on your own device (browser local storage), not on our servers. That moves onto your account record once sign-in launches, and we will update this policy when it does.

We use your data to:

• run the game in real time and maintain your account, chip balance, and hand history;
• check your age and apply location-based access rules;
• enforce our terms, including detecting collusion, unauthorised bots, and chip dumping;
• respond to support requests;
• with your consent, send you product updates, which you can opt out of at any time; and
• keep the service secure and prevent fraud and abuse.

We do not use your data to show you third-party advertising, and we do not sell your personal data.

Where UK and EU data protection law applies, we rely on: contract, to run your account and gameplay; legal obligation, for age verification, location-based access rules, and record-keeping; legitimate interests, for security and preventing fraud and abuse, balanced against your rights; and consent, for marketing communications and anything else we specifically ask you for.

• Hosting and infrastructure providers who run our servers, bound by contract to use data only to provide that service.
• Once chip purchases launch, the app store or payment provider that processes a purchase — Apple, Google, or an approved web payment provider — who receive only what they need to complete it.
• Email providers, for account and security messages.
• Regulators or law enforcement, where the law requires it.
• Other players, but only what is designed to be visible at the table: your display name, avatar, and, after a hand’s showdown, your revealed cards for that hand — never your account or contact details.

We do not sell personal data, and we do not share it for third-party advertising.

We are based in the UK, with players around the world. Where your data crosses a border — for example to our hosting infrastructure — we use appropriate safeguards, such as UK or EU Standard Contractual Clauses or the UK International Data Transfer Addendum.

We keep account data while your account is active, and for a limited period afterwards to meet legal and fraud-prevention obligations, then delete or anonymise it.

Hand records used for fairness verification are kept and published in a form anyone can check — that is deliberate, and part of how the fairness claim works, not an oversight.

Data stored locally in this beta (see “Data we collect” above) stays on your device until you clear your browser storage or we move it onto an account record.

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to:

• ask for a copy of the data we hold about you;
• ask us to correct inaccurate data;
• ask us to delete your data (the right to erasure);
• ask us to restrict, or object to, how we use your data;
• receive your data in a portable format; and
• withdraw consent at any time, where we rely on consent.

To use any of these rights, contact hello@playfullhouse.com. You can delete your account from inside the app, on your profile page — that erases your profile, play history and saved settings. Records of chip purchases are kept because we have to keep financial records, and any break or self-exclusion you have taken is kept because a break has to outlast an account. In-app data export is not built yet; email us and we will send it. If you are in the UK, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk.

Alcove Poker is not for anyone under 18. We do not knowingly collect data from anyone under 18. If we learn that we have, we delete it and close the account.

We use browser local storage, not third-party tracking cookies, to remember your age check, profile choices, and responsible-play settings on your device, and to keep you connected during a session. We do not currently use third-party advertising or analytics cookies. If that changes, we will update this policy and ask for your consent where the law requires it.

We use reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your data, including encrypting connections to the service. No system is completely secure. If you believe your account or data has been compromised, contact hello@playfullhouse.com straight away.

For players in Nigeria, we handle your data in line with the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023. The rights set out above apply to you in the same way, and you can reach our data protection contact at hello@playfullhouse.com.

We may update this policy from time to time. We will post the change here with a new “last updated” date, and tell you more directly — in the app or by email — for a material change.

Questions about this policy, or a data protection request: hello@playfullhouse.com. Alcove Poker is published by Play Full House.