Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

E-Kings Gaming (“E-Kings”, “we”, “us”) runs console esports tournaments in Gqeberha, Eastern Cape, South Africa. For POPIA, E-Kings is the responsible party for the personal information described here. Questions, requests and complaints about your information go to our Information Officer at admin@ekings.co.za.

2. What we collect

• Account details: your full name, gamer tag, email address, date of birth, whether you are a student, employed or other, and the name of your school, college or university if you are a student. Your password is stored only as a one-way hash; we cannot read it.
• Player card: the platform, main game, tagline and avatar you choose to add.
• Tournament activity: your entries, check-in, match results, rankings and awards.
• Payment records: the payment reference and status of an entry, and any proof of payment you upload. Card payments are taken by PayFast; we never see or store your card number.
• Technical data: your IP address, used to protect the site against spam and abuse, and a sign-in cookie that keeps you logged in.
• Visit counts: how many times each public page is opened each day, and how many times a sponsor's link is followed. These are plain totals. We do not record who visited, we set no tracking cookie, and we do not count anybody whose browser sends a Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control signal.
• Photos and video: taken at our events, as set out in section 6.
• Messages you send us: for example a sponsor enquiry or a school application.
• Your choices: that you accepted this policy and which version, whether you agreed to event email, and whether you agreed to photo and video — each with the date.

3. Why we use it

• To create your account and let you enter tournaments.
• To check age limits for tournaments and to run the School League. Your date of birth is never shown publicly.
• To run events: brackets, scoring, rankings, the livestream and prize payouts.
• To process and reconcile entry fees and to meet our tax and accounting duties.
• To email you about your own entries — confirmations, receipts, waitlist and password-reset messages. These are needed for the service to work.
• To keep the site safe and stop spam, fraud and duplicate or fake payment proofs.
• To promote E-Kings using event photos and video, if you agreed (section 6).
• To send you event news and promotions, only if you agreed (section 5).

We process your information because it is needed to perform the contract you enter when you register for a tournament, because the law requires some of it, because we have a legitimate interest in running and securing the events, or because you consented. We collect only what we need for these purposes.

4. What is public

Your gamer tag, player card, avatar, tournament results, rankings and awards are shown on the site and may appear on the livestream and live screens. Your email address, date of birth, school and payment details are not shown publicly.

5. Email marketing

We send event news, results and promotions only to players who ticked the email box when they registered or turned it on later in their dashboard. It is unticked by default. You can withdraw at any time, for free, from your dashboard or with the unsubscribe link in any marketing email, and we will stop. Opting out of marketing does not stop the emails you need about your own entries. We do not sell or rent your email address.

6. Photos and video at events

When you register you agree that E-Kings and people working with us may take photographs and video of you if you attend our events, and may use them on our website, gallery, livestream, social media channels and promotional material, including for sponsors of the event. We do not use them to identify you or to sell your image to third parties.

You may withdraw this permission at any time by unticking it in your dashboard or emailing us. Withdrawal applies from then on: we will stop using your image in new material and, on request, take down media we control where you can be identified. We cannot recall material already printed or broadcast, or posts that other people have shared. If you do not want to be filmed at a particular event, tell a member of the team when you arrive.

7. Children and young people

Some of our events and the School League involve players under 18. For anyone under 18, a parent or guardian must agree to this policy, to the photo and video permission and to any marketing email on their behalf. We ask for a date of birth so we can enforce age limits. If you believe a child has registered without that consent, contact us and we will deal with it.

8. Who we share it with

We share information only where needed, and only with:

• PayFast, which processes card payments;
• our email service provider, to deliver email;
• our hosting, backup and infrastructure providers;
• social platforms we publish to, for event media you agreed to;
• schools, where you play in the School League through that school;
• our accountants and professional advisers; and
• authorities, where the law requires it.

Some of these providers store data outside South Africa. Where they do, we rely on providers that protect personal information to a standard comparable to POPIA.

9. How long we keep it

We keep your account while it is active. Payment and accounting records are kept for as long as tax law requires, currently five years. Tournament results and rankings are kept as part of our event history. When information is no longer needed, we delete it or de-identify it.

10. How we protect it

Passwords are hashed, connections use HTTPS, access to admin tools is limited to our staff, and uploaded files are screened and stored privately. No system is perfectly secure. If a breach puts your information at risk, we will tell you and the Information Regulator as POPIA requires.

11. Your rights

Under POPIA you may:

• ask what personal information we hold about you and get a copy;
• ask us to correct or delete information that is inaccurate, out of date or no longer needed;
• withdraw a consent you gave, such as marketing or photo and video, at any time;
• object to us processing your information; and
• complain to the Information Regulator.

Email admin@ekings.co.za from the address on your account. We may ask you to confirm who you are first, and we will reply within a reasonable time. If you are not happy with our answer, you can complain to the Information Regulator of South Africa at inforegulator.org.za or POPIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy. The date and version are at the top. If a change matters, we will tell registered players by email or on the site.