Canbet payment issue escalates
Gambling Commission says imposing strict penalties may risk the return of customer funds from UK operator
The UK Gambling Commission remains undecided as to whether it should remove or suspend Canbet’s UK operating licence as the number of customers waiting to be reunited with their funds continues to grow.
According to the regulator, troubled bookie Canbet provided “some assurances” over its financial health on 24 January, more than three weeks after the operator was forced to suspend business due to “an ongoing system malfunction” which has prevented it from paying out customers.
The Commission had earlier given Canbet until 6 January to provide it with a progress report and discussions between the regulator and Canbet continue to take place in order to find a resolution.
However, the Commission has yet to decide whether it should suspend or remove Canbet’s licence with the regulator considering such action is likely to reduce the chances of customers seeing their cash.
“This is a matter of great concern to us and there are difficult choices to be made,” the regulator said in a statement. “We are mindful of the need to balance the risks to the licensing objectives in the Gambling Act 2005 against the possible impact that any action the Commission takes against Canbet may have on its customers.
“While we can stop a firm from trading if there is a risk to the licensing objectives, in cases such as this, suspension or revocation of an operating licence is highly likely to result in the company closing and customers having no chance of being repaid.”
Problems regarding the operator’s payments system first surfaced in October when Canbet attributed the issues to “technical problems”.
In December, the operator issued a further statement informing customers they would be paid within a week and blamed an IT error “triggered through bonus bets and free deposit match up bonuses” for the delay in processing the payments.
Canbet was acquired by Melbourne-based Interactive Gaming and Sports Group in January 2013 with the majority of its operations now based in the Australian city.