The operating licence of the betting exchange company Matchbook was temporarily suspended by the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) with the reasons still unknown.
According to media reports, Matchbook contacted its British customers on February 17th via email to inform them that the major gambling regulatory body in the country had made the decision to temporarily ban the operating licence of Triplebet. As a result of the decision, the company informed its customers that its casino and sports betting activity in the UK would be briefly closed as of 23:59 on February 17th, 2020.
In the email sent to its customers, Matchbook further noted that during the time of the closure it would continue to settle all open positions and users will be able to access their accounts and withdraw their funds. The sports betting exchange promised they would be “back soon”.
The company has revealed that it has been in regular talks with the gambling watchdog that had agreed to communicate with the operator and give the green light to its services again. Also, despite the announcement made by Matchbook via email, the official licence register of the UK Gambling Commission still shows that the licences held by Triplebet as “active”.
Licence Suspension May Be Because of a Legal Case Involving Matchbook’s Subsidiary
As mentioned above, the reasons for the temporary suspension of Matchbook’s operating licence still remain unclear. Matchbook has been operational since 2004 and then, in 2011, got acquired by a group of investors who had experience in British sports betting and banking.
Last month, an Irish media revealed a UK legal judgement that involved Eurasia Sports, a subsidiary of Matchbook. The subsidiary held an operating licence issued by the Alderney Gambling Control Commission for its website 3et.com that offers unrestricted betting services aimed especially at high-value bettors.
The case dates back to 2015. According to details about the case revealed by the press, the defendants were a number of affluent gamblers originating from Peru who the Irish company Xanadu Consultancy recruited for Eurasia Sports. The defendants were high-roller players who were willing to place considerable amounts of money as bets quickly by using the services of Eurasia. At the time, the company offered some of these punters credit amounting to up to $1 million without any security.
Some of these customers were not able or were unwilling to honour the markers, but made a promise to recruit other high-roller customers in order to make sure a fresh money flow is guaranteed for Eurasia. According to allegations of Eurasia, the punters had taken part in a conspiracy to deceive the company by submitting false checks and making false claims that the had paid their gambling debts.
According to media reports, the UK Gambling Commission has put its licensees on notice when it comes to high-roller customers following a report determined that so-called VIP customers were over-presented in the country’s gambling statistics.
- Author
Olivia Cole
