Four online bookmakers have created a storm of controversy after closing accounts and voiding bets in the wake of one of the most successful Cheltenham Festivals ever for punters.
Two weeks after the fiesta for favourite backers at Cheltenham the four firms – 138.com, 12bet.uk, fun88.co.uk and tlcbet.co.uk – who like most bookmakers offered special promotions for the four-day meeting, have accused some punters of abusing the bonus bets offered and voided their winnings.
This bombshell comes in the run-up to racing’s biggest betting event of the year, the Crabbie’s Grand National at Aintree next Saturday.
Vautour wins the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham (photo: Dave Boylan)
Hundreds of the affected punters took to social media to highlight their plight with claims that individual sums involved ran into thousands of pounds with the firms.
The four online operators, who include Premier League and Championship football teams among their sponsorship portfolios, have Isle of Man registrations on their websites but with different addresses.
Situation monitored
The Gambling Commission confirmed on Saturday it is closely monitoring developments while pointing aggrieved punters to follow the complaints procedures laid out by the firms, who are all licensed by the commission and subscribe to the Independent Betting Arbitration Service (IBAS).
It also revealed the firms had made contact on Tuesday, before contacting affected customers. A commission spokesperson said: “They did alert us to a problem as they saw it and on Friday afternoon we started to get calls from concerned punters.
“We are monitoring the situation very, very carefully but would remind punters we have no power to get their money back but can impose a range of sanctions putting conditions on the licence, with revoking any licence the very last step.”
‘Unusual activity’
The Racing Post could not reach representatives of the firms on Saturday but Garth Kimber, chief executive of Xela Holdings, which owns 138.com, was quoted by local media.
He told IOMToday: “Following unprecedented volumes and unusual activities during the Cheltenham racing festival, the company has followed our regulator-approved procedures and terms and conditions, and reviewed activity deemed suspicious.
“All payments were processed for accounts not deemed to be under investigation and all payments have now been processed for those accounts reviewed and found not to have been in breach of our terms and conditions.
“For those accounts where the terms and conditions have been breached, account holders have been informed, the company has processed a refund of deposits, voided all bets (winning and losing) and closed the accounts.”
www.racingpost.com
