666BET director released on bail

666BET director Paul Bell has been released on bail following his arrest as part of an ongoing probe into multiple fraud and money laundering offences, eGaming Review has learned.

Bell had been detained along with six other individuals amid a multi-jurisdictional investigation carried out by the UK HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), Isle of Man Constabulary, Cheshire Constabulary and Guernsey Border Agency.

The HMRC has been leading the investigation and a spokesperson for the UK ministerial department this morning told eGR all seven suspects had since been released on bail pending further enquiries.

The arrest of Bell almost a fortnight ago prompted both the British Gambling Commission and Alderney Gambling Control Commission to suspend the operating licences belonging to Metro Play, which operates the 666BET and Metro Play brands.

And while the operator has yet to make any official comment on the investigation, an unnamed employee of the firm on Monday informed eGR the alleged offences were in relation to Bell’s “other business interests” and not connected to the “day-to-day running of the firm”.

Staff at the operator are said to be worried by developments with the licence suspensions coming at a time when the firm was attempting to put issues regarding slow payments to customers behind it.

“The Cheltenham Festival went extremely well for us and we smashed our overall target after the first day but then all of a sudden everything happened,” the unnamed employee said.

“It’s caused a lot of internal confusion and naturally everyone has been reading the reports and are concerned about their futures. It will be quite difficult to recover from this now, particularly bearing in mind the slow payment problems,” the employee added.

The firm hopes to re-establish the brands as soon as possible and is said to be looking at ways in which it can navigate the licence suspensions, potentially through a white-label arrangement.