666BET blames third-party confusion for funds issue
Gambling Commission says it has not been asked to authorise any white-label deal as customers and third parties wait for payment
666BET says it is exploring “alternative routes” to pay customers after the Gambling Commission revealed it has not been asked to authorise any white-label deal, a green light the operator said it had been waiting for.
Earlier this week the embattled operator explained it had been trying to secure a white-label deal in order to get its site back up and running and had been in discussions with a third-party supplier since its licence was suspended on 20 March.
666BET claimed its prospective platform provider had said the white-label arrangement was under review by the Gambling Commission with a decision due on 13 April, however the regulator has since told the operator that it has not been asked nor is it required to sanction any such partnership.
In a statement released yesterday, 666BET, operated by Metro Play, said it had been “reliably and explicitly informed on several occasions” by the third-party that it was waiting on the regulator to approve the white-label deal.
“The UKGC have now informed us that this is not the case,” a statement released by the operator said yesterday.
“We have therefore asked the company who offered to provide us with the aforementioned platform to clarify their comments and sought further confirmation from the UKGC regarding this situation as they have been aware of our efforts throughout the recent downtime,” the statement read.
“In the meantime we will now explore alternative routes to pay customers, which we will hope to now announce on Monday but would like to make it clear that we are still dependent on third-party payment providers in order to fulfil withdrawals securely for all our customers,” it added.
The Gambling Commission reaffirmed its position that while Metro Play’s licences are suspended, it is approved to return customer funds and has offered to speak with any third parties the operator has been experiencing issues with.
“We’ve made it clear to Metro Play that there’s no regulatory bar preventing them from paying customers,” a spokesperson for the regulator said.
“At no point has Metro Play or its third party providers requested the Commission’s approval in order to carry out this task. If they’re experiencing practical difficulties then we have offered to talk to any third-party providers.”
eGaming Review understands both customers and suppliers, who 666BET said have suspended and terminated contracts with the operator, are waiting for the return of significant sums of money.
The operator’s licences were suspended by both the Alderney and British regulator last month after its director Paul Bell was arrested amid an investigation related to a £21m tax fraud allegation.
Update: 666BET has put a message on the holding page of its website which reads: “On Monday 20th April we will be providing all customers with details of how they can process their withdrawals from our site.”