Bet365 has been publicly shamed in UK newspaper that is national Guardian for allegedly withholding £54,000 ($72,000) of just one customer’s funds. The bettor, whose identity is recognized to but perhaps not revealed by the newspaper, claims that she has been denied duplicated withdrawal requests over a period of months and her only recourse is to simply take legal action.

In accordance with The Guardian, the bettor signed up for an account at Bet365 in mid-April, depositing £30,000 (£40,000) and promptly losing £23,000 ($30,600) on a few horseracing bets the next day. Bet365 emailed her within hours to inform her that her maximum stake had increased.

But the day that is next hit an upswing, spinning up the £7,000 she had left into £54,000. She was swiftly informed by the operator via email that her betting limitation was decreased to £1 per bet, which Bet365 described as a ‚trading decision,‘ claimed the Guardian. She was, nevertheless, told if she wished that she could wager much higher on casino games.

Nonplussed, the woman asked for her money to be used in her debit card, a procedure that Bet365’s terms and conditions stipulate should simply take between three and five days that are working.

Despite receiving notification that her identification was in fact fully verified, the customer has been waiting over 8 weeks for her money.

What’s Happening?

Cases of online bookmakers restricting the accounts of players that fit that the mold to be a ‚profitable‘ professional sports bettor, are well-known, but without having any details concerning the woman’s identity it’s hard to determine just what’s going on here, or whether she’s one.

As a gambling that is UK-licensed, Bet365 must follow a robust set of laws handed down by the UK Gambling Commission, which include fraud checks and anti-money-laundering measures, and these usually takes a while to iron out if the system has triggered an anomaly, which will appear to function as case.

If she had just been defined as an ‚unprofitable‘ customer, through the bookmaker’s point of view, that could give an explanation for limitation on stakes, but perhaps not the withdrawal hold-up.

The woman claims that her bank manager has assured her there is absolutely no concern about the source of her funds, which, would ostensibly rule out money-laundering or fraud.

Which departs match-fixing.

Guardian Tight-lipped

The fact that Bet365 refused to comment on the situation shows that there’s more to this than meets the eye; because normally the general public relations department would jump at the opportunity to chat to the Guardian and grab some free publicity at the same time, and now we’ve known a few.

Whether knowingly or perhaps not, the lady might have bet on races of which the results have now been flagged as suspicious. The Guardian assures us that there clearly was ‚no dispute about the validity of her winning bets,‘ but we’re not too sure what’s left throw at her here. Therefore the article’s refusal to write any details of the correspondence between the two parties, or go into much depth at all concerning the full situation, doesn’t help our plight.

The Guardian is broadly against the gambling industry in the UK and rails in its article contrary to the ‚verification‘ procedures that will hold up withdrawal for customers. But doesn’t it recognize that the online gambling industry is certainly one associated with most heavily regulated sectors in the UK? Would it prefer to have no verification procedures at all?

No doubt the woman will receive her money, we should probably all just relax a bit if it she gets the all-clear, and in the meantime.