Regulatory Pressure Forces Dafabet To Shutter UK Casino
Dafabet is an online gambling operator. They have made the announcement their United Kingdom casino is closing. The trigger for this move is most likely the growing regulatory pressure in the industry. As of March 8th of 2018 the Dafabet online casino UK no longer accepts deposits. Players have until March 20th of 2018 to withdraw their funds. After this the registered depositing method will be used to automatically return player balances. Dafabet posted a message on their website stating the closure of their casino will not affect their sports betting operations.
Dafabet obtained a license from the United Kingdom Gambling Commission to operate. They additionally have a license from the Isle of Man. It is important to realize Dafabet is both the most popular and biggest AsianBGE gambling company. This gaming group originated in the Philippines and their original licensing was through the CEZA or Cagayan Economic Zone Authority. Recognition throughout Asia was first gained by AsianBGE through their betting brands and gaming. They did not access the gambling market in the United Kingdom until later. They ensured their brands had wider exposure in the regulated market of Europe by sponsoring some of the United Kingdom’s biggest football clubs over the years.
The Premier League’s Burnley F.C. is sponsored by Dafabet. A sponsorship deal for £2.5-million was signed by the gambling operator for the 2017 through 2018 football season for the football club. This sponsorship agreement was recent and represented an increase of £0.5 million from the last football season. Dafabet has not offered any information regarding their decision to close their United Kingdom casino business. This may be because of both the pending and already implemented changes for the online gambling space in the country.
The United Kingdom Gambling Commission discovered numerous violations regarding their licenses. They teamed with the Advertising Standards Authority and the Competition and Markets Authority to initiate what is being referred to as a multi-pronged crackdown for all the operators with infractions and their affiliate partners. There are various natures of these violations including poor controls for anti-money laundering and breaches of several of the codes for advertising.
The CMA made a more recent announcement and has written to numerous gambling operators. These operators have been warned against certain practices and terms that may obstruct customers from being able to access their funds in a way they find fitting. The main concerns of the authority are the limits for withdrawing funds that have been deemed unreasonably low, the short deadlines provided to players for identity verification so their funds can be withdrawn and the dormancy terms enabling the operators to confiscate their customer’s funds once the individuals have been inactive for a specific period of time.
The United Kingdom Gambling Commission as well as numerous relevant regulators have stated the rules are going to be changed. There will be a more thorough probe for both existing and new operators to determine if they are capable of complying with the licensing terms issued by the United Kingdom’s gambling regulator.
