Three Asia-Facing Remote Gambling Sites Closing Portals to UK Punters
Last week, Mansion Poker, SBOBET and 12BET, sent email notices informing their respective British customers that their websites will no longer be available in the UK, in light of the forthcoming imposition of the new Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Act on October 01, 2014.
The first to come out with such an announcement is Gibraltar-licenced Mansion Poker, stating that the poker room is constrained to cease with its UK operations effective September 15, 2014. The poker site extended a request to any customer originating from UK to withdraw whatever funds they may have in their Mansion Poker account.
Mansion Poker belongs to the Gibraltar-based Mansion Group Ltd, founded by Netherlands-born Indonesian businessman Putera Sampoerna. Aside from Mansion Poker, The Group also owns and operates online casinos, remote sportsbook, and exchange facilities catering to customers coming from Europe and East Asia. Chinese characters affixed to The Mansion logo clearly indicate its Asia-facing operations.
SBOBET followed suit in announcing its decision to withdraw from the UK gambling market, sending out similar emails to British customers, stating that as a direct consequence of UK’s new licencing and advertising laws, the management of the sports betting site has decided to close its UK portals beginning September 15, 2014. Customers with outstanding bets placed for events taking place after September 15, still have up to September 30 to settle the outcomes and submit requests for withdrawals.
SBOBET is the online sports betting and gaming subsidiary of e-gaming products provider Celton Manx Ltd. SBOBET’s operation in the Asia-Pacific regions is licenced by First Cagayan Leisure and Resort Corporation of the Philippines, while its European betting sites operate under the regulatory supervision of the Isle of Man Gambling Supervision Commission. In years 2009 and 2010, SBOBET won the EGR Asian Operator of the Year Award, and in 2012 earned the distinction of being the 14th most influential company listed in eGaming Review’s 2012 Power 50 Companies.
Reports have it that 12Bet, another prominent Asian sportsbetting and online casino operator that maintains European operations but mainly targeting Asian customers, is also on the verge of closing its virtual doors to British punters. However, the site gave advice to customers that they can still place bets up to September 30, which denotes that the site is still trying to meet the deadline for submission of licence application, as set by the UK Gambling Commission.
Still, in an interview conducted by the eGaming Review magazine, 12Bet CEO Rory Anderson had stated that 12Bet management has reached a practical decision of concentrating and focusing its energy on online casino operations as far as the UK gambling market is concerned. Accordingly, the new legislation will not affect in any way, the accounts of 12Bet’s UK-based online casino players.
12Bet is licenced in the Philippines by First Cagayan Leisure and Resort Corporation, owned and operated by Costa Rica-based Pacific Sea Invest SA. Other than the Philippine licence, the online gambling products and services of Pacific Sea Invest do not have a remote gaming licence issued by any European regulators. The remote betting site offers its online gaming services in English, simplified and traditional Chinese, and Thai.
