Matched Betting Blog
Follow Us
  • My Matched Betting Blog
  • Free Bets
  • Match Betting Basics
    • How to get started
    • Ten Rules of Matched Betting >
      • Matched Betting Mistakes
    • Ten Reasons Your Bets Aren't Paying >
      • Snowball Betting
    • How to Choose an Online Bookmaker
    • Ten Ways to Beat the Bookmaker
    • If Bets >
      • Cheltenham Festival Offers
      • Money Back Specials
      • Nil Nil Bore Draw Refunds
    • Betting Terms >
      • Arbitrage
      • Backing and Laying
      • Best Odds Guarantee
      • Dutching
      • Gnoming Multiple Accounts
      • Gubbing
      • Mug Bets
      • Horse Racing Rule 4
      • Sharbing
      • Underlaying
    • What is Asian Handicap betting?
  • Key Tools
    • Sites You Need to Join >
      • Skrill VIP
      • Matched Betting Forum
    • Premier League Winner Odds
    • Bookmaker Overround
    • Casino Bonuses >
      • Martingale Betting
      • Monty Hall and Deal or No Deal
      • The National Lottery
      • Perfect Strategy
      • Return to Player (RTP)
      • Risk Free Casino Bonuses
    • Risk Free Bets
    • BitCoin Betting >
      • BitCoin Casino Betting
      • BitCoin Sports Betting
      • BitCoin To Avoid UK Bookmaker Closures
    • Odds Comparison >
      • Live Streaming
    • Bookmaker Complaints >
      • BetButler Complaints
      • How long does a withdrawal take?
    • Making a Book >
      • Cheltenham Festival 2015
      • Champions League Betting
      • Election Betting
      • The Grand National
      • World Cup 2014 >
        • The Bookie World Cup
    • Other sites we love
  • Bookmakers
    • Betting App Reviews
    • What is the best Bookmaker? >
      • Best Bookmaker
    • Bet365 Review
    • BetBright Review
    • BetFair Review
    • Bet Fred review
    • BGO Review
    • Coral review
    • Ladbrokes Review
    • Paddy Power Review
    • William Hill review
    • Winner review
    • 32 Red Bet review

The Gambling Commission Don't Believe in Freedom of Information

1/9/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
As the news of BetButler closing slowly spreads accross the internet (doing it on a Friday evening was a good shout on their part), attention will once again turn to The Gambling Commission.

The UK Gambling Commission are supposed to regulate the betting industry and protect customers.

In the space of 2014 alone we've seen Canbet, Bodugi and now BetButler go under, so maybe it's not working too well.
What many people see as the problem with the Commission is that punters and customers understand the issues a company is having way in advance of the Commission themselves.

We see the slowing of withdrawals, the increase in bonuses and the lack of customer service first hand. Complaints are made, twitter feeds are bombarded, and still the Commission seems unable or unwilling to act to protect us.

If you do make a complaint to the Commission you tend to get a stock response about using the operator's complaint procedure, which is of course rediculous as if the operator had resolved the complaint you wouldn't need to contact the Commission!

One thing we've seen a bit more of recently is requests under the freedom of information act. These requests should gain you access to more useful details, details that might protect your funds from dodgy bookmakers, but they are invariably declined on the basis of not being in the public interest, or that they would jeopordise ongoing investigation.

We've seen a few declined requests with regards BetButler, the latest of which are shown below.

In favour of disclosure There is a legitimate public interest in promoting the accountability and transparency of public authorities. There is also an interest in highlighting instances of non-compliance within the industry in order to promote compliance from other operators.A large number of people have been affected by delays in Bet Butlermaking payments. There is also an interest in the public understanding how the Commission investigates matters of non-compliance and that if there are any failings in this process that these are exposed.

In favour of maintaining the exemption The information requested is in relation to a very specific case so disclosure would not be of general public interest. It is of interest to thosedirectly affected by the current situation. Disclosure is likely to prejudice the Commission’sability to investigate such matters in the future if the bodies it regulates feel they cannot be candid with it regarding its regulatory investigations. This is not in the public interest as it would have a negative impact upon our ability to carry out ourstatutory functions. The case is still currently ongoing and disclosure would prejudice the Commission’s ability to engage with thisoperator.

Weighing the balance Having considered the balance of the public interest, the Commission is of the view that disclosing this level of detail would be likely to negatively impact on the openness the Commission expects from operators. The balance of the public interest lies in operators being encouraged to make timely and frank submissions to the Commission when incidents occur to allow the Commission to take appropriate steps in a timely manner.
So in summary;

- T
he Commission make a nod to the idea that there may be failings in their non-compliance invetigation processes, but are unwilling to release details of their processes.

- If the Commission released information then companies might not want to release information to them in future, even though they have to as part of their licence.

- The Commission will continue to rely on operators making timely and frank submissions off their own back, even though that would be commerical suicide for them.

And this is the same Commission that wants all betting operators that take UK customers to be UK regulated to ensure that the we, the punters, are protected. That has been written into law and will take effect in October of this year.

Well all the evidence suggests that the Commission isn't going to protect you, so what can you do to protect yourself?

Read the Rise and Fall of Canbet, an excellent article on the failings of another UK Regulated bookmaker that went bust earlier in the year. It should help you pick out some of the signs of a bookmaker in trouble.

Use the Payout Times reports, and post your own when you know them.

If you're a casual punter, go with one of the big sites like Bet365. If you're going for matched betting, get in and out of the smaller books as quickly as possible.

Never gamble with money you can't afford to lose. It's rule number 1. You might not think a bookmaker can go under, but they can and do and will continue to do so.
0 Comments

    Matched Betting

    Matched betting is the process of extracting the value of free bets and bonuses from bookmaker offers, and turning them into cash in your pocket.

    My blog is all about all things betting, and gambling related. The rest of the site shows you how matched betting is done.

    Picture
    BGO no deposit free spins
    Smarkets Affiliates 2% Commission £10 Free Bet
    Bet365 200 Free Bet

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    March 2017
    February 2016
    August 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    September 2013

    Categories

    All
    12Bet
    138.com
    18Bet
    32Red
    666Bet
    888Sport
    Advantage Play
    Andy Hosie
    Angel Di Maria
    Arbitrage
    Arbs
    Arsenal
    Back And Lay
    Bash The Bookies
    Bayern Munich
    Beat The Bookies
    Best World Cup Bookie
    Best World Cup Bookmaker
    Bet365
    BetBright
    Bet Bright
    BetButler
    Bet Butler
    BetClearer
    Bet Clearer
    BetClic
    BetFair
    BetFred
    Bet Fred
    Betsson
    Betting Blog
    Betting Diary
    Betting Dictionary
    Betting Exchange
    Betting Forum
    BetVictor
    BGO Beat The Boss
    Bingo
    Bingo Bonuses
    Bingo Reviews
    BitCoin
    BitCoin Betting
    BitCoin Casino
    Bodugi
    Bonus Abuse
    Bookieworldcup
    Bookmaker Cashback
    Bookmaker Complaints
    Bookmaker Reviews
    Bore Draw Insurance
    Bore Draw Refund
    Boyles
    Brazil 2014
    Butlers-bingo
    Bwin
    Canbet
    Cashback
    Cashpoint
    Casino Bonuses
    Champions League
    Chelsea
    Cheltenham
    Cheltenham Festival
    Cheltenham Festival 2015
    Chris Norman
    Comeon
    Complaints
    Consistant Betting Profit
    Coral
    Crystal-palace
    Customer-service
    David Cameron
    David-moyes
    Death-of-matched-betting
    Delia-smith
    Dutching
    Ed Miliband
    England-captain
    English-player-premium
    Enhanced-bonus
    EToro
    Eurovision
    Ewallet
    Fa-cup
    Frankie-slot
    Free Bets
    Gambling-terminology
    General Election
    Glossy-bingo
    Golf Betting
    Google-alerts-for-betting
    Google-alerts-for-gambling
    GoWager
    Grand-national
    Gubbed
    Gubbing
    Hazard
    Iesnare
    If Bets
    James-wilson
    Ladbrokes
    Ladbrokes-exchange
    Lfc
    Liverpool
    Long-term-markets
    Luis Van Gaal
    Manchester City
    Manchester Utd
    Matchbook
    Matched Betting
    Matched Betting Forum
    Matched Betting Spreadsheet
    Moyes
    Mse Giol
    Mug Bets
    Netteller
    New Sportsbook
    Nil Nil Matched Betting
    Nil Nil Refund
    Norwich City
    Noxwin
    Paddypower
    Party Bets
    Payout Times
    Paypal
    Pineau-de-re
    Premier League
    Premier League Betting
    Premier League Loser
    Premier League Records
    Premier League Relegation
    Premier League Team Of The Season
    Premier League Winner
    Profit Accumulator
    Psg
    Reload Bonus
    Risk Free
    Risk Free Bet
    Risk Free Casino Bonuses
    Rory-mcilroy
    Royal Ascot
    Royal Baby
    Score Draw
    Scottish Independence
    Scottish Referendum
    Seanie Mac
    Sharbing
    Skrill
    Sky Bet
    Smarkets
    Smart Punter
    Sports Trading
    Star Sports
    Suarez
    Sun Bingo
    T&C
    TGT
    The Gambling Commission
    The Gambling Times
    The-grand-national-2014
    The Open Championship
    Tilt
    Tips
    Tipster
    TitanBet
    Tote Sport
    Tottenham
    Trading
    Twitter
    UK Election
    Ultimatcher
    Unibet
    Us-masters
    Value Betting
    Vote No
    Vote Yes
    WBX
    White Christmas
    William Hill
    Winner
    Withdrawal Issues
    World Cup
    World Cup Betting Offers
    Wwwthegamblingtimescom

    RSS Feed

    32 Red No deposit bonus
    BetFair Casino Bonus
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.