Following a series of customer complaints and a lengthy and detailed two-year long review, the consumer watchdog organisation Competition and Marketing Authority (CMA) has determined that a number of firms provide unreasonable terms in an attempt to influence withdrawals. Two, Jumpman Gaming and Progress Play, were singled out by name and criticised for removing funds from player accounts if the players did not log in within a certain time period.
Many customer complaints dealt with elements of the firms’ terms of use that meant that players could not readily, or all at once, withdraw their funds from the gaming account in question. Firms were also found to be applying money laundering regulations selectively, in order to prevent or delay withdrawals from winning accounts, while failing to observe such checks against other accounts.
In this particular case, the firms mentioned were cited as examples of bad practice without being directly penalised. But as we’ve seen recently, the UK Gambling Commission has rolled up its sleeves and declared that there will no longer be any cap on the amount a firm can be fined. They’ve also significantly strengthened the ties between breaches of regulation and license suspension or loss – in other words, follow the regulations unless you want to risk losing your license – so we can view this particular response as a warning shot of sorts.
The UK Gambling Commission has made it clear that the scrapping of such tactics will soon be required across the UK industry. As such, a number of major companies will have to rewrite their rulebook. I personally know people who have had funds removed for exactly this reason by major poker firms. It is a marginal exploit by the gaming firms, and it is very welcome to see the regulators finally beginning to close these loopholes down.
