A few weeks ago the UK Gambling Commission decided to suspend the operating licence of BetIndex Limited known as Football Index pursuant to section 118(2) of the Gambling Act 2005 over concerns activities may have been carried on in purported reliance on the licence, but not in accordance with a condition of the licence, and that Football Index may not be suitable to carry on with licensed activities.
BetIndex Ltd launched the world's first football stock market, Football INDEX, where traders can buy and sell shares in professional footballers with real money. BetIndex Limited, is a privately owned Jersey based gambling operator established in 2015.
Now however the UK Gambling Commission has decided to reveal more details about the reasons for regulatory action into BetIndex Limited, trading as Football Index. The Commission said it has focused the revised reasoning on areas from received questions regarding its approach.
The gambling regulatory body said that BetIndex Limited was given an operating licence for Remote General Betting Standard Real Event on September 9th, 2015. It was said by the Commission that the product offered by BetIndex contains elements that can be classified as betting, which are regulated by the Regulator. The elements of the product that are not considered gambling, are not subject to the body’s remit.
It was revealed by the UKGC it began a formal review into the company’s operations in May of 2020. The UKGC further claims that at this stage of the investigation it had no evidence to suspend the company’s operating licence.
It was also noted that in early March of 2021 BetIndex Limited had made plans to self suspend its services with the intention to restructure and re-launch. It is this action the UKGC found troubling with regard to players’ funds forcing the Commission to suspend the firm’s licence on March 11, 2021.
The gambling operator is now waiting on the Court to decide on the matters associated with the funds’ distribution, and not the UKGC.
