United States
United Kingdom
UK bettors were left fuming in March 2021 when Football Index decided to close down without warning. Football Index was a popular football stock market platform that had thousands of UK bettors in its customer database.
BetIndex which is the parent company of Football Index went into administration which left £4.5 million in outstanding debts to be paid.
British bettors were very unhappy with the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) as reports surfaced that the gambling watchdog had Football Index on its radar for over a year but did not inform bettors that there could be something potentially wrong with the stock market platform.
Bettors wanted to sue the UKGC for not performing its duties responsibly and causing them financial harm. They wanted the UKGC to reimburse their losses but that does not look like a very likely possibility at the moment. The new head of the UKGC Andrew Rhodes said that the best way for bettors to get their money back was through a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA).
Rhodes said that it was not up to the UKGC to proceed with a CVA. The administrators and Football Index bettors will have to come to an agreement with the CVA that will allow potential investors to buy up the debts of Football Index, pay the outstanding to the customers and then take control of the company.
Even if a CVA is made, there is very little possibility that bettors will get their full share of money back. This case has already been to the High Court and the Court ruled that a repayment of up to £3.5 million would be right as it could not reimburse money spent on active bets.
UKGC Explains Its Stance On Football Index
With the UK Parliament launching a investigation into the collapse, Rhodes has said that the current perception in the market is that the UKGC did not do enough to warn bettors about the red flags surrounding Football Index. He pointed out that the Commission did take a number of measures against Football Index but said he was not at liberty to disclose what those measures were.
He pointed out that there was not enough evidence for them to suspend the license of Football Index and said that if they went ahead and suspended the license of Football Index it would have likely resulted in even more financial losses.
