Suspended 666Bet looks for answers from platform provider

et is seeking clarification from a third party platform provider as to how it has gone about obtaining permission from the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) for the operator to pay its customers their outstanding winnings, following the suspension of its operating licence last month.

Conflicting statements have been sent out by 666Bet and UKGC this week, after 666Bet customers created and signed a petition demanding to be paid.

666Bet was instructed by the UKGC to pay customers when the suspension of its licence – held under the name Metro Play Limited – was confirmed by both the UKGC and the Alderney Gaming Control Commission.

A statement on 666Bet’s official Facebook page on Tuesday read: “While the UK Gambling Commission have stated that we do not require a licence in order for customers to withdraw their money and authorised us to do so, this is misleading as it does not recognise the fact that, as a web-based company, we need to be online in order for customers to action their withdrawals via their accounts.”

The following response was sent to Gambling Insider via email by UKGC: “The Commission made it clear, when it suspended Metro Play Limited’s licence on 20 March, that it is authorised to settle any outstanding winning bets that it accepted in reliance on its operating licence and return any outstanding balances to customers – and we expect it to do so.

“This remains the Commission’s position. The Commission has not specified the method by which Metro Play Limited should pay customers. At no point has Metro Play Limited or its third party providers requested the Commission’s approval in order to carry out this task.”

666Bet claims it believed that a third party provider had been in contact with UKGC, adding that it is unable to pay customers without the support of such an entity.

A new statement published on its Facebook page on Thursday said: “Metro Play Limited would like to clearly reiterate that we were reliably and explicitly informed on several occasions by our potential third party platform provider that they were waiting for approval from the UKGC in order to get us back online, dating back to the end of March.

“The UKGC have now informed us that this is not the case. We have therefore asked the company who offered to provide us with the aforementioned platform to clarify their comments and sought further confirmation from the UKGC regarding this situation as they have been aware of our efforts throughout the recent downtime.”

666Bet is now looking for an alternative method of paying its customers, which it hopes to announce on Monday.