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EveryMatrix Exit UK White Label Market
By Shane Addinall Oct 02, 2019 IndustryThe UKGC’s adversarial stance toward its licence holders has led to EveryMatrix shutting down their UK facing white label business to refocus their efforts on more financially viable and fairly regulated markets.The UKGC has been accused of becoming heavy-handed in its approach to enforcing gambling regulation of late. While the UKGC is primarily responsible for protecting the players from abuse they are also tasked with ensuring that the gambling corporations which operate under their jurisdiction can do so securely.
Their recent lack of clarity with regards their regulations and the punitive actions accompanying their enforcement has begun to cost licensees more than just the value of the fine – it is now beginning to cost job opportunities and more.
✓Vague UKGC Ruling Stumps EveryMatrix
EveryMatrix, a white label casino provider since 2014, was hit with an immediate cease and desist by the UKGC in September 2019.
The ban came without any explanation or attempt at mediation, rather the company which had never even had so much as a warning before was told to close up shop with immediate effect.
Worst of all the vague reasons given for the shut down of the B2C operations was that the UKGC had some concerns over player communications which it needed more time to investigate fully. So, no proof of misdeed, fraud or abuse was needed to halt an entire business unit.
✓UKGC Kill EveryMatrix White Labels
While EveryMatrix fully cooperated with the UKGC in the hopes of resolving the matter and allowing the business unit to proceed as normal this has not been the case.
Sadly due to ongoing delays on the part of the UKGC EveryMatrix suffered massive financial losses, no doubt due to casino partners jumping ship to platforms that would allow them to continue to operate, and as such issued a statement announcing the shut down of their white label operations in the UK.
Ebbe Groes, CEO of EveryMatrix stated:
“We fully respect UKGC’s decision of suspending our license and we acknowledge their wish for a substantially changed way of operating white label businesses in the future.
We regret the impact this suspension has had on our loyal players, on our brands, and on our long-standing white label partners in the UK, but this business has by now become unsalvageable.
We will use this highly unfortunate event as positive as we can and we are keen on maintaining EveryMatrix’s leading role as a provider in the B2B space, in the UK and globally. This is where our company has enjoyed tremendous growth in the past several years and we will now focus even harder on this.”
Had this been a clear case of fraud or abuse this would make sense but to kill a thriving business unit, one that had an untarnished record of operation, over some vague misgivings about how customer communication was handled is untenable.
✓Mind The Gap
In the early days of regulation, the UKGC was an admired institution and the UK itself was considered a necessary jurisdiction for success. Since then the Malta Gaming Authority and other localised bodies have proven the value of both their oversight and their player bases.
If the UKGC continues to act in an adversarial manner towards their licence holders it could create a gap in the market where Great Britain as a territory and the UKGC are both considered 2nd class options in favour of more stable regulated markets.
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