We Demand Justice
The actions of Jenningsbet in taking over the IGH sister companies of Premierbet and Heathorns is unprecedented in UK gambling. The online arms of each business were essentially the same - same helpdesk, same site with different skins, same ownership, same Orbis technology. Yet they believe that they can snap up the valuable Orbis technology and both firms' databses while only honouring Heathorns' customers balances! It simply beggars belief that in a supposedly well regulated industry, a bookmaker can snap up the whole IGH database, come to the realisation that Heathorns' customers were the more profitable subset and then decide that they are the only customers they want going forward and the only ones whose balances they shall honour. What purpose they will put the Premierbet database is open to question. However, in an industry known for playing the man instead of the ball when it comes to dealing with customers there would be worse bets than expecting winning Premierbet customers quickly becoming persona non grata at Jenningsbet sportsbook while simultaneously having their inbox filed with opportunities to bet on numbers rackets.
Discrimination against winning gamblers has increased in the 21st century. They incresingly find their custom unwelcome and even have to tolerate discrimination in settlement in some cases, with losing punters being settled in full while the winners are pointed to 'our decision is final' clauses and the kangaroo court of IBAS. Discrimination in accepting and settling bets is one thing, discrimation in who you actually pay is a step too far!
What makes this saga even worse is the impression that Heathorns was saved at the expense of Premierbet and that Premierbet punters were in effect depositing into a Heathorns rescue package in the last few months of IGH. It appears that Heathorns customers were given priority in the final months when it came to withdrawing funds. The evidence, whether it be insiders that this site has questioned, punters reporting their experiences on forums or the lag in Heathorns ratings going down on betting review sites, certainly points this way. So Premierbet punters were picking up the Heathorns tab, leaving Jennings with little or no shortfall to pick up when they acquired the software/databses at fire sale prices.
This whole fiasco doesn't start and end at Jennings' takeover. The wider industry should get its house in order if it wants to quell punter demands for ever more stringent regulation. One of the industry's claims in the run up to the Gambling Commission being established was that it wasn't necessary as the industry was well regulated. It's time for those making that claim to stop talking and demonstrate that it is so. The oldest established bookmaker has gone to the wall and yet its good name was seen as little more than an opportunity to claim that one company was in fact two when it came to clearing up the mess. Premierbet punters were betting with a UK licenced, IBAS registered bookmaker. That was supposed to be the only regulation necessary.......yeah right.
We demand that the bookmaking industry puts its house in order and ensures Premierbet punters' balaces are honoured. If it fails to do so, we demand that the Gambling Commission puts in more stringent regulation, such as spots checks on bookmakers' accounts to see that they are trading solvent or even a central ringfenced account for all gambling companies where individual operators have to front up the money for all the potential betting liabilities that tpledges in this case. In particular how are Jennings conducting their business fairly when they are discriminating between the more vulnerable customers on IGH's databse (the susbset of net losers) and the less vulnerable?
