Administrators at BetIndex started the funds’ allocation process to former and current users of the gambling website at a hearing that took place in the Royal Court in Jersey at the beginning of the week.
Last month, Begbies Traynor, an insolvency practitioner firm that was officially chosen at the end of March to administer the business of the collapsed sports betting operator, started processing some customer claims against the betting platform operator.
BetIndex, the company running Football Index, previously issued a statement to confirm to its former customers that the initial hearing would take place on May 10th and would address the distribution of the company’s remaining finances. The latter have been estimated at £4.5 million. They are currently held in the sports betting operator’s Player Protection Trust Account.
With the distribution process already being formally rolled out, Begbies Traynor will have the obligation to determine the portion of the funds that would be received by each customers depending on multiple factors such as claims of lost funds and unpaid dividends. A lot of bets that are still active on the gambling platforms would be owed dividends, too, based on the wagers made by the players.
First, the administrators will be expected to determine the date for calculating these payments. The insolvency practitioner firm will also have to determine the claims’ value of everyone who reported funds losses because of the company’s fallout after careful consideration of the claims and the value of customers’ dividends. The customers who will get funds from the account will also have to be identified by the firm.
About £1.3 Million of Surplus Set to Be Allocated among BetIndex’s Customers
According to reports, the current liability to customers is around £3.2 million of the total available funds. This means that approximately £1.3 million of the surplus is set to be distributed among players who still have active bets and money in their accounts on the betting platforms.
At first, Football Index has claimed that individual player funds have been protected against other creditors’ claims. However, under the sports betting website’s terms and conditions, funds invested by the customers via the trading exchange services could not become subject to such protection.
As previously reported by Casino Guardian, not long ago, Football Index announced its decision to cut dividend payments at its betting platform from 14p to just 3p. The move resulted in massive losses for the company’s customers, with many of them having started to withdraw their funds, which forced the gambling company to eventually enter administration. Sometime later, the country’s gambling regulatory body – the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) – decided to suspend the operating licence of BetIndex.
The problems of the company come at a time when the UK Government is currently reviewing the Gambling Act 2005. Furthermore, the UKGC also faced harsh criticism for not doing anything to actually prevent what happened to Football Index and its customers. Some customers of the gambling company have already sought the support of Leigh Day law firm and have been considering whether to take the operator to court for its failures.
- Author
Olivia Cole
