EveryMatrix Exit UK Market After UKGC Licence Suspension
White label provider EveryMatrix has decided to leave the British betting market in the wake of the United Kingdom Gambling Commission’s decision to suspend its operating licence. In what has turned out to be a quick escalation of events, EveryMatrix has acted swiftly in response to having its Business to Customer licence suspended by the UKGC, forgoing all of its remote betting operating licences.
The decision, which has reportedly been taken at ‘company level’, will see EveryMatrix leave the UK market after ‘many years’ of operations that were ‘successful and unproblematic’. Though EveryMatrix moved to prove its ability to operate in a manner that was considered to be ‘safe, responsible and compliant’, it feels as though its white label business has been ‘irreparably damaged’ by its licence suspension.
Why the Licence Was Suspended
Starting at the beginning of the story, which has moved so quickly over the past few days, the Gambling Commission decided to instigated a review into EveryMatrix Software Limited on the 5th of September this year. The UKGC suspended the licence “insofar as it pertains to the operator’s ability to offer remote facilities for real event betting other than pool betting or betting on virtual events, and to operate a remote casino”.
The decision to suspend the company’s licence was taken after an examination was carried out into the ‘customer interaction framework’ used by EveryMatrix. In short, the manner in which the company had been dealing with problem gamblers didn’t meet the Gambling Commission’s requirements, leading to their licence being suspended. This was in spite of the fact that no specific player cases have been mentioned.
Gambling Software Work Continues
The Gambling Commission had informed EveryMatrix that they can still manufacture, supply, install and adapt gaming software, with the suspension only affecting the company’s ability to offer remote betting facilities. The company has so far decided to maintain its licence to do just that, but how long that will remain the case for remains to be seen. After all, the white label site of the business is the most lucrative.
Offering white label solutions allowed companies to turn to EveryMatrix when they were looking for a one-stop shop for all of their online casino and sportsbook needs. They had offered customers a ‘fully managed sportsbook’, as well as both a ‘payment processing platform’ and the ability to operate an online casino, but they are the very services that the UKGC has decided to suspend them from offering moving forward.
The company does plan to use the ‘highly unfortunate event’ as a positive and is planning to continue operating the Business to Business side of things, ‘in the UK and globally’. It is an area that EveryMatrix has seen enjoy ‘tremendous growth’ over the past few years, so it’s hoped that the fact that they can now ‘focus even harder’ on developing it will see it grow more and earn them more money.
What the Decision Means
EveryMatrix’s Chief Executive Officer, Ebbe Groes, had hoped for a swift resolution to the suspension. He also declared that the company ‘fully respect[s] UKGC’s decision of suspending our licence’, but went on to say that the decision to do so has led the business to become ‘unsalvageable’. In the wake of the licence suspension, EveryMatrix did partner with BeBettor to assuage the Gambling Commission’s concerns, to no avail.
Despite using BeBettor as part of their strategic response to the licensing suspension, it’s taken less than two weeks for EveryMatrix to decide that the right way forward is simply to ‘leave the UK white label market’ altogether. Groes referred to the impact the suspension had on the company’s ‘loyal players, on our brands, and on our long-standing white label partners in the UK’.
It is those players and companies that will suffer the most, with those businesses paying EveryMatrix for their services now having to find different companies to work with moving forward. Players, meanwhile, will be unlikely to notice any major differences, apart from the fact that the online casinos and sportsbooks that they usually use will have been unable to provide them with access for the past few weeks.
What It Means for Other White Label Providers
One of the big questions that has emerged from the whole situation is what, exactly, it means for other white label providers. The main fear is that the UKG is simply targeting EveryMatrix because it is one of the biggest white label companies in the United Kingdom, given that the Gambling Commission failed to point to any ‘specific player cases’. The governing body is also not worried about ‘technical breaches’ in EveryMatrix’s software.
With EveryMatrix convinced that they had immediately put a system in place that they felt addressed the ‘concerns of the Gambling Commission’ only for the UKGC not to budge on the suspension decision, other white label providers may be worrying what they need to do to stay on the right side of the organisation. It’s entirely possible that this is the start of a crackdown on white label providers by the Gambling Commission, with EveryMatrix merely acting as the first, admittedly high-profile, victim.
