The British-based betting company 188Bet certainly knows how to confuse its customers. On March 26, the brand owner, Annatar Limited took the sudden decision to close the site down and cease all operations.

Posting a message on the homepage of the online platform, the company cited a competitive market as being the prime reason for its closure, before stating that it is still very solvent and able to fulfil all financial obligations to its customers who have funds remaining at the platform.

The 188Bet has been providing gambling options, such as online casino games, poker, sports betting, a racebook and more to avid players since 2009. That’s what makes the decision to close its doors permanently come quite out of the blue to any and all. The fact that it remains solvent, is of course, a good thing for anyone who has been using the site’s various gambling platforms. All money is at least safe and able to be withdrawn from the company.

It’s certainly an ideal scenario, considering the issues that have surrounded brands like 888 and BetBright recently. The latter of these two sites closed down less than 24 hours after the 888 Holdings company purchased it. However, it found itself in muddy waters when it removed players’ ante-post wagers on the Cheltenham Festival without informing them.

188Bet, on the other hand, has pledged to honour any ante-post and pending bets running up until June 30. Any bets that are due to expire after this date will be terminated.

Further Details for 188Bet Players to Understand

As far as players’ funds are concerned, these must be fully withdrawn by the date of September 1, 2019. This does give enough time for such actions to be undertaken, even with bets being valid until June 30.

The only comments that the Annatar Limited company had to say of its sudden shut down was that the decision was a commercial one, basing this on the fact that the UK has a very competitive gambling industry. While it’s true that 188Bet couldn’t really be considered as one of the country’s top-tier brands, it was fairly popular with sports betting fans. Plus, not only did it sponsor several horse racing festivals and events, but it also had deals with football’s Bolton Wanderers and the Wigan Warriors of Rugby League.

Of course, things have changed a lot for the UK’s gambling industry, and more changes are incoming. The increased remote betting tax is likely to have quite the impact on the scene, especially when it comes to the smaller operators like 188Bet. When you also consider that there are the incoming changes to fixed odds betting terminals (FOBTs) at the start of April, the gambling industry will be on shaky ground for a while.

Companies like William Hill have chosen to expand their presence in the online world so as to offset any potential losses from the FOBT maximum bet cuts, making the competition in that sector even tougher. 188Bet could potentially have just found itself lost in the shuffle of bigger brands, leading to the closure decision.