Bet365 Looking at Legal Action After Holding Back Player Payout

An aggrieved UK punter says Bet365 is dragging its feet on a  £54,000 ($72,700 USD) payout to her account and now she’s considering legal action against the operators.
Back on April 16, the, as-yet-unnamed player opened a Bet365 account with a deposit of £30,000 ($40,000 USD). The very next day she lost £23,000 ($31,000 USD) of that while wagering on horse racing.
According to the player, Bet365 contacted her the next day by e-mail, informing her that her maximum bet had been increased. She took the company up on its offer and quickly amassed around £43,000 ($57,000 USD) in winnings.
While celebrating her good fortune, the up-and-down punter received another e-mail from the company, informing her that her new maximum bet size was a miserly £1 ($1.35 USD).
Upon hearing this news, the punter moved to close her account and was met with an explosion of red tape and foot dragging.
Rather than make the payout immediately, Bet365 officials have implemented complicated “fund verification” procedures in order to comply with anti-money laundering regulations.
The punter maintains that Bet365 had no problem with the source of her money (which appears to be valid) when she was winning and thinks it’s fishy that they’ve only found issues now that she’s decided to cash out.
According to a report in the Irish Times, the punter is now considering taking Bet365 to court to get her money back.
Cases like this are becoming increasingly common in the UK where cash-strapped bookmakers (thanks, VAT) are being squeezed between government regulations and rapidly shrinking profits.
Bet365 has yet to publicly comment on the case.