There’s a perception among some segments of the sports betting population that some online gambling operators take their sweet time when a customer is asking to withdraw his or her funds. Even worse, some critics of the online gambling business have alleged that some operators even encourage players to reverse withdrawals and put them back in their accounts.
Unfortunately for some of the operators serving the massive regulated sports betting market in New Jersey, the state regulators at the Department of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) agree with that world view.
In a bulletin titled, Director’s Advisory Bulletin 2021-01 Operators Prohibited from Soliciting Patron to Reverse Withdrawal Request, the DGE warns NJ-licensed online gambling and sports betting operators to kindly refrain from asking players to think twice before cashing their accounts.
State officials say the action was brought on by a slew of customer complaints about sports betting operators who slow-walked payouts. More specifically, the complaints allege that customer service agents have taken up to two weeks to payout withdrawal requests. Players who then call to inquire about their cash are told that they could gamble with that money immediately if they wanted or were offered bonuses to halt their payouts.
While the DGE acknowledges that compliance issues can add some time to payouts, but not two weeks. Anything else is strictly forbidden as they spell out very plainly in the Bulletin, ” The encouragement or incentivization of such rescissions are inconsistent with the intent of having speedy and consistent withdrawals, with a minimal
delay solely for the purpose of checking for fraudulent activity,” it states.
The NJ DGE is leading the way for regulated US online gambling and setting standards for the US markets with confident moves like this.