We surpassed 85,000 dispute resolution formal requests, building on our 25 years in the gambling industry, leading on informed and impartial judgements.
We have today published our 2021 Annual Report.
The Report includes updates about:
- The number and result of complaints we received and resolved
- Types of complaints
- Average dispute completion times
- Rejected disputes
- Our view on the regulatory future of gambling disputes
“2021 felt like two parallel journeys. One a familiar path, requests for help and advice. The other has been highlighting our role and impact to people with a newly discovered interest in the gambling industry.
“We remain keen to use our experience to help guide and inform the process of finding the most effective redress system for gambling consumers, which we believe should be a new Gambling Ombudsman – building on the foundations of what IBAS has achieved in the past 25 years.”
“IBAS has 25 years experience in adjudicating an astonishing range of gambling disputes. We have worked in difficult circumstances during the lockdowns to provide the best service to all our customers.
“As ever, our ambitions for IBAS remain strong, we want to be the single provider of gambling dispute adjudication in the UK and to develop our provision of a fair, cost-effective service that minimises harm to all.”
- There were 4,840 disputes from domestic consumers to domestic operators in 2020-21. On top of this, there were 1,155 disputes from overseas consumers to domestic operators.
- We resolved 2,303 disputes (48%) and disputes relating to customer identity issues accounted for 35% of the complaints we received in 2020-21.
- The most common reason for disputes being rejected was the customer not exhausting the gambling operator’s complaints process.
- We reduced our average dispute completion time from 51 days to 31 days in 2020-21
- 45% of consumers received a positive outcome using our service.
We asked our team to share their thoughts about where we had made a positive impact in 2021 and here are some of their reflections:
- All we can do is try to provide every individual who contacts us with a prompt reply that addresses any personal issues that are raised in the claim form. Some people say that they don’t need advice – they just want their money back – but when someone writes back to say ‘thanks, that’s really helpful, I’ll look into that support service’ it means a lot.
- The highest value case I managed that went in a consumer’s favour saw us awarding them £35,000. I know that will have made a serious impact on their life.
- Although one of the newer companies on our register lost four of their first disputes, we took time to teach them about ADR processes and the standards that are expected of companies. They seemed thankful for the learning experience.
Notes to Editors
For further information please contact Porsha Nunes-Brown, PorshaNB@ibas-uk.co.uk
The Report will be published on our website on 20th June 2022.
The Independent Betting Adjudication Service (IBAS) is an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), approved by the Gambling Commission, providing informed and impartial decisions regarding disputes between licensed gambling operators and their customers.
Our service is free and user friendly, with no face-to-face hearings and need for legal representation.
Any company licensed in the UK is classified as a ‘domestic operator’.
In accordance with ADR legislation, dispute completion times are recorded as the time taken from the point at which the dispute file was completed to the point of an adjudication being published. It does not include time taken to gather evidence from both disputing parties.