It looks like the curtain is coming down on the freak show that is World Sports Exchange (WSEX). The once iconic online gambling company has seen its fortunes nosedive in recent years, to the point where slow-paying has become no-paying in the eyes of its few remaining customers. Things have regressed to the point that the company is apparently fire-selling assets in a desperate attempt to stay afloat. One asset that managed to find a buyer was a small credit book, but fellow operators who had credit sheets in this book have yet to see a dime from WSEX.
Antigua’s gaming authority does not permit credit operations on the island, which is probably part of the reason why WSEX let its Antiguan gaming license expire. The company is now presumed to have ‘gone to the mattresses’, conducting business from some nondescript and clandestine locale. (Just a theory, but has anyone checked the washroom stalls at Antiguan strip club Diamond Ice?) In a cruelly ironic twist, if and when Antigua does receive a financial settlement from its longstanding WTO dispute with the US, WSEX’s rogue operator status would preclude it from sharing in the spoils. That’s gotta sting…
WSEX founder Jay Cohen is no stranger to controversy, having spent close to two years in jail after recklessly deciding that he could beat the US government in a US court using nothing but his (dubious) wits. Despite one of the conditions of his eventual release being total non-involvement with any online gambling businesses, Cohen admitted last year to MSNBC that he was back in the game. Industry insiders maintain that Cohen never ever gave up control of WSEX, and his inept stewardship may be the principal cause of the company’s dire straits. Requests for comment on these issues went unanswered by WSEX at the time of this posting.
