Australian fraud detectives have been asked to pore over the collapse of online bookmaker Sports Alive. The company, registered under the ACT Gambling and Racing Commission, was reportedly insolvent for as much as two years before the business eventually collapsed in August. The regulator responsible for the Melbourne-based site confirmed they’ve called in the cops over information provided by the disgraced site.
”They are considering the information we have given them to see if it is worthy, or if there is significant evidence for a criminal investigation,” ACT Gambling and Racing Commission chief executive Greg Jones told the Sydney Morning Herald.
The situation first arose on August 25th when liquidators Bent and Cougle took control of what was left of the site. Sports Alive stands accused of not segregating player funds from operating capital and are understood to have operated for the past two years whilst insolvent. Players are among the creditors that are owed a total of $13million with many unlikely to see hide-nor-hare of the reported $1.5m they’re owed.
Tote Tasmania were caught in the blast radius after the company revealed it owned a 25% stake in Sports Alive that it paid an estimated $5m for. It could have been worse as the Tote’s annual report of 2009/10 mentioned they were considering taking a “controlling interest.” That will come under a parliamentary committee investigation into the state-owned business that was called after it was revealed the Tote had paid the money whilst the firm was insolvent.
Without piling on the woe, the case backs up the assertion that trusting a proven and strong global brand is worth its weight in gold, focusing particularly on those implementing a bulletproof strategy in the Asian market. Poorly managed firms, like Sports Alive, should be avoided at all costs as the structure put in place originally is unlikely to survive for a long time and the players will lose out as a result.
