UK-facing online gambling site Black Type has put its business into administration but will survive as a skin of its technology provider FSB Technology.
FSB recently posted a message to the BlackType.bet site indicating that Black Type Services Ltd had “decided to put their business into administration and wind down all of their business affairs.” The statement said that Black Type was “a marketing partner who promoted gambling services operated by FSB under their own brand.”
FSB assured Black Type customers that their funds were safe and that all unsettled wagers or pending withdrawals would proceed as normal. FSB stressed that it was and remains “the licensed operator for the account you hold on the Black Type branded website” and thus customers “will not be affected in any way” by the administration proceedings.
Black Type launched in 2016 as a primarily horseracing betting site with a pledge not to turf winning punters but two of its founders – former Kambi staffers Dave Gowers and Craig Nicholson – left the site within its first two years of operation. FSB offered no explanation as to why Black Type chose to wind down its business but the increasing regulatory demands on UK-facing sites are the likely culprit.
FSB’s UK gambling license was recently put under review by the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) due in part to the operations of some of FSB’s white label partners. The UKGC reportedly expressed concerns over “the levels of due diligence” that FSB had performed regarding some of its partners, including Blackbet, which suspended its operations last August.
1xBet, another of FSB’s white label partners, also shut its UK-facing site last August following a Sunday Times report that some of 1xBet’s operations in other jurisdictions were offering wagering on cockfights and under-19 athletic competitions, as well as a live casino featuring topless croupiers.
There’s been no further updates from either the UKGC or FSB regarding the progress of the license review. At the time, FSB said it expected a “comprehensive resolution” of the UKGC’s concerns “in short order.”
