Comeon Closes down in the UK

On the 2nd of September gambling operator, ComeOn announced they were closing their UK operations to focus on other jurisdictions. They have been running since 2010 where they set up as a nordic based betting company and came into the UK around 2015. It seems the competitiveness of the UK market has proved to be too much for them as they make a swift exit from the UK.

What does this mean for customers?

There is a timeline for customers of Comeon in the UK to get their money out.

• 23/9/19 – Comeon will stop accepting new customers from the UK
• 27/9/19 – Comeon will stop accepting UK deposits
• 29/9/19 – Comeon will close UK accounts

After the 29th of September, players will still be able to withdraw their money but they will need to contact the customer’s service team in order to do so. It would be advisable to get your money out before the 29th of September for simplicity. If you are a customer of ComeOn and are looking for a new UK betting app then you can see our top-rated betting apps here.

We do feel this timeline is a little tight for customers and ComeOn should have stopped accepting UK customers immediately.  As it stands at the time of writing, 4/9/19, there is no information on the home page and they are still offering a free bet to new UK customers.

It feels unfair on customers who may register on the 22nd of September to then be told they cannot make any further deposits a week later as the site is closing down. Hopefully, ComeOn will start to make customers aware of what is going on via the home page of their site and app rather than trying to make money as close to shutting down the site as possible.

Other Come on Brands

Under their UK gambling license 39286  co-gaming limited have 3 approved websites and all 3 will follow the same timeline above to exit the UK market.

1. ComeOn.com – Sports brand
2. Getlucky.com – Casino brand
3. Mobilebet.com – Sports and Casino mobile site

If you are registered with any of these sites they will soon be blocked from UK IP addresses and for UK deposits.

Where else does ComeON operate?

They have various licenses across Europe including

• Sweden
• Denmark
• Malta
• Poland
• Germany

The business will continue to run and focus on these countries.

ComeOn’s cheif ,Lahcene Merzoug, executive said

“UK is a very mature and highly competitive market and the financial risks are big, We have never had a non-compliance breach, but we’ve seen competitors being fined big numbers and that creates uncertainty. At the same time, the UK license has lost its symbolic value. Before you almost had to have one to be looked upon as a credible company. Today we hold licenses in many European countries and given that the UK has never been a big market for us, it’s a wise move to put our focus elsewhere.”

Reading between the lines it seems they have become nervous regarding the advertising regulations for gambling companies after seeing UK companies fined a total of £19.6 million last year (Source).  If their new customer acquisition in the UK is low then these fines could be really detrimental to the business.

Last month we saw casino brand InterCasino & bingo brand Vera&John also come out of the UK market and we would expect to see more smaller operators exit the UK market over the coming months.