Don’t Flog the Dead Donkey: BGO Sells Database
Founded by Richard Skelhorn and Alexander Hold in 2012, BGO—an acronym, it’s believed, for Bingo Gaming Online—had its licence suspended on October 15 this year under Section 116 of the 2005 Gaming Act for “failure to identify problem gambling behaviour”.
An investigation by the betting industry’s regulatory enforcer, the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC), identified key failures over money laundering and player protection.
“Breaches were not isolated and occurred over a sustained period of time,” the UKGC said in its report.
“The licensee [BGO] may be unsuitable to carry on the licensed activities.”
BGO was effectively fined £2 million (US$2.66m/€2.37m)–although the money was euphemistically labelled “in lieu of a financial penalty”–and ordered to pay £31,000 (US$41,290/€36,800) towards the cost of the investigation.
In response, the iGaming firm has now decided to sell its player database–of reputedly 430,000 punters–and put its BGO.com domain up for sale.
Other BGO verticals include chilli.com, m.bgo.com, powerspins.com and vegasluck.com.
The company claims to have generated £300 million (US$400m/€356m) in net gaming revenue over its operating lifetime.
“Operating in a regulated environment where the issued fines are not proportional, versus the size of the operation, makes little sense for BGO,” a company spokesperson has been reported as saying, without a hint of irony.
“We welcome offers on the database and brand from other operators with a remaining appetite for the market.”
