Terms of use

With effect from 1st November 2022:

1. IBAS is an independent Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) service, specialising in the field of gambling disputes. IBAS is approved by the Gambling Commission in accordance with The Alternative Dispute Resolution for Consumer Disputes (Competent Authorities and Information) Regulations 2015.

2. These Terms of Use apply to all Operators and Customers who wish to use IBAS to resolve a Dispute. By submitting a Dispute for adjudication each Customer agrees to be bound by, and to comply with, these Terms of Use. These Terms of Use may be amended from time to time, so you should check the most up to date version of these Terms of Use before submitting any Dispute.

3. These Terms of Use include IBAS’s Adjudication Procedure, which are deemed to be incorporated into these Terms of Use.

4. When certain words and phrases are used in these Terms of Use, they have specific meanings (these are known as “defined terms”). You can identify these defined terms because they start with capital letters (even if they are not at the start of a sentence). Where a defined term is used, it has the meaning given to it below:

Customer means any person who enters into a betting or gaming transaction with a registered Operator.

Dispute means a disagreement between a Customer and an Operator as to the return anticipated by a customer from a bet, game or any gambling or gambling account transaction, or a credit promised and which has not been resolved by the Operator to the Customer’s satisfaction.

Gambling Commission means the Gambling Commission of Great Britain, or any replacement or successor regulatory authority.

IBAS means the Independent Betting Adjudication Service Limited, a company registered in England and Wales, under company number 04826792, with its registered address at Suite A, 6 Honduras Street, London, EC1Y 0TH.

IBAS Panel  means the independent expert adjudicators to whom IBAS refers Disputes for adjudication.

Operator      means any provider of betting or gaming services that holds an operating licence from the Gambling Commission, or whose registration is otherwise accepted by IBAS.

5. IBAS shall only adjudicate on Disputes when:

5.1 the Operator holds an operating licence from the Gambling Commission and the Dispute concerns a gambling transaction which is subject to the laws of England and Wales, or Scotland; save that IBAS may also, in its absolute discretion, deal with Disputes arising in, and/ or subject to the laws of, other jurisdictions; and

5.2 the Operator is registered, or becomes registered with IBAS, prior to the adjudication of the Dispute (Customers can check whether an Operator is registered with IBAS using the Operator Directory); and

5.3 the Customer has followed the Operator’s internal complaints procedure, and has either received a notification from a senior manager that the Customer has reached the conclusion of the Operator’s internal complaints procedure or the Dispute has not been resolved to the Customer’s satisfaction within eight weeks from the date the Customer made the Operator aware of the Dispute (provided that the Customer has cooperated with that complaints procedure in a timely fashion); and

5.4 the Dispute is not the subject of any court action, unless referred to IBAS by a court; and

5.5 the Dispute has not been ruled upon previously by any other alternative dispute resolution (ADR) entity, regulatory authority or court; and

5.6 the Disputed transaction does not involve issues which are properly the concern of the Gambling Commission (or another regulatory authority) under the terms of an operating licence, or the possible breach of the terms of the Gambling Act 2005 and its subordinate legislation, or any other issue, which, in the absolute discretion of IBAS, is judged by IBAS to be of a type which is more appropriately dealt with by another regulatory authority or a court.

6. IBAS reserves the right to refuse to adjudicate on a Dispute at any time if:

6.1 the Customer has not followed the Operator’s internal complaints procedure;

6.2 IBAS considers that the Customer and Operator have failed to make reasonable efforts to resolve the Dispute;

6.3 it is considered by IBAS to be vexatious or frivolous, for example, but not limited to where:

6.3.1 it relates to a non-existent transaction;

6.3.2 it is restricted to a complaint about standards of customer service;

6.3.3 it is repetitive of previous disputes presented by the same Customer;

6.3.4 either party to the dispute has in IBAS’s opinion made a deliberate attempt to mislead or omitted to mention material facts, or does not comply with other requirements set out in these Terms of Use or any agreement between IBAS and the Operator;

6.4 the monetary value of the claim falls above or below any upper or lower threshold which shall be set out on the IBAS website;

6.5 the Customer has not submitted the Dispute within 12 months from the date upon which the Operator has given notice to the Customer that it is unable to resolve the Dispute, unless IBAS considers that there have been exceptional circumstances delaying its referral;

6.6 dealing with it would seriously impair the effective operation of IBAS;

6.7 either party attempts to intimidate, threaten or exert any undue external pressure on the process; or

6.8 IBAS has yet to receive the applicable registration fees from the Operator for the applicable period.

7. IBAS may, in its absolute discretion, refuse to register any Operator.

8. The adjudication process shall be conducted in accordance with the IBAS Adjudication Procedures, which can be posted or e-mailed to either party on request.

9. The adjudication process is free of charge to all Customers, but both Operators and Customers will be responsible for all their own costs and any expenses incurred in relation to any Disputes referred to IBAS. Each party agrees not to take any legal action against the other to recover any such costs. Where a finding is made in favour of a Customer, IBAS may consider reimbursement by the Operator of expenses incurred by the Customer in its absolute discretion.

10. In all cases, the adjudication process shall be conducted wholly in the English language unless otherwise advertised and/or agreed by IBAS.

11. IBAS reserves the right to share the evidence and other information provided by either Customer or Operator with the other party, in order to allow them to respond to certain points of contention. It may decide to share only extracts of that evidence where it considers that: (i) only a limited amount of the evidence is relevant to the Dispute, (ii) some of the evidence is confidential and/or IBAS is required by law not to share it; and/or (iii) doing so may result in the sharing of personal data or information belonging to third parties who have not agreed to participate in the process. Both Customer and Operator are entitled to request copies of the evidence provided by the other party, which shall be provided subject to due consideration of any data protection or other regulatory or legislative restrictions that may apply to it.

12. Once a Dispute has been accepted by IBAS for consideration and enquiries have been completed by IBAS it will be submitted to the IBAS Panel for adjudication, subject to any further questions for either party arising from IBAS Panel members. From such point that the Dispute file is deemed to have been completed, IBAS shall take no more than 90 days to issue its ruling, except in special circumstances, which shall be notified to the parties. Further information on the timeline for adjudication can be found in the Adjudication Procedure.

13. IBAS shall publish, or provide any statistical information regarding Disputes to the Gambling Commission (or any other relevant regulatory authority) as stipulated by The Alternative Dispute Resolution for Consumer Disputes (Competent Authorities and Information) Regulations 2015 or other relevant legislation or regulation in another jurisdiction.

14. IBAS may provide any information that it holds to the Gambling Commission, at the request of, and subject to its Information Sharing Agreement with the Commission, where it considers this to be of relevance to the pursuit of the licensing objectives as set out within section 1 of the Gambling Act 2005.

15. IBAS shall process any personal information relating to Customers or Operators in accordance with its Privacy Notice.

16. IBAS, its directors, employees and contractors and agents, including all the individual IBAS Panel members, will have no liability to either Operator or Customer or any other party to a Dispute in relation to any ruling, any review of a ruling, or any other part of the adjudication process for any loss howsoever caused.

17. These Terms of Use are to be construed according to the laws of England.

 

 

IBAS ADJUDICATION PROCEDURES

1. The Adjudication Process

1.1 IBAS will acknowledge receipt of the Customer’s initial referral of a Dispute within three working days.

1.2 Following receipt of a Dispute, IBAS will consider whether it is able to investigate the Dispute by reference to sections 5 and 6 of the Terms of Use. If IBAS determines that it cannot hear the Dispute it will, within three weeks of the date upon which it received the Dispute, inform both parties and provide a reasoned explanation of the grounds for not considering the Dispute.

1.3 When a Dispute is referred to IBAS and it determines that it can hear the Dispute, the Customer will be requested to make a written submission setting out all of their reasons for believing that they are entitled to their claim. The submission should include the full circumstances of the Dispute and, where relevant, reference to any relevant terms or game rules of the Operator. The Customer should also send any documents or evidence held, and an indication of any evidence relevant to the Dispute which the Customer believes that the Operator might hold.

1.4Where the Customer takes in excess of 28 days to respond to any request for information, IBAS will consider ‘pausing’ the Dispute where it reasonably believes that the Customer would otherwise be deprived of an opportunity to have the Dispute fairly considered. Where IBAS decides to pause the Dispute it will notify the Customer and the Operator.

1.5 Upon receipt of a completed claim form from a Customer, and following clarification of any queries, IBAS will require the Operator to make a full written submission to IBAS of the circumstances of the Dispute. Any submissions should be made within 10 days of receipt by a senior member of the Operator’s staff, and should include details as to the primary point of contact which should be used by IBAS.

1.6 The submission should include any staff comments or actions and where possible provide supporting evidence of all factual assertions, including all relevant data stored on computer systems. Operators should refer to the relevant part of their terms or rules and say how they apply in the circumstances of the Dispute. Operators should say if they do not have a term or rule covering the circumstances of the Dispute, or if the Customer could not have been aware of the term or rule in question for whatever reason. When a Dispute has involved communication systems and/or information technology, then upon request by IBAS the Operator must submit a report into their systems that addresses the issue giving rise to the Dispute.

1.7 IBAS reserves the right to discontinue its investigations into a Dispute at any time. Without prejudice to this right IBAS will normally explain their reasons, which may include the following circumstances as illustrations:

1.8 If either party to the dispute has in IBAS’s opinion misled the IBAS Panel, or omitted to mention material facts, or does not comply with other requirements set out within these Terms of Use, or any agreement between IBAS and the Operator.

1.9 IBAS judges the submissions made to be vexatious or frivolous or in any way an abuse of the adjudication process.

1.10 Information comes to light during the course of the adjudication process which satisfies IBAS that the Dispute would be better considered by another regulatory authority.

1.11 The calculated financial value of the claim falls above or below any stipulated maximum or minimum threshold advertised by IBAS, unless, in the case of dispute below an advertised minimum threshold, IBAS considers at that stage that the principle of the dispute is more significant than its monetary value.

1.12 If in the view of IBAS, either party unreasonably refuses to comply with the Terms of Use or Adjudication Procedures.

1.13 If the Customer fails to respond following more than two attempts to contact that Customer.

1.14 Following receipt of submissions, IBAS may require further explanation, or the production of further evidence relating to the Dispute. This may include, but is not limited to, evidence of the circumstances in which the Operator’s terms of trading, game return information, odds, and specific game or betting rules were made available or drawn to the Customer’s attention.

1.15 IBAS expects Operators to make payment of any undisputed part of a part-disputed gambling transaction to a Customer with whom they are in Dispute, at the earliest opportunity. If an Operator makes a goodwill payment in respect of any Disputed claim, or part of a claim, before the IBAS adjudication procedure has commenced, then unless it is accepted in writing by the Customer as being in full settlement of his or her claim, IBAS will continue to investigate it.

1.16 Customers may request IBAS to cease adjudication of their Dispute at any time. IBAS may then ask the Customer to sign a letter confirming their request to end the adjudication process.

1.17 Operators must use all reasonable endeavours to retain all relevant records and data relating to Disputes until after the Dispute is settled, or IBAS has issued a ruling with which the Operator has complied.

1.18 IBAS will provide the Operator and Customer with an update on the adjudication process at least every 30 days.

2. Customer – Operator communication

2.1 Operators and Customers in a Dispute which has been referred to IBAS should refrain from contacting each other and discussing the Dispute. If the Operator wishes to make an offer to the Customer to settle the Dispute after the IBAS adjudication process has commenced, it should submit details of the proposed settlement to IBAS. IBAS will then suspend the adjudication and communicate the offer to the Customer requesting acceptance or rejection within 21 days. IBAS will notify the Operator of the Customer’s decision.

2.2 If the Customer rejects the offer, IBAS will resume the adjudication process without allowing the fact of the offer to influence its decision. If the offer is accepted, this will be treated as in full and final settlement of the Dispute and IBAS will conclude the adjudication process. If an Operator pays a goodwill payment to the Customer, other than in accordance with this procedure, then the adjudication process will continue, unless and until the Customer withdraws the claim.

3. The obligation to observe confidentiality

3.1 IBAS considers gambling transactions to be confidential between the parties concerned. To this end, Operators and Customers are requested to respect the rights of each party in the dispute to confidentiality. This request to observe confidentiality does not restrict:

(a) the Customer’s ability to notify the Gambling Commission or other regulators or law enforcement agencies of conduct which might otherwise be reported and/or complained of;

(b) the Operator’s ability to notify the Gambling Commission or other regulators or law enforcement agencies of offences, including breaches of licence conditions or social responsibility codes of practice;

(c) the Customer’s ability to freely discuss their gambling history with gambling-related harm treatment providers.

(d) either party providing information to a regulator, or in the course of legal proceedings.

3.2 As part of the adjudication process IBAS must notify Operators of the name of the complainant. Customers and their designated representatives are expected to correspond with IBAS in their true names. IBAS may disclose facts about the nature of any Dispute and its ruling on its website, annual report or other literature, and to other Operators, but will not disclose the identity of the parties to the Dispute. Should either party seek to publicise the details of a Dispute in breach of these Adjudication Procedures, IBAS will ordinarily make no public comment unless otherwise agreed by any other parties to the same Dispute.

3.3 IBAS will at all times store all data and documents securely and act in accordance with applicable data protection legislation and its own Privacy Notice. It must be understood by Operators and Customers that the nature of the adjudication process relating to disputed gambling transactions is facilitated by the maintenance of confidence. Accordingly IBAS will maintain the confidence of submissions, save in instances where it is obliged to disclose material to its legal advisors or any relevant regulatory body, or as required by law. Information relating to IBAS’s approach around data access can be found in the Data Access Policy.

4. IBAS rulings

4.1 At the conclusion of IBAS’s adjudication process, the IBAS Panel will issue a ruling in writing which IBAS will notify simultaneously to the Customer and Operator. IBAS rulings shall be legally non-binding on the Consumer but binding on the Operator if accepted by the Customer, unless the value of the dispute exceeds £10,000.

4.2 The issuing of a ruling and the consideration of any related request for review (see 20) shall conclude IBAS’s obligation under these Adjudication Procedures to the Customer and Operator. IBAS will not then enter into correspondence in relation to a Dispute with either party unless IBAS in its absolute discretion considers it appropriate.

4.3 IBAS may, in its absolute discretion, undertake a review of a ruling which it has issued but only in exceptional circumstances and provided that a request for review is received within 40 days of the notifying of the decision to the parties. The decision to review will rest with the IBAS Executive and will only be undertaken if there is compelling evidence to suggest that a ruling may have been wrong, for example, if it is clear that the IBAS Panel has adjudicated upon the basis of factually incorrect information or if it appears that there has been an obvious misinterpretation of the relevant rules. The parties will be informed as soon as reasonably practical of a decision to refuse a review and in the event of a review being undertaken, IBAS will notify the parties of the outcome of the review simultaneously.

4.4 The Directors of IBAS will investigate any complaint received from a Customer or Operator against IBAS concerning the way it has handled a Dispute or the conduct of any member of IBAS’s staff or IBAS Panel.

5. Breaches

5.1 IBAS reserves the right to refuse to investigate a Dispute, or continue with a pending adjudication process if, in its absolute discretion it decides that an Operator, any of its personnel, a Customer or their designated representative has seriously or persistently been responsible directly or indirectly for intimidation or duress in dealings with IBAS staff or Panel Members, or has otherwise acted abusively or unreasonably.

6. Conflict of Interest

6.1 If IBAS considers that there would be a conflict of interest in conducting any adjudication using the IBAS personnel assigned to the Dispute it will first seek to use alternative personnel to ensure that the conflict of interest is resolved. If that not is not possible, IBAS may suggest that parties refer the Dispute to an alternative provider that is competent to deal with the Dispute (and in which case the terms of that provider will govern such Dispute). If the parties are unable to refer the Dispute to another provider, IBAS will inform the Customer and Operator of the circumstances of the conflict of interest. Both Customer and Operator have a right to object to the conflicted IBAS personnel continuing to handle the Dispute. The adjudication process will only continue if neither party objects.

7. General

7.1 IBAS reserves the right to apply other forms of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) in order to resolve a dispute in the event that it considers that the adjudication process is inappropriate for the circumstances of the Dispute, subject to the agreement of both Customer and Operator.