Pioneer online sportsbook closes

The World Sports Exchange, a pioneering online sports betting operation in the Caribbean which has been making headlines – often for all the wrong reasons – since the ‘nineties, has finally closed.

The site has frequently been the focus of attention from enforcement agencies, but the management claims the “halt” in operations is the result of “inadequate capital resources” and that its financial affairs are currently under review.

Any remaining players will hardly be reassured by the lack of detail on how their account balances are to be handled; the notification merely informs them that they will be kept informed on the company’s plans to repay or transfer player account balances.
Founded by Jay Cohen, one of the first online betting execs to be prosecuted and imprisoned, in more recent times the company has become notorious for slow payments and has frequently been accused of bad player communications.

The current US enforcement drive against online sports betting companies is hardly an encouraging development in the sector.