Dear Friends, Meister Minions, Forum contributors, Affiliates, Affiliate Managers, Operators and keyboard warriors,
It is unfortunate but Midaur indeed closes its doors. The platform and license holder Infinity Gaming Solutions has decided to cease the B2C gambling operations. In the past 3 years, a number of factors have significantly impacted our business.
We thought we will give a more detailed explanation here so to avoid people assuming (since we all know what that stands for).
It is an essay but hopefully provides clarity.
Midaur has always been at the forefront of compliance and generally already complied before the regulation was enforced. As such we have always passed the stringent compliance reviews from the UKGC. In fact, we were some of the few that passed our audits clean time after time.
So here a few facts on what we did:
- We were the first that segregated bonus from real money funds and did not lock in deposits
- We were the first that honoured limits to be increased only at the end of the limit period
- We were with the first 20 operators that integrated and enforced GAMSTOP. GAMSTOP was mandatory by the GC and enforcement was
“lose your license if you don’t”. Then suddenly it is no longer required unless you were already integrated. Thanks guys!
- We have operated the most lucrative loyalty scheme by giving back on every deposit and wager
- Our VIPS knew they could always count on an excess of 10% cashback when they had losses
- Yes, there was no Netent – but apart from them we were close to having them all and we released new games on a daily basis
- Our web design could have been upgraded, sure. Over time “what we collectively like” changes and we could have done more on that front. Then again beauty is in the eye of the beholder and we had a good demographic that could appreciate it.
And here a few facts on what happened:
- UKGC decides to honour a group that regardless of any law has enforcing capabilities. They are called the ASA and we really have grown to love them.
- We have to start cutting ties with our promotors around the globe, we can’t control what they say so we can’t take the risk.
- We revamp our website, affiliate communications etc. It has to be dull because anything remotely attractive is apparently “child-friendly”. See how the love is growing? This seems to be enforced very selectively. When you are part of the big 5, the rules seem to be a bit more lenient.
- A surge in SE fraud – the GC was kind enough to educate the country on how to position yourself in such a way that you could have a good go for a free run.
- Our poor staff dealing with this nonsense still have trauma from the communications these scammers shared with them.
- Sophisticated fraud rings found plenty of ways to abuse bonuses that were designed to be fair then altered to more secure and secure. Yes, less lucrative but we wanted to make sure our employees were able to buy the nappies for their babies. A cat and mouse game in the end – thank you for the excitement.
- Now fraud got more sophisticated and we have fought the battles. From persistent feature abuse to actual RTP manipulation. YES, if planned and executed well you can still manipulate RTP’s and be a guaranteed winner. Nonetheless, we have fought back and closed the doors where we could.
- When you think you have done it all and can sit back a bit it suddenly seems that everyone is a winner. Turns out that as an industry content supplier there is no justification required, players can hit a once in a lifetime win 4 times a week or 10 times a month. Seems to be absolutely normal. That these winning accounts never return after cashing their win is absolutely normal also – who would go back to the place that made them fortunes? You end up removing certain games and find that your winning superstars also disappear. Let’s leave this one parked right there.
With a solid player base, there was nothing to worry about. The kids of our lovely fraudsters should have had great Xmas, and who would in their innocence have deserved it.
So here we are, 2019 starts and fortunately we could still afford a good roast so our bellies were filled and ready for a new year.
- By this time, we hired a small army to interact with our customers, providing them with consultations on their mental condition, helped them budgeting and provided a listening ear for the daily struggles etc.
- We also started to ask our customers to provide their source of wealth soon as they started to deposit amounts equal to less than half an average salary. As a result, we had to say goodbye to a large number of our customers who were not comfortable in providing this.
- During an audit from the GC we were confronted with the fact that we allowed winnings to be recycled. I.e. if someone had won £20K and subsequently lost £10K of that we were irresponsible and failing policy set out by the GC. So, what happens is our players win a few thousand, they withdraw and start depositing again. We interact and have to ask “can you afford this”, where does your wealth come from? The player says – I won, I got it from you. On which we are forced to respond, sorry but ordinarily you would not deposit this much so we cannot allow you to deposit your winnings. Also, can you please let us know your annual income so we can determine an appropriate deposit limit. At this stage, our customers are disappointed and leave. Probably to dump their winnings with the big 5 who seem to have a respawning get out of jail free card.
As we all know this craze is only getting worse. It seems that if you are one of the big names you can bluntly fail on social responsibility and just pay the fine. Make 20 million and pay 5 in fines. Sounds like a good deal to us. We were baffled by the fact that these license breaches that unconditionally should lead to a license suspension or revocation were settled with a fine worth a fraction of profits.
We have now arrived in late 2019, mandatory affordability is implemented. We spend a lot on designing a system that handles this for us. We estimate the average disposable income and confirm it with our customers on registration. The system automatically applies a deposit limit and if the player wants to increase this limit, they have to prove their annual income, household expenditure etc. So, rather you pay huge fees to Google for clicks, CPA’s or hybrids to affiliates, name any marketing, you must immediately vet and restrict this customer to amounts that are often below your acquisition cost. Not to mention the big risk of losing the customer very quickly when you limit their play after a win or ask them to send a payslip. Now we have not yet mentioned that players also win
.
Ultimately there are a large number of factors that have resulted in the final decision to close down the B2C gambling activities of Infinity Gaming Solutions in the UK market. The reasons addressed in this comment have been the main drivers.
We hope you appreciate our elaborated feedback.
We want to thank all our players that have been with us through the years and we are sad to be saying goodbye.
Haters we love you, friends we care about you deeply!
