Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) is going through an affair related to its sports betting platform, Proline. As per Carl Zhou, one of the bettors, he hasn’t been able to claim any of his winnings for four weeks now. 

Win without reward:

Zhou registered on the platform in November when the company was running a promotion. According to the residents of Mississauga, he was betting on basketball, hockey, and football games, and his bets were successful. After he tried to claim his winnings, it was unsuccessful, despite all of the paperwork and chats with customer service he submitted. 

He commented: “I’m a little bit disappointed at the lack of response that I’ve been getting. Usually … if you have a problem with this type of issue, you report it to some like, government entity. But in this case, this is the government.”

Zhou isn’t the only customer who hasn’t received its rewards yet. Since February, a lot of players haven’t received their winnings. OLG commented on this, saying that the issue occurred because of the huge number of players that registered and the platform hasn’t been able to verify their accounts, since the interest before the Super Bowl was enormously increased. The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario is supposed to verify the bank accounts of potential players, and the Commission is running late.

However, according to an industry expert, the company hasn’t been able to adapt and compete with other operators.

As CBC News reports, OLG would not confirm the number of people affected by the crisis or how many new customers registered before last month’s Super Bowl.

Issue with verification:

Tony Bitonti, OLG’s spokesperson, said: “We appreciate the patience and understanding of our customers while we work diligently to review and subsequently verify bank accounts as quickly as possible. OLG prides itself on always paying its winners and also carefully complying with regulatory standards.”

The company was running various deals in the previous few months, and one of them invited the players to register because they could potentially win more than $500 in bonuses if they placed a bet worth $50.

Val Strambu from Waterloo, decided to make a Super Bowl bet after the promotion was announced. He won more than $1.000, but he still hasn’t received the money. He claimed that the company hasn’t had any issues with taking his money, and added: “You took my money. You should be able to pay me back the same way.” 

According to Michael Naraine, a sports management professor at Brock University, the verification of banking information is required to prevent the funds being used to supply organized crime and criminals. He explains that the verification isn’t required when the deposits are placed, since there’s no concern that the money would be used for anything besides placing the bets.

He added: “The probability is the consumer’s going to lose that money and the money’s going to stay within the ecosystem. It’s once they’re trying to withdraw that money out of the ecosystem … the operators have to dot their I’s and cross their T’s as it relates to where’s this money going.”

It is known that OGL, a Crown corporation, has fewer resources than other private operators. However, this move will affect the image of the brand and might drive customers away. 

Naraine thinks that OLG can’t keep up with the current market, despite its profit going back to funding the community.

While waiting for his money, Zhou hopes to see a more transparent approach and regular updates on the issue. He claims that he won’t be using any of the OLG’s services until he receives what he won.