Multiple bettors using the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. (OLG) sports betting app PROLINE+ are waiting indefinitely to claim recent winnings from the platform.
According to CBC, the corporation claims “a significant influx of new players” signed up for the app before Super Bowl LVIII.
OLG Director, Media Relations Tony Bitonti told CBC:
“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 winners and also carefully complying with regulatory standards.”
Apparently the operator is working through a backlog of bank account verification requests from this deluge of new users hitting PROLINE+ ahead of the big game.
Waterloo, Ontario resident Val Strambu admitted that OLG’s promotion for bettors to get over $500 in bonuses after a $50 wager attracted him to the platform. He cashed in on this promotion with bets on the Chiefs in the Super Bowl, but now he’s confused why he has been waiting over a month to claim the $1000 he won even though OLG had no trouble accepting his money.
“You took my money. You should be able to pay me back the same way,” Stramu remarked to CBC.
Carl Zhou is also awaiting reconciliation of his attempt made four weeks ago to withdraw over $2,000 in winnings. He vented his frustration to CBC saying that he hasn’t faced such problems on other online sports betting sites and usually enjoys successful withdrawals within 24 hours.
“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.”
Neither Stramu nor Zhou has heard anything back from OLG about their particular cases.
Michal Naraine, a sports management professor at Brock University, was cited in the CBC article saying that sports betting companies do need to verify banking information to protect against organized crime or other financial improprieties.
Accepting patrons’ money for wagering activities does not create a lot of friction, but Naraine asserted that “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.”
OLG’s website states that bank verification for withdrawals should take less than five business days, but it could take longer depending on the volume of requests.
The corporation has given no indication of how long people might be waiting for their money this time around.
This could end up pushing patrons away from OLG to other operators since Ontario bettors can access 30 legal Ontario sports betting sites today.
