Online Gambling: VIP.com Stops Taking New US and Canadian Customers

VIP.com and its VIP Profits merchants will no longer accept deposits from Canadian players effective immediately. Canadian customers will maintain access to their account until April 1, 2007. Any current balance in the account may continue to be used until that date, at which point any remaining funds will be refunded to the player and their account will be closed.

Effective immediately, all VIP Profits merchants will no longer accept new customers from the United States. Long standing premium customers have contributed to our success over the years, and we intend to increase our service commitment to them - exclusive focus on preferred customers.

VIP.com has had a tough time processing payouts to affiliates over the past month due to what it called: "new, less experienced payment processors with less advanced systems in place...These events have caused a delay in processing your commission payments for January.

VIP.com will continue to serve existing US and Canadian customers.  But this news throws a wrench in VIP's once aggressive affiliate program since no new affiliates will be able to join.

Alistair Assheton of VIP.com reassured Gambling911.com this afternoon that his company would be remaining in business as usual, just not serving new clients from either Canada or the US. 

"We’ve taken the steps to close down telephone betting, a largely unprofitable business for us representing 2.5% of our business, and yet 20% of our staff.

"We’ve also turned our business towards our existing player base, and are stopping new registrations from the USA and Canada – both in an effort to ensure we can continue to offer a high quality service to our existing players.

"Many players have been with us for many years, and we intend to be able to continue serving them for many years to come. We’ve taken the choice to allocate more of our resources to them, and to stop taking US and Canadian new accounts while the legal uncertainty rages on. We intend to carry on with business and to give our customers everything they have come to expect from us."

Gambling911.com had in the last hour posted incorrectly that VIP.com cannot take on new customers from outside the US per an agreement with parent company, Leisure & Gaming.  This is not the case.  VIP.com can still take on all new international clientele outside the US and Canada.
 

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Gambling911.com News Wire

Originally published February 26, 2007 1:16 pm ET updated 2:37 pm ET