Betfair closes all operations in the Canadian market

British operator of online gambling Betfair has informed the players in Canada that it leaves them on 14 January 2016.

Already from this date, all residents of Canada will not be able to place bets and register at the betting site, so the company strongly recommends to withdraw all their money from their accounts. Any bet or the account balance will be automatically canceled after this date.

Betfair has warned its players in the e-statement that Canadians, who will not withdraw their funds until January 14, will be able to get their money only with the help of support center, which is a rather tiresome and long-lasting process.

Canadians, who use the services of online betting, received e-mail notifications. In the e-mail to every Canadian player Betfair wrote:

“We regret to inform you that on January 14, 2016 Betfair services will no longer be available for the residents of Canada.

On January 14, 2016 Canadians will no longer be able to bet with Betfair and must close their accounts before that date. All bets that are not played will be canceled, you will no longer be able to place new bets and all gaming products will be blocked. Please note that all bets that did not play will remain valid only until January 14, 2016, so please make sure you are willing to bet on the matches that will take place before that date.”

The reason for such radical solutions of Betfair is not promulgated. So far it is unclear whether the decision is related to the planned merger with bookmaker Paddy Power (that withdrew its services from Canada in 2011), which was recently approved by the British Anti-Monopoly Service. However, Paddy Power proceeds to provide B2B services in British Columbia.

Over the last six months, Canada has become the second country, which was left by the most popular in the world betting company. Canadian market will suffer a lack of gambling entertainments, as Matchbook pulled its betting exchange from this country in July 2014 and Ladbrokes proclaimed about withdrawing its main site in September 2014 together with its subsidiary Betdaq.