IBAS - Independent Betting Adjudication Service Reviews 

I have raised two issues regarding Skybet and each time they have ruled in Skybets favour.

Both times regarding venues being switched

Skybet advertise the use of certain 3rd party websites for information purposes and result checking.

I used these sites to confirm locations etc, but turns out these where different.

IBAS sided with the operator and told me it was my fault, even though they clearly advertised these 3rd party websites and secondly had the listing wrong in their sites.

What was more annoying than the decision was the time it took.

Amazingly on both of my claims it took close to a 9 months for each response.

They gave the operator on one case nearly 7 months to respond, how is this fair?

I'm sure I would not be given the same kind of leniency to respond.

I fully hope and welcome for the gambling commission and government to launch a full gambling obundusmen and get rid of IBAS as an ADR altogether.

*Yes sorry correct this particular case was regarding the naming of one team.. the team they had listed was marked as youth team. Their rules clearly state youth matches involve teams where ALL players are under 21.. I showed that several players where over 21.
I also linked the official leagues website where this season the youth name had been dropped because of covid. The season before as can be seen from the official league table on the official league website the team where marked as youth. Anyway that was all irrelevant apparently as they have been known that in the past.

Regardless still given huge amounts of time, communication poor. But hey that's life, until their is an obundusmen where time constraints are kept too the user will be the one that is punished. Would not use this service again, recommend anyone to perhaps use ECogra another ADR, at least they seem to have rules on place to stick to time guidelines and keep you updated.

I was in touch with IBAS a few weeks ago regarding some winning that was taken away from me, couldn’t recommend the service enough as only 2 weeks later the casino paid me back out and I have now have my winnings back! Very quick service and very helpful team! Thankyou again IBAS

James is a hero. After casino gods refused a withdrawal and being very slow with replies he came to the rescue and sorted the casino gods withdrawal. He was very fast at replies and the case. I recommend anyone struggling with gambling issues to get help from IBAS. They are such a great help especially James and I am very happy to leave a 5 star review for him.👍🏼 ⭐️

I won 12k in December using my partners card he was fully aware, after a long 5 month battle Ibas and Vegas hero came to the conclusion
Conclusion to pay me out, James Ironside was representing me and he was fabulous and I am overjoyed with the result, I received my funds the same day the withdrawal was finally processed.
Thank you James
Kind regards miss madden

Had a dispute with Betbull they ignored my emails so asked IBAS for help in my dispute. Can not praise them enough communication instructions from start to finish of dispute more than helpful Highly recommend if anybody as an issue with Betting companies

I was experiencing a SIX week nightmare on the Betting Industry platform BETFAIR where a sum of £200 had disappeared from my account for no obvious reason , I then was sucked into a six week cat and mouse thing where I was continually contacting Betfair and they were basically ignoring my approaches to even discuss the disappearance of my cash .
Having had no joy after that length of time I found IBAS on the internet and in like ten minutes I finally had a louder voice , I received my money , my apology and am now negotiating a small sum in compensation , all thanks to IBAS who made me VISIBLE again , thanks to Ron Hearn and the team at IBAS , James Greenshields , Glasgow !!

Very happy with this service. It’s great to see there are independent services like this that are willing to help customers like me who have been unfairly treated by betting companies who simply don’t care. All they are willing to do is take your money. My complaint has been a win for me, now I’m just waiting to hear back from ladbrokes to get my winnings from a bet that was unfairly voided. Thank you so much for your help & support!!

Can’t believe the bad reviews IBAS has received on your site I had a dispute with Betfred regarding best odds guaranteed which they would not settle correctly wanting to erroneously invoke rule 4s.James Ironside took up the case and I was paid in full within one week of submission couldn’t be more pleased.

I was in the state of bewliderment and without realistic hope after failing to get any response in dispute to the late bet. I thought a few times whether it worth contacting IBAS and finally did. It yielded fruitful results and justice was prevailed. I understand it was precision in understanding the dispute and regulations that made my dispute win. I am thankful to IBAS as organisation and staff Ron and James who dealt with it very carefully and made the impossible a possible. Even if I had not had a positive outcome of the dispute but still felt respected and cared for by the IBAS staff. Thanks to Ron Hearn and James Ironside.

You know the old saying, all p***s in the same pot.
Here's my email to IBAS and their reply.
Dear Sirs,
I recently had cause to complain to skybet with whom I had an online betting account. The customer service executive for the company was not helpful at all and closed my account. The balance was transferred back to my bank but the outstanding post bets were not. I asked for these bets to be refunded to which I was told that the bets would be honoured and if they won I would have to contact their legal department to arrange payment. I find this unacceptable and further to my dismay I have now found out that they have blocked me from opening any accounts with any other bookmakers. I find this disgusting behaviour and I want my post bets returned and this ban lifted. If my wishes are not carried out and fulfilled I will take legal action against Flutter PLC/skybet and I will file a formal complaint against IBAS and report the matter to my MP to bring the matter of regulation to the Houses of Parliament. In view of the publicity betting firms are having at the moment I don't think the house will ignore my MP's calls for action and regulation to be tightened.
It just goes to show that the reviews on Trust-pilot are justified in what they say about skybet. What is the point of having a customer service department if all they do is fob you off and ban you from all gambling sites? It just shows how we no longer live in a Democratic country and have no rights to our opinions.
Absolute disgrace.

IBAS replied:-
Thank you for your email this afternoon.
I am sorry to learn your relationship with Skybet has clearly disintegrated – it’s not clear exactly why, other than you mention a right to an opinion. I presume the other bookmakers you refer to are sister companies of Skybet – eg Betfair, Paddy Power, Pokerstars etc

You indeed have a right to an opinion, equally companies have a right to decide who to offer an account to. No outside party would be able to intervene. Skybet also seem to have given you a route to secure any resulting winnings. Any legal action is entirely a matter for you, but I would advise you take careful advice before embarking on that.

IBAS will be unable to assist you further.

Yours sincerely

Jim Cremin
Submission Assessor

I ask you what is the point of having an ombudsman when they don't even look into your complaint. I will now take my case to my MP and on to Parliament.

Update 28/3/22
Has anyone from IBAS even taken the time to read through the reviews on here pertaining to skybet? How on earth can you ignore these complaints? My MP is now going to ask questions as to the role of the ombudsman in cases where there are overwhelming complaints against a company. I found 3 good reviews about skybet on here and I am not sure those are from genuine people.

Hi my name is Pritesh prasad some sports betting app has blocked my withdrawal money on some reason but IBAS resolve my problem….thank you IBAS🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

I had £2,300 winnings confiscated due to using a third party card. The casino were point blank refusing to payout. I emailed ibas and was replied to almost instantly. I was assigned a case worker who (James ironside) who was so efficient. Because of the panels intervention, the casino agreed to pay the winnings and I have just received the money into my bank. Without IBAS help, I would not have got those winnings and I am so grateful for this service. Thank you again for your support.

I raised a complaint about Karamba in February 2019. I was advised by e mail that my complaint had been accepted and the running time was between 12-14 weeks. By February 2022 I had not received an outcome so e mailed asking for an update. I did not receive a reply. I then followed the official complaint process to raise a complaint, I am yet to receive even an acknowledgement of my official complaint some one month later. If IBAS were not willing to investigate my concern with Karamba they should have said so at the time so I could have explored other possibilities!

I had a issue were a book maker took a bet but refused to pay it out as they said I was late doing the bet.

The case manager, James Ironside, was able to get the bet paid out and the case resolved to my satifaction. He was very professional and courtious.

I was given a turn around time from James of 10 weeks but everything was resolved in less than 4 weeks.

I would recommend IBAS to any punter who has a dispute with a bookmaker as they are impartial and fair.

Typical ibas only take on cases when they no they can worm it around to side with the gambling company’s check there reviews seems like they only ever take action against duplicate accounts cases there a waste of time only side with the gambling businesses not interested in helping people when they get robbed clearly I had to put my DETIALS in THERE system how can they not pick up duplicate accounts on creation?

Absolutely spot on, efficient service, sent correspondence on Friday received an an email same day from Mr Cremin who was concerned , supported me through the process and by Monday evening they had rectified my decision.

Ron Hearn gave me some really good advice in how to respond to the bookmaker which resulted in them settling my bet with an act of goodwill

Complete waste of time. I was told they would solve my issue within 12/14 weeks but it has been well over 8 months. I have been emailing them every 2/3 weeks for any updates and I am being told the same thing over and over again (the case manager is working on it blah blah blah). There should really be a different governing body to make complaints about IBAS as they clearly do not care.

beyond useless - do not pursue anything, no one answers the phone. Cannot action the clearest flagrant cases. Can only be a quango. This one needs to go on the bonfire.

. I initially thought they were going to help but eventually sided with bookmaker which I thought was impossible.
The bookmakers kyc system blocked my deposit method which was my husbands PayPal account we use for eBay. The following day they emailed me and said they have unblocked the kyc system and I can now deposit and play. So I used the PayPal account they unblocked and encouraged me to deposit with. After winning bits and bobs on everything from horses to poker and slots I tried to withdraw 400 pounds. They closed my account and said I was using a third party deposit option. ( The one that they unblocked from the kyc to allow me to use and encourage me to use ) If I lost all my deposit , I'd of never in a million years got it back. If that would be the case the bookies owe me thousands on other sites for using hubbies PayPal. Betfred are frauds too. They didn't give a reason why they closed my account and didn't reply until ibas was involved and then it was pure lies.