BetIndex Financial Review

Request

Please provide a copy of all the detailed financial assessments carried out on Bet Index (trading as Football Index) - this should exclude the "detailed financial assessment" referred to by the Chief Executive of the Gambling Commission in a blog post written on the Gambling Commission website (as this information is subject to a separate and ongoing request).

For the purposes of this FOI request, I am defining a "detailed financial assessment" to include anything that includes a review of the complete balance sheet and / or complete profit and loss account of Bet Index for the purposes of regulatory decision-making.

In previous correspondence, you have confirmed that you hold complete sets of accounts for Bet Index for three consecutive years and all these documents were received by the Gambling Commission on the same day (11 February 2020). As it is not credible to carry out a "detailed financial assessment" without access to full sets of accounts, it appears extremely unlikely that the Gambling Commission holds any relevant information before this date. Information provided at the initial licensing stage can be excluded as this information also forms part of a separate and ongoing request.

Therefore, please provide all "detailed financial assessments" of Bet Index carried out after 10 February 2020 including all supporting working papers and Gambling Commission sign off.

Response

Thank you for your request which has been processed under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).

Your request was for the following information:

A copy of all the detailed financial assessments carried out on Bet Index (trading as Football Index) - this should exclude the "detailed financial assessment" referred to by the Chief Executive of the Gambling Commission in a blog post written on the Gambling Commission website (as this information is subject to a separate and ongoing request).

For the purposes of this FOI request, I am defining a "detailed financial assessment" to include anything that includes a review of the complete balance sheet and / or complete profit and loss account of Bet Index for the purposes of regulatory decision-making.

Please find attached the information that we hold that falls within the scope of your request.

Please note, the information included in the first 2 documents ‘BetIndex Cash Flow.pdf’ and ‘BetIndex Financial Position_Redacted.pdf’, is a duplication of the information included in the spreadsheet.

The information contained in these documents that refers to the unaudited financial statements for the two years ended 31 December 2018 and the management accounts for 2019, has been removed as this information has previously been refused by the Gambling Commission and is subject to an appeal to the First Tier Tribunal (FTT) (Information Rights). This information will remain exempt from disclosure awaiting the outcome of the FTT decision.

In your email I have noted the following comment ‘In previous correspondence, you have confirmed that you hold complete sets of accounts for Bet Index for three consecutive years’. To clarify, we have advised previously that we hold the unaudited financial statements for the two years ended 31 December 2018 and the management accounts for 2019. We have not confirmed that we hold a complete sets of accounts.

Review of the decision

If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your Freedom of Information request you are entitled to an internal review of our decision. You should write to FOI Team, Gambling Commission, 4th floor, Victoria Square House, Victoria Square, Birmingham, B2 4BP or by reply to this email.

Please note, internal review requests should be made within 40 working days of the initial response. Requests made outside this timeframe will not be processed.

If you are not content with the outcome of our review, you may then apply directly to the Information Commissioner (ICO) for a decision. Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have already exhausted the review procedure provided by the Gambling Commission.

The ICO can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office (opens in a new tab), Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.

Information Management Team
Gambling Commission
Victoria Square House
Victoria Square
Birmingham B2 4BP

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