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After shutting down its website for alleged maintenance, the Australian operator PlayUP released a statement on its New Jersey sportsbook website on July 13 revealing it is temporarily shutting down its services.
The announcement came one day after the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) issued an order revoking the company’s license to accept bets in the Garden State.
Before receiving the order, PlayUp was present in New Jersey and Colorado.
NJ Division of Gaming Enforcement requested PlayUp’s financial information
On June 29, the DGE Director David Rebuck initially sent a letter to then-listed PlayUp CFO Glenn MacPherson requesting certain financial information related to the company’s New Jersey operations.
In particular, the DGE asked for:
- Year-to-date remittance of employee withholding tax
- Certain bank statements between January and June 2023
- Payroll registers during the same period
The response was due on July 6, 2023, but according to the DGE’s statement, the information wasn’t received from MacPherson by that date.
The Division then had a call with PlayUp CEO Daniel Simic when Simic said MacPherson no longer served in that capacity. The DGE forwarded the request to Simic with a new deadline of July 14. The DGE also stated that failure to comply with the request by the deadline “may result in a finding of non-cooperation against PlayUp.”
DGE’s order read further: “This can lead to disciplinary action, up to and including revocation of your transactional waiver and denial of your license.”
PlayUp CEO fails to provide all the financial paperwork
According to the order, Simic provided a payroll summary and payroll statements on July 17. He also sent a quarterly tax filing dated March.
However, the DGE said it didn’t receive any bank statements and no information for February through June.
DGE stated it is also aware of PlayUp’s other non-compliance issues:
- PlayUp’s outstanding invoices owed to the DGE
- PlayUp’s decreasing its employee headcount in New Jersey. There is currently no “head of the New Jersey Office” physically located in Jersey, with Simic advising serving in that role while outside the state. The Chief Operations Officer, head of product, head of sportsbook, and head of compliance are also no longer employed by PlayUp
- PlayUp claims to be investigating a potential fraud charge for a player that requested a withdrawal in March but hasn’t notified the Division and can’t explain the delay in finalizing the investigation
The statement also noted that PlayUp could reapply for a sports betting license in the future. In that case, the company would have to completely resubmit its entire platform to become active in the state again.
PlayUp is no longer accepting bets in Colorado
PlayUp did notify the Colorado Division of Gaming that it plans to stop accepting bets in the Centennial State. They also requested to place their licensed PlayUp sportsbook application and website platforms “into a maintenance mode.”
For now, PlayUp will no longer accept bets or deposits from players residing in Colorado. However, players can still withdraw funds from their accounts.
