Gambling

Soccer ‘Stock Market’ Loses License, Seeks Credit Protection

  • Football Index operator says it plans to enter administration
  • London club QPR confirms it’ll drop logo from players’ jerseys

Manchester City and Southampton at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester. 

Photographer: Clive Brunskill/AFP/Getty Images

The operator of Football Index, the soccer gambling website that calls itself a “virtual stock market,” moved to protect itself from creditors prior to having its license suspended by the U.K. betting regulator following a backlash over a recent move to cut payouts to clients.

Jersey-based BetIndex Ltd. said in a statement on Thursday night it was “pursuing a restructuring arrangement” to be conducted through an administration with insolvency practitioner Begbies Traynor Group Plc. Administration is a form of bankruptcy in the U.K.