Costa Rica-based sportsbook 5Dimes will soon be taking its leave of the United States market. The sportsbook tweeted the official announcement on Tuesday, but customers were made aware on Sunday and Monday. 5Dimes is not licensed to operate in the U.S., but has accepted American customers for years.
Customers will still be able to place bets until midnight, September 21. All funds must be cashed out by midnight on September 25, lest they be sent to a “third-party administrator,” who will then try to find the customers to matchup with the funds. There has been no mention as to what will happen with any futures bets or any other bets that are made by September 21, but will not be settled until after that date.
The interesting thing about 5Dimes getting out of Dodge is that it plans to return. In its statement, the company said:
With the evolving legal landscape in the United States, we want to take advantage of the opportunity to offer an improved online sports betting experience to our many US customers. In order to do this, we need to suspend temporarily our service of the US market so that we can launch our new operations with a fresh start.
Thus, it looks like 5Dimes plans on getting licensed somewhere in the United States. The question is how. State regulators have not looked kindly upon online gambling operators who operated in the U.S. after the UIGEA passed in 2006. Some states explicitly disallow “black market” operators from obtaining remote betting licenses via “bad actor” clauses in their regulations. Others require such operators to wait in the wings until in-state operators get their sites up and running.
Consultant Brendan Bussmann of Global Market Advisors had similar thoughts, speaking with SportsHandle:
While the intent of this is good, this brings to light additional questions of who will be their U.S. partner and how they will pass suitability on a state by state basis. For those that have operated online or fantasy sports illegal in the past, some regulators have a long memory and it may take some time before they will even be able to be licensed or operate.
While many questions surround how 5Dimes will be able to get back into the United States, it certainly seems like the company has a defined plan, considering it made the announcement just a few days before the start of the lucrative NFL season and the exit will take place a couple weeks in. To forego that kind of revenue (though 5Dimes will still make plenty from other countries) likely means 5Dimes knows how everything is going to work.
