In surprising news, SportChamps players logged into their accounts to find their balances had been reduced to $0.00, with their funds automatically withdrawn to their nominated bank accounts.
A short time later, an email was sent by SportChamps Founder and CEO Alan Eskander to explain that SportChamps had removed all of their buy-in tournaments and would only offer free-to-play games moving forwards:
"I am writing to inform you that SportChamps has made the decision to pivot our offering and make all our games free to play.
As of this morning, you can continue to play our exciting games with no entry fees and great prizes on offer!
As we are no longer accepting bets, for those that had money in their accounts, all your funds have been returned to your nominated bank account. If you have not provided us with your bank details, please go to our website (not our Apps) and provide them immediately, so we can transfer your funds.
Please note, players will still need to be over 18 years old to play our games.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your support over the last seven years. It’s been a huge privilege to pioneer tournament wagering in Australia. Since we launched in 2017, more than 82,000 punters have signed up with SportChamps and enjoyed nearly 600,000 games on our platform.
We will be sending more information about our new games on offer in the next 48 hours and we trust that you will continue to enjoy our games for many years to come."
The timing of the decision was disappointing for many SportChamps tournament players who have enjoyed big betting tournaments during the Spring Racing Carnival in the past with contests such as the "King of the Spring" and the "Mayor of Flemington" offering hundreds of thousands of dollars in prize money.
SportChamps had copped numerous infractions in the last few years for breaching the NSW gambling advertising rules in regards to offering an inducement to open an account, including a $17,500 fine in January this year.
