Lucky Escape from Ladbrokes

When spread betting company WorldSpreads collapsed, it had a knock-on effect on some of its “white label” and partner spread betting brands, including potentially Ladbrokes. Indeed, if I view my overall Ladbrokes account now — which also encompases other forms of “gaming” — I see that the balance in my Financial Spread Betting wallet is… Unavailable. And attempting to go directly to the spread betting web site at worldspreads.ladbrokes.com yields the same message from the administrators thar you see when you visit he original WorldSpreads web site at Worldspreads.com.

As luck would have it, I had some weeks ago closed most of my positions held with Ladbrokes as part of my purge on white label accounts, and withdrew the cash, so all that I had left were a few small positions (worth a miniscule £70 or so) which for various reasons could not be closed at will on-line. Rather than bothering to pick up the phone to get those positions closed, I simply ratcheted up my stop orders as far as they would go — with a view to checking periodically to see if any more cash had been freed up by those stop-outs.

Then a funny thing happened. On the morning of the WorldSpreads collapse, my Ladbrokes spread betting wallet was showing a cash balance of more than £50, presumably as a consequence of my remaining positions being closed out. So I put in a withdrawal request, and today I got my money. If I’d waited another day, I reckon it would have been too late when my cash balance became “unavailable”.

Then another funny thing happened. Yesterday I received a call (which I missed) from a guy at Ladbrokes wanting me to call back and discuss the remaining funds in my ex-WorldSpreads account now that they — WorldSpreads, not Ladbrokes — had gone into administration. It’s funny because by my reckoning there can only be £20 if any at all remaining for me to claim — and when I called back the number he gave, no one had any idea who had called me.

Whichever way you look at it, I had a lucky escape from Ladbrokes. Well, part luck, and part quick thinking when I saw that I could temporarily make a withdrawal.

I haven’t had such a lucky escape from WorldSpreads themselves, but their liability to me will fall well within the £50,000 that should be covered — if all else fails — by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). It could be some time before I get my money, which is why I’m so glad that I spread my trading around a number of spread betting providers.

Tony Loton is a private trader, and author of the book “Stop Orders” published by Harriman House.