Most online betting services back to normal following Gibraltar blaze
AS Britain gets ready for one of the biggest days in the sports betting calendar, most of the online bookmakers affected by a fire in Gibraltar say they are back to normal.
The huge fire broke out at around 1pm local time yesterday at the Rock’s main power station.
As well as thousands of residents and tourists being left with out power, several online betting services who have offices nearby were unable to operate for hours.
Gibraltar's online gambling business turns over millions of pounds every year with nearly all the major high street chains based there.
Firms affected included William Hill, Ladbrokes, Betfred, Stan James and Betfair.
By 9.30pm last night most of the power was back on and services have slowly been getting back to normal.
This morning as bank holiday football matches and the Irish Grand National and prepare to get under way, bookmakers are reassuring customers that services are up and running again.
David Williams from Ladbrokes said: "By and large most of our services were up and running again by 6pm last night and no customer data was affected.
"It was a very frustrating day but we are back to full fat fitness."
Meanwhile a spokesman from William Hill said: "Power has been restored and everything is working brilliantly.
UPDATE: The Gibraltar powerplant blew up. Our services are backed up, but GibTelecom has gone down as a result. Still working on problem.
— William Hill In-Play (@WillHillInPlay) April 20, 2014
William Hill, Betfred, bet365 and Betfair's Gibraltar office is right in the middle of that & the site's still up! pic.twitter.com/SQb26ovIy8
— Jamie Hart (@jamieh7) April 20, 2014
Service update: We are gradually restoring services. We appreciate all your patience today
— William Hill Betting (@WillHillBet) April 20, 2014
However, Betfred customers were still reporting problems on Twitter this morning, including the mobile version appearing online instead of the website.
@MyFottyBets tweeted: Betfred seems to have fallen back to mobile site after the fire.
The company tweeted: "Hi, we are working on fully restoring all of our systems so until then you'll be directed to our mobile site."
The fire and subsequent power cuts meant anyone looking to place a bet with one of the affected businesses on a busy afternoon of sport were unable to do so.
BetVictor were the only company based in the territory known to be unaffected as their office has its own back–up generator.
No official estimate has been given but it is believed the firms lost tens of millions of pounds worth of business.
The fire followed an explosion at the main power station.
As well as the disruption to daily life and online betting, flights into the Rock were diverted to Malaga after Gibraltar's airport was temporarily shut.
The territory's offshore gambling business began in 1989 and by the mid 90s it was flourishing as firms such as Ladbrokes and Victor Chandler began taking wages over the phone or by fax, offering lower tax rates on winnings than the high street.