Ken Howells licence suspended: the notice does not block withdrawals

The Gambling Commission suspended Targetlocal Ltd's combined remote operating licence on 21 September 2026. The business trades as Ken Howell's Sports Betting and runs kenhowells.com. The regulator says its enquiries revealed anti-money-laundering failings and that it is reviewing the licence. The suspension took immediate effect.

The important distinction for customers

The official notice says the suspension does not prevent the operator from allowing customers to access their accounts and withdraw funds. It also says customers should be treated fairly and kept informed of developments affecting them. Targetlocal's non-remote general betting standard licence is not affected by this suspension.

That wording is important if an account holder is told only that “the licence is suspended.” It does not establish that a particular request has been approved or paid. It does mean the notice itself should not be paraphrased as a blanket legal prohibition on customers withdrawing. This report does not contain an independent audit of the business or its customer balances.

Ask about your own request, not only the licence

Identify the domain and legal company in your account documents, then retain the withdrawal reference, amount, currency and current status. Ask support whether the request is awaiting approval, waiting with a provider or already sent. If support attributes a delay to the suspension, ask it to explain the specific payment obstacle and how that relates to the regulator's statement.

Keep the conversation in writing where possible. A reply that names the outstanding action is more useful than repeated reassurance. If documents are needed, ask which document and which verified channel to use. Do not post your identity records publicly to speed up a payment review.

Preserve records while they are available

Save relevant account statements, open bets, withdrawal requests and support messages. Describe unsettled bets separately from a confirmed cash balance. If a page becomes unavailable, retain the error and its time instead of guessing that the account or funds have been deleted. Request an account statement through the business's verified contact route.

Do not create a second account or move to a similarly named domain on the assumption that it is the same service. A licensing notice identifies a particular company and authorisation. Following that identity carefully is more useful than relying on the branding alone.

Keep the dispute route and the regulatory review separate

If a payment question remains unanswered, use the operator's formal complaints procedure and preserve the acknowledgement. An ongoing licence review does not tell you the result of your individual claim. Check the appropriate ADR route where relevant; the escalation guide explains how to distinguish the operator's complaint process from a regulatory report.

Use the withdrawal timeline guide to record the next development. A payment reference, a partial receipt and full receipt are different outcomes. If the licence position later changes, that change should be checked against an official update rather than inferred from a working login screen or a single customer's payment.