The liquidator of collapsed betting agency Sports Alive says he is surprised by the ACT Ombudsman's decision to clear the territory's gambling authority for its alleged oversight of the bookie.
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Disgruntled punters who lost money in the collapse are now appealing to the ACT government for a full review of the case.
The Canberra-registered agency went broke in 2009 with debts of more than $14 million, including more than $3.7 million owed to its betting customers.
Corporate regulator the Australian Securities and Investments Commission is still investigating whether Sports Alive's directors indulged in criminal conduct while running the business.
A complaint was made from out-of-pocket punters to the ACT Ombudsman about the ACT Gambling and Racing Commission, the authority with responsibility for supervising the territory's gaming operations.
After considering the complaint for 20 months, a two-page letter from the Ombudsman's office to complainants last week said the commission had behaved reasonably in its supervision of the bookmaker and that it had been misled into thinking that Sports Alive was following the rules in its handling of clients' money.
But administrator Hamish MacKinnon, of insolvency firm Bent and Cougle, said he did not believe the Ombudsman had provided much detail to back up the decision.
"It doesn't really go into any great depth as to why they [the Ombudsman's office] have made this recommendation," he said.
"They appear to be relying on the misrepresentations by the directors of the company. But my view is that if the Gambling and Racing Commission had conducted better reviews of the company over the many years they failed to keep segregated accounts, then the significant loss to the account holders would not have occurred."
Mr MacKinnon said he could see no end in sight for the winding-up process of Sports Alive and that the customers were unlikely to see their money again.
"This will probably go on for years, to be honest,'' he said.
''We've got a long way to go. We've got employees, we've got secured creditors and we've got account holders.
"But for account holders and unsecured creditors, at this stage, I'd say it's pretty unlikely that they're going to get a return."
In a letter to Chief Minister Katy Gallagher, account holder Dennis Tuan-Mu said he and his fellow Sports Alive customers were looking for justice.
He urged Ms Gallagher to consider an official review of the Ombudsman's decision.
"Account holders are simply looking for justice and have constantly run into brick walls in the ACT," Mr Tuan-Mu wrote.
"We would simply like the Ombudsman to review the conduct of the commission with full regard to the evidence and determine whether the commission took all proper and diligent steps to regulate Sports Alive as required by legislation."
