Bet365 Refunds Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars To Underpaid Bettors
Operator Changed Odds Without Telling Bettors
Bet365 is in a lot of hot water after being ordered to return over a half-million dollars to customers that the British-based operator apparently underpaid after retroactively revising odds on certain bets.
The Bet365 $519k return to customers was handed down by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, which sought to make whole the 199 customers who were affected by the Bet365 under payouts across a wide variety of sports from 2020 to 2023.
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Bet365’s explanation for its decision to change the odds on the bets in question after customers already placed said bets, relying on the odds calculations shown by the operator, was that the odds initially shown were in “obvious error,” and that alone was a justification for the operator to pay bettors less than they were expecting to receive based on the displayed odds. As you could imagine, this is a no-no for sports betting sites, especially in a highly regulated state like New Jersey.
While just over $500k across a period of three years may seem like a drop in the bucket for a major operator like Bet365, the payouts were only made to fewer than 200 bettors. It is unknown how much each bettor got back from Bet365 but, for individual bettors, that could mean some serious money.
The Division’s order could also be a sign that state gambling regulators are trying a more forceful tact when dealing with alleged improprieties by betting operators.
NJ Regulator Took Big Step
If the Bet365 $519k refund to customers sounds unique, that’s because it is. This sort of a refund is exceedingly rare in the legal sports betting space because companies tend to have a lot of authority over how they deal with so-called “mistake lines,” which is what Bet365 considered the odds in this situation to be.
That explanation didn’t fly with the Division of Gaming Enforcement whose enforcement division’s interim director, Mary Jo Flaherty, notified Bet365 in a July 22nd letter that “no further such violations relating to the unilateral voiding of wagers will be tolerated.”
The order was not contested by Bet365, a tacit admission that it recognized what it did in terms of the changing of the odds without the knowledge or permission of the bettors who placed their wagers relying on a certain payout figure that was offered by the operator.
This was not a situation where Bet365 said that the allegations were off-base or mischaracterized in any way.
- The regulator said that Bet365 claimed it had the authority to change the odds after the fact because they were obviously in error.
However, the Division pushed back on that claim, noting that a requirement of being an authorized online sports betting operator in New Jersey is that operators needs to get approval from the Division before they change already made wagers in any made.
Here, of course, Bet365 did not do that for a significant number of bets over a long period of time.
The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement is requiring @bet365 pay out more than $519K to users after revising odds of winning bets they claim were placed with “obvious errors.”
DGE described the actions as “problematic” and “unacceptable” in a letterhttps://t.co/z3dAxuVKx9
— RLinnehanXL (@RLinnehanXl) August 5, 2024
Bet365 Under Increased Obligations Going Forward
While it doesn’t appear as if the operator is being fined by the Division for its actions, the Bet365 $519k refund to customers is resulting in increased scrutiny toward the company by the Division.
Interim Director Flaherty classified Bet365’s failings with respect to the requirements set forth by the State as “problematic” with respect to the integrity and reliability of its operations within the state.
Also, as part of the order, Bet365 was directed to submit a detailed report on the efforts it has made to notice and fix any errors in its internal software system, potential human error, and data accuracy.
It goes without saying that this kind of behavior from an online sports betting operator is troubling. If bettors can’t trust that the operators they place bets with are going to actually pay out the amounts agreed to when the bettors placed their bets, then there’s no reason why said bettors will continue to use that operator for their bets.
That’s kind of the baseline level of trust and reliability that betting operators need to exhibit in order to get people to utilize their platforms.
The fact that Bet365 was able to get away with these underpayments on sports from table tennis matches to football and college basketball games to mixed martial arts contests and even golf tournaments like The Masters is certainly concerning.
But, it is reassuring that the Division was able to notice the underpayments and return the underpaid funds to the bettors who were affected, even years after the fact. It seems as if the bettors were made whole even if they may not trust Bet365 as much as they did prior to the underpayments.
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