Bet365 to pay a fine for deceiving Australian players
Bet365 customers thought that they would get A$200 in free money, while the offer had hidden restrictions and requirements. The ruled fine is the amount of A$2.75m.
The ruling punishing Bet365 with a fine is a result of the court’s fining that took place in September, that the casino’s advertising campaign which run between March 2013 and January 2014 found that it was “misleading and deceptive and involved false representations because there were a number of restrictions and limitations that applied to the offer that were not brought to the customer’s attention”.
The offer was based on the statement that a player will get A$200 in free money, but the conditions of getting the actual money made players deposit and stake A$200 of their own money first. In order to use the offer, players had to stake the money they had deposited as well as the bonus three times before they would be able to request a withdrawal. This means that the A$200 deposit and A$200 bonus left the player with A$400, this had to be gambled three times, requiring a player to stake A$1200 before being able to win any money.
The court took a closer look at the issue after Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) brought a lawsuit against Bet365. Rod Sims, the chairmen of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, said: “In this sense, if the restrictions and limitations had been appropriately brought to consumers’ attention, they would have been able to recognise that there was no ‘free’ bet, particularly given that they had to risk their own money before making such a bet.”
The court was able to rule such a fine, because recently the federal government closed a loophole that allowed foreign operators to offer in-play sports betting online, while in-play betting on sports other than horse racing is only legal via telephone or in betting shops.
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