Bet365 ordered to refund $519K to customers who it paid less than they were entitled on sports bets
ATLANTIC CITY, New Jersey — Online gambling company Bet365 must pay back more than half a million dollars to customers who won bets but received less than they were entitled to because the company unilaterally changed the odds when making payouts, state gambling regulators said.
The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement has ordered the British company to pay back more than $519,000 to 199 customers who were underpaid after winning their bets.
The company told New Jersey regulators it changed the odds because of a “clear error.”
But the acting head of the enforcement division noted that any company seeking to cancel or amend a withdrawal must seek approval from the agency before doing so. She called Bet365’s actions “a long-standing and unacceptable course of action.”
“These types of multiple and egregious violations cannot be tolerated in the New Jersey gaming regulatory system,” Mary Jo Flaherty, interim director of the enforcement division, wrote in a July 22 letter to the company. “No further violations involving the unilateral voiding of wagers will be tolerated.”
The company did not challenge the order, which was made public Friday. The company declined to comment through a spokesman.
According to the government, Bet365 unilaterally changed the odds for events that people had already bet on and won between 2020 and 2023, resulting in them receiving less payout than they were entitled to under the original odds.
Events have ranged from a Christmas Day table tennis match in 2020 to NFL, college basketball, mixed martial arts and the Masters golf tournament in subsequent years.
In each case, customers placed a bet based on a specific odds calculation, but were paid out based on a less favorable odds calculation.
The state said bet365 claimed it had the right to change those odds “because they were posted in clear error.” But the state said that as a licensed sports betting operator in New Jersey, bet365 should have been aware of the requirement to obtain approval from the state Division of Gaming Enforcement before voiding or changing bets.
Flaherty called these failings “problematic” indications of bet365’s business ability to conduct online gambling activities, and the integrity and reliability of its operating systems.
The company was also ordered to submit a detailed report on its efforts to identify and fix any errors in its internal software systems, identify human error, and take steps to ensure the accuracy of its data feeds.
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