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Australia: Online bookmaker fined $2.75m over misleading ‘free’ offers

By  |  June 12, 2016

Online betting operator Bet365’s Australian division has been slapped with multimillion dollar fine over a misleading promotion.

On Friday, an Australian federal court slapped Bet365 with a A$2.75m fine for a ‘free bet’ offer that ran for 10 months between 2013-14. The fine represents 10% of the company’s Australian revenue to March 2014, when the promo was pulled.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission launched legal proceedings against Bet365 in 2014 following customer complaints about the “$200 free bets to new customers” promo on the company’s website.

The offer required punters to wager their $200 deposit and the bonus three times before being allowed to withdraw any winnings, while also requiring that all of the associated bets be on odds greater than 1.5. Customers complained that the ad made no mention of these requirements.

Bet365 eventually added a “T&C’s Apply” notice to the ad and blamed the omission on an “unintentional software error.” But the ACCC decided to make an example of Bet365 and filed a formal complaint that was upheld by a federal court last September.

Full Content: The Guardian

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