Bet365 facing penalties after Australian Federal Court judgement
Software error blamed for free bets offer which featured on site for nine months with no T&Cs
Bet365 is facing financial penalties after the Federal Court of Australia ruled that a nine-month free bets promotion misled punters.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) had alleged that a sign-up offer of AU$200 of free bets featuring on bet365 Australia’s ‘splash page’ – or welcome page – misled and deceived customers.
It said customers would not simply receive free bets but would in fact have to risk the value of their deposit and free bet amount three times before being able to make a withdrawal.
The offer was live on the site from 18 March 2013 to 13 January 2014 with no reference to applicable terms and conditions, and remained on the site with ‘T&Cs apply’ attached for a further three weeks.
“New customers who had not previously used such types of services were drawn into this web of deception,” Justice Jonathan Beach said in his judgement.
Bet365 admitted to the error and said it was due to a global software change regarding the functionality of the welcome pages causing the previous ‘$200 Deposit Bonus’ to switch to ‘$200 Free Bets for new customers’.
eGaming Review understands the ACCC acknowledged the promotion was the result of an error prior to the trial getting underway. It also understands bet365 had spotted and fixed the error prior to the ACCC contacting the operator with the complaint and had added the T&Cs to the promotion.
The ACCC had not only called for bet365’s Australian and UK businesses – where much of its technology is managed – to be punished, but also the bet365 Group holding company for having a ‘corporate policy to mislead customers’.
However the Federal Court did not uphold the allegations against the holding company. A separate trial to decide on the penalties against its Australia and UK divisions will be held later this year.
“As a licensed and regulated e-business which strongly supports the promotion of responsible gambling, bet365 takes very seriously its obligations to comply with regulatory and legislative requirements,” bet365 said in a statement.
“We are continually working proactively to ensure that our customers are well informed about the products and services that we provide.
“Consistent with this, bet365 has introduced stricter compliance processes and controls, as well as improved staff training to prevent a similar issue arising again,” it added.