Betfair Australia ordered to refund £83k to problem gambler
Operator failed to recognise “red flag behaviour” from a customer who asked to reverse a withdrawal
Crown Resorts-owned Betfair Australia has been ordered to repay A$150,000 (£83,000) to a customer who was allowed to reverse a withdrawal and gamble while displaying “red flag behaviours”.
The decision was handed down by the Northern Territories’ Racing Commission, which regulates Betfair in Australia, which said the operator had failed to comply with its licence conditions by not recognising the signs of problem gambling.
The incident began when the customer, identified as Mr M, requested a withdrawal of $150,000 from his Betfair account which had around $320,000 balance in total.
The customer lost the remaining $1700,000 that day, and in a “desperate mindset” asked for the withdrawal to be reversed.
After four phone calls to Betfair customer service, the operator agreed for $145,000 to be returned to the account as a “one-off”.
The customer lost the full $145,000 the next day, before his account was then suspended.
Betfair said in its submission to the NT Commission that a request to reverse a withdrawal is not considered to be a sign of a gambling problem, but the Commission said staff should have seen how much money the customer had already lost that day and recognised this as a red flag.
The customer had also previously self-excluded and had dramatically increased deposits to his account in the days before the incident.
The Commission ordered Betfair to refund a total of $150,000 and pay a fine of $13,000.