Betfair Australasia ordered to refund $150k to problem gambler

Online betting exchange Betfair Australasia has been ordered to refund AU$150k (US$108,500) to a customer whose problem gambling behavior the company failed to recognize.

On Tuesday, the Northern Territory Racing Commission (NTRC) released a ruling dated November 2 that said Betfair Pty Ltd “failed to adhere” to the Northern Territory Code of Practice for Responsible Online Gambling 2016 by “not having reasonably recognized the red flag behaviors” of one of its customers.

The unidentified customer filed a complaint on February 23, accusing Betfair of improperly acceding to his request a few days earlier to reverse a AU$150k withdrawal from his betting account. The customer had lost the other AU$170k in his account shortly before his request and later claimed that he was in a “desperate mindset” at the time.

(Desperation was indeed on full display during that binge, which saw the customer wager over AU$86k in 23 minutes, after which he made two deposits totaling AU$35k, and it only took him 47 minutes to wager the lot.)