British sportsbook operator bet365 has been ordered to pay more than $500,000 out to dozens of New Jersey sports bettors whom it denied or changed payouts on settled wagers.
The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (NJDGE) sent a letter to bet365 informing them of its judgment in late July, but only this week made it publicly available.
The NJDGE says that bet365 told winning gamblers that it had revised the odds on their bets without contacting or seeking approval from the regulator. The operator told gamblers there had been obvious errors in the odds when it accepted the bet, and it was therefore entitled to change the payouts.
However, the Garden State regulator did not agree. It said bet365 must now honor the original odds and pay out $519,323.32 in winning wagers
The Wagers
The judgment against bet365 referred to wagers on 13 sports events held between December 2020 and November 2022.
The company voided 157 wagers from 119 New Jersey bettors across that period. The sports matchups included three NFL games, five NCAA college basketball games, a table tennis tournament, a UFC fight in Texas, and the U.S. Masters golf tournament.
In each case, the operator told winning bettors it would be paying out revised odds, or not paying out at all, as its oddsmakers had made an obvious error before accepting the bet. However, in not a single incident did bet365 contact the NJDGE for approval of the retrospective odds changes.
The largest single incident was on November 17, 2021. The regulator says bet365 accepted 63 bets from 18 customers on the NCAA basketball game between Brigham Young University and University of Oregon. 59 of those winning bets were paid out at revised odds, as the sportsbook said it made an error before the game.
Obvious Errors
The operator claimed, in most of the cases, that its house rules allowed it to void or change payouts post result if there were clear and obvious errors in the odds making.
Which is true — but it is also required to contact the state regulator before doing so, which it didn’t.
“bet365 failed, in all instances, to recognize that although bet365’s House Rules were approved by the Division, it was with an express statement and caveat that bet365 was prohibited from voiding any wager without prior Division approval,” NJDGE director Mary Jo Flaherty wrote in her letter delivering the commission’s judgement.
The letter gave bet365 10 days from June 22 to pay up to the concerned bettors. No word on if they have actually done so as of yet.
In other recent news of gamblers not being paid out because of errors, one New Jersey woman is still waiting for what she claims was a $1.2 million slot jackpot from Bally’s Atlantic City. The operator claims the slot machine malfunctioned.
Also in New Jersey, FanDuel was recently told to settle $230,000 in bets placed on April Fools Day 2022 on an MMA event that had already concluded. It had previously tried to claim the bets were all void.
The leading U.S. sportsbook took 34 wagers totalling $190,000 from New Jersey customers on a Professional Fighters League event that had already concluded a week earlier.
David is an online casino expert who specializes in online slots and boasts over 10 years experience writing about iGaming. He has written for a wide range of notable publications, including eSports Insider and WordPlay Magazine.
David graduated Derby University with a BA Degree in English Literature and Creative Writing.
