The way the online betting monopoly in New Zealand handles a recent money incident with a local bettor seems to be undermining the company’s own arguments that it offers the only safe option for local punters.
The situation occurred after a local punter revealed that he had been having difficulties to get on terms with New Zealand TAB to reimburse him for an amount that the sports betting operator paid out in counterfeit notes. As shared by Bruce Gasson, a high-roller TAB customer, he won a total of NZ$680 at Rangiora Harness Racing Club on January 3rd, 2021.
The player’s payout included three NZ$100 banknotes but when he got back home, Mr Gasson found that two of the banknotes had not looked “quite right”. He took a closer look at them only to realise they were counterfeit. The player shared the notes could easily deceive people they were real, but if one studied them closely, they could find out they were fake.
The punter then contacted the TAB, which promised to pass the information to the investigation team of the company. A representative of the gambling operator called Mr Gasson back later and explained that investigators took the issue into consideration but there was not really anything they could do about it. As the company explained at the time, the only way the punter could make the operator consider reimbursement, was to report the police and they ordered it to do so.
Counterfeit Money Issue Solved Only after Media Involvement
Unfortunately for the punter, he had not much luck with police. After he reported the fake notes, police officers visited his home and confirmed the banknotes were not real. After taking a photo of the notes, one of the police officers told Mr Gasson there was not much they could do and left without taking the counterfeit notes with them.
After the case was reported by the local media Stuff, both the gambling company and police seem to have changed their response to the situation. First, the TAB contacted Mr Gasson over the weekend to inform him that the company would reimburse him for the loss. Furthermore, police officers visited the punter in his home on January 11th to collect the counterfeit notes.
A spokesman of the country’s online betting monopoly confirmed that the company had refunded Mr Gasson for his loss but rejected all other questions on the situation. On the other hand, a police spokesperson provided further detail, saying that the banknotes were at first left with the punter to provide him with the chance to engage with the betting agency and negotiate an outcome that would be satisfactory for him.
Although Mr Gasson was reimbursed by the company, he still wondered why both agencies seemed not to be interested in solving the issue until the media got involved. In any case, the unwillingness of the online gambling company to do something does not look good, when it comes to a company that launched a public awareness campaign associated with the globally licenced online gambling companies only a week ago.
- Author
Daniel Williams
