Australian punters have raged about the decision of the new betting operator betr to deactivate the customer accounts of Melbourne Cup winners rather than paying their winnings out.
The company, in which the local media giant News Corp holds a 33% stake, provided its customers with 100-1 odds on any horse participating in the Melbourne Cup for an AU$10 stake as a part of a special offer, which was supposed to guarantee a return of AU$1,010 in case their selected champion won the race. In this year’s edition of the Melbourne Cup, it was Gold Trip that won the race.
However, their preferred horse’s victory was quickly clouded for some punters who betr approached by email, informing them that their customer account had been inexplicably deactivated. In the email correspondence, punters have been notified that they would no longer have access to their accounts unless they chose to activate them by sending a special request to betr’s customer service email. The betting operator also called for customers not to consider opening a further account as any transactions that might occur within that period would be voided, and any potential winnings would be forfeited.
Paradoxically, some of the punters who backed some of the other horses in the Melbourne Cup at another odds offer were able to withdraw their winnings from that win.
Customers Unable to Get in Contact with betr Customer Support to Reactivate Cancelled Accounts
As some of the betr users who got their accounts shut down shared with The Daily Mail, they received an email informing them that their accounts had been deactivated only 23 minutes before the popular horse race started. Some of them reached back to the betting operator’s customer support asking for their accounts to be reactivated but received no response from the company whatsoever. Furthermore, one of the customers revealed that the live chat they had started ended up being closed by a customer service agent two hours after they sent their message and they never received a response.
The customers who got their accounts shut down are now fuming while they are still trying to get in touch with betr customer service representatives and, eventually, access their winnings.
Reportedly, on November 2nd, betr tried to stem the massive losses by offering AU$150 in free bets to players who supported Deauville Legend. The company frantically started sending texts to customers trying to lure them with AU$150 in bonus bets, as well as a refund of their AU$10 stake in case they scrapped their wager before the beginning of the first race of the Melbourne Cup.
According to sources close to the local betting sector, betr chiefs also hedged their wagers by placing bets on the favourite to win the horse race with rival agencies in order to try to minimise the damage. Reportedly, Tabcorp has taken some of betr’s liability.
As previously reported by Casino Guardian, the aforementioned special offer linked to the Melbourne Cup triggered an investigation by the NSW Liquor and Gaming – the state’s gambling regulatory body – because any promotions that could lure customers into betting or opening an account are suspended under the existing restrictions on betting ads. At the time, a representative of the regulator shared that the state’s gambling industry watchdog had been seriously concerned that such advertising might constitute an inducement that is prohibited under the NSW gambling legislation.
- Author
Olivia Cole
