Operator bet365 has been ordered to pay bettors in New Jersey, US, over US$500,000 on 199 wagers after it was found to be altering odds on sporting events without informing the state regulator.
The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) said a routine audit in April 2022 found the operator “unilaterally revised odds” for a “significant number of wagers” it had accepted.
The DGE said bet365 claimed the odds during 13 sporting events were “incorrect” and had been posted in an “obvious error.” Bet365 added that the move was allowed under House Rules, which state that “human or technical error or issues outside our control” are permissible reasons for changing odds.
However, the DGE noted the “caveat” that bet365 “was prohibited from voiding any wager without prior Division approval.”
“The failure of bet365’s internal software, coupled with its manual trading errors, caused its system to be unable to ensure the accuracy of its data feeds,” the regulator said.
“These failures are both problematic as to bet365’s business ability to conduct online gaming and the integrity and reliability of its operational systems and, therefore, unacceptable as they resulted in misleading wagering information that was relied upon by its patrons and ultimately led to incorrect payouts for numerous patrons.”
Bet365 has therefore been ordered to pay back $519,323.32 to patrons at the “original posted odds, not at bet365’s suggested revised odds as originally paid.”
The failures took place over two years and included nine wagers accepted on December 25, 2020, on a table tennis match.
Elsewhere, on December 30, 2020, bet365 accepted wagers on an NFL game between New York Jets and New England Patriots, on what it claimed were incorrect odds. Bet365 accepted 21 wagers from 18 patrons, with nine patrons placing 13 winning wagers on the event.
On November 18, 2022, bet365 accepted eight wagers on another NFL game, this time between Tennessee Titans and Green Bay Packers, on what it claimed were incorrect odds.
“While bet365 had honoured seven winning wagers that had been placed by four patrons, it claimed that an eighth winning wager should not be honoured because the incorrect odds were egregious and should have been considered an ‘obvious error,’” the Division of Gaming Enforcement said.
“Bet365 has not yet honoured the eighth winning wager from this event.”
The DGE has subsequently ordered bet365 to submit a full report of all errors to “identify and rectify” the failures of its internal software systems and resolve manual trading errors and ensure data feed accuracy.
“These types of multiple and serious violations cannot be tolerated in the New Jersey gaming regulatory system” the regulator said.
“In the event of any further such violations by bet365, the Division will take action to impose penalties warranted by the nature and extent of that conduct, and such imposition will fully reflect the prior course of violative conduct detailed herein.”
