Bet365 to be Sued by Australian Regulatory Body

Bet 365, one of the leading online gaming groups based in UK, has been taken to court by Australian Competition and Consumer Commission after accusing online gaming operator for making misleading representations in breach of Australian consumers law.

The case against Bet365 began with a pre-trial hearing in Federal Court in Darwin where ACCC has made a complaint that Bet 365 has made misleading representations with their free bets and deposit offers. World’s leading online gaming group that has 14 million customers in two hundred countries has been offering free bets or a deposit bonus to the new customers but only after they paid and gambled $200 of their own money.

According to the statement from Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, customers who deposited $200 and received $200 in free bets or deposit bonus were required to gamble $1,200 before being able to withdraw any winnings. The ACCC explained that new customers of Bet365 must first risk their own deposit in order to get free bonus; the customers are required to gamble three times the value of their deposit and the bonus before being able to withdraw any money.

Responding to the case, Consul of Bet 365, Cameron Moore, stated that Australian Competition and Consumer Commission needs to make clear what has been alleged against their company, ahead of the trial which is due to begin at the end of the March, as ABC reported.

Most forms of betting are legal in Australia but there is more to the story than what meets the eye. Operating an online casino and offering its services was legal before Interactive Gambling Act in 2001 when offering and advertising real-money interactive gambling services to Australians became prohibited.

However, the Act didn’t make it illegal to operate an online casino within Australian borders and Australian companies can still offer their services to other approved country’s residents. Interactive Gambling Act didn’t provide laws that will prohibit individuals to place bets on internet and most of the foreign operators are still offering their services to Australians even though they are in violation of IGA.

It seems that the government has never made any real attempts to stop operators from advertising and offering their services to Australians.

It is well known that online betting is growing business sector so Australian Consumer law applies to this sector in the same way that it applies to other industries. Bet365, global betting group, has changed the text on the website after the ACCC has contacted them and informed them about their concerns.