Punters slam News Corp-backed Betr for deactivated accounts
Scores of angry punters have accused News Corp-backed wagering group Betr of deactivating their accounts to prevent them claiming Melbourne Cup winnings.
The consumer discontent comes after Betr’s controversial 100-1 odds offer was embraced by hundreds of thousands of people. The group, led by gambling entrepreneurs Matthew Tripp and Andrew Menz, has congratulated those who backed Gold Trip to Melbourne Cup victory on Tuesday and said Betr had paid out all bets by the end of the day.
However, some disappointed users said their accounts had been deactivated without explanation.
Betr wrote to all suspended users on Wednesday asking them to verify the card details of their account or face permanent suspension. The Northern Territory Racing Commission, the authority Betr’s licence is beholden to, prevents betters holding multiple accounts with a bookmaker.
“Our systems have detected that you have made a deposit with a card that is registered to another Betr account holder. Using a card which does not match a customer’s account details is a breach of our terms and conditions,” an excerpt from the letter sent by Betr to affected users on Wednesday afternoon read. The bookmaker declined to comment.
Betr narrowly avoided losses of between $20 million and $50 million on the race after Gold Trip proved victorious over favourite Deauville Legend. Instead, it will pay 10,000 people who backed Gold Trip just over $1000 each.
More than 300,000 customers have joined Betr since it was launched in October, with an array of enticing odds including the 100-1 offer. The uptake has far surpassed expectations drawing suspicion from some the fledgling company may be out of its depth, having suffered a range of in-app issues earlier this month.
Betr was accused of having bitten off more than it could chew when it texted customers with a last-minute offer to take up an $150 betting voucher in exchange for their Deauville Legend bets late on Monday evening. Critics and media reports also pointed to Betr’s own bets on the favourite with rival Tabcorp to reduce its exposure by about $10 million as a sign of panic, but this is a relatively standard practice among bookmakers.
Betr was also rebuked by the NSW regulator on its second day of operations after it ran an aggressive marketing campaign about its odds offer in News Corp’s newspapers and is now the subject of an ongoing investigation into whether it has broken the state’s inducement laws.
One form guide analyst, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said he expects Betr’s rapid growth to “backfire spectacularly”.
“Betr’s app so far has been a complete shambles,” the analyst said, adding it was a shame given the demand for competition in the market.
“There’s far too much onus on individual bettors to chase a bookie for their winnings and there are too many clunky apps with poor communication and service across the board.”
Others, including semi-professional punter Bryce Parker, came to the defence of the bookmaker. “I don’t get the amount of negativity thrown at Betr,” he said.
“In my opinion delayed payouts and poor customer service isn’t a bad price to pay with odds like that. They’re not forcing you to sign up. I’m not going to disparage the everyday punter getting the chance to win one grand off $10,” Parker continued, adding he thought Australia’s gambling scene had become too hard to please.
The owner of rival bookmakers Neds and Ladbrokes, Entain, said on Wednesday its yield from the Melbourne Cup had grown by 30 per cent this year, with bets on Gold Trip accounting for nearly 3 per cent of the hold. No other bookmakers disclosed their turnover to this masthead. Victoria Racing Club reported last year’s Melbourne Cup wagering yield was $372.8 million, up 1.9 per cent on 2020.
Entain chief executive Dean Shannon said it was easily the most bets the business has taken on a single race in its 10-year history and that NSW’s simultaneous race had boosted performance.
“The Big Dance has definitely added to the day. Betting on that race was 300 per cent up on a standard Sydney race on Cup Day last year, so it shows that these big events compliment each other,” Shannon said.
