New Jersey orders bet365 to pay customers $519K

The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) has taken issue with bet365 over the operator’s decision to revise odds without the regulator’s approval and pay out sports betting customers based on those revised and lowered odds, the watchdog said in an official press statement.

Bet365 to comply with New Jersey’s demands

A total of 199 sports bettors will now receive $519,323.32, based on a detailed DGE review of the situation. The regulator became aware of the issue during a regular audit in April 2022 and said that the company had acted unilaterally in deciding to revise the odds, without notifying nor securing the DGE’s permission in the matter.

A total of 13 sporting event odds have been revised with the regulator none the wiser about this. The odds were changed after the wagers had been paid out. However, bet365 contested this assessment, arguing that it had acted well within its terms and conditions.

The odds, the company said, were obviously a mistake, and the company was within its right to correct the numbers based on its own house rules.

However, the DGE’s issue was with the fact that bet365 had not notified it nor sought the regulator’s approval, which the watchdog argues supersedes the so-called house rule defense by bet365.

New Jersey has been one of the most committed states to sports betting safety and fairness. The Garden State has repeatedly taken the side of punters, even in those cases when, as bet365 puts it, there have been obvious errors in the odds.

The onus lies on the operator to ensure that its odds are not misleading, the DGE has repeatedly said in other cases unrelating to the present accident.

DGE always takes on the bettor’s side

Previously, New Jersey also sided with bettors when DraftKings had accepted wagers on the Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets in November 2023, which it then tried to void.

The DGE was quick to act on the matter and said that DraftKings would need to honor all 215 winners that won the bets that were available for 13 minutes before the operator self-corrected.

In the most recent case involving bet365, the regulator presented a detailed breakdown of numerous accidents that took place over a period between 2020 and 2022.

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