Two of Australia’s biggest bookmakers have been accused of blatantly trying to rip off their own punters, before reluctantly admitting their “mistakes”.
Daily Mail Australia can reveal that Sportsbet was caught trying to cheat a punter out of winnings of $658 on a $350 bet he placed on a T20 cricket match between Saudi Arabia and Cambodia on Monday.
The bet was on Faisal Khan to score over 86.5 runs, and the Saudi delivered, making 101 before being caught.
But Sportsbet refused to pay out and called the bet a loss.
The Melbourne punter, who asked to be known only as Cameron, told Daily Mail Australia he was surprised by the decision.
But the excuse provided by a Sportsbet customer service representative turned his surprise into outright disgust.
In that online chat, which was provided to Daily Mail Australia, Sportsbet dismissed the issue as nothing more than a routine error.
“Everyone makes mistakes sometimes,” Sportsbet support worker Lucien told Cameron. ‘It’s fixed now if you update. Is that all for today?
In the photo: Saudi cricketer Faisal Khan
Sportsbet ruled out not paying out the win as simply a “mistake”
The customer service representative refused to discuss the error further and instead activated his AI chatbot to ask if Cameron would recommend Sportsbet to another bettor.
When Cameron continued to press for answers, the unhelpful representative handed him a “penalty.”
“You treat your customers like shit,” Cameron lashed out.
‘Oh. That’s a penalty Cameron. There’s no need for that kind of language,” the representative responded, adding a thumbs down and a grim face emoji.
“Let’s both take a deep breath and you can tell me how I can help you (adding a keyboard emoji and a finger pointing down).”
Sportsbet corporate communications manager Luke Holmesby repeated the excuse that “mistakes happen” when asked about the dispute by Daily Mail Australia.
“This was a manual error in our pricing and settlement process,” he said. ‘Upon notification from a customer, the market was quickly restored and the bet was paid immediately.
‘Sportsbet has complete resettlement documentation and process guidelines to address any errors. “We encourage any customer who believes an error has been made to contact us directly.”
This bet was a winner, but was ruled a loss until Sportsbet was reminded that it was a winner, and then it was again.
A Sportsbet customer service representative took issue with some dated Australian comments
A Victoria Police source told Daily Mail Australia it had never come across a large betting agency making a similar “mistake” in all its years of investigating gambling practices.
“Believe it or not, I’ve never heard of this,” he said. ‘I thought it was an automated calculation done by any sports betting authority.
‘What I do know is that they assign all markets to independent betting ‘experts’ to set prices for all courses.
“I thought once everything is deposited, it would be an automatically calculated deposit into your account.”
Sportsbet is largely unregulated in Victoria as it is registered as a bookmaker in the Northern Territory.
The Victorian Casino and Gaming Control Commission can only investigate if you breach ministerial directions enforced by the Victorian Minister for Casino, Gaming and Liquor Regulation.
Cameron told Daily Mail Australia he was now placing his bets with Sportsbet’s rivals Bet365.
“Sportsbet is not offering me any promotions,” he added. ‘I can’t even match bets with my teammates.
‘Sometimes I try to make a $500 live bet paying $1.85 and they tell me my maximum is $12. As soon as you start winning, they cut you off.
“No industry in the world treats its customers worse than betting agencies.”
Melbourne antiques dealer Frank Grulli, 75, agrees. He’s been battling TAB since Melbourne Cup day when he landed a $7000 jackpot on winner Knight’s Choice, which was at odds of 151-1.
An email from the TAB demanding Mr. Grulli obtain a legal declaration confirming his identity
But the TAB refused to allow him to withdraw his winnings due to a minor discrepancy with the date of birth in his account.
Grulli claims that the mistake was made by the betting agency.
“I know my date of birth,” he said. ‘But they want me to sign a statistical return and do all these other things and they won’t let me withdraw my winnings.
‘They have blocked my account, but I can still bet and I can still deposit money.
‘They want a statistical declaration with the driving license. I offered to go to the head office with my driver’s license and do it directly and they said, “no, you have to do it online.”
“Because of my age, I have trouble downloading things and doing things online.”
Grulli said the ordeal had caused him great stress.
Frank Grulli, 75, has been battling TAB since Melbourne Cup day when he landed a $7000 jackpot on winner Knight’s Choice (pictured), which was at odds of 151-1.
“I’m just a small bettor, so I never withdrew from my account… I usually leave it there and make small bets,” he added.
‘I’ve never had big wins, maybe $500. It was seven thousand dollars… and now I’ve put a thousand dollars back in because I couldn’t get it out. So they just force you to bet.
On Wednesday, after Daily Mail Australia raised the alarm about the problem, the TAB published Ms Grulli’s earnings.
The betting giant declined to comment when contacted by Daily Mail Australia.