From lloveday at ozemail.com.au Tue Apr 21 13:13:58 2020 From: lloveday at ozemail.com.au (L.B.Loveday) Date: Tue, 21 Apr 2020 13:13:58 +1000 Subject: [AusRace] (no subject) Message-ID: <003b01d6178a$e681cbc0$b3856340$@ozemail.com.au> Online betting brand BetEasy to close, will be replaced by Sportsbet BetEasy's closure has major implications for the racing industry. Picture: Reg Ryan/ Getty Images. * EXCLUSIVE John Stensholt Editor, The List @JohnStensholt * 2 hours agoApril 21, 2020 EXCLUSIVE One of Australia's biggest online betting brands, BetEasy, will close and be replaced by local rival and merger partner Sportsbet. The surprise move is a backtrack by the global owners of the two companies, who were set to run a dual brand strategy in Australia following the $US12bn ($19bn) merger of respective owners Flutter Entertainment and The Stars Group. Sportsbet will consume the BetEasy business, which was born out of the merger of CrownBet and the Australian arm of William Hill in 2018, and will account for about 26 per cent of the online betting market in a move which could see hundreds of jobs lost across the two companies. The move also has major implications for the racing industry and sports such as AFL, which earlier this year extended its major sponsorship deal with BetEasy. Sportsbet is likely to now replace it as the AFL's major wagering partner. Sportsbet management are likely to see the move as an opportunity to extend its market-leading position in online betting, particularly against Tabcorp's TAB brand. Shareholders of Flutter and Stars Group are voting on the deal later tonight Australian time and later this week. The ACCC gave the merger "informal approval" locally in February, though the deal still needs official regulatory approval. BetEasy's closure will also mean the end of an era for bookmaker Matthew Tripp, who formed the company after selling Sportsbet in a $338m deal in 2011 to Irish firm Paddy Power (now Flutter). He was succeeded as boss of BetEasy by Andrew Menz on January 1, but stayed on as non-executive president. Sportsbet is run in Australia by its chief executive Barni Evans. More to come John Stensholt Editor, The List -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image001.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 59715 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image002.png Type: image/png Size: 95 bytes Desc: not available URL: From lloveday at ozemail.com.au Tue Apr 21 14:31:03 2020 From: lloveday at ozemail.com.au (L.B.Loveday) Date: Tue, 21 Apr 2020 14:31:03 +1000 Subject: [AusRace] More on BetEasy Message-ID: <005701d61795$ab5c09b0$02141d10$@ozemail.com.au> BetEasy sued for $1.2 million after punter landed monster multi-bet By Damien Ractliffe April 3, 2020 - 3.05pm Bookmaker BetEasy is being pursued for close to $1.2 million in unpaid winnings after it paid punter Renee Bell just $250,000 following a monster parlay win in May 2018. In Supreme Court documents filed on Wednesday, Bell claims BetEasy, formerly CrownBet, was deceptive and misleading when it accepted $500 worth of multi-bets with a potential return of $1,443,695.90 before claiming it had a maximum payout limit of $250,000. A $1.4 million betting payout hinged on West Coast beating Richmond during round nine in 2018.Credit:AAP Potential turned into reality for Bell when she successfully tipped horses Jaminzah ($16), Marcel From Madrid ($9), Praguematist ($4.80) and Miss Iano ($9.50) to win their respective races around Australia on Saturday, May 19, 2018 as well as West Coast to beat Richmond ($1.92) on Sunday, May 20. The $100 five-leg all-up returned $1,260,748.80, while Bell's other four $100 bets all used the same horses and football match, but with different combinations of three horses to place and one to win. Those four winning parlays returned another $182,447.10. However, BetEasy paid out just $250,000 for Bell's first successful bet plus her $100 stake and cancelled the other four bets, refunding her $400. According to the bookmaker's terms and conditions, "the maximum payout for a multi-bet for a racing/sports or a combination of both is $250,000." "It is your responsibility to ensure you stake accordingly to the limits," BetEasy's website says. In the Supreme Court claim, lawyers for Bell argue that BetEasy accepted the bets without "warning given by [BetEasy] that such maximum payout limits applied". "To the contrary, [BetEasy] accepted the full amount of the plaintiff's stake for each bet without any deduction or limitation and recorded the plaintiff's bet as returning the full amount of potential winnings," the statement of claim reads. "[BetEasy] ought to have paid out to the plaintiff the amount of $1,443,695.90 in respect of the bets, but only paid the amount of $250,000, and the plaintiff claims the difference of $1,193,195.90 as a debt." All four horses in Bell's bets were either part-owned or bred by relatives. Miss Iano was the first to salute with a comfortable two-length win at Doomben at big odds, before the Chris Waller-trained Jaminzah won by a neck in his Flemington race. Half-an-hour later, Marcel From Madrid claimed a group 3 win at her second career start at Morphettville before Praguematist won at Wodonga, breaking a 13-month drought. Bell then faced a nervous sleep as all five multi-bets hinged on West Coast beating Richmond on the Sunday, which the Eagles eventually did, defeating the Tigers by 47 points to land the $1.4 million collect. Alternative to the $1,193,195.90 payout plus interest, Bell is seeking damages under the Australian Consumer Law. The Age has contacted BetEasy for comment. ****************** If a bookmaker accepts a bet at fixed odds, the payout is pre-determined and they should not be able to welch but should be forced to pay out the figure on the "ticket". TAB price-based bets are not predetermined and it is reasonable to have a limit for, eg, the First 4 that paid $1m+ on the 2012 Melbourne Cup. IAS once accepted a multi from me to win $250 BILLION for $1 - that is clearly fraud; their computers can restrict bets to MBL but will allow such bets? I brought it to the attention of the NTRC, but of course they did mothing. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: