ATLANTIC CITY, New Jersey — New Jersey gambling regulators have fined sports betting company bet365 $33,000 for taking bets on events whose outcomes were already known and on matches that had not been approved for betting.
The state’s Gaming Enforcement Division said Wednesday that the company had improperly accepted bets on several occasions on games where something had already happened.
In one case, bets were placed on a mixed martial arts match that had taken place a week earlier and was broadcast on video.
The company did not respond to requests for comment on Thursday and Friday.
It was the second disciplinary action taken by New Jersey regulators against the British company in just over two months.
In July, the Gambling Enforcement Department ordered Bet365 to Refund $519,000 to customers who won bets but were paid less than they were entitled to because the company unilaterally changed the odds when paying out.
In that case, the company told New Jersey regulators it had changed the odds due to an “obvious error.” But the acting head of the enforcement division noted that any company seeking to cancel or change a withdrawal must seek approval from the agency before doing so, adding that bet365 had failed to do so.
The most recent fine involves events that began on Feb. 3, 2022, when the start time of a basketball game between Louisiana-Lafayette and Arkansas-Little Rock was moved forward one hour but the pre-game odds remained unchanged.
Two weeks later, similar pre-match odds were available for a Honda Golf Classic event, four hours after the event had started.
That same day, Bet365 took bets on two mixed martial arts fights after they had ended, the state said.
In April of that year, bet365 took bets on a Professional Fighters League match that had taken place a week earlier, but the company could not confirm that the event had actually taken place.
The company also took bets on unsanctioned events, including European friendlies that were not approved for betting by New Jersey gambling regulators, and on the Rutgers University football team. Betting on New Jersey college teams is prohibited.
In most cases, Bet365 cancelled the bets, totaling more than $257,000, and returned the money that had been wagered to customers. But in one case, it unilaterally changed the odds before paying out winning bets without approval from regulators, the state said.
It offered regulators several explanations for the failures, including human error in incorrectly loading event start times into the betting applications it used. It also said that in some cases software did not function as intended.
The company has told regulators it has retrained workers.
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