Online operator bet365 faces heavy fines for attracting new customers with a promotion that required them to spend up to AU$1,200 before they could recover $200 in "free” bets, reports The Canberra Times.
Australia's consumer watchdog, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, had launched a lawsuit alleging that bet365’s 10-month promotion in 2013/14 had been “misleading and deceptive”.
The Australian federal court this week found in favour of the ACCC, ruling that bet365's Australian and UK companies had indeed misled and deceived customers.
"This judgment makes it clear that companies cannot use the word 'free' in offers to consumers where any conditions that seek to neutralise the 'free' nature of the offer are not clearly identified,” ACCC chairman Rod Sims said in a statement.
“Inducements like free bets run the risk of signing up new and inexperienced gamblers based on a deceptive claim.”
The details of the penalties are to be determined at a further trial in the Australian federal court.
