I never said they were entitled to take the money of a dead or incapacitated person but unless there's some national "Dead and Incapacitated Persons Register" that I'm unaware of, how is 365 supposed to know that that's in fact what happened to someone unless they're advised? And until they are, if ever, that money is sitting in bet365's account earning interest. If I die tomorrow and I was stupid enough not to leave the details of all my accounts in a safe place, how is my family going to know I have money at a sportsbook? How will some of them even know I ever gambled at all?
The Department of Business in the NT handles unclaimed money for sportsbooks registered in the state and when you go to their website all it says is this:
Certain categories of unclaimed monies either revert back to Northern Territory Treasury, or Treasury must give prior approval for their release.
These are:
- unclaimed funds from phone or internet betting accounts
- Tattersall's wins where the prize-winning tickets have been issued but are unclaimed for over 12 months
- unclaimed keno wins where the ticket was issued over 12 months previously.
Unclaimed funds from phone or internet betting accounts
Phone betting or internet betting accounts require the person to provide ID within 90 days of opening the accounts. Funds or winnings cannot be withdrawn from the accounts until suitable ID is provided.
That's it. And after scrolling through 80 pages of unclaimed money on their website, there's not one sportsbook to be found... not from deceased estates, people who couldn't pass the id check, someone who only bets every couple of years when they go to the Melbourne Cup, nothing. So from that I can only assume sportsbooks fall under the category of "Treasury must give prior approval for their release" which makes sense because an Aussie sportsbook will merely suspend your account after 90 days but you can reactivate it if you eventually provide the proper ID and bet365 says they'll reactivate your account after the year if you make a bet or deposit. They're not passing cash back and forth and I understand that because I'm not sure how many people would feel comfortable having their name on a public, searchable record being linked to a sportsbook because it took them 120 days to validate their ID rather than 90 or they only bet during the Olympics or whatever.
So if you don't like the idea of the monthly charge at 365, fair enough... people have the right to choose not to bet there. It's not like we're struggling for options here but it sounds like you have a larger problem with government. Gamblers obviously didn't just start dying today so it appears the same advice that has been given on here time and time again holds true: Put the details of your accounts in a safe place in the event something happens because if you're to die tomorrow some CR bookie or even one in Australia isn't going to know about it unless your family is proactive at getting your $.