bet365 Ordered to Pay Back $519K to New Jersey Bettors

The New Jersey Department of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) has come down on one of its best sports betting sites after the agency identified that bet365 had illegally changed odds on accepted wagers without permission to do so.

The agency found that bet365, which had built a reputation as one of the most successful New Jersey sports betting apps, changed odds offered on events over a two-year span while keeping the DGE in the dark. 

As a result, bet365 was ordered to pay $519,323.32 on 199 separate winning wagers made by New Jersey sports betting customers over a period of two years. The provider was ordered to pay out wagers with the original odds posted when the bets were concluded, not at the revised price.

NJ cracks down on bet365

New Jersey happens to be one of a handful of states that require sports betting providers to pay out all wagers with the odds posted on New Jersey sportsbook promos and regular bets - even if “obvious errors” in the calculation of those odds took place - unless such incidents are reported to the Department.

It wasn’t the first time that bet365 changed odds in the New Jersey market. In April 2023, the provider claimed it accepted 101 bets on an NBA game between the Knicks and Cavaliers with “incorrect odds.”  The sportsbook in that case paid out all winning bets with the original odds, not the revised ones.

In this case, bet365 revised odds on 199 bets, according to an investigation done by the DGE. The sports betting provider claimed that the changes were due to “obvious errors” - which would be fine as long as the Department’s permission is sought first.

The 199 wagers in question were concluded bets for which bet365 changed the odds before payout. Such “obvious errors” happen in the sports betting industry, especially with companies competing to offer the best sportsbook promos at long odds.

But in the Garden State, they must be reported and signed off on by regulators.

“Once bet365 accepted the wagers, even using odds it considered to be ‘incorrect,’ its only recourse was to seek Division permission to alter or void the wagers," DGE Interim Director Mary Jo Flaherty explained in a letter to bet365.

That was something that bet365 failed to do.

More details about the 199 wagers

According to the DGE, bet365 accepted wagers with what it called “incorrect odds” from 13 sporting events from a time period ranging from December 2020 to November 2022.

A breakdown of the wagers in question are as follows.

• 21 wagers (13 wins) by 18 customers on a New England Patriots vs. New York Jets NFL game in December 2020 
• 63 bets (59 wins) from 18 bettors on an NCAA men's basketball game between Brigham Young University and the University of Oregon in November 2021
• Unspecified bets on a Tennessee Titans vs. Green Bay Packers NFL game November 2022
• A host of bets on other NFL and collegiate sports games, the Masters golf tournament, and various MMA fights

Fallout for bet365 in NJ

bet365 was given 10 days from the letter dated July 22 to fulfill its obligations of paying out the wagers with the original, mistaken odds. The company was also expected to provide the DGE with a full report of the failures that led to the “obvious errors” within 20 days.

Flaherty's letter was clear and concise about the seriousness of the violations:

“These types of multiple and serious violations cannot be tolerated in the New Jersey gaming regulatory system,” she wrote. “They impact adversely upon bet365’s business abilities and casino experience and evident impermissible conduct in dealing with regulations, with significant adverse impact on patrons.” 

A nearly half-million dollar payout shows just how seriously the New Jersey Department of Gaming viewed the matter.

DGE has been busy

It isn’t just bet365 that has caught the ire of the New Jersey Department of Gaming Enforcement over the last month or so. Just last month, DraftKings was sanctioned by regulators to the tune of $100K for reporting inaccurate sports betting data.

The sportsbook was fined for what the Department called “gross errors and failures” in reporting the amount of money that had been bet on parlays. The result of that was incorrect information and ultimately wrong figures provided for tax return purposes.