The Guardian Exposes: Australian Bookies Reward Losers, Ban Winners

The Guardian has revealed that many Australian bookmakers are playing dirty with their customers. They are limiting bets for pro players while luring losing ones with tempting offers.

The newspaper obtained emails from over a dozen bookmakers that date back to 2016–2022. The emails show how the bookies discriminate against successful gamblers and favor those who gamble at a loss.

For example, Ladbrokes told a customer that promotional offers were only for amateur players, not professionals.

Another bookmaker — SportsBetting — which is no longer in business, said it reserved the right to cancel or restrict accounts based on “a number of factors including those who almost exclusively bet on promotional markets, show the traits of professional gamblers or bet in a manner which is not commercially viable”. The phrase “commercially viable” is especially shady.

The report also mentions Betr, a bookie that banned a player from any bonus promotions. “Any existing promotion bets will be honored but from this moment onwards any bet placed on a promotion market will not be eligible,” the bookie said in their email. This was not because of bonus hunting; otherwise, the player’s account would have been blocked.

A spokesperson for Entain, a gambling giant, commented on the issue. They said that the company sometimes limits betting limits but never blocks users who are betting in the positive. They claimed that there are about 130,000 such customers at Entain as of 2023.