NT Racing Commission fines Crossbet after drunken gambling binge

The company was ordered to refund the man more than $42,000 after he complained that he had opened the account ‘while under the influence of alcohol and other substances I was abusing’.

The commission heard the man told the company ‘I got no money left anyway’.

The NT Racing Commission has fined Crossbet $21,352 and ordered it to give a gambler a $42,750 refund after the company missed “red flags” in his drunken 48-hour betting binge.

The commission heard the man opened his account with Crossbet on May 20, 2022 before depositing and losing more than $88,000 during the following two days.

He then “voluntarily self-excluded” from all betting operators licenced in the NT and lodged a complaint about his dealings with Crossbet in July 2023.

“The substance of the complainant’s allegations to the commission is that the complainant was engaged in a continuous period of wagering for 48 hours, made multiple large and frequent deposits and during this time was under the influence of alcohol and other substances,” the decision reads.

“The complainant stated that Crossbet failed to identify and act upon the red flag behaviours that he exhibited in this period.”

In their ruling, the commissioners said they could not find any evidence to suggest the gambler was intoxicated until he contacted Crossbet by live chat at 3am on May 22.

“The complainant stated ‘I got no money left anyway I don’t even putting my whole bank through haven’t slept all weekend’,” they wrote.

“Surprisingly, Crossbet does not appear to have responded to this live chat message, other than to credit his account with a $2500 bonus bet, which Crossbet later said was in error and was reversed.”

The man later told Crossbet he could “not recall what had happened”.

On May 25, the man wrote to Crossbet to say he had opened the account “while under the influence of alcohol and other substances I was abusing” and “could not recall what had happened”.

“As I came to, I found my phone serveral (sic) days later and came to the conclusion I had another panic attack due to my medical conditions,” he wrote.

“I am asking why wasn’t my behaviours red flagged in your responsible gambling department as suspicious behaviours.

“I made very large desposits (sic) on an account that had just been created with a prolonged session time as my bank statements suggest I made continuous bets for three days straight.

“I was advised by my rehab delegate to get in contact with you guys and the NT Racing Commission just for an answer as to why my account wasn’t flagged as suspicious and stopped after the first 24 hours of betting.”

Crossbet told the commission it had tried to call the man after his betting was flagged on the morning of May 21 and “contacted him directly via email pointing him to (responsible gambling) tools that were available to him”.

But the commissioners found the email, which concluded “welcome to Crossbet and best of luck over the weekend” was “more in the nature of a welcome email than an interaction following the flagging of betting activity that required an intervention”.

“The commission is of the view that it was not an appropriate customer interaction, because although it mentioned a number of available responsible gambling tools, it did not make any inquiry as to whether the complainant was gambling within his means or taking a sufficient break from his long period of gambling activity,” they wrote.

Originally published as NT Racing Commission fines Crossbet after drunken gambling binge