NT regulator slaps Betfair with 90 per cent of maximum fine after Trump backers’ election loss

Two Aussie punters lost a combined total of more than $1m after backing Donald Trump to win a second term in 2020. Read why the betting company was fined.

Former US President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event at Historic Greenbrier Farms in Chesapeake, Virginia last month. Picture: Parker Michels-Boyce/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The NT Racing Commission has slapped Betfair with 90 per cent of the maximum fine after it brokered more than $1m worth of bets by two men backing Donald Trump to win the 2020 US election.

The decision will cost the company almost $50,000 after the NTRC found it had breached its licence conditions when it “failed to identify and take action in relation to problem gambling red flag behaviours”.

The commission found one of the men made a total of 27 deposits in a seven-week period in the lead-up to the Republican president’s loss to Joe Biden in late 2020 totalling more than $690,000.

Meanwhile, the other man made a total of 106 deposits in a six-week period totalling more than $430,000 and both punters were all but wiped out when the result came in.

In response to the complaints, Betfair said the men’s accounts had not been open long enough to “establish a baseline of deposits and wagering behaviour” before their single big loss.

The company also said it did not “take” bets but offered a “peer-to-peer betting exchange platform where customers anonymously match bets with other customers”.

“It would have been inappropriate to void the bets in the present case, as legitimate bets were matched against the (men’s) bets,” it said.

Donald Trump’s 2020 presidential election loss to Joe Biden cost two Aussie punters more than $1m. Picture: Parker Michels-Boyce/Bloomberg via Getty Images

“If the bets were voided, the customers on the other side of the bets would have raised disputes to recover losses from their fairly struck bets.”

But in rejecting Betfair’s arguments, the NTRC found the “sharp spike in daily deposits” should have been a “red flag” that prompted “an appropriate customer interaction”.

“The consideration as to whether a customer interaction was required should have triggered a review of the wagering history of the gambler and identified that the vast majority of the gambler’s wagering activity hinged upon a particular outcome of a single contingency, namely the US presidential election,” NTRC chairman Alistair Shields said.

“Of course, the commission recognises that even if Betfair had undertaken an appropriate interaction with the gambler, the gambler may have been able to satisfy Betfair that the gambler was betting within his means and that he understood the exposure that he had with a single contingency.

“However, had such an appropriate interaction occurred, there would be no question as to whether Betfair had complied with the code on that occasion.”

Mr Shields said Betfair had confirmed it accepted the commission’s findings and would “promptly pay the fine imposed”.

Originally published as NT regulator slaps Betfair with 90 per cent of maximum fine after Trump backers’ election loss