NT Racing Commission throws out unlucky punter who lost $16k in 11 days

A down-on-his-luck punter who lost nearly $16,000 in just 11 days has had his allegations of hacking thrown out by the NT Racing Commission.

A DOWN-ON-HIS-LUCK punter who lost nearly $16,000 in just 11 days has had his dispute with Pointsbet thrown out by the NT Racing Commission, after claiming his account was hacked.

Mr A, as he is referred to in documents, took the online bookmaker to the commission claiming the company hadn’t recognised his increasingly large bets in February and March 2019 as a “red flag”.

Emails put before the commission showed Mr A pleading with Pointsbet to suspend his account, claiming his phone had been compromised.

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“Hi, my phone has been HACKED, my bank has had large amounts of money be (sic) transferred within 6 hours of me being at work.”

“My phone is not working I cannot make calls and I cannot log in to my Pointsbet account anymore it is thousands of dollars, very irregular and I don’t understand how my password has been jeopardised, my bank is currently investigating also,” Mr A wrote.

“PLEASE URGENTLY WRITE BACK.”

Pointsbet then closed his account and wrote back stating there were “no issues on our end”.

Mr A claimed his account had been hacked. Picture: Generic

In its submission to the commission, Pointsbet said Mr A had never disclosed a gambling problem to them and described his reports of hacking as “a false fraud claim”.

Mr A allegedly demanded his money back “citing the glitch caused by the Bookmaker’s systems,” commission documents said.

The NT Racing Commission however said it had no reason to believe there were any glitches within the Pointsbet system.

It said Mr A deposited $19,891.54 over 11 days and withdrew only $3,955.44, and he was seeking a refund of the remaining $15,936.10 he reportedly lost.

“ It is the view of the Commission that the most recent activity on the Complainant’s betting account should have raised red flags to which the Bookmaker should reasonably follow up,” the Commission said in its findings.

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“The Commission determines that there is no evidence that the Bookmaker did not comply with its obligations under the 2016 Code in respect to the detection of red flag behaviours,” it said.

“The Commission has determined that all of the Complainant’s bets that were struck during the lifetime of the account were lawful bets.”

The commission said complaints of a “glitch” had been treated as a red flag by Pointsbet, and his account remains permanently suspended.