Betr decline to comment, but sent messages to winners saying the payout was “such a huge hit that to process and settle all the winning and losing bets on these markets will take longer than usual”. It set 5pm on Friday, October 6 as its deadline for payouts.

Entrepreneur Matt Tripp, who leads the start-up, previously said he was “ambivalent” to the AFL and NRL results as it had reduced its exposure.

Bookmakers who have a large exposure to a particular outcome try to reduce potential losses through “betting back” – placing their own bets with other bookmakers on the same outcome, using those winnings to pay out its customers.

News Corp quiet

It has not been an easy road for Betr, which launched in April last year as a three-way joint venture between Mr Tripp, Las Vegas consortium Tekkorp and News Corp.

Questions have been raised within wagering circles about the future involvement of News Corp with Mr Tripp’s venture. Corporate filings show News Corp owns slightly more than 40 per cent of Betr.

All tipped start-up capital into the venture, with senior News Corp executives Mark Reinke and Peter Blunden joining the board. It was part of an effort by News Corp to push deeper into online sports gambling in the United States and Australia.

But the media company has already lost large amounts of money on the investment. In recent annual filings, News Corp said its losses related to Betr totalled $72 million. In March, Mr Reinke and Mr Blunden left the Betr board in February.

News Corp declined to comment on whether it would be out of pocket after the AFL and NRL finals results, referring questions to Betr.

The Panthers’ win capped off a huge weekend for TV audiences, though the AFL narrowly eclipsed the NRL. On Saturday afternoon, 3.86 million Australians watched the AFL final – including 97.4 per cent of the available TV audience in Melbourne, Seven said. At some point over the course of the game, 4.98 million people tuned in.

An average of 3.4 million people watched the NRL final. Nine Entertainment, which owns The Australian Financial Review, said 4.6 million people tuned in over the course of the game.