- Sportsbet and Beteasy accused of ‘unconscionable conduct’
- A gambler lost more than $600,000 over six years
A man who lost a huge amount of money has sued two betting firms for encouraging him to have a punt and failing to tell him he had a gambling problem.
Alexander Gassner has sued Sportsbet and Beteasy in the Federal Court seeking to recoup his losses and accusing the companies of ‘unconscionable conduct’.
Despite knowing Mr Gassner dropped hundreds of thousands of dollars into his bets from August 2, 2015 to June 11, 2021, the firms did not not contact him to get him help, he said in documents filed with the court.
‘Beteasy and Sportsbet did not use any of this information to make further inquiry of Mr Gassner about his ability to sustain large losses or his ability to control his gambling behaviour,’ he wrote.
‘Instead, Beteasy and Sportsbet promoted gambling to Mr Gassner and enticed and encouraged him to gamble.’
Mr Gassner stopped using the Beteasy app in September 2020 after being advised to move over to Sportsbet’s platform.
He says he then proceeded to lose all of his savings and some of his business funds before suspending his Sportsbet account in June, 2021.
He claims he lost more than $485,000 through Beteasy and a further $121,000 through Sportsbet.
Mr Gassner is also seeking interest on these amounts plus his legal costs.
A mediation has been scheduled for October 27 and the matter will next come before the court on November 3.
Sportsbet has been contacted for comment.