In this series, we take a closer look at the largest online providers. After Stake and Entain, this time it is the turn of bet365, one of the best-known betting companies in the world and at the same time a special case in the industry, because to this day it belongs to no stock exchange and no major investor.
From the eBay domain to a global corporation
bet365 was founded in 2000 by Denise Coates and her brother John in Stoke-on-Trent, England. The family had run small betting shops there since the 1970s. Denise Coates, a trained econometrician, bought the domain bet365.com at auction and financed the platform through a bank loan, for which the family pledged its betting shops. The site went online in 2001, and in 2005 the family sold the physical betting shops and focused entirely on the internet. bet365 grew big with live betting, that is, betting on a game already in progress, a format that the company perfected early on.
A family business without accountability
Unlike most large competitors, bet365 remains to this day a private company owned by the Coates family. Bet365 Group Limited is based in Stoke-on-Trent, and the operating business runs through a web of companies under the name Hillside, which hold their licences from Malta and Gibraltar among others. The company most recently turned over around 3.7 billion pounds and employs more than 10,000 people worldwide. bet365 has never operated its own physical casinos. The industry is also known for severely limiting the stakes of winning betting customers or closing their accounts, while losses remain possible without limit.
The casino behind the betting provider
Through the same platform as the sports betting, bet365 offers an extensive online casino. The bet365 Casino and bet365 Games sections feature hundreds of slot games as well as roulette, blackjack and live tables with real croupiers. For this casino offering, bet365 holds no licence in Austria under the Gambling Act.
What matters in a reclaim against bet365
With bet365 too, Austrian law draws a strict distinction between a sports bet and a casino. The casino requires a licence, and bet365 does not have an Austrian licence. The gaming contract for the casino is therefore void under the line taken by the Austrian Supreme Court (OGH), and the lost stakes are recoverable, in some cases going back many years. The contracting party for the casino is a company based in the EU, and bet365 is among the financially strongest companies in the industry. Both make it easier to enforce a judgment later on. Why enforceability varies so greatly from provider to provider is explained in the article Why some online casinos are practically impossible to sue. We assess your casino losses with bet365 free of charge, with more details on the page Online casino and gambling.
How we proceed
The assessment of your case is free of charge. The proceedings against the provider are conducted by cooperating lawyers at our cost, and no upfront payment for lawyers is due from you. If successful, R. M. Prozessfinanzierung GmbH retains from 35 percent of the amount won, and the remaining amount is paid out to you. A condition for working together is that you stop playing with these providers. More on this on the page Online casino and gambling.
Player protection and help
If you feel that you no longer have your own gambling behaviour under control, you will find anonymous counselling and concrete points of contact among the support services of the Federal Ministry of Finance. This help is independent of any reclaim.
Note
The information on companies, brands and figures in this article comes from publicly accessible internet research. We accept no liability for its accuracy or completeness.
Sources
- bet365, company information (Bet365 Group Limited), British commercial register Companies House, registration number 04241161
- Malta Gaming Authority, licence register (Hillside companies)
- UK Gambling Commission, public information on the licensing of gambling providers