High rolling gambler loses case against online gaming firm
News on 20 Sep 2013
News on 20 Sep 2013
Norwegian high rolling online gambler Bjarte Baasland remains A$15 million out of pocket this week after losing his legal attempt to reclaim gambling losses from the Australian betting company Centrebet, which was later acquired by William Hill plc through its Sportingbet Australia deal.
ABC News reported Thursday that the Northern Territory Supreme Court ruled against Baasland in the litigation, which was launched in 2009, when Baasland tried to recover gaming losses at two internet gambling sites; bet365 and Centrebet through the Norwegian courts after losing over 70 million Norwegian kronor (A$15 million) he had borrowed from his family and friends, passing off the losses as bad investments in dotcom start-ups.
The Norwegian punter said that Centrebet was negligent in not identifying him as a compulsive gambler and stopping his gambling activity
The loss of the money bankrupted his high-ranking religious family, and Baasland claimed that Centrebet should have banned him, rather than enticing him with promotional offers.
Centrebet lawyers originally argued that Norwegian courts had no jurisdiction over the claim, but in 2010 the Supreme Court of Norway found that Centrebet’s Norwegian bank account, acceptance of Norwegian kronor in betting on Norwegian sporting events and local toll-free number gave it jurisdiction.
The legal fight then moved to Australia’s Northern Territory Supreme Court, where Centrebet’s legal team argued that Australian law should govern the issue, and that Baasland had breached the online operator’s terms and conditions of service by claiming that he was gambling with his own funds when he was not.
Alistair Wyvill SC said that to place a bet Baasland had to agree to a T&C that he was gambling with his own funds, whereas in fact the Norwegian high roller had disguised that he was using borrowed money and had lied about how it was being spent to the lenders.
Had Centrebet known that the money Baasland was betting was not his own, the company would have halted his gambling services, the legal representative claimed.
Presiding Justice Graham Hiley in the Australian court ruled Thursday that Centrebet did not owe Baasland any money and that Australian law prevailed. Baasland was also ordered to pay Centrebet’s legal costs.
Baasland is the son of a former Bishop in the Church of Norway, who was forced to resign when the case became public, and the case has attracted considerable media coverage in Norway.
