The case involved a player recognized by the court as addicted to gambling, who suffered significant losses on the Bet-at-home website from August 2018 to July 2020. The court stated that as a gambling addict, the plaintiff "legally lost the capacity to act" when participating in online gambling.
Its subsidiary Bet-at-Home Entertainment (now liquidated) had previously allocated 2.3 million euros to settle this case.
The ruling dates back to May 2022, involving the group's now-dissolved Maltese business Bet-at-home.com Entertainment Ltd. Although the subsidiary is in liquidation, the parent company Bet-at-home AG and another Maltese subsidiary Bet-at-home.com Internet Ltd were found liable by the court to compensate for the losses.
In a statement on August 21, Bet-at-home stated that the company is assessing the impact of this compensation on its revenue forecast for 2024, which ranges from 45 million euros to 53 million euros. In the earnings report for the first half of July, the company estimated its EBITDA to be between negative 1 million euros and positive 2.5 million euros.
In Austria, online casinos are monopolized, held by the subsidiary Win2Day of Casinos Austria. Other online brands are limited to offering sports betting.
Although the Austrian government did talk about re-regulating the market in February 2021, including the establishment of a new gambling regulatory authority, plans have not progressed since then. It is still unclear whether this re-regulation will open up vertical industries like icasino to other brands.
The player loss case forced Bet-at-home to exit the Austrian gambling market
In October 2021, the Supreme Court of Austria ruled that foreign gambling brands were operating illegally in the country, subsequently leading the company to exit the Austrian online casino market. This meant that contracts signed with players were invalid, and customers could sue to recover gambling losses.
After a series of layoffs, Bet-at-home began liquidating its Maltese subsidiary in January 2022. Casinos Austria was its main business function, and with the closure of this business, it could no longer operate, as management stated at the time. However, Bet-at-home continues to offer sports betting through another subsidiary in Austria.
The closure in Austria had a significant financial impact on the entire group, as the group subsequently initiated an internal review and abandoned its internal platform, switching to the technology stack of EveryMatrix.
Troubles in the UK and Switzerland led Bet-at-home into difficulties
Subsequently, the company's UK license was suspended by the UK Gambling Commission, leading to its complete exit from the UK market in July 2022, further exacerbating its business challenges. In September 2022, the company warned that it might not have sufficient liquidity to meet its financial obligations.
The company faced further troubles in Switzerland, where another court ruling in July this year indicated that the company owed a substantial VAT bill.
The ruling by the Swiss Federal Supreme Court stated that Bet-at-home.com Internet Ltd must pay 1.3 million euros in VAT for gambling activities from 2014 to 2017, and 2.7 million euros in VAT for gambling activities from 2018 to June 2024. The operator plans to appeal the decision.
Will the European Court permanently resolve the issue of player losses?
For years, cases of players seeking to recover losses from operators have plagued operators in Austria and its neighboring country Germany, with courts generally ruling in favor of the players.
However, in a landmark case in August, a customer in Austria was ordered to return winnings to an unlicensed and unnamed operator. Media reports suggest that Bet365 was the operator involved.
The European Court is currently reviewing the issue of player losses. The Federal Court of Germany (BGH) has referred the case to the European Court, meaning all civil litigation in the country will be suspended until the European Court makes a ruling.
