Dependancy specialists warn of the excessive addictive potential of sports activities betting, which attracts plenty of curiosity, particularly throughout main sporting occasions corresponding to this yr’s European Soccer Championship. Because the Ö1 Mittagsjournal of the ORF reported on Wednesday, a person misplaced round 900,000 euros on sports activities betting inside 13 months. His lawyer sued the net sports activities betting supplier and has since sued for half 1,000,000. He’s now suing for the remainder.
It began with a fortunate streak
All of it started years in the past with a fortunate streak and massive winnings for the person, who needs to stay nameless, as his Salzburg lawyer Johannes Koman instructed ORF. Regardless of losses, his shopper saved trusting that his authentic luck would return and so he saved taking part in. He acquired the cash for this from individuals round him.
The person had positioned bets of over 100,000 euros on particular person sports activities bets, the lawyer defined. The Salzburg betting legislation stipulates that you might solely wager 500 euros per wager, however this doesn’t apply to on-line sports activities betting, particularly not from overseas sports activities betting suppliers.
In 2020, Koman filed a lawsuit on behalf of his shopper towards Hillside Sports activities ENC, based mostly in Malta. Hillside is without doubt one of the world’s largest on-line sports activities betting suppliers, together with the Bet365 platform. The Salzburg lawyer argued in court docket that his shopper was hooked on playing. “Legally, playing dependancy means partial incapacity to do enterprise,” he stated. In the course of the interval by which one locations this excessive variety of bets with these excessive values, one isn’t accountable, i.e. partially incapable of doing enterprise.
Linz Greater Regional Court docket sentenced betting suppliers
The second occasion, the Greater Regional Court docket of Linz, sentenced Hillside to pay a very good 500,000 euros plus authorized prices and default curiosity. Hillside’s try and take the case to the Supreme Court docket (OGH) failed. The OGH declared a unprecedented enchantment inadmissible. However regardless of the ultimate judgment, Hillside didn’t pay at first, however as a substitute supplied a settlement of 100,000 euros.
This was an try to carry out a specific amount to the shopper within the hope that he would already be in such monetary difficulties that he would slightly settle for a sixth instantly than the entire sum in some unspecified time in the future, defined Koman. Hillside solely paid following newspapers reported on the case. Based on the lawyer, nonetheless, round 80,000 euros in curiosity on arrears continues to be lacking.
Austria is a particular case in relation to sports activities betting
Hillside has to date refused to touch upon the case. Koman has now sued for the remaining quantity of his shopper’s misplaced cash, round 400,000 euros. Austria is the one nation within the EU the place sports activities betting is taken into account a recreation of ability and never a recreation of likelihood. That’s the reason it’s much less strictly regulated.
Most of his purchasers have misplaced their complete livelihoods by sports activities betting, stated Koman, criticizing the truth that participant safety doesn’t work correctly. “One way or the other we have to put a cease to the truth that you’ll be able to merely lose the whole lot due to a playing dependancy.” A number of media shops, together with the Kronenzeitung and the Salzburger Nachrichten, have already reported on the Salzburg lawyer’s partial success.
