Flutter-Owned Betfair Pressured to Return $450K+ in Stolen Funds Lost on Platform

UK betting platform Betfair is facing calls to return stolen funds that were gambled away on its site. Andrew Morford, a former finance manager, admitted defrauding his employer by stealing £340,000 ($455,000) to gamble. The company now wants Betfair to refund the money, claiming it had several opportunities to prevent Morford’s problem gambling.

Morford was spared jail time and given a 2-year suspended prison sentence last week for the theft. Upon handing down the punishment, Judge Silas Reid said Morford’s gambling addiction was a “very significant mitigation factor.”

His former employer, the charitable housing organization Co-operative Development Services (CDS), accuses Betfair of failing to stop Morford’s gambling. It is now seeking compensation from the Flutter-owned betting platform.

Betting Companies Will Compensate Victims of Theft

Spreadex, another betting exchange where Morford had been gambling, has already agreed to pay CDS £45,000 ($60,000). Betfair has also indicated it may be willing to return at least some of the funds.

A spokesperson for the company told The Guardian, “We have an established divestment process, to which this case will be subject to once criminal proceedings have completed.”

It raises questions of how gambling companies should deal with cases where stolen funds are used on their platforms. In a similar case, FanDuel agreed to pay back $5 million of the $20 million that Amit Patel, a finance manager for the Jacksonville Jaguars, had stolen from the team to gamble on its platform.

Morford Spent Years Gambling With Betfair

In Patel’s case, FanDuel had assigned the gambler VIP status, which he claims encouraged his excessive losses. Betfair similarly gave Morford VIP status following years of losing money on the platform.

The now 43-year-old first opened an account at Betfair in 2005 when he was 23. He quickly began to suffer substantial losses and recognized he had a gambling problem. In 2008, he requested a permanent exclusion from the platform.

However, he opened a new account soon after, using the name Andy instead of Andrew to bypass the exclusion. He again tried to self-exclude in 2010, but reversed this in 2012.

Over the next few years, he lost around $883,000, mainly wagering on soccer and horse racing. Betfair awarded him VIP status and invited him to “whale catcher” events, offering free hospitality at cricket and racing in a bid to keep him gambling on the platform.

Eventually, Befair recognized Morford had a gambling problem and closed his account in 2017. However, he soon opened a new account under his father’s name and resumed the same pattern of wagering.

CDS argues that there were clear signs that Andrew was using his father’s account. On multiple occasions, he replied to his VIP manager using his own name. A Betfair staff member flagged this in 2023, but he was allowed to continue using the account.

Eventually, his account was shut down in 2024. It was around the same time that his employer discovered years of stealing company funds. He paid back some of the money himself, using his pension and home as collateral, but filed for bankruptcy last year.

Betfair Accused of Responsibility Failures

Betfair has been accused of responsibility failures in the past. Last month, the UK Gambling Commission fined the company £2 million ($2.68 million) over several incidents where it ignored clear signs of problem gambling.

The regulator also took action against the company in 2023, fining the company £490,000 ($650,000) for sending promotional materials to users registered with GamStop, the UK’s self-exclusion list.

Another problem gambler recently attempted to claim back losses sustained at Betfair, but the UK courts ruled that he was responsible for his gambling. The judge ruled that Lee Gibson, who lost around $2 million on the site, would have gambled elsewhere had he not used Betfair.

In Morford’s case, he similarly attempted to cover up his problem, telling Betfair staff that he was in control of his wagering. At the same time, he was stealing from his employer to fund his habit.

It raises questions over where a betting company’s responsibilities lie. There have been contrasting cases in the UK in recent months, leaving no clear line of where the gambler’s responsibility ends and the operator’s begins.