Centrebet refunds Storm premiership bets
Centrebet says it knew trouble was brewing at the Melbourne Storm weeks ago, and has announced it will refund all bets on the club to win the 2010 NRL premiership.
On Thursday, the NRL stripped the Storm of two premierships, three minor premierships, imposed a $500,000 fine and ordered the club to pay back $1.1 million in prize money for systematic rorts of the salary cap totalling $1.7 million over five years.
The major betting agency withdrew its wooden spoon market several weeks ago, and will not be affected by punters making late bets on who will finish last.
Centrebet’s Neil Evans says refunding those premiership market bets is a goodwill gesture involving about about $40,000.
“We were actually amazed at the magnitude of what’s taken place here with the Storm, and certainly they’re a very popular club as far as the betting goes in a lot of different markets,” he said.
“The first thing we did, and we thought straight away, was to refund all bets made on the Melbourne Storm, to win the 2010 Premiership.
“Now that might extend to other markets as well, but that’s where the bulk of the money is.”
Mr Evans says the fallout will have significant consequences for the betting market.
“The difficulty is of course that the Melbourne Storm are being coupled into the AFL, with a lot of premiership doubles, and those sort of exotic and sort of novelty markets,” he said.
“[The implications are] very, very wide reaching, but certainly that’s the main one that punters had backed the Storm at any time, whether that was six months ago, or yesterday to win the comp, all monies go back.”
