North Carolina regulators fined Bet365 $75,000 after the sportsbook sent push notifications to customers enrolled in the state’s voluntary self-exclusion program. The contact violated state law, and the number of affected accounts was not disclosed.
Covers reported that a technical issue temporarily prevented Bet365 from incorporating the state self-exclusion list into part of its platform. That malfunction allowed a push notification to reach account holders who should have been excluded, and some other program enrollees were also contacted.
Bet365 self-reported the lapse, cooperated with the investigation and corrected the technical problem. The operator also introduced additional staff training and revised its documentation and internal procedures. Reports said Bet365 accepted the penalty.
North Carolina requires licensed sportsbooks to participate in the statewide voluntary self-exclusion system, which is intended to prevent promotional outreach and other marketing communications to participants. The state’s Lottery Commission approved the program on Feb. 21, 2024, covering sports wagering and pari-mutuel horse-race betting.
Participants can choose exclusion periods of one, three or five years, or a lifetime. They cannot remove themselves from the statewide list before their chosen term ends; players seeking a shorter restriction may self-exclude directly with each individual operator.
The sanction was one of two separate player-protection penalties announced by North Carolina regulators on Sept. 23. Bet365 and Underdog Sports faced $250,000 in combined fines, though the latter case concerned a separate compliance failure.
