A former financier in Australia jailed over fraud to fuel his gambling now wants to sue Entain to recoup the losses and return them to his victims.
Gavin Fineff was jailed in 2023 after pleading guilty to 12 counts of obtaining money by deception. The case against him presented evidence of millions of dollars acquired dishonestly from clients, who entrusted him with their personal loans on the assumption that he would invest the money.
Instead, the New South Wales District Court heard that he used up to AU$3.3m (£1.7m) of that money to gamble with, fueling his disruptive behaviour over the course of four years – from October 2016-March 2020.
He predominantly gambled on Ladbrokes, and is now pursuing legal action against the firm’s owner, Entain, together with Tabcorp (TAB) and BetEasy – the latter absorbed by Sportsbet in 2020 after a merger between the duo’s respective parents, Flutter Entertainment and The Stars Group.
Ladbrokes Australia was actually fined AU$79k by the Northern Territory Racing Commission (NTRC) over the case back in 2023, with the operator lambasted for failing to exercise proper due diligence and investigate the source of Fineff’s funds.
He himself told the NTRC at the time that he was on a $145,000 annual salary but had “far less” discretionary funding, with his gambling records showing millions of dollars in deposits.
Fineff claims his addiction was preyed upon
Fineff now alleges that he was treated as a VIP player by the operators, being offered significant incentives in the form of bonus bets and rebates by two ex-VIP managers who preyed on his gambling addiction.
Barrister Phoebe Knowles, one of the barristers representing Fineff, told the court: “The inducements we say TAB provided are in the nature of $169,200. In relation to Entain, $528,890. At BetEasy, it was $3.3m.”
David O’Brien, also part of Fineff’s legal team, acknowledged his client’s wrongdoing, but argued that the operators were “recklessly blind, wilfully blind, to the red flags that were flashing”.
Ladbrokes Australia has previously stated that, prior to opening Fineff’s account, both parties had engaged in “weeks worth of negotiations” where he himself demanded “certain bonuses/rebates” and a VIP status, claiming that he is a “sophisticated punter who had significant wealth”.
A successful case would mean that operators will be ordered to fully refund the clients he defrauded. Given Fineff’s ongoing sentence, however, with him being eligible for parole in February 2028 at the earliest, he would first need the court’s approval to file the lawsuit.
A decision of whether he can pursue his claims will be made by Justice Robert Bromwich.