Kyle was blacklisted by a gambling company not for his own safety, but because he was winning too much

Kyle Hudson was just 18 when he was granted a $1 million monthly deposit limit on one of his betting accounts but, two years later, another betting company blacklisted him not for his own safety, but because he was winning too much.

Entain, the British-headquartered company which operates Ladbrokes and Neds in Australia, had detected the university student, who was in the grips of a gambling addiction, was betting “both sides of the line”, so staff restricted his account from promotions, such as bonus bets, to protect their profits.

On the second day of the inquest into Hudson’s suicide in July 2021, the Victorian Coroners Court also heard evidence that when he was just 18 years old, he was able to set a $1 million monthly deposit limit for his account with the online sports betting company bet365 with no questions asked.

Michael Horton, chief executive officer at Hillside (Australia New Media) Pty Limited, which oversees bet365, told the inquiry that when Hudson opened his account in 2018, the $1 million monthly deposit was a pre-populated value available in a drop-down menu for any user making an account.

“Would you agree that a deposit limit of $1 million per month is not an effective tool for an 18-year-old to manage their gambling?” asked Stephanie Clancy, the counsel assisting the coroner.

“Yes,” Horton responded, noting the million-dollar deposit drop-down option had since been removed.

Coroner Paul Lawrie is probing several factors, including Hudson’s frequent interactions with online betting agencies and how his history of gambling may have contributed to his decision to end his life when he was just 22 years old.

Christina Baek, Australia’s head of compliance at the $6 billion Entain Group, told the inquest Hudson was blocked from bonus bets and promotional offers after his behaviour was identified by staff as “not in line with the spirit of the promotional offer” and he was deemed to be using the perks to his advantage.

“Ultimately, [Hudson was] using a bonus and a combination of his own money to bet both sides to ultimately turn a win or a profit,” Baek said.

“Where we do see customers use them [bonuses] in a sort of systemic or sophisticated way, we generally apply a promotions restriction.”

The inquest was told Hudson, who had four accounts across platforms including Ladbrokes and Neds, used bonus promotions on about 12 occasions over 16 months to hedge his bets, prompting the company to place him on “promotions restricted status”.

Internal logs shown to the inquest also revealed Entain staff moved Hudson to “tough” status overnight, which is a label often given to customers who have a high level of wins usually on a specific sport or market.

In Hudson’s case, it was his winning streak on bets he had placed on women’s basketball.

The inquest was told that while Hudson’s perks and bonus bets were quickly restricted, staff never put a deposit limit on his gambling and continued to take his money until his death, despite him wagering thousands of dollars on bets some weeks.

The company also failed to act when he became increasingly frantic after the promotion restrictions were placed on his account.

Rather than viewing Hudson’s repeated and distressed requests for his bonuses to be reinstated as a red flag, Entain viewed it as an attempt for him to try and recommence his previous practice, the inquest heard.

In a series of emails read out in court, Hudson repeatedly asked when the promotions and bonus bets would be reinstated to his account.

“How can I get my account reactivated with promos?” he wrote in one email. “I’ve been loyal and spent a lot in this account. I don’t know how else I can do it.”

In another email, he wrote: “I want to know why and how I can get it changed, because I’ve tried and tried.”

Two months before he took his own life, Hudson wrote another email: “I was wondering what the threshold would be for me to get the promotions back?”

He was told by an Entain representative “until we see a reasonable betting pattern, the account will remain restricted”.

During the first day of the inquest on Monday, the court was told Hudson placed nearly $900,000 worth of bets during his life, which involved repeated wagering and re-wagering of funds between 2017 and 2021.

Hudson’s excessive gambling triggered a behavioural alert on average every six weeks at Sportsbet, with documents tendered in court showing he placed almost 1000 bets in the first six months of his activity with the betting giant.

On one occasion, Sportsbet’s internal alarm was sparked after he deposited $3000 in a single week. Over the four-year period, Hudson was contacted directly 37 times following internal alerts over his behaviour.

Over the same period, he was fed almost 500 inducements from various gambling companies, including more than 300 from Sportsbet.

Sarah Rizzo, director of customer operations at Sportsbet, said on Monday the company’s procedures had changed since Hudson’s death in 2021, and his behaviour would now trigger 70 alerts, some of which would have resulted in blocking deposits and mandatory deposit limits.

On the same day Hudson suicided at his family home in Melbourne’s outer-west, he placed two online bets worth more than $6000.

Hours after losing both bets, he Googled suicide methods on his laptop.

Hudson’s mother found her son deceased in the shed that evening and desperately tried to revive him.

On Monday, Hudson’s partner of seven years, Ashley Baker told the court that in the days leading up to his death, he began frequently asking her for money.

She also said she became concerned when he began to speak to her in a way that “felt out of character for him”.

Baker described Hudson as a kind, gentle and loving partner and said the only arguments they ever had were over his gambling.

Baker said that before his death, Hudson told her he “had blown all his savings” on gambling.

Horton told the inquest that had Hudson’s punting activity on bet365 occurred today, it would have triggered the company’s early risk detection system.

Hudson was “clearly showing indicators of harm”, Horton said, and his use of several payment methods and deposits totaling $5000 or more would now spark an automatic response.

Baek also said 35 different rules had been added to Entain’s gambling harm procedures since Hudson’s death in 2021. This included tighter rules around monitoring customers under the age of 26.

The inquest continues.

Gambler’s Help: 1800 858 858; Lifeline: 13 11 14.

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