MELBOURNE — A Melbourne coronial inquest is examining how deposit-match inducements from Sportsbet, Bet365 and Entain influenced the gambling activity of Kyle Hudson before his death by suicide on 6 July 2021. Coroner Paul Lawrie is investigating the circumstances of Hudson's death and whether betting companies accurately assessed his risk of gambling-related harm.

Hudson opened his first betting account on his 18th birthday. Over the four years that followed, he wagered $895,733 across 8,485 bets, depositing $406,725 into betting accounts and withdrawing $358,779, for a net gambling loss of approximately $47,946. His total income over the same period was $105,000.

Between opening his first account and his death, Hudson redeemed 489 inducements from gambling companies. He received more than 300 inducements from Sportsbet and 72 from Bet365 via email and SMS, averaging more than one per week. Deposit-match inducements, which are bonus bets equal to the amount a customer has deposited into a betting account, were influential to his betting activity. On multiple occasions, Hudson withdrew all funds from his gambling accounts and did not bet or deposit money until he received deposit-match inducements.

In the last year of his life, including in late 2020 and shortly before his death, Hudson placed individual high-value bets of between $3,000 and $9,400. On multiple occasions, the amounts he deposited and bet represented a substantial proportion, and in some cases almost all, of the funds available in his bank accounts. In December 2020, Ashley Baker became aware that Hudson had lost about $20,000.

Representatives of Sportsbet, Entain and Bet365 were questioned at the inquest about their responses to Hudson's betting activity and the inducements offered to him. Entain head of compliance Christina Baek told the court that Hudson had been blocked from receiving bonus bets on his Neds and Ladbrokes accounts due to betting on alternative outcomes of the same event. She said that betting on alternative outcomes to minimize losses was not in the spirit of bonus bets.

"So if they bet cleverly with the free money, that's not ideal?" Lawrie asked. "It is, but we wouldn't be doing that with free money," Baek replied.