Ashley Klein’s betting escalated after the referee was secretly investigated by the NRL in 2019 despite an arrangement under which he agreed to have his gambling monitored by league headquarters.
The Herald revealed on Friday that the NRL had known about Klein’s gambling issues for four years before he closed down his accounts and placed himself on BetStop, the national self-exclusion register, in 2023.
Klein ended up losing more than $400,000 betting on horse racing and greyhound racing. Some NRL club bosses believe his position as referee for the second State of Origin match on Wednesday is…