New South Wales gaming regulator warns operators of heavier fines for illegal advertising
This warning comes after more than A$100,000 in fines were issued in the last week
The New South Wales (NSW) gaming regulator has warned sports betting operators that they could be fined the highest possible amount if they continue to break advertising laws.
It was revealed that the Liquor and Gaming NSW issued multiple fines to operators over the last week.
The first was to BetDeluxe totalling A$70,000 (£39,472.30) for publishing illegal gambling incentives. The agency disclosed that the operator had pleaded guilty to five offences during a court hearing, including 21 Facebook promotions for bonus bets on sports matches and enhanced odds on horseracing.
The next was to PointsBet for A$30,000. The sports betting company pleaded guilty to the offence of offering of gambling incentives in two ads, including one on Instagram which offered consumers AU$50 in bonus bets. This is similar to an ad run by the operator in 2019, that promised A$100 if a consumer backed certain bets. PointsBet was fined A$20,000 for the offence in the same year.
Hospitality and Racing CEO in the Department of Enterprise, Investment and Trade Anthony Keon has said that Liquor and Gaming NSW are pro-actively monitoring the market and that it was unacceptable that so many sports betting operators have been prosecuted multiple times for repeat offences since 2018.
Keon remarked: “Liquor & Gaming NSW will continue to actively pursue operators for illegal advertisements and advocate for the courts to issue higher penalties.
“Clearly some of these operators think gambling inducements are just the cost of doing business, but they are wrong, and they are pushing their luck. We will continue to bring these matters before the courts and seek higher penalties that reflect community expectations.”
In 2018, the NSW government introduced stricter laws which saw the penalties for these offences increase dramatically. Under those new laws, any operator promoting incentives for consumers to gamble could face a maximum fine of A$110,000 per offence committed.
Keon added: “Prohibitions on gambling inducements are an important harm minimisation measure, and the increase in maximum penalties, along with our continued prosecution action, should send a clear message to wagering operators about how seriously we view these matters.
“Reoffenders run the risk of the higher range penalties, and more scrutiny, so let me be clear that patterns of poor compliance are not worth the trouble.”
Since 2015, Liquor and Gaming NSW have successfully prosecuted 37 incidents of prohibited gambling advertising resulting in fines totalling A$642,500. The agency has also added that there are currently nine more sports betting operators appearing before the court in the region.