Legislation
Australia – PlayUp fined for offering illegal inducements in New South Wales
By Phil - 3 May 2019
Betting operator PlayUp Interactive has been convicted and fined $7,500 after being found guilty of communicating illegal inducements to gamble, following an investigation by Liquor & Gaming NSW.
PlayUp pleaded guilty to breaching NSW gaming laws in Downing Centre Local Court on 30 April, and in addition to the fine was ordered to pay $3,000 in legal costs.
The prosecution followed an alert from a former customer who had received a promotional offer two years after closing their account and excluding themselves from any contact from the company.
The complainant had received an email offer from the betting operator which included the offer of free bonus bets which prompted the complaint to Liquor & Gaming NSW.
Under the NSW Betting and Racing Act, it is an offence to advertise any inducement to participate in any gambling activity, including an inducement to open a betting account, when someone does not hold a betting account.
In handing down the penalty, Magistrate Georgina Darcy noted that the recipient of the email was a vulnerable person, and accepted the prosecution’s submission that the email was an inducement to set up a gambling account.
Liquor & Gaming NSW Director of Compliance Operations, Sean Goodchild, said the email from the betting operator clearly breached laws that are designed to protect people from gambling harm.
“If someone chooses to exclude themselves from the services of a betting operator, sending them any promotional material as an inducement is clearly unacceptable,” Mr Goodchild said. “Self-exclusion systems help reduce the risk of problem gambling, so operators need to be vigilant in ensuring that they adequately maintain any self-exclusion data on their customers to avoid situations where vulnerable people are targeted with gambling inducements.”
