The Australian Communications and Media Authority ACMA has issued a formal warning to online sports betting operator Tabcorp following an investigation into the company’s in-play betting services.
According to the ACMA, Tabcorp accepted 37 online in-play wagers that are prohibited according to its licensing conditions. The bets were made on a US college basketball game that took place on January 3rd 2021 and were first flagged by a customer complaint.
The Australian Interactive Gambling Act 2001 prohibits online in-play betting under any circumstances.
Speaking of the warning, ACMA Member Fiona Cameron said:
“We know that in-play betting, such as bets on the next point in a tennis match or the next ball in cricket, can pose a very high risk to problem gamblers.
These rules have been in place for many years and Tabcorp has had more than enough time to put systems in place to ensure that in-play betting is not offered on local or international sports.”
Tabcorp responded to the initial investigation by stating that it had failed to close betting on the match in time as the match start time provided by a third-party tech supplier was incorrect. Once the error was found, Tabcorp paid out any winning bets and also refunded losing bets.
However, Cameron added:
“The ACMA considered that the paying out of winning bets by Tabcorp was inappropriate and that all illegal bets should have been voided so that neither operators or punters benefit from prohibited activity”
The industry is now on notice that it must have robust systems in place to prevent in-play bets and that the ACMA will investigate evidence of non-compliance with these important consumer safeguards.
If we find breaches of the rules caused by genuine mistakes, in any enforcement response we will take into account whether an operator has voided rather than paid out illegal winning bets.”
As this was the first time that Tabcorp had breached gambling rules in this way, the ACMA felt that a formal warning was sufficient.
This is the second time in as many weeks that an Australian online sports betting operator has found themselves in trouble with the authorities. Last week, Flutter-owned Sportsbet was fined for breaching gambling laws with regards to advertising and promotions.
Ciaran has been working within the Gambling Industry as a deep analyst since 2019. His deep knowledge and understanding of all the gambling regulations, and processes makes him a true asset, and an always valuable point of view for Gambling Industry News, allowing us to cover every topics from a brand new perspective.