Online bookmaker O’Shea Bookmaking Pty Ltd, trading as TexBet, has been fined $33,000 for sending gambling ads and accepting new bets from a customer who had tried to close their betting account.

O’Shea Bookmaking was sentenced in the Downing Centre Local Court on Wednesday 25 September for offences under the Betting and Racing Act 1998 (NSW).

This is the first time that an online betting agency has been fined in NSW for the offences of direct marketing without consent and failing to close a betting account on request, which came into effect in 2019.

Liquor & Gaming NSW investigated a complaint made by a former TexBet customer who withdrew their consent to receive gambling ads and requested that their betting account be closed in May 2022.

Despite this, TexBet sent the customer four gambling ads via text message and accepted 75 new bets from them after the date.

Liquor & Gaming NSW Executive Director Regulatory Operations Jane Lin said TexBet’s actions were serious breaches of the state’s gaming laws.

“By engaging in this behaviour TexBet has broken a law that was put in place to protect vulnerable people who are trying to exclude themselves from gambling,” Ms Lin said.

“These laws were specifically developed to reduce the risk of gambling harm by requiring online betting businesses to make it simple for people experiencing harm to self-exclude and opt not to receive ads about gambling products.

“We know that direct marketing of gambling inducements can cause an increase in betting, betting expenditure and gambling-related harm.

“Not only has TexBet broken the law, but it also placed this individual at greater risk of further gambling harm by sending them ads and accepting their bets after they specifically requested for their account to be closed and not to receive gambling ads.

“Online betting businesses that operate in NSW need to ensure they have robust systems in place to prevent direct advertising to people who have opted out.

“If they fail to abide by NSW gambling laws they should expect to be caught and prosecuted.”

Based on Vixio analysis of recent regulatory events and market data, this report provides high-level intelligence on the global regulatory changes affecting AI

Vixio, a leading provider of regulatory intelligence solutions, has released the 2024 Artificial Intelligence (AI) Outlook report, covering global trends in AI regulation and adoption in the payments and gambling industries.

AI regulatory developments have popped up across the globe in the last year, with Western Europe leading the way with the most updates. According to the Vixio AI Outlook report, the UK and EU have released over 40 updates in AI regulation since 2023.

Specific jurisdictions that have taken notable steps to regulate the use of AI include Canada, the EU, Hong Kong, Spain, and the UK. Several jurisdictions have regulatory developments in progress, including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, France, Luxembourg, Malta, South Africa and Uruguay. In contrast, other jurisdictions, such as the US, have released guidance and best practices.

“Right now, regulators are in a nascent stage surrounding AI regulation. However, as businesses increasingly explore the adoption of AI, regulators will follow suit,” explains John Gidla, Head of PaymentsCompliance at Vixio. “But, at this stage, governments and regulators are watching the development of AI and looking to better understand potential opportunities and threats, and trying to balance the fine line between consumer protection and innovation.” 

In the payments industry, regulators are observing how AI is being used by payments and banking institutions. The full report includes case studies of AI implementation in FinTechs like Revolut, Mastercard, Visa and more. Some of the opportunities surrounding AI in the payments industry include:

• allowing quicker fraud detection by analysing transaction patterns to detect unusual behavior in real time
• predicting future behavior, allowing for highly target marketing campaigns
• detecting cyber threats and weaknesses that could lead to a cyberattack

In the gambling industry, the top use cases of AI for regulators is reducing workload in areas such as annual audits of licenses. For gambling operators and suppliers, top use cases include:

• improving personalization by analysing a player’s history
• identifying risky behaviours, allowing operators to encourage responsible gambling
• automating early intervention messages to customers exhibiting potentially harmful behaviour

This report is part of Vixio’s Outlook series, which provides subscribers with forward-looking insights and consolidated research on key segments of the global gambling and payments industries. This edition is designed to provide high-level intelligence and forecasts surrounding the use, development and regulatory changes affecting artificial intelligence (AI), with a focus on the payments and gambling markets.

Dutch gambling regulator Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) has imposed a penalty payment order on the owner of social media account Luxurybingods for organising bingos without a permit and advertising those bingos. The KSA wants to prevent the party involved from continuing to organise and advertise bingos without a permit. For organising, the penalty payment order is €19,000 per bingo with a maximum of €190,000. And for advertising, a penalty payment order of €9500 per advertisement with a maximum of €95,000 applies.

Small games of chance such as bingo may only be organised by an association that has existed for at least three years and was not established to organise games of chance. The prizes to be won may not be worth more than €400 each or €1550 in total. Furthermore, there is a ban on advertising these small games of chance.

Extensive advertising

During a visit to the Harbour Club in Eindhoven on 27 March this year, supervisors from the Ksa saw that the Luxurybingods bingo was in full swing. No permit had been requested for this. Furthermore, research shows that this bingo was extensively advertised via TikTok. Tickets cost €65 each and the value of the prizes was far above the maximum permitted by law. The bingo was held for the benefit of the organisation itself.

Repetition

The KSA believes that the chance of recurrence is high. Partly because bingos have also been held at other locations and the owner offered illegal online lotteries in 2022 via the Instagram account Luxurybingods. The organisation has already been reprimanded for this by the KSA. The imposed penalty payment prevents the person concerned from continuing to organise these types of bingos.