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.”

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.

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