Summary
- Sportsbet hit with $3.7 million in Australia
- Australian watchdog pulls up operator over breach of spam laws
- Gambling advertising causing problem gambling issues down under
Online bookie Sportsbet has been slapped with a $3.7 million fine for breaking Australian spam laws.
The bookie had sent more than 150,000 text messages and promotional emails to customers who had attempted to unsubscribe from gambling endorsements. The amount includes a heavy penalty of $2.5 million and refunds made to customers who placed wagers after viewing the messages.
The infringement comes when suicide prevention experts and financial counselors have been repeatedly urging for a blanket ban on all gambling advertisements.
Approximately 37,000 consumers had received the promotional advertisements via mail and texting channels between January 2020 and March 2021. According to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), Sportsbet had advertised alerts about upcoming races and tried to lure subscribers with attractive incentives for gambling.
The authoritative body also said that in addition to the spam messages, Sportsbet had sent 3,000 marketing texts that did not have an option for consumers to unsubscribe from them. Nerida O’Loughlin, the authority chair, said that the ACMA had contacted Sportsbet to let it know of the infringement of the spam laws. Despite the messages, the company still sent spam emails and texts. O’Loughlin said that the Flutter entertainment subsidiary should be equipped with a strong system to ensure compliance with spam laws and protect consumer welfare.
Meanwhile, Sportsbet has accepted the findings of the ACMA and has agreed to appoint a person to look into compliance issues and refunds. The company also apologized to its customers through a statement and expressed regret for not entertaining the unsubscribe requests due to a technical failure. Sportsbet announced that it had suspended its email marketing and had launched a system upgrade that allows it to process unsubscribe requests.
In its recent report, Suicide Prevention Australia and Financial Counselling Australia (SPAFCA) declared that no restraint on gambling advertisements was a significant risk to problem gamblers, children, and youth. Coupled with Australian gambling companies’ access to private data, advertisements targeting individuals exacerbated gambling harm.
Lauren Levin, director of policy and campaigns at the SPAFCA reflected on the downward spiral of problem gambling. Levin said that the government should commit to a comprehensive plan to tackle it.
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