L&GNSW readies tougher stance against operators not meeting regulatory standards

Liquor & Gaming New South Wales (L&GNSW) has issued a statement which addresses the ‘poor conduct’ of a number of NSW-licensed bookmakers over the last few months. 

A spokesperson for L&GNSW told SBC News that the conduct in question involves ‘unreasonable obstructions’ when it comes to paying out players’ winnings, as well as assisting with account closures – in some cases bookmakers have applied an administrative fee to the withdrawing of funds. 

According to BetStop, Australia’s national self-exclusion scheme, betting service providers (BSPs) are required to immediately close any existing accounts and refund any credit balance to anyone whose name has been included in the registry. 

L&GNSW highlighted that placing any barriers that could exacerbate the above mentioned is “the result of bookmakers not considering what is expected of them by L&GNSW and the community”. 

The regulator further reminded that BSPs are required to steer away from any conduct that could ‘reasonably be expected’ to cause players harm, even in cases where the conduct has not been explicitly mentioned in the legislative framework.

Referring an alert addressing the industry published in December last year, L&GNSW warned that it will take a ‘more expansive compliance approach’ to address conduct that does not meet expectations, including escalating matters further to other state and national regulators such as NSW Fair Trading or the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) when needed. 

One recent case of a bookmaker being fined over NSW regulatory breaches involved the SportChamps brand, which was ordered to pay AU$17,500 (£9,000) for openly advertising to customers online and failing to comply with the Betting and Racing Act (BRA). 

 L&GNSW’s spokesperson added that operators who have been found guilty of promoting inducements to gamble can be fined up to AU$110,000 depending on the offence if the perpetrator is a corporation, and fines up to AU$11,000 if it is an individual. 

Another legal lever that the regulator can use to enforce further actions includes the suspension or cancellation of a licenced bookmaker’s telephone or electronic betting authorities under section 16(8) of the BRA.  

L&GNSW ensured that additional regulatory tools will be developed for keeping wagering operators in line with its expectations in cases where existing operators are insufficient to discourage the ‘poor and unacceptable conduct’ flagged down in the alert.