Sportsbet has been handed a A$313,140 (£153, 915) fine from Australia’s Northern Territory Racing and Wagering Commission for responsible gambling failings between November 2022 and April 2024.
The commission found 18 individual breaches – seven in the 2022/23 financial year to the tune of A$155,668 and 11 in the 2023/24 financial year to total A$197,472.
The Flutter-owned brand has 28 days from the decision notice, issued on 12 November, to pay the penalty.
Sportsbet informed the commission on 26 September 2024 that technical issues had led to activity statements not being sent to at least 6,131 customers between July 2022 and May 2024.
It became aware of the issue in April of that year when three customers contacted Sportsbet to say they had not received activity statements for that month.
Sportsbet said it took quick action to resolve the issue, with statements sent to customers from June 2024 onwards, while it has since amended its communications management system.
The operator noted the new system, adopted in August 2024, has seen statements successfully sent to eligible customers.
Following the notification sent by Sportsbet, the commission began an investigation led by the director of racing and wagering.
A draft of the findings was sent to Sportsbet, in which the company “acknowledged that the incident constituted non-compliance with the 2019 code, however, it was of the view that the proposed penalty as set out in the preliminary findings did not sufficiently consider the mitigating circumstances”.
Sportsbet said its customers were always able to view their activity statement via their accounts and that the error stemmed from the communication system not being able to send emails to customers who changed their email address.
The system then stopped sending emails to the original addresses after receiving bounce-back emails.
The commission’s investigation did find that, of the 6,131 customers who did not receive emails, some did have statements sent to their old addresses.
This was broken down to 3,021 customers not receiving 13 or more activity statements, 1,294 not receiving seven to 12 statements, 1,378 not receiving two to six statements and 438 not receiving one statement.
EGR has contacted Flutter for comment.
The post Sportsbet handed A$313,000 fine following responsible gambling breach first appeared on EGR Intel.
Flutter-owned brand failed to send activity statements to more than 6,000 customers between November 2022 and April 2024
The post Sportsbet handed A$313,000 fine following responsible gambling breach first appeared on EGR Intel.