The powerful mixture of gambling, sports betting and poker brands including Paddy Power, Betfair and The Stars Corp, which is currently owned by Flutter Entertainment, has provided the Irish bookmaking giant with the chance to reach deeper into the Australian gambling industry.
Following the merger between Flutter and The Star Group, the company’s Australian businesses – Sportsbet and BetEasy – have managed to overtake the largest betting shop owner in the country from Tabcorp thanks to the combined revenue of the units. They currently control approximately half of the country’s betting take, which has been estimated at more than AU$1.70 billion of revenue generated from about AU$16 billion worth of bets in the previous year.
Unfortunately, some analysts warned that reports of continuous growth often cover up some serious shortcomings in the companies’ operating models.
In line with the National Consumer Protection Framework for Online Wagering that was officially signed four years ago, gambling companies have made a commitment to issuing monthly statements to their customers to unveil some details about wins and losses in order to help gambling addicts realise the actual scale of their problem. Not all of them, though, seem to be worried about their users’ well-being.
Compliance Concerns Push Gambling Regulators towards Stricter Regulation
According to reports, there have been cases in which punters have received reports of somebody else’s account statements and betting activity. As some Twitter users have signalled, many of them have been using other players’ statements and have been wondering who had received their data, describing the issue as extremely worrying. Some of them have directly named Sportsbet as the operator that has made the mistake of tagging the gambling operator in some of their tweets that date back to early July but the company has remained silent.
Sportsbet, however, has addressed the Northern Territory Racing Commission in July, informing the regulatory body about the problem. Although the company has not given any indications of being particularly worried about the mistake that occurred with some customers’ data, considering the fact that no actual names or addresses were involved but only a personal betting number which is practically useless to regular users. However, considering the upcoming increase in penalties available to the state’s private regulatory body could see the Flutter Entertainment-owned operator pay a hefty fine, much more serious than the one imposed on the company by the Liquor and Gaming NSW in 2021.
On the other hand, Australia has been a destination known for its relatively liberal laws that can practically leave some loopholes for money laundering, interference of criminal organisations, circumvention of the local gambling authorities’ rules, etc. For years casino and gambling regulators have let companies such as Sportsbet get away with the wrongdoings until media reports about them occur.
In the last few years, however, both federal and state gambling regulatory authorities have eyed tougher restrictions not only against Sportsbet but also against other gambling companies that have been circumventing rules and regulations at state and federal level.
- Author
Olivia Cole
