An online gambling company that provided unlawful gambling services faced a significant fine after the Australian media watchdog took it to court.
According to experts, however, the operator is unlikely to pay the money.
At the beginning of the week, the Federal Court issued a judgement under which Diverse Link Pty Ltd has been ordered to pay a total of AU$5 million for breaching Australia’s interactive gambling laws. The order followed civil litigation that was filed against Diverse Link Pty Ltd, Rhys Edward Jones, and Brenton Lee Buttigieg in the Federal Court by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).
Earlier, the court found that Diverse Link used the Redraw Poker service to offer an online gambling service that is currently suspended on the territory of the country in the period from March 15th, 2021 to April 13th, 2022. The operator violated the existing gambling legislation providing that a person is not allowed to provide interactive gambling services that have a pronounced link between the country and customers, Federal Court Justice David Thomas said in the court’s judgement.
The Redraw Poker service that provided customers with the chance to play poker online in return for real money from various devices, including smartphones, computers, and other devices, was available for an extended time and was sophisticated.
As confirmed by Justice Thomas, the process of offering the unlawful gambling service involved registration, as well as the purchase and redemption of poker chips for the Redraw Poker clubs. Chips worth AU$1 each were purchased through regular bank transfers. Bitcoin payments were also available. The Federal Judge found deposits of approximately AU$4.2 million associated with the contravening product. he further noted that the whole process had been unregulated and there had been no controls whatsoever. Problem gamblers received no professional help to deal with gambling-related harm, too.
Redraw Poker Service Lacked Adequate Customer Support and Allowed Multiaccounting
The legal case was the first that involved civil penalties for a company’s violations of particular sections of the Australian gambling legislation.
Two people who tabled reports about the Redraw Poker service to the Australian Communications and Media Authority noted that they had lost massive amounts of money. They confirmed that the customers were allowed to register a large number of accounts under fake identities and there was no responsible gambling program.
One of the people who reported the illegal online gambling service to the regulatory body explained that they asked the service provider to suspend him from the service on multiple occasions but their requests have not been honoured, or the company simply did not have the capacity or customer care service in place to take care of those requests.
The Federal Judge also found that, virtually, it was unlikely for the $5 million to be recovered as the online gambling company did not take part in proceedings and the ACMA was set to cease its registration, but that was irrelevant for the operator’s lack of compliance with the country’s interactive gambling laws. As Justice Thomas explained, a penalty at that level pretty much represents merely the cost of doing business and would give effect to the general deterrence’s purposes.
- Author
Olivia Cole
