Author: Olivia Cole

It turns out that the gambling regulatory body of the state of New South Wales (NSW) has imposed sanctions on The Star Entertainment for offences linked to gambling only on a few occasions. During the damning evidence alleging that The Star Sydney enabled money laundering, had links to Chinese criminal organisations and misled the state’s gambling watchdog, it also became clear that the fines issued by the NSW gambling regulator total AU$200,000. The monetary penalties faced by the Australian gambling giant were mostly focused on the company breaching some laws…

Customers have been fuming about being “locked out” of their accounts after bet365’s betting platform experienced a serious crash after this year’s Grand National, which took place at Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool on April 9th. Unfortunately, the bet365 website crashed after the race, triggering the punters’ fury, as they were unable to withdraw their winnings from their customers’ accounts. Other customers, eventually managed to enter the website but were wrongly informed they had been locked out from withdrawing their money after failing to provide correct details. The gambling platform of…

A corporate general counsel at The Star Entertainment has given emotional evidence during the ongoing inquiry into the operations of the casino company, saying that he should have done more to prevent a Chinese junket operator allegedly linked to criminal organisations from initiating illegal cash transactions at the Star Sydney casino. On April 7th, The Star Entertainment’s top lawyer Oliver White gave evidence to the ongoing probe, revealing that the Australian casino giant had a culture favouring business objectives over legislative and regulatory compliance. Mr White faced questions about the…

The chances of winning the jackpot offered by the Oz Lotto are set to become even smaller for Australians following some changes brought to the game by the Victorian Government. Under an amendment brought by the state government to the Public Lottery Licence, two more balls are set to be added to Oz Lotto draws, Australians will see their chances of winning something actually increase, but the odds of generating a first-division win will be seriously reduced. The changes are set to come into effect as of May 11th. Currently,…

The online sports betting company Marathonbet has revealed its decision to cease its operations in the UK. The online bookmaker, which was established in 1997 in Kyiv, Ukraine, has its roots in Russia, so it announced a decision to suspend the services of its UK-facing gambling platform because of the ongoing events in Europe. Despite the decision regarding the UK, the online sportsbook services of Marathonbet licensed by the Danish, Spanish and Italian competent regulatory authorities will continue to operate as they usually do. The maratonbet.com website of the company,…

The UK advertising regulator has introduced new rules that would officially ban top football players and celebrities from appearing on betting and gambling adverts in the UK. The Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) has introduced the changes as part of its efforts to protect children and other vulnerable individuals in the country from facing gambling-related harm. Apart from the aforementioned measure, the new rules also suspend the display of professional sports teams’ kits and stadiums in gambling advertisements and video game content. The most recent changes in the regulation of…

The ongoing inquiry into Star Entertainment’s operations has heard that the chief financial crime officer of Star Entertainment was not informed about the concerns that a junket operator based in Macau was fully non-compliant with an internal probe that had been started into a controversial VIP gaming room at The Star Sydney. The investigation held into The Star Sydney casino by the NSW Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority (ILGA) has so far resulted in the exodus of the gambling operator’s CEO Matt Bekier, who has stepped down as an act…

Apart from the ongoing turmoil caused by a damning public inquiry into the operations of its Sydney casino, Star Entertainment Group has also faced a class action filed on behalf of some of its investors who are seeking compensation for deceptive or misleading representations made by the company in terms of its regulatory compliance. As mentioned above, the legal action comes at a time when Star Entertainment is facing the pressure of a royal commission-style public inquiry into its suitability to hold its Sydney casino operating permit following media reports…