The New South Wales (NSW) Government’s agency Liquor & Gaming NSW revealed that a local online gambling operator has faced Australian regulatory backlash for violations of gambling advertising rules. Neds.com.au, a web-based betting company, has come under conviction for illegally publishing advertising materials and suffered an AU$18,000 monetary penalty for that.
The company pleaded guilty to five offenses associated with illegal advertising during the hearing in the Downing Centre Local Court on May 15th. The online gambling operator faced allegations that it had used illegal “bet boosts” advertising and deposit-matching schemes in order to attract more customers to its websites and encourage them to gamble.
As revealed by the NSW gambling regulatory body in an official announcement, the company had violated gambling legislation by using offers of matching first deposits up to AU$505, as well as special “bet boosts” on a number of its websites including www.racenet.com.au, www.neds.com.au, and www.9news.com.au. The illegal advertising occurred in the period between October and December 2017.
Paul Newson, the Deputy Secretary of the Liquor & Gaming NSW, said that such advertising practices were not only able to hurt local communities but also clearly breached the gambling advertising laws of New South Wales that were especially focused on tackling gambling-related harm. He explained that the case needed to be reviewed under the laws which had been in place at the time when the criminal offenses had taken place, it was new pieces of legislation which would make sure that gambling operators would suffer much higher fines for illegal or irresponsible practices.
New Gambling Legislation and Fine Amounts to Be Imposed
Gambling advertising and inducements used by gambling operators have become a widely-discussed topic across the country, with companies that used such practices to attract new customers and push them to gamble being harshly criticized by various charities.
As revealed by Paul Newson, the maximum fines for operators that use illegal advertising to encourage customers to register new accounts on their websites have been made ten times bigger. In addition, under the new rules, directors of such companies could be held personally liable for such practices, so they could face criminal probes for gaming offenses.
According to Mr. Newson, the new rules were necessary to make sure that company directors are held responsible for any violations made by the operators, which could actually motivate them to observe that their companies are in line with the legislation. That is the reason why directors of online gambling operators would no longer be able to neglect such problems and excuse themselves saying that they had not been aware of the violations committed by their companies. He further explained that such managers would be held personally liable in cases where they had not taken any measures to prevent such violations or to stop the offenses once they had occurred.
Existing loopholes are also to be closed under the new legislation and regulatory framework.
The post Australian iGaming Operator Suffers Liquor & Gaming NSW Backlash for Illegal Advertising appeared first on Casino News Daily.
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