According to recent reports, Tabcorp Holdings, the prominent gambling entertainment firm, has been ordered to pay in fines and costs an amount in excess of A$14,000 (US$9,826). The fine is the result of the firms’ offering of an illegal inducement in the South Eastern State of New South Wales (NSW). The Sydney Downing Centre Local Court issued the fine after the Australian sports betting operator admitted to breaching gaming laws in the state.

 The Sydney Morning Herald Report

The firm’s illicit acts were discovered following an investigation into the promotion of a match, which appeared on Tabcorp’s mobile app on October 4, 2018, between the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Lightweight Champions, Khabib Nurmagomedov, and former Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweight and lightweight champion, Conor McGregor.

UFC ad-related fine:

Reportedly, The Tabcorp advertisement which put them in hot water read: “HEAD TO HEAD SPECIAL – KHABIB VS MCGREGOR – if your fighter loses by decision, bonus bet back up to $50.”

Regardless if individuals were a registered gambler or not, anyone who had the app on their mobile phone could read the ad.

New regulations:

It is an offense under the NSW Betting and Racing Act to lure individuals who aren’t already registered gamblers through advertising to participate – or participate frequently – in any gambling activity. This Act came into effect in July last year, and further states that promotions such as these can only be directed to an NSW registered betting account holder.

Tabcorp conceded that individuals in NSW should not have been shown the ad after being made aware of it by the NSW Office of Liquor and Gaming. The operator went on to explain, according to court documents reported by the news agency, that the promotion had only been published in the state as a result of “human error.”

Court Unmoved

Chief Magistrate Graeme Henson, however, was unconvinced by the explanation and held, “It is a fact that problem gambling brings with it many social problems affecting not just the afflicted person but potentially also their families and the wider community. Further stating, “There is a moral and social obligation on the part of governments who seek to benefit from the taxation levied on this type of conduct to pursue the objective of reducing the fact of and impact from problem gambling. It is not surprising in that context that a dim view is taken of breaches of the law, whether they are deliberate or by reason of inadvertence.”

Sean Goodchild, Liquor & Gaming NSW Director of Compliance and Operations also commented on the breech, stating, “Inducements are known to increase the risk of gambling harm, so any breaches are taken seriously. Under new laws that came into effect in July 2018, wagering operators found guilty of promoting inducements to gamble face fines of up to $55,000 per offence and company directors can be criminally prosecuted.”

Repeat Offender

The company, with headquarters in Melbourne, is a repeat offender of gaming laws, having been penalized before for what was known at the time to be “the highest ever civil penalty in corporate Australian history.”

Back in 2017, due to suspicious behaviour related to unlawful activity including credit card fraud and money laundering on 108 occasions over a period of over five years, which Tabcorp failed to report to the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre Federal Court (AUSTRAC, the company was fined $45m).

During the same period, the betting site TAB, which is owned by Tabcorp, pleaded guilty to two counts of breaching the Betting and Racing Regulation.  This, as a result of a promotion in April 2017 that included the distribution of jelly beans coinciding with Racing NSW’s racing event, The Championship. Tabcorp was ordered to pay A$100,000 in the legal costs, while TAB faced a maximum fine of $5500 for each offense.