Flutter Entertainment’s Sportsbet has been ordered to pay a penalty for breaching responsible gambling regulations in Australia.
The company has been fined A$313,140 by the Racing and Wagering Commission of Australia’s Northern Territory for failing to provide activity statements to a large number of its customers between November 2022 and April 2024.
Under state laws and Australia’s National Consumer Protection Framework, wagering operators must provide activity statements to every active customer, detailing that customer’s wagering activity.
The monthly activity statements are considered to be an essential part of efforts to combat problem gambling and enable every active customer to track their wagering behaviour by listing all deposits, withdrawals, wagers and winnings.
The activity statements must be made available to players online through their wagering accounts and must also be sent by email within seven days of the end of each month.
Between 2022 and 2024, Sportsbet failed to send activity statements to more than 6,000 customers due to technical issues in its communications management system, resulting in more than 50,000 individual contraventions.
Sportsbet argued that the breach of regulations should be treated as a single contravention because it was caused by the same set of circumstances, but this was rejected by the gambling regulator.
The Northern Territory Racing and Wagering Commission did acknowledge that the breach was self-reported but noted that this came five months after the company first became aware of it.
The regulator also acknowledged that Sportsbet took immediate action to rectify the issue once it became aware of it and that activity statements always remained available online.
The A$313,140 (approx. €175,000) fine was notified to Sportsbet on 12 November.