Summary
- ACMA Pursues Unibet for Violations of the National Self-Exclusion Register
- More than 950 user accounts that were banned by BetStop were not blocked on Unibet.
- The regulator criticized this failure, describing it as "very serious," and imposed a penalty of AU$1 million on the operator.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has issued a new press release on its website, announcing a significant financial penalty against Betchoice Corporation Pty Ltd, operating as Unibet. This fine arises from Unibet's failure to enforce Australia's self-exclusion rules for gambling adequately. The violations were severe enough to result in one of the largest penalties ACMA has ever imposed on a regulated company, with the authority declaring a fine of AU$1,014,120. ACMA reported that Unibet did not identify and close 954 accounts belonging to individuals who were registered in the BetStop national self-exclusion program. These players should have been excluded from the operator’s platform as required by law, according to the watchdog’s statement.
ACMA highlights the severity of the issue
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) identified 100,000 violations of the Interactive Gambling Act 2001. Carolyn Lidgerwood, an ACMA member and lead on gambling issues, emphasized that this represents a significant failure in the operator's compliance with the National Self-Exclusion Register, putting players at risk. Our investigation uncovered very serious breaches by Unibet over an extended period. Delays of up to 190 days to close accounts are clearly unacceptable and disregard the decisions of Unibet customers who sought support to stop gambling, Lidgerwood stated. The NSER rules are intended to ensure that individuals make a clear and deliberate choice to restart gambling. This intention is undermined when they can easily access old accounts, she continued. The program was launched on August 21, 2023, to replace previous state-level initiatives, enabling Australia to adopt a more coordinated approach in reducing gambling-related harm. By April, the program had reached a milestone of 40,000 registrations.
Old accounts raise regulatory heckles
During the self-exclusion periods, although no bets were placed, the ACMA discovered that Unibet did not promptly close 954 accounts. Among these, 45 accounts remained active for over 190 days. Furthermore, 45 customers managed to place bets using these old accounts after their exclusion periods ended, which violated NSER regulations because the accounts were supposed to be permanently closed initially. The ACMA reported that these accounts should have been shut down from the start. In one case, a customer was able to place over 1,200 bets using their old accounts. Unibet has agreed to a two-year independent review to ensure compliance with all applicable rules and regulations.
