Action on interactive gambling: January to March 2020

Enquiries and complaints We looked into 70 enquiries and complaints
Investigations We completed 32 investigations into 41 gambling sites
Breaches We found 34 breaches of the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 (IGA)
Formal warnings We issued 4 formal warnings
Blocking websites We referred 21 websites to internet service providers for blocking

Enquiries and complaints

Of the 70 enquiries and complaints we received, 55 (79%) were valid complaints that we could investigate under the IGA.

Figure 1 compares January 27 complaints to 8 enquiries, February 12 complaints to 6 enquiries, and March 16 complaints to 1 enquiry

Make a complaint about a service you think is illegal.

Investigations

We completed 32 investigations. One involved an Australian wagering operator’s compliance with credit betting provisions in the IGA. This is an ACMA compliance priority for 2019 to 2020.

The investigations involved 41 gambling sites. We found 1 or more breaches of the IGA in 25 investigations. There were 34 findings of breaches:

  • 30 for providing a prohibited interactive gambling service to Australian customers
  • 4 for providing an unlicensed regulated interactive gambling service to Australian customers

Types of breaches

Figure 2 reveals 30 prohibited interactive gambling services to 4 unlicensed regulated interactive gambling services.

Learn more about protecting yourself from illegal gaming and wagering services.

Enforcement action

Action Number 

Formal warnings issued

  • Golden Reels B.V. (9 January 2020)
  • Olimpbet N.V (30 January 2020)
  • Mountberg Limited (31 January 2020)
  • Merus (UK) Limited (30 March 2020)
4
Websites referred to internet service providers for blocking 21
URLs reported to family-friendly filter providers 30

Our role

To raise awareness of the IGA and make sure people are complying with it, we work with many different bodies. These include:

  • international and national regulators
  • licensing authorities
  • service providers
  • sporting and racing bodies
  • other federal government agencies

How we raise awareness

We continued our consumer awareness campaign to disrupt illegal offshore gambling.

The campaign ran from December 2019 to the end of February 2020. It looked to achieve two main goals:

  • alert consumers to the risks and lack of protections when using illegal offshore gambling sites
  • raise awareness that the offshore gambling sites on offer to Australians are provided illegally

The campaign directed consumers to information on our website. This included details about online gambling services, legal operators and the risks of using illegal gambling providers.

Website blocking

We have continued website blocking of services found to be in breach of the IGA.

 
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