Australian wagering giant Tabcorp has been issued a formal warning for accepting 37 illegal online in-play bets in January, an act which is illegal under the Interactive Gambling Act 2001.
Tabcorp said the error was caused by bad match data from a third party, compounded with a “technical error” of its own systems.
Tabcorp said it had paid out winning bets and refunded losing bets, but ACMA said it should have voided all bets so that neither the punter or operator could benefit from the prohibited activity.
ACMA authority member Fiona Cameron said in-play betting “can pose a very high risk to problem gamblers.”
”These rules have been in place for many years and Tabcorp has had more than enough time to put systems in place to ensure that in-play betting is not offered on local or international sports,” she said.
ACMA decided to issue a formal warning to Tabcorp instead of imposing court-ordered penalties against the company after considering Tabcorp’s actions to deal with the illegal bets and its commitment to improve its systems and processes.
