ACMA penalises Entain over in-play betting

According to ACMA, both Entain’s Ladbrokes and Neds brands accepted in-play bets on the Bangkok LIV Golf tournament in October 2022. A total of 78 bets were processed during the final day of the event.

Australian law prohibits all forms of in-play betting, with ACMA issuing the infringement notice – the maximum amount it could set for this breach of the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 – in response.

Responding to the charge, Entain said that the breaches occurred due to its parent company inputting the incorrect start time for the tournament to its systems. As a result, 59 in-play bets were accepted via Ladbrokes and 19 with Neds after the event had commenced. 

Entain said it only became aware of the error when alerted by a customer three hours after the day’s play had started and proceeded to void all the in-play bets. The group added that it had reviewed and updated its in-play compliance policy to ensure such errors do not occur again.

This was the first infringement notice ACMA issued in relation to a breach of in-play betting rules.

“Online in-play betting increases the risk for those people experiencing gambling harm as it provides fast outcomes and allows for higher frequency of bets,” ACMA chair Nerida O’Loughlin said.

“Entain is a highly experienced wagering operator and it is disappointing it did not have internal procedures in place to prevent or detect the error. ACMA made it clear to the industry last year that they must have robust systems in place to ensure that online in-play bets are not made available or accepted.”