Action on interactive gambling: July to September 2018

Enquiries and complaints

Of the 60 enquiries and complaints received, 43 (72%) were valid complaints that could be investigated under the IGA.

You can make a complaint to the ACMA if you believe that a prohibited interactive gambling service or an unlicensed regulated interactive gambling service is being provided to Australian customers or advertised in Australia.

Investigations

We may investigate interactive gambling matters on our own initiative or where a valid complaint is made.

An investigation may look at a number of sites and may also include findings on a number of matters. For example, in a single investigation we might consider if a service is a prohibited interactive gambling service and also whether an advertisement for the service was published in Australia.

In this period, 11 investigations were completed, which considered a total of 17 distinct URLs.

One or more breaches of the IGA were found in seven investigations. There were a total of 13 separate findings of breaches:

• nine related to providing a prohibited interactive gambling service to Australian customers
• four related to providing an unlicensed regulated interactive gambling service to Australian customers.

Investigation breaches by type 

 The ACMA does not publish the names of entities involved in investigations.

Enforcement actions

We have a range of powers to deal effectively with breaches, including the power to:

• issue formal warnings
• issue infringement notices
• apply to the Federal Court or Federal Circuit Court for civil penalty orders and/or injunctions
• refer a matter to the Australian Federal Police for investigation, or to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions, in connection with criminal offence provisions.

In addition, we can:

• notify relevant international licensing authorities if an operator is in breach of Australian law
• refer directors/principals of offending operators to border protection agencies for inclusion on the travel Movement Alert List
• report URLs to family-friendly filter providers.

Enforcement action undertaken in this quarter

Stakeholder engagement

We continue to actively engage with international regulators, national regulators, licensing authorities, service providers, sporting and racing bodies, and other federal government agencies to raise awareness of the IGA and to promote compliance.