Source : the age
Betting industry representatives have rejected explosive claims about company agents offering their VIP clients drugs and escorts to induce them into gambling more, calling on anyone with evidence of illicit activity to report it to the police.
As government ministers conceded the evidence was distressing and appalling, betting giants Sportsbet, Tabcorp and the online gambling industry’s peak body, Responsible Wagering Australia, denied any knowledge of such claims during the second day of hearings into Labor’s contentious gambling legislation.
The previous day’s session heard from gambling reform advocate Tim Costello and former rugby league player Luke Bateman about the ways betting companies woo clients – with free hotels, exclusive events, alcohol, drugs and escorts. They criticised Labor’s laws for not banning betting inducements, despite full prohibition being recommended by the 2023 Murphy report.
Kai Cantwell, the chief executive of industry peak body Responsible Wagering Australia, said some “pretty egregious claims have been levelled against some of my members and non-members”.
“These are incredibly serious. RWA and our members strongly refute these claims,” he said.
“If these claims are true, we strongly recommend complaints are levelled with the individual operators as well as law enforcement and regulators so that clearly illegal behaviours can be properly investigated.”
Sportsbet’s head of corporate affairs, Jules Norton Selzer, told the inquiry: “I also want to make it very clear that we have zero evidence of the allegations made by Reverend Costello yesterday.”
“We have no tolerance for that kind of deplorable conduct and information, and no information has been provided to us beyond what was referenced yesterday, and we would gladly investigate it.”
Tabcorp’s head of government affairs, Julian Whealing, said: “I would like also to address the allegations made to the committee yesterday. These claims do not in any way form part of Tabcorp customer offering, and Tabcorp has zero tolerance for this behaviour.”
“We are Australia’s most regulated wagering company and we take our responsibilities to compliance seriously. Any evidence of this illegal activity should be referred to the relevant authorities,” he said.
Costello had on Monday described the case of a financial adviser who allegedly stole $12.3 million from his company in 17 months to fund his gambling addiction.
“He was the TAB’s biggest customer in that time. They were giving him $50,000 bonus bets. He was also Sportsbet’s biggest customer. They were flying him to grand finals. They were offering him escorts, drugs, whatever he wanted,” Costello said.
Asked about the evidence behind his claims against the company, Costello said: “I expect it will come out in court, when it goes to hearing.”
Bateman, a former Canberra Raiders NRL player who is now an online book influencer, said he was flown interstate for race days by betting companies, where he was plied with alcohol and asked for his choice of drugs in advance.
Describing one exclusive event, he said: “The entire C-suite of the company was there … And I was out in this room doing drugs with all of them. This is like the CEO, the founders, the VIP managers.”
But Bateman has declined to name the companies involved or give further detail about the allegations.
“It’s not about pointing the finger or blaming a specific person or company. It’s about creating change and protections for Australians from a predatory industry that has gone unregulated for too long,” he said.
“We elected our leaders to protect us and put the Australian people first. That’s what we expect. I don’t expect an industry that profits on exploitation to regulate itself.”
Senators push Labor to crack down on inducements
Senators and gambling reform advocates have taken aim at three issues with Labor’s bill: the lack of action on betting inducements and a national regulator, as well as a default requirement that streaming services allow registered adult users to opt out, rather than opt in, to gambling ads.
After betting inducements came under the microscope at Monday’s inquiry, the betting companies on Tuesday aimed to differentiate between what they described as inducements, promotions and illegal activity.
Cantwell said inducements – such as sign-up or referral bonuses – were already banned under the consumer protection framework, while activities such as those described by Costello and Bateman were illegal. He said promotions, on the other hand, included special customer offers, and were legitimate products offered by many businesses.
“The term inducements is being broadly used to categorise all three of those products or all three of those items into one category,” Cantwell said. “It’s very important for the committee to understand the differentiation.”
Racing industry figures on Monday described these offers as “generosities”, saying they represented about 30 per cent of turnover.
But Coalition senator Sarah Henderson cited an example from the previous day’s hearing, where someone who had just lost $500,000 was offered $50,000 in bonus bets – a situation that was not restricted.
She said it was “very harmful behaviour” where people were losing enormous sums of money, while being targeted by “so-called inducement or promotional offers or generosities”.
“That is not regulated currently. And I would put to you that that further action is required to regulate that conduct,” Henderson said – giving the clearest sign yet that the Coalition could push the government into clamping down further on the use of betting inducements.
Labor is already being pressured by the Greens and crossbench to toughen its legislation.
Acting prime minister Richard Marles on Tuesday repeated the government’s line, saying Labor had done more to address problem gambling than any other government.
“But certainly that evidence, which was given yesterday, does tell a very disturbing story and it shocked me,” he said. “We’ve looked at this issue in detail over a long period of time. There is a balance that has to be struck here, and we intend to reach that balance.”
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Natassia Chrysanthos is Federal Political Correspondent. She has previously reported on immigration, health, social issues and the NDIS from Parliament House in Canberra.Connect via X or email.
