‘Have a punt with me’: Fines for News Corp-backed sports bookie reach $55k

The newest giant in Australian sports betting has been fined more than $55,000 for two breaches the industry regulator has described as “serious”.

Betr, which is partly owned by News Corp, launched in October last year ahead of the Melbourne Cup. 

The fines were issued by the Racing Commission in the Northern Territory, where the majority of the Australian sports gambling sector is licensed.

Betr had already been found to have breached the industry code in a Racing Commission decision in December, after it contacted someone on a self-exclusion register.

The company was initially fined approximately $20,000 and the new decision has more than doubled its penalties.

Betr has been in discussions in recent months to purchase the Australian operations of PointsBet, currently valued at $463m on the Australian Stock Exchange.

The Racing Commission’s new decision relates to Betr sending unsolicited direct marketing communications within the first week of its operations.

The Commission found there were approaches by telephone made by both employees of Betr and contractors of Betr’s affiliates to people who had not provided consent to receive marketing material.

The communications also included this text message to one person who had previously registered on the self-exclusion register:

“Hi [name of person], [agent] from betr here. Just giving you a quick call as we are a new sportsbook launching next week. We are backed by Newscorp and Matt Tripp. I was reaching out to see if you like a punt and would be interested in trying us when we launch? I am one of the Relationship Managers and personally manage key accounts. I’ll send over a link on the day we launch, which you can use to signup if you want to try us and have a punt with me. If you do sign-up, please send back your username so I can ensure you are tracked to me. If you have any questions, please sing out or give me a call at a time that suits. Look forward to hearing back from you soon.”

The Racing Commission penalised the company the maximum fine available to it for the code breaches, amounting to $55,080.

It also noted for repeat offences, it would “consider carefully” other disciplinary action available to it under the legislation, including the suspension or cancellation of a licence.

Sports betting spotlight

Betr was established last year as competition in the sports betting industry escalated.

Advertising on sports betting reached $287 million in 2021, according to Nielsen Research, a rise of close to $100 million over the previous decade.

Communications Minister Michelle Rowland has pledged not to take donations from sports betting companies any more after she was found to have accepted approximately $19,000 around the time of the last election.

The federal government has overarching responsibility for regulating the sector, but allows the states and territories to offer their own licensing regimes.

The majority of companies in the sector are licensed and have operations in the Northern Territory due to its favourable regulatory environment.

Some threatened to abandon the NT if taxes were increased as part of a recent reform process.