(AsiaGameHub) –   Entain Group Pty Ltd—parent company of Australian betting brands Ladbrokes AU and Neds AU—has agreed to an 18-month court-enforceable commitment with the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).

This comes after an investigation that found over 500 violations of the country’s self-exclusion regulations.

Multiple violations identified

The ACMA launched its investigation after receiving seven consumer complaints and conducting an internal review of 50 BetStop-registered customers.

ACMA discovered that Entain opened accounts for and offered betting services to people registered with BetStop—the National Self-Exclusion Register (NSER). It also found the parent company had neglected to close accounts belonging to customers who had self-excluded.

The violations included:

• Entain created four new betting accounts for customers already on the NSER.
• Over 59 separate days, Entain offered interactive licensed betting services to NSER-registered individuals.
• Three accounts weren’t closed “as soon as possible” after customers self-excluded, leading to 449 separate violations of subsection 61MB(5)—each day the accounts stayed open counted as a breach.

Under Australian rules, betting providers are required to close registrants’ accounts as soon as possible once they sign up for BetStop.

Beyond account management issues, the investigation also revealed Entain sent 23 regulated electronic promotional messages that didn’t include required BetStop-related content.

Self-excluded people still able to place bets

ACMA member Carolyn Lidgerwood said: “Entain’s systems didn’t properly identify and connect all betting accounts held by these customers across its platforms—including one account that stayed open for over a year after the customer self-excluded.”

The investigation found a customer who signed up for BetStop in August 2023 was able to open two new accounts in May 2024—right after Entain’s system verified the person was still registered.

Another person who self-excluded in September 2023 kept betting on one of their two linked accounts for more than 10 months; Entain only closed the account it was aware of.

“When people sign up for self-exclusion, there should be no way for them to open new accounts for licensed betting services in Australia,” Lidgerwood stressed.

After ACMA’s investigation, Entain announced system improvements. These included rolling out a “single customer view” to merge customer accounts across its brands, increasing the frequency of “account washing” to hourly cycles for active accounts, and updating electronic promotional messages to include required BetStop content.

Instead of issuing an infringement notice, ACMA accepted Entain’s detailed commitment. This agreement requires an 18-month court-enforceable independent review of the company’s compliance systems and procedures, plus an obligation to put any recommended changes into practice.

While no infringement notice was given here, failing to meet the agreement’s terms could result in Entain facing court-imposed financial penalties.

Maintaining strict compliance

Launched in 2020, BetStop is a national self-exclusion register that lets customers block themselves from multiple licensed betting operators.

Providers are legally obligated to stop BetStop registrants from using betting services and to close their existing accounts quickly. Recent Australian gambling reforms will strengthen BetStop after a statutory review, and also include strict advertising rules and measures to protect young people from gambling.

The regulatory action against Entain comes after similar steps taken against other operators in recent years. ReadyBet was ordered to get an independent review of its marketing after an investigation found it had sent 273 texts and push notifications from its app to self-excluded people.

ACMA also fined Unibet for letting self-excluded people keep betting.

For Entain, the commitment lets it avoid immediate penalties but requires it to fix its compliance gaps under independent oversight.