Palmerbet allowed self-excluded player to place 312 bets
Australian bookmaker Palmerbet has been ordered to overhaul its compliance systems after allowing a customer registered with BetStop to continue gambling and place more than 300 bets.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority found Palmer Bookmaking Pty Ltd, trading as Palmerbet, failed to close the account of a customer who had joined Australia’s national gambling self-exclusion register.
The customer registered with BetStop in September 2023, but Palmerbet did not close the account until February 2025.
More seriously, the bookmaker accepted 312 bets from the self-excluded customer between December 2024 and February 2025.
Australian betting sites are required to close the accounts of customers registered with BetStop as soon as practicable and are prohibited from providing online wagering services to them.
ACMA member Carolyn Lidgerwood said compliance with those requirements was fundamental to the operation of the national self-exclusion system.
Palmerbet has now entered an 18-month court-enforceable undertaking with the regulator.
Under the agreement, the bookmaker must commission a comprehensive independent review of its compliance systems and processes and invest in implementing improvements recommended by that review.
Palmerbet has also refunded all deposits made by the customer between their registration with BetStop and the eventual closure of the account.
The undertaking carries considerably more weight than a voluntary compliance agreement and if Palmerbet fails to comply, ACMA can apply to the Federal Court to enforce its terms.
The case is the latest in a growing series of Australian enforcement actions involving BetStop.
Earlier this month, ACMA imposed penalties totalling more than A$1 million on Dabble Sports after finding the bookmaker failed to close 157 accounts belonging to people registered with BetStop and sent hundreds of messages to self-excluded customers.
Entain has also previously entered a remediation programme over self-exclusion failures involving its Ladbrokes and Neds brands.
BetStop is designed to allow Australians to exclude themselves from all licensed Australian online and telephone wagering operators through a single registration.
