Gambling Inducements !

Gambling - in all its forms - is regarded as addictive and is controlled by strict laws intended to regulate the way it is promoted to the public.  In New South Wales it is unlawful to use advertising to encourage people to gamble through attractive offers.

Betfair has just been convicted  in the Downing Centre local court of a breach of that rule when it offered a hundred dollar bonus bet to customers when they  refer others to join Sportsbet.   The company was fined $ 10,000 and ordered to pay $ 7,300 in legal costs.

Some of the advertising we see of television looks like betting inducements but what brought the ire of the betting watchdog was this reward for introducing what is probably non-gamblers to such an easy way to place a bet.  Similarly, the laws governing poker machines prevent the offer of free drinks or credit being made available to players.

Betting has come a long way in this state from the days when the only legal way to place a bet was to go to a racecourse on race day and bet with a bookmaker.  Illegal gambling flourished and every Saturday there was usually a SP bookmaker taking bets in the back bar of most pubs.  The tax loss induced the state government to permit the opening of the TAB.

The marvellous communication opportunities offered by both electronic devices like Smartphones and the Internet has taken gambling from the need to place a bet at the TAB with cash to just the tap of a few keys to access a credit account.  The opportunities are ever widening and as the ranks of newsagents are thinning the people who regularly have a small bet on Lotto or still maintain hope of winning the jackpot lottery now buy their tickets online.

Regulars using this method may have noticed that buying a Jackpot lottery entry online requires a manual correction to reduce the purchase to a single ticket.  The machine is programmed to automatically dispense two tickets and as you require a valid account with a credit balance the cost of two tickets will be debited for those who fail to notice this anomaly.

Lately, a similar promotional activity has been added to tickets purchased online for Saturday Lotto.The applicant selects the number of games he or she wishes to play and this information, together with the cost appears on the screen with the need for confirmation.   There is now an added line which instructs " play these numbers in Monday and Wednesday Lotto ", followed by a circle with both a horizontal and a vertical bar.

That curious symbol can be interpreted as either an affirmation or a rejection.  Those who click on it as a rejection will find their entries have been added to both the other Lotto nights and charged accordingly to their account.  The way to avoid this inclusion to simply ignore it.

It could be argued that using ambiguity to confuse the customer into making an unintended gambling purchase is a breach of that advertising rule.  Perhaps something that should attract the attention of the watchdogs that impose the rules that control gambling.