Sportsbet penalised for friend referral marketing scheme

Paddy Power Betfair’s (PPB) Australian brand Sportsbet has been hit with a marketing fine for offering punters a $100 bonus if they can persuade friends to open an account.

Sportsbet was fined $10,000 for breaching New South Wales (NSW) rules on advertisements that “encourage people to gamble through attractive offers” and ordered to pay $7,300 in legal costs.

The case against the operator was launched by state regulator Liquor & Gaming NSW following an investigation into the advert which was posted on the Sportsbet.com website in July last year.

The ad in breach showed a cartoon image of two men with their thumbs up that said: “Refer a Friend – Get a $100 Bonus Bet for every friend you refer to join sportsbet.com.au (excl. VIC, NSW, WA & SA) Terms and Conditions”.

The regulator said its guidelines made clear that bonus bet offers would be considered illegal inducements, “regardless of whether they were accompanied by a disclaimer”.

“Despite Sportsbet’s long-standing record of compliance with advertising legislation across Australia, we accept that in this particular instance, we didn’t meet the required standard,” a Sportsbet spokesman told The Sydney Morning Herald.

GVC-owned sportsbook operator Neds was also fined $10,000 by the NSW regulator in May 2018 for “controversial marketing initiatives”.