Ban on free bets

Herald Sun article

Adrian Dunn and Adam Hamilton

June 08, 2009 12:00am

FREE bets, which are offered by most corporate bookmakers, are soon to be banned in Victoria.

Legislation before State Parliament will make it illegal for bookmakers to offer inducements to new punters.

Luxbet, which is owned by Tabcorp, and Betfair have already withdrawn their free bet service.

Three of Australia's biggest corporate bookies - Centrebet, Sportingbet Australia and Sportsbet -- are still offering free bets.

Since the lifting of advertising restrictions late last year, corporate bookmakers have flooded the market with promotional offers.

Many corporates have advertised a free bet, ranging from $50 to $500, just for opening an account with the bookmaker.

Corporate bookmakers report a massive rise in client numbers since advertising restrictions were lifted.

New South Wales and South Australia have banned bookmakers from offering inducements to new punters.

Racing Victoria chief executive Rob Hines welcomed news of the impending ban.

Hines said from a problem gambling point of view, such incentives should not be offered.

"It's a responsible gambling issue. We have always held the view that people should be very cautious in their betting," he said.

"To give away $50 or $100 in free bets is not appropriate."

Betfair chief executive Andrew Twaits said his company had "voluntarily" stopped offering free bets last month.

"We don't believe free bets cause problem gambling, but we can see governments banning them nationwide and we believe we have some unique points of difference," he said.

"We want to start focusing on them now. Ours is a strategic decision."

Twaits queried how far-reaching the legislation would be. He asked if it would preclude PubTABS and TABs offering inducements by way of free meals or happy hours to attract punters.

BETFAIR will not offer guests access to its terminals during its Royal Ascot-Crown Casino promotion on June 20, when Takeover Target is due to race at the English meeting.

Twaits said advertising of the event, which will be run in conjunction with the Melbourne Racing Club, inadvertently carried misinformation about punters using Betfair on the evening.

Twaits said Betfair had no intention of setting up betting terminals at Crown or any other retail outlet.

Racing Minister Rob Hulls said the Victorian Commission for Gambling Regulation was investigating the Betfair evening at Crown.

VCGR executive commissioner Peter Cohen said a probe has also begun into whether Venuenet, which operates betting terminals for a corporate bookmaker in a South Melbourne hotel, was in breach of the Gambling Act.

Cohen said the VCGR had also received complaints from harness and greyhound authorities about corporate bookies betting on trots and dogs without permission.

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