Australia’s gambling regulator took so long to investigate the $6 billion multinational betting giant behind Ladbrokes that it could not fine the company despite finding it had breached laws protecting problem gamblers 500 times over three years.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority on Wednesday said the Britain-headquartered Entain, which operates brands Ladbrokes and Neds, had opened gambling accounts and taken bets from people who had joined the national self-exclusion register BetStop.
However, this masthead can reveal that ACMA was unable to issue Entain fines over the hundreds of legal breaches because it had taken more than the 12 months required by law to substantiate the breaches, sparking claims the authority was hampered by regulation and that it was toothless.
BetStop was launched in 2023 as part of Australia’s self-exclusion laws aimed at allowing gamblers fearing or fighting addiction to have all of their accounts closed by the operators. Signing up to BetStop also bans an individual from opening a new account with any platform licensed to operate in Australia.
ACMA can issue infringement penalties of up to $59,400 per breach of BetStop obligations, which must be done “generally within 12 months of the alleged contravention” according to the regulator’s guiding principles. For more serious breaches, ACMA can also take betting companies to court to seek civil penalties of up to $12.375 million for each day that a breach occurred. That process does not have the 12-month cap.
In this case, the regulator found that many of Entain’s breaches were at the lower end of the severity scale and related to BetStop-registered customers who held multiple accounts with the company’s various brands.
ACMA member Carolyn Lidgerwood said that while customers had self-excluded, “Entain’s systems did not adequately identify and link all wagering accounts held by those customers across its services, including one account that remained open for more than a year after the customer had self-excluded”.
ACMA also found examples where Entain, which collected £5.3 billion in revenue globally in 2025, allowed self-excluded individuals to open new betting accounts. Other breaches included Entain failing to adequately promote the BetStop register in texts and emails to customers, which it is required to do by law.
However, ACMA issued no fine over the more than 500 breaches and it did not take Entain to court.
“The matters involved in this investigation spanned 2023 to 2025 and the imposition of infringement notices was not available to the ACMA,” the regulator said in a statement to this masthead.
Instead, ACMA said Entain had entered into a court-enforceable undertaking. Over 18 months, the company has committed to fund an independent review of its compliance systems and processes; to implement any recommended improvements; and to address the failures that led to the breaches.
“Although this complex investigation took longer than we would have liked and financial penalties were not available to the ACMA, the court-enforceable undertaking is a serious regulatory outcome,” ACMA said. “If Entain fails to comply with the undertaking, the ACMA can seek court-ordered financial penalties.”
ACMA is planning to raise the way the 12-month window can hamper complex investigations with the government, sources with knowledge of the matter said.
Gambling Policy Hub dirtector Lauren Levin, a longtime proponent of BetStop, said if ACMA was “failing to take strong regulatory action just because it’s missing the regulatory deadlines, then it is clearly failing as a regulator”.
“This case is outrageous in its failures,” Levin said. “Entain was found to have breached BetStop’s most important regulations, multiple times with intent, and yet there are again no penalties or court action.”
Levin said the episode proved the need for a strengthened regulator, and she called on Communications Minister Anika Wells to investigate ACMA’s handling of the probe.
Angela Rintoul, an associate professor researching gambling and suicide at The University of Melbourne, said the lack of fines suggested the year-long limit as set out by the law was too short.
“It cannot just be that you can make a serious breach and keep on going. There needs to be more accountability here,” Rintoul said. “People who have signed up for BetStop have likely already experienced substantial harm and are most at risk of serious harm such as suicide. This can have fatal consequences.”
Independent senator David Pocock, who has been a vocal critic of gambling laws, said: “These gambling companies continue to act with impunity, because under the current system, they pretty much can.
“Entain breached BetStop rules more than 500 times and still didn’t face a single dollar in fines. That tells you everything you need to know about how useless the current rules are.” ”Right now the consequences for these companies are minimal while the harm to people is real,” Pocock said.
In response to ACMA’s findings, an Entain Australia spokesman said the company took its legal responsibilities seriously. “Our focus is on getting this right for our customers, particularly those who choose to self-exclude, and on building long-term trust through a strong, compliance-led culture,” he said.
“These matters arose during the early stages of a new national system, and we have worked constructively with the ACMA to implement meaningful enhancements to our processes and controls.”
Opposition communications spokesperson Sarah Henderson described the saga as a “regulatory failure”. “The fact that more than 500 breaches by Entain have resulted only in a court enforceable undertaking is an astonishingly weak response,” she said.
Wells’ spokesman said:“We expect the independent regulator to use its powers appropriately to conduct investigations when companies do the wrong thing.“
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