Racenet article on responsible gambling
Well done Racenet on publishing this!!!!!
At the
bottom of all wagering websites in Australia, you will
see a banner that says something like “ we support
responsible gambling,” writes Peter Lawrence.
On the WA Government-owned TABozbet,
the wording is “RWWA supports responsible wagering”.
RWWA stands for Racing and Wagering
Western Australia.
You can click on a link and get the
full story, "RWWA is committed to supporting the
community in which we operate.
”We acknowledge our moral, social
and business responsibilities to promote responsible
wagering amongst our patrons.
”We actively promote a view of
shared responsibility and aim to provide all industry
participants an open and supportive environment in which
to safely participate in our wide and varied activities."
I have been having a good run on the
punt lately and have won a bit of money off TABozbet
over the past few months.
Today, I got the phone call from the
man in charge of the fixed odds operation.
He told me: “We have done a study
into the behaviour of some of our clients and I’m
sorry to tell you that your behaviour falls outside
the desired outcomes for our clients.
“Therefore I will be closing your
account today and the money owing to you will be transferred
into your nominated account.”
In other words, “you are a winning
punter, we don’t want you here.”
The “desired outcome” for
TABozbet clients is clearly - not to be a winning punter.
Which begs the question, which punters
do the Government-owned TABozbet want?
Clearly, only losing punters, some of
which are problem gamblers.
I am probably not the only winning account
that has been closed recently.
One wonders how many losing punters
have had their accounts closed in recent weeks. I did
actually ask that question, but was told it was “classified
information”.
At a wild guess I would say, NIL!
So when TABozbet says they are “supporting
responsible wagering,” and that they “aim
to provide all industry participants an open and supportive
environment in which to safely participate in our wide
and varied activities”, what do they actually
mean?
It seems clear to me that in reality
the only people who are welcome at TABozbet are losing
punters, again it must be pointed out, some of which
are undoubtedly problem gamblers.
How does the reality of the policy actually
adopted by TABozbet marry with the statement about supporting
“responsible wagering.”
Apparently, being a winner is not seen
as responsible by TABozbet.
The practice of closing the account
of winning punters is a scourge that has infiltrated
the Australian betting landscape in recent years.
With British betting firms taking major
stakes in Australian betting houses, they have adopted
the British policy of reviewing all accounts each week
and then getting rid of winning punters.
This practice is not only
short sighted, it is utterly UN-AUSTRALIAN.
When a Government-owned
TAB employs the same practice it is beyond un-Australian.
It is a disgrace and shows the utter hypocrisy of Governments
pretending to be worried about problem gambling.
Apparently, the only problem gamblers
TABozbet is worried about are WINNERS!
They should be ashamed
to call themselves Australian.
