ALLIANCE for Gambling Reform advocate Tim Costello has accused sports betting giants TAB and Sportsbet of paying for flights and escorts, and also asking problem gamblers what drugs they use in a bid to keep people punting.
RONALD MIZEN reports for the AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW that Costello, who is appearing before a Senate Inquiry probing the Albanese Government’s proposed gambling reform legislation, said account managers would work out people’s vulnerabilities and exploit them.
“They were TAB and Sportsbet, and I think Star Casino,” he said when asked by Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young which companies engaged in this behaviour. Costello said he was conveying the experience of a young man who is currently serving a jail sentence.
Another attendee from the Gambling Harm Lived Experience Experts said these stories were not unusual.
Luke Bateman, a former heavy gambler who used many of these sites, also detailed how account managers would target him with inducements of up to $1000 on Wednesdays and Saturdays, which are the main race days.
“No one who’s going to win … no one who is going to be a long-term winning punter is getting a VIP manager. They are getting restricted. They are getting banned from the apps,” Bateman said.
“So they identify immediately within your first hour to first week … whether you show signs of problematic gambling, and also how much you’re gambling with the amount, and then they will assign you a VIP manager … and then they exploit that vulnerability with zero welfare.”
A former rugby league player and problem gambler says he did drugs with key executives of an unnamed sports betting company on the Gold Coast as part of a fully paid trip he received for being a higher-value punter.
Luke Bateman, 31, said that at just 23 years old, he was flown around the country by sports betting companies to attend gambling events. Batemen said that before trips, he would be asked what drugs he wanted to be available.
“Before getting there, your VIP manager would offer you: ‘Hey mate, what drugs do you want? Do you want, you know, do you want a couple of bags for this weekend? We’ll organise that for you. We’ll have that ready for you when you get here.’
“There was another time I remember when I went to an exclusive event through a betting company that was hosted in … a rental on the canals of the Gold Coast, and the entire sort of C-suite of the company was there. All the management team … they were sort of all in the back room doing drugs together. And I was out in this room doing drugs with all of them. This is like the chief executive, the founders, the VIP managers.”
Bateman said he was absolutely a willing participant, but he was just 23 and being heavily influenced by people in power.
“This is the kind of behaviour that they are drawing you in to encourage you into and coaxing you,” he said.
Mark Kempster, a Lived Experience advocate, said he knew of dozens of similar examples based on the stories of people he has worked with.
“That is a regular occurrence. Those types of things that happen across nearly all the major VIP programs that I’ve seen.”
