22-08-2007 Tabcorp involved in illegal credit betting scheme

NEWS.com.au revealed a credit betting scheme which allowed Tabcorp to lend money to customers despite credit betting being banned in most Australian states because of concerns about problem gambling.

The scheme, which exploited a legal loophole in the New South Wales Gaming Act, was approved in 2003 by the then Gaming Minister after the betting and gaming group, then operating as TAB Limited, asked the NSW Government to relax gambling restrictions.

The investigation by NEWS.com.au also revealed that TAB installed free terminals in the homes of gamblers to allow bets to be placed directly into the totalisator’s computer system. A recent study of the University of Western Sydney proved that problem gamblers have inflated expectations of winning and illusions of control. One player, who bet over $10 million from April 2003 to July 2006, said the debt to be paid each week associated with the psychology of wanting to win it back was the catalyst of a system designed to keep gamblers in the game in perpetuity.

TABcorp said to have acted within the law and denied that TAB Limited was involved in credit betting activities. Elmer Funke Kupper recently took over as Managing Director and CEO of the company replacing Matthew Slater, who had been fired following the slump in the company's first half profits.

In other news, the Victorian Government reduced the maximum levy paid by sports bookmaker from 0.20 to 0.05 per cent in an attempt to enable Victorian bookmakers to compete with their interstate counterparts.