Australian bookmaker Palmerbet accepted 312 bets from a customer registered with the national self-exclusion scheme BetStop. The account remained active for 17 months, from September 2023 when the player enrolled until February 2025, with all bets placed between December 2024 and February 2025.
BetStop rules require operators to close registered accounts 'as soon as practicable'. Palmerbet, operated by Palmer Bookmaking Pty Ltd, refunded all deposits made during the breach. The regulator ACMA (Australian Communications and Media Authority) imposed a court-enforceable undertaking: the company must commission an independent audit of its compliance systems and implement recommended improvements. If Palmerbet fails to comply, ACMA can take the matter to Federal Court.
A week earlier, another bookmaker, Dabble, received sanctions for separate BetStop breaches. ACMA warned that penalties for self-exclusion violations will rise significantly from 1 January 2027. For operators serving Australian audiences, the message is clear: review your processes now, because the cost of failure is about to climb.
