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The Australian Communications and Media Authority has placed Entain under an 18-month court-enforceable undertaking after finding more than 500 breaches of national self-exclusion rules across its Ladbrokes and Neds brands.
The investigation, which began in December 2024 following consumer complaints, identified failures at multiple compliance layers: accounts belonging to self-excluded customers remained active, new accounts were opened for individuals already registered with BetStop, and required BetStop promotion content was absent from customer communications.
What the investigation found
The ACMA’s central finding was that Entain’s systems failed to identify and link accounts held by the same customer across the Ladbrokes and Neds platforms. Many of the contraventions stemmed from customers holding accounts on both brands — accounts that, under Australia’s National Consumer Protection Framework for Online Wagering, must be closed as soon as practicable once the customer registers with BetStop.
The specific breakdown: three accounts were not closed promptly following self-exclusion, generating 449 separate contraventions because each day an account remained active counted as a distinct breach. Entain also opened four new wagering accounts for customers already registered on the National Self-Exclusion Register, and provided wagering services to self-excluded individuals on 59 separate days. A further 23 regulated electronic promotional messages were sent without mandatory BetStop promotion content.
In one case, a self-excluded customer held an account that remained open for more than a year.
The ACMA said the failures exposed broader weaknesses in Entain’s compliance controls, and raised concerns over whether existing processes were capable of reliably enforcing BetStop protections across multiple brands and customer accounts. The question of cross-brand account matching — a known challenge where customers use different names or email addresses across platforms — sits at the centre of the breach count.
The case has parallels with questions raised in other markets about the integrity of self-exclusion systems. A UK fraud case earlier this year highlighted similar weaknesses in cross-operator identity matching, while Ontario’s 2026 iGaming standards update introduced tighter obligations on operators to enforce self-exclusion across all registered accounts.
Regulator’s position
ACMA member Carolyn Lidgerwood was direct about the failure.
“When someone signs up to BetStop, wagering companies must close all of that person’s accounts held within their services. In this case, 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.”
“When people register for self-exclusion, there should be no way for them to open new accounts for licensed wagering services in Australia.”
Lidgerwood said the case should act as a warning to operators about the importance of maintaining robust self-exclusion controls. The ACMA has stated it will continue monitoring Entain’s compliance throughout the undertaking period.
Undertaking terms and Entain’s remediation steps
The ACMA accepted an 18-month court-enforceable undertaking rather than issuing an infringement notice — the regulator confirmed that enforcement option was not available in these circumstances. The undertaking requires an independent review of Entain’s compliance systems and the implementation of any recommended improvements. Non-compliance could result in court-ordered financial penalties.
Entain said it had already begun remediation before the undertaking was formalised. The company deployed a “single customer view” system to consolidate accounts across brands, increased the frequency of account verification checks to hourly cycles for active accounts, and updated promotional messages to include the required BetStop content.
An Entain spokesperson said the company was committed to working with the ACMA to prevent a recurrence.
“We take all our regulatory responsibilities seriously. 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.”
Wider regulatory context
BetStop has operated as Australia’s National Self-Exclusion Register since August 2023. All licensed wagering providers are legally required to close accounts and block self-excluded individuals from accessing betting services across every platform they operate.
Entain is not the first operator to face ACMA action over BetStop compliance. Unibet was previously fined for allowing self-excluded individuals to continue wagering. ReadyBet was ordered to commission an independent compliance review after sending 273 texts and push notifications to self-excluded customers. The ACMA also recently issued a formal warning to Betplay.
Australia’s broader gambling reform agenda includes plans to further strengthen BetStop following a statutory review, alongside advertising restrictions and additional protections targeting younger demographics. The ACMA’s recent classification of prediction markets as gambling signals the regulator’s willingness to apply consumer protection standards across an expanding definition of wagering activity. For operators running multi-brand portfolios in Australia, the Entain case sets a clear precedent: cross-brand account matching is a compliance obligation, not an operational preference.
Source: Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA)
