Australia - William Hill Credit Offer Gets Critics Jumpy

It seems as if a new offer that is being made by the people at William Hill to Australian customers is causing a bit of a controversy, and although it is not illegal by regulatory standards, it is drawing the ire of those ever-so-present anti-gambling types.

The British-based company has, of course, a robust business going with Australian customers, and acquired the Sportingbet, Tom Waterhouse and CentreBet brands less than two years ago. Recently they have started to conduct a phone sales campaign, contacting those customers who have been with Sportingbet and informing them that it will be dissolving into the William Hill brand.

Along with that news came the offer - up to $1000 to play with on credit as long as the funds were paid back within a week. Of course, the customer had to be approved for such a thing, but the offer was very real.

There are certain gambling laws in Australia which customarily restrict what any gaming establishment can do as far as granting credit to a customer. In fact, the law, in pertinent part, reads word-for-word in a way that says that those operating gambling establishments “must not publish any gambling advertising that offers any credit, voucher or reward as an inducement to participate in any gambling activity, including as an inducement to open a betting account." Apparently there is nothing William Hill is doing with its phone campaign that violates this law.

However, others invariably are going to see an issue with such a thing. One professor suggested that this was very dangerous for those with a gambling problem. Well, yes, but no more than anything else. Sure, it does bring some "moral hazard" into play, but apparently if funds are not paid back within the specified time the customer isn't going to be allowed to go any further anyway.

Senator Nick Xenophon, who is anti-gambling altogether, is saying that the ability on the part of these customers to utilize credit exacerbates problems that already exist: "This highlights a need for a federal approach that offering credit to a gambler can fuel problem gambling and trigger accelerated gambling behaviour.......It’s predatory behaviour."

At the heart of the matter is that this arrangement is what is known as a "deferred settlement facility," which, according to a spokesperson for the Australian Wagering Council, is not the same as a commercial credit line, and that they have been part of the industry for some time.

Online Pokies and Casino Related Stories

A listing of stories related to online pokies and casino gambling focused on Australian online casino players can be found featured below.

Play Pokies Here