The Federal Court of Australia has imposed penalties amounting to over AU$24 million on operators who manage illegal online poker services amidst their act of accepting people in Australia for a violation of the Interactive Gambling Act.
The action occurs after the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has been involved in an investigation of PPPfish, Shuffle Gaming and Redraw Poker. The outcome indicated that the systems allowed players to acquire virtual chips convertible into real money which is illegal according to the local norms.
The biggest penalty amounting to AU$15 million was directed to Brisbane poker Limited whilst Rhys Edward Jones, a director of the firm was presented with penalties amounting to AU$9 million. An amount of AU$240,000 was given to Brenton Lee Buttigieg for helping in promotion and facilitating the process.
Apart from the penalties, AU$5 million was imposed on a related firm known as Diverse Link Pty Ltd in 2023. This indicated that a total of AU$29.24 million sanctions had been assessed on the whole operation.
In conclusion, ACMA was given extra powers in 2017 in order to deal with the illegal online gambling provider.
Until now, over 230 institutions providing gambling services are no longer offering their services in Australia while over 1700 sites offering gambling services without any licenses were blocked.
