Waterhouse Faces $80K Fine for Incentivizing a Player to Wager

Robbie Waterhouse, one of Australia’s leading bookmakers, is risking a significant fine over an alleged violation. According to the allegations, his website, RobWaterhouse.com tempted a player to wager after the latter had decided to close his account.

The Player Had Decided to Close His Account

In 2022, the allegations claim, a customer asked for his account to be closed after a disagreement with the operator. Instead, Waterhouse’s company showered them with incentives to continue playing, prompting them to make additional deposits.

The bookmaker then took additional bets, which, according to Liquor and Gaming NSW, constituted a violation of Australia’s Betting and Racing Act. The regulator claims that one RobWaterhouse.com employee took six bets from the aforementioned customers in 2022, despite knowing that the customer wanted to close their account.

Waterhouse appeared in court on Monday, denying the charges. This, however, will not be the end of this prolonged case as Magistrate Gemma Slack-Smith has been relocated and will be unable to make a decision prior to mid-November.

Waterhouse Denied the Allegations

As mentioned, Waterhouse and his lawyers denied the charges. Lawyer Rob Ranken referred to chat logs that showed a discussion between the player and the operator. The logs showed that the customer had threatened to go to a competitor operator after RobWaterhouse.com denied him a no-deposit bonus request.

The customer was eventually offered an inducement of AUD 1,000 (approximately $670) deposit match bonus to reopen his account.

In addition to pointing out that this constitutes a regulatory violation, Liquor and Gaming NSW also noted that RobWaterhouse.com did not close the customer’s account after his request but had suspended it instead.

As a result, Waterhouse faces five charges of offering incitements to a person to not close a betting account, as well as six charges of accepting new bets after a request to close a betting account.

As mentioned, Waterhouse denied all allegations. If found guilty, however, he may be forced to pay a fine of up to AUD 121,000 (approximately $80,000).

Robbie Waterhouse had previously been disqualified for life from holding a bookmaker’s license because of his participation in the Fine Cotton affair, a famous substitution scam. Waterhouse’s ban was eventually lifted in 2001.