ACMA: Palmerbet Failed To Close Self-Excluded Customer's Account
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has found that Palmer Bookmaking Pty Ltd, trading as Palmerbet, breached national self-exclusion rules by continuing to provide wagering services to a customer registered with BetStop, Australia's National Self-Exclusion Register.
The customer signed up to BetStop in September 2023, but Palmerbet did not close the account until February 2025 - around 17 months later.
During that period, the customer placed 312 bets with the bookmaker between December 2024 and February 2025, according to the ACMA investigation.
Court-Enforceable Undertaking
Under BetStop rules, wagering providers must close a customer's account as soon as practicable once they register with the national scheme, and are prohibited from providing services to registered individuals in the meantime.
Palmerbet has now entered into an 18-month court-enforceable undertaking with the ACMA, committing to an independent review of its compliance systems and processes, alongside further investment in the recommended improvements.
The bookmaker has separately repaid all deposits the customer made from the date of their BetStop registration until the account was eventually closed. The ACMA can seek Federal Court enforcement if Palmerbet fails to comply with the undertaking.
Part Of A Wider Enforcement Push
BetStop lets Australians exclude themselves from all participating licensed online and mobile wagering services through a single registration, rather than approaching individual bookmakers.
The Palmerbet case is the latest in a series of ACMA enforcement actions against licensed sports betting providers over BetStop compliance failures, following prior undertakings and penalties against operators including Unibet, Entain's Ladbrokes and Neds brands, and several smaller bookmakers.
One Of Several Recent BetStop Cases
ACMA has stepped up enforcement of BetStop compliance across the wagering sector over the past year. In May 2026, Entain's Ladbrokes AU and Neds AU brands entered a court-enforceable undertaking after the regulator found more than 500 breaches of the self-exclusion rules.
Unibet paid a $1,014,120 penalty in 2025 for failing to close the accounts of 954 BetStop-registered customers, while smaller operators including Winners Bookmaking, TempleBet and a group of four other wagering services have also faced ACMA findings or penalties over similar failures.
The regulator has said it will continue to pursue investigations into licensed wagering providers that fail to act on BetStop registrations within a reasonable timeframe, and can seek Federal Court enforcement against operators who breach the terms of a court-enforceable undertaking.
