An Australian-based gambling company has reportedly offered a Melbourne man $25,000 (16,197.25 USD) if he were to withdraw a complaint to a regulator. The terms would have required him to remain confidential and avoid speaking ill about them to the media.
At the center of this is Amused Group, which the individual, George Burns, 23, claims contacted him to settle the complaint. Two years prior, Burns had gone on a gambling spree, betting tens of thousands at two different gambling companies.
According to reports, Burns had deposited $10,000, $25,000, and $35,000 in a short eight minutes. Another session the same day saw him place $120,000 in 17 minutes. Burns’ complaint focuses on the fact that neither company prevented nor worked within the country’s betting guidelines for gambling addiction.
In recent months, Australia’s gambling problem has been described as a “black hole”, and regulators have moved to make it harder to access illegal sites.
BetNation and BetDeluxe were acquired by Amused Group in 2023, and in 2024, after Burns had made the complaint, they received a message over WhatsApp. The offer that came with it would pay Burns $25,000 as long as he made no additional complaints to the watchdogs and withdrew the complaint.
Another key point was that he wasn’t then allowed to badmouth the company to the media, just for safe measure.
Amused Group criticized for complaint bribe
Speaking with The Guardian, a trio of representatives from the gambling world chimed in on the matter.
Consumer Action Law Centre’s chief executive, Stephanie Tonkin, said:
“In my view, [they] should be used in limited circumstances and should not prevent a complaint to a regulator.”
Lauren Levin, a gambling researcher, said that “in the majority of cases,” an injection of cash can be “overwhelming” if the financial circumstances are dire.
Meanwhile, chief executive, Martin Thomas, of The Alliance for Gambling Reform said:
“It makes a mockery of the complaints system if this is the process that happens.
“Governments must do more to protect Australians.”
