[AusRace] Facebook banned groups caught sending streams of private messages to potential gamblers, promising free tips

[L.B.Loveday]

 Australian Financial Review Digital Edition, December 6. 

 Mark Di Stefano 

Weeks after Meta-owned Facebook banned groups caught sending streams
of private messages to potential gamblers, promising free tips in
exchange for signing up to online bookmakers , they returned to the
platform to seek out new customers. 

The groups run by Albury-based LRI Media were uncovered as The
Australian Financial Review revealed how the company exploited
Facebook’s targeted advertising and AI-enabled chatbots to get users
to sign up to several online gambling companies. 

Industry sources say the groups mostly target men and have helped new
online bookmakers such as Tabcorp-backed Dabble secure tens of
thousands of sign-ups . 

Facebook has removed the groups from the platform for a second time
after they received thousands of new followers. ‘‘ All advertisers
that promote online gambling and gaming are required to follow local
applicable laws and get authorisation from Meta ahead of commencing
advertising,’’ a Meta spokesman said. 

‘‘ We’ve removed these pages for violating our policies . . . We
are always improving how we detect and take action against violating
activity and encourage people to report this behaviour when they see
it.’’ 

The whack-a-mole moves come as the wagering and online sports gambling
industries explode in size and popularity in western markets,
particularly in Australia and the US. 

Facebook’s self-service targeting tools are a boon for modern
gambling companies because of the power of targeting based on a
user’s past behaviour. 

Then there’s LRI Media, or ‘‘ betting affiliate’’ , a
company that sends potential customers to online bookmakers. 

Sources say affiliates often get about $200 per customer they refer,
plus up to 30 per cent of each person’s lifetime losses. Affiliates
are thus encouraged to find and send as many customers to different
online bookmakers as possible . 

LRI’s Facebook groups formerly went by the names ‘‘ The Shark’
’ and ‘‘ Roughie Kings 2022’’ and used the platform’s
advertising tools to find customers . After Facebook banned the pages,
the groups returned under the names ‘‘ Sharky’s Racing Tips’
’ and ‘‘ King of the Roughies’’ . Once users click to get
access to the so-called ‘‘ free tips’ ’ from the groups,
they’re sent streams of messages from the chatbots. 

‘‘ Hey . . . we’re giving you a free tip to show you we’re the
real deal, absolutely no strings attached. It’s a while till it
jumps, but we’ve heard some really good chatter about it and thought
we’d share it with you... just click the FREE TIP button below to
access.’’ 

To get access to the so-called ‘‘ free tips’’ , users are
given buttons to sign up to online bookmakers, most often
Tabcorp-backed Dabble. 

Even when users click ‘‘ not interested’ ’ the chatbots are
dormant a few days, before springing back to life with more messages. 

In an email yesterday, LRI Media Group’s Paddy Trutwin said, ‘‘
our understanding, based on legal advice and correspondence from
Facebook support, is that our pages are compliant’’ . 

‘‘ With regard to the Facebook pages in question, Sharky’s
Racing Tips and King of the Roughies were our sole pages referring
racing customers in Australia – we recently have been focusing more
of our attention on the US.’’ 

LRI Media is owned by two of the same entrepreneurs behind Dabble,
corporate filings show. This year Dabble was valued at $150 million
after Tabcorp took a minority investment in the start-up . 

Tabcorp has been on the front foot about the need for new regulations
in the industry, with its CEO telling a parliamentary inquiry there
was ‘‘ too much gambling advertising’ ’ as he suggested a
framework for regulating advertising on social media. 

A Tabcorp spokesman distanced the company from Dabble and LRI Media,
saying it was ‘‘ a minority shareholder in Dabble and does not
have operational control’’ . 

Under gambling regulations in several states, bookmakers cannot offer
‘‘ inducements’ ’ such as free tips in exchange for signing up
to the service. 

Copyright © 2022 Australian Financial Review

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