TAB’s decision to offer free jelly beans has turned out to be a costly affair for Australian betting site.
On Friday, The Sydney Morning Herald reported that TAB is facing hefty fines and legal costs over a sweet treats campaign, which authorities ruled have breached New South Wales’s gambling advertising regulations.
In March, the betting site launched a promotion coinciding with Racing NSW’s racing event, The Championship, which was held on the first two Saturdays of April. For this event, TAB decided to hand out packets of jelly beans and mints, complete with the TAB brand and the slogan “Nothing’s as sweet as a win,” to commuters in Sydney’s central business district.
One of those packets made its way to Greens MP Justin Field, who “noticed there was no mention of the need to gamble responsibly on the jelly bean packet,” according to the report. Field reportedly wrote the Racing Minister Paul Toole to alert him about “the inappropriate gambling advertising” by the betting site.