A recent report has discovered that Australian bookmaker PlayUp had continued to allow customers to bet who had asked to be placed on the bookmaker’s excluded list. This appears to be in stark contrast to the company’s policy to help those who have been struggling with gambling issues.

PlayUp is licensed as a sports betting operation in the Northern Territory, meaning that a code of conduct for providing a wagering service is mandatory. This includes the ability to be added to a self-exclusion list. In fact, offering such a list is required as part of that code of conduct and has been introduced as national legislation. This piece of legislation was debated in parliament last month.

The new laws will make it a criminal act for any bookie that fails to ban people who have chosen to self-exclude. This legislation was implemented because of “growing community concerns about the rapid growth and high rate of harm caused by online gambling,” according to Paul Fletcher, communications minister for the parliament.

Despite this, it appears that PlayUp had been allowing those who had been placed on the list to continue to place wagers. In a statement, CEO Daniel Simic told the Guardian Australia that until recently those on the list were able to place wagers as the company had “unintentionally” provided service to these self-excluded gamblers.