United States
United Kingdom
Summary
- Australian gambling app Dabble is backed by Tabcorp
- Dabble affiliates used Facebook bots to target and lure gamblers
- Facebook has banned Dabble related pages after receiving complaints
Tabcorp is Australia’s biggest gambling firm and employs more than 5,000 Australians.
The company always keeps a close watch on upcoming gambling businesses and recently decided to invest in Dabble which is a social gaming app that was started during the pandemic by two entrepreneurs.
Australians Go To Dabble For Tips
Australians have a reputation of being the world’s worst gamblers as the average Australia is reported to lose over $1,000 on gambling activities each year. Dabble promotes itself as providing a social betting experience to users and offers punters a community of bettors who use the platform to share tips, strategies and experiences of betting and gambling.
Tabcorp decided to acquire a 20 percent stake in Dabble in September 2022 and ended up paying out $33 million for Dabble which is estimated to be around $150 million. Dabble has experienced significant growth during the pandemic as it has a strong affiliate network that helps bring in new customers. These sports betting affiliates end up taking up to 30 percent of all customer losses.
Australian media recently reported that betting affiliates were setting up Dabble related Facebook pages and then using Facebook bots to target unsuspecting customers by pretending to be humans and bombarding them with gambling related promotions and advertisements.
NSW Office of Liquor and Gaming carried out an audit on Dabble recently and found that the company had breached multiple gaming laws. The NSW gaming regulator claimed that using Facebook bots to promote the brand was not a breach of state gaming laws and hence only a warning was issued with no fine.
Facebook Bans Dabble Related Pages
While the NSW gaming regulator gave Dabble a free pass for using Facebook bots, Facebook decided to come down on two Dabble related pages that were being used to target Facebook users by bots.
Facebook policies discourage users from advertising gambling related services on their platform. While Facebook has banned the top main pages that promote Dabble related services, there are concerns from anti-gambling opponents in Australia that there are a number of smaller Facebook pages that continue to go undetected and use bots to target unsuspecting Australians.
