A recovering gambling addict who revealed the damage caused by unsolicited gambling inducements has been directly targeted by bookmakers, just one day after publicly complaining about the harmful practice.
Mark Kempster has repeatedly asked gambling companies not to contact him with special offers and is listed on a self-exclusion register, but his details continue to be shared with bookmakers who are eager to lure him back to betting.
Kempster has confronted his addiction – which led to him losing about $100,000 and accessing his superannuation to pay off credit card debts – and has become a vocal opponent of an industry that regularly breaches advertising rules.
On Thursday, Kempster told Guardian Australia and other media outlets that targeted emails made it “near-on impossible for someone battling problem gambling to not be sucked in by these inducements”.
His case was already well known to many bookmakers after Amused Group, which runs the BetNation brand, was fined $13,770 for emailing him promotions, along with thousands of other gamblers on a self-exclusion list promotions.
On Friday, Kempster was sent an email by EskanderBet founder, Alan Eskander, who introduced himself with subject “the bookie is back!”. The email described his company as different to “a handful of corporates dominating the industry”.
“I don’t want to be the biggest in the market, but I want to be the best,” Eskander said. “The best in terms of customer service and real human interaction. The best as far as a personal and tailored approach to members.”
Screenshots seen by Guardian Australia show people who received the same email from EskanderBet and subsequently registered with the bookmaker were offered sign up bonuses.
EskanderBet and Eskander were contacted for comment.
When Kempster complained about the email to a company representative, he says he was told: “The email was triggered from the database in error, we apologise for this.”
Kempster said he was outraged given a parliamentary inquiry had this week recommended a ban on gambling advertisements and inducements, which often target known gamblers.
“I’m not trying to be over the top, but these type of unsolicited advances can ruin people’s lives,” Kempster said.
“The fact that someone who preaches to be different to all corporate bookmakers can send out an email like this to someone who has been on an exclusion list, and then blame it on a technical glitch, shows you how fundamentally flawed the current safeguards for problem gamblers are.
“They should be utterly ashamed of themselves. If this isn’t proof the government needs to act straight away, I don’t know what is.”
The inquiry into online gambling harm has recommended a blanket ban on all gambling advertising – to be phased in over three years – and an immediate ban on inducements such as bonus bets. This includes email advertising.
“A phased, comprehensive ban on all gambling advertising on all media – broadcast and online, that leaves no room for circumvention, is needed. Partial bans on gambling advertising do not work,” the inquiry’s chair, Labor MP Peta Murphy, said.
Federal crossbench MPs have urged the government to introduce the blanket ban sooner, while television and gambling industries have raised the possibility of compensation or watering down the ban.
Before the release of the report, the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, labelled gambling ads “annoying” while the communications minister, Michelle Rowland, agreed that the “status quo isn’t good enough”.
On Wednesday, Rowland and the social services minister, Amanda Rishworth, said they would consider the inquiry’s recommendations.
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, said he would wait to see the response from the government, but noted in his budget reply he had stated “that gambling ads have gone way too far”.
