{"id":28905,"date":"2022-04-12T09:52:06","date_gmt":"2022-04-12T12:52:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=28905"},"modified":"2026-04-23T09:40:42","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T12:40:42","slug":"marlow-hotel-group-under-investigation-for-offering-incentives-to-gamble","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/marlow-hotel-group-under-investigation-for-offering-incentives-to-gamble","title":{"rendered":"Marlow Hotel Group under investigation for offering incentives to gamble"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Two poker players and a former employee claim Marlow Hotel Group offered problem gamblers cash incentives in New South Wales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>Australia.- The New South Wales Independent Liquor &amp; Gaming Authority (ILGA) has reported that\u00a0<strong>Marlow Hotel Group is under investigation\u00a0<\/strong>after being accused of giving problem gamblers free alcohol and cash payouts of up to $1,050 a week to continue gambling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Under NSW legislation, poker player prizes and promotions are allowed as long as the value is less than $1,000, and they cannot be redeemed for cash. Venues are also prohibited from serving alcohol to encourage more frequent gambling or play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, those who have made the complaint claimed that gamers were given secret rewards cards with a daily balance of $150 that could be withdrawn as cash or used to buy groceries or cigarettes. They claim overnight deposits include three $50 denominations that players could use at three venues: Bank Tavern in Kogarah, Intersection Hotel in Ramsgate and Royal Hotel in Carlton. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jason Marlow, the owner of Marlow Hotel Group<\/strong>, told the Daily Telegraph the reward cards were no longer available and that the loyalty programme was cancelled in 2019. The ILGA has launched an investigation into the company to determine if any laws were breached.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In March, the regulator reported that it had&nbsp;<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/ilga-fines-pub-for-offering-customers-inducements-to-gamble\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">fined The Rose and Crown Hotel in Parramatta<\/a>&nbsp;for offering incentives to its customers. According to the ILGA, the pub\u2019s staff borrowed money from safes and offered free drinks and cigarettes for people to keep them playing pokie machines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Staff also allowed credit and debit card withdrawals&nbsp;<\/strong>of at least $145,000 from electronic money transfer machines in the pub in 2017 and 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/ilga-calls-for-probe-into-money-laundering-via-slot-machines\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ILGA\u2019s authority chair Phil Crawford<\/a>&nbsp;said: \u201cThe hotel was essentially facilitating cash advances for gambling via a system of fake transactions, and this is an obvious risk for problem gambling.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two poker players and a former employee claim Marlow Hotel Group offered problem gamblers cash incentives in New South Wales.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":18154,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"The New South Wales Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority (ILGA) is investigating Marlow Hotel Group for allegedly offering problem gamblers illegal cash incentives and free alcohol across multiple venues. This follows a prior fine issued to The Rose and Crown Hotel for similar breaches, highlighting ongoing regulatory scrutiny over responsible gambling compliance within the Australian gaming sector. The allegations involve practices that contravene NSW legislation regarding prize redemption and alcohol service in gaming venues.","focusai_entities":"Marlow Hotel Group, New South Wales Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority (ILGA), Jason Marlow, Daily Telegraph, The Rose and Crown Hotel, Phil Crawford","focusai_location":"New South Wales, Australia, Kogarah, Ramsgate, Carlton, Parramatta","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.95), operator_casino (0.9), marketing_crm (0.7), payments_fraud_aml (0.9), investor_analyst (0.85), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"ILGA Enforcement Scope?","query":"What specific enhancements to ILGA's enforcement powers or surveillance capabilities are anticipated following these high-profile investigations into systemic responsible gambling breaches?"},{"label":"Operator Governance Impact?","query":"How will these investigations influence the governance frameworks and internal control requirements for other licensed operators in New South Wales, particularly concerning promotional activities and cash handling?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16336,156,158],"tags":[229,23911],"class_list":["post-28905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australasia-news","category-regulation-news","category-slider-home","tag-gambling","tag-gambling-regulation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28905"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28905\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28918,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28905\/revisions\/28918"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}