Australian online sports betting companies are finding out that they need to be very careful how they advertise.

Last week, Ladbrokes Digital Australia war ordered to pay a fine of $7,500 plus $18k in court costs after the company was found guilty of illegal advertising for offering inducements to punters in the state of New South Wales.

The NSW Office of Liquor, Gaming and Racing (OLGR) took Ladbrokes to court over three adverts featured on the company’s website between April 2 and May 29. The ads in question offered existing customers or new sign-ups the chance to win free bets of up to $1k per day.

Under NSW’s Racing Administration Regulation 2012, betting operators are prohibited from advertising any credit, voucher or reward as an inducement to gamble with a particular site, with a maximum fine of $5,500 per incident. A few months ago, OLGR scored two other successful prosecutions involving similar violations by Sportsbetting.com.au and ClassicBet Paty Ltd.