TAB Mishandles Private Self Exclusion List

The Australian and New Zealand gambling group Totalisator Agency Board (TAB) has gotten into some hot water in New Zealand following the discovery of private documents the details of excluded problem gamblers in a public trash can. According to the Stuff publication, a civilian found 33 pages of paperwork in a Hamilton public garbage can. The documentation included names and photos of problem gamblers that utilized the self-exclusion process via the New Zealand Racing Board from 2011 through 2014. The careless action has upset those included on the lists, rightfully so, but despite being marked as "private and confidential" it didn't stop a curious person from taking a peek. There was reportedly a cover letter accompanying the documents that directed TAB managers to destroy old lists "carefully and with customer confidentiality in mind." "While the contents of this letter must be conveyed to staff ... care must be taken to ensure that neither the letter nor gallery are shown or are visible to the public. The issue of problem gambling is sensitive and the customer's privacy must be maintained," the letter stated. The news publication indicated that the exclusion list came from the TAB outlet at the Aleways Inn in Frankton with duty manager Wynell Harris admitting that it was her error. After clearing out some old files she tossed the documents into the bin in the front of the building. Harris said, "I was going through the lists and because ... they were out of date, I just folded them up, put them in the bin. "The thing is, after I'd done it, the next day I thought, oh my god, I shouldn't have done that, because they are confidential. I've done wrong. "I have broken confidentiality which I should not have and I should not have disposed of the forms in that manner and I will endeavour and promise not to do that again and file the forms in the appropriate way. I'm sorry." The New Zealand Racing Board's chief executive, John Allen, is investigating the incident to ensure that it never happens again and will be in touch with the excluded players on the list. The standard procedure at the majority of TAB outlets is to shred such documentation and the fact that this hasn't happened before is an indicator that other locations are abiding by the rules. Auckland University Associate Professor in commercial law Gehan Gunasekara commented on the privacy breach saying, "It's a serious breach of confidence for people to discard information like that. And it's clearly a breach of the Privacy Act, there's no doubt about that. Information must be kept securely, stored securely and disposed of securely.”