Labor’s proposal would omit lotteries from the ban, including those offered by charities, because “they present a low-risk to gambling harm”.
People should not be betting with money they do not have,’ the communications minister, Michelle Rowland, said
Gamblers will soon be barred from using credit cards for online betting, with the federal government to introduce new legislation banning the payment method within months.
The changes will implement recommendations of a parliamentary inquiry from 2021, which called for the ban, a trend estimated to make up to 20% of deposits into wagering accounts.
“People should not be betting with money they do not have,” the communications minister, Michelle Rowland, said.
In an announcement to be made on Friday, Rowland and social the services minister, Amanda Rishworth, will bring online gambling into line with “land-based gambling”, which already limits the use of credit cards.
The exact mechanism and technical implementation will be decided through consultation with stakeholders, but the government plans to use Bank Identification Numbers (BINs) used to identify and block credit card payments. This would bar credit card numbers from being used to deposit funds into betting accounts.
“Blocking BINs has been successfully deployed by Australian casinos and poker machine venues to stop credit card withdrawals from ATMs and was used in the United Kingdom to implement its credit card ban for online gambling,” Rowland and Rishworth said.
The ban will be enacted through amendments to the Interactive Gambling Act 2001, which the government says will be introduced later this year and see the Australian Communications and Media Authority get enhanced powers of enforcement.
“Minimising this harm is not a set-and-forget exercise. Bringing online wagering into line with land‑based gambling, where credit cards cannot be used, is another positive step,” Rishworth said.
A parliamentary committee on social policy is currently conducting an inquiry into online gambling, which will also make recommendations to guide the government’s next steps.
A separate parliamentary inquiry into gambling and credit cards under the previous Coalition government, chaired by Liberal MP Andrew Wallace, recommended in 2021 that the government “ban online gambling service providers of wagering, gaming and other gambling services (but not lotteries) from accepting payment by credit cards, including via digital wallets”.
Labor’s proposal would omit lotteries from the ban, including those offered by charities, because “they present a low-risk to gambling harm”.
Responsible Wagering Australia said in a submission to the 2021 inquiry that “approximately 20% of deposits into wagering accounts are transacted through credit cards”. Tabcorp told the inquiry that in the 2021 financial year, its proportion of account deposits via credit card was 13.7%.
The CEO of the Alliance for Gambling Reform, Carol Bennett, said her group welcomed the change.
“This is a significant measure in reducing harm from online gambling. We know many people experience high level of gambling harm and those people are far more likely to use credit cards to obtain cash advances. This is money people can scarcely afford to use,” she said.
Bennett admitted there may be “loopholes” to the policy, such as using credit cards to obtain cash instead, but said it was important to bring online gambling policies into line with other wagering.
She repeated her group’s calls for a ban on gambling advertising on all broadcast platforms.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/apr/27/australian-gamblers-to-be-banned-from-using-credit-cards-for-online-betting