Australia gambling reforms have run into a big problem. It was expected that one of the control measures by the government from 2024, in the form of a credit card ban for online betting, would discourage problem gambling. Instead, it’s barely made a dent in the habits of serious punters.
The e61 Institute report shows the Australian government talked a big game about protecting vulnerable gamblers, but the performance was quite poor. Although betting with a credit card is no longer feasible, committed gamblers have found a way to placate their urges by simply changing their mode of operation without reducing the bet volume.
These figures highlight the issue. On average, a punter was putting about $200 fortnightly on the credit card prior to the ban. However, presently, the money is still changing hands, only the manner of payment has been altered, as they are using regular bank accounts for their transactions. The only people who really cut down on gambling are casual players who refrain from the activity because of the inconvenience of the new process.
Auditor Adit Maitra explained: “The small number of people who reduced their betting were generally casual betters, who ceased simply because the new process was inconvenient”. He didn’t shy away from the ban’s effectiveness: “It’s not very evident that the ban has limited borrowing for gambling in any way.”
There are loopholes. Those who are determined to gamble can still obtain money advances on their credit cards, have money in PayPal and even get personal loans.
Responsible Wagering Australia, the regulating body for the industry, is not revealing whether the prohibition has had an effect on their profits, at least publicly. Although CEO Kai Cantwell says they are in favor of it, he is not telling if it has made any difference.
Another state flagship project, the BetStop self-exclusion register, is not performing much better either. Only 30,000 people have signed up, even though there are around 400,000 high-risk gamblers in Australia. Most people don’t even know it exists because of the low promotion campaign.
The most important thing is that the credit card ban is only partially effective in the sense that it may prevent some people from going into deep debt, but it has not put an end to the gambling activities.
Editor-in-chief and creator Cole Smith of casinocurrencies.com, has extensive experience with casino payment systems, The site was created to provide an honest and trustworthy resource for online gambling players.