The Australian government recently announced that it will be introducing new legislation that will prevent online betting companies from extending credit facilities to their bettors.
Australian has continued to tighten regulations on the online gambling industry as it had earlier banned online casino operators from providing services down under and the new laws now target the online sports betting industry.
In a statement, Alan Tudge Human Services Minister said
Our view is that there's too much of a conflict of interest for a gambling provider to both be a provider as well as effectively a bank and, therefore, that should be prohibited.
Liberal Democrats (Australia)
Tudge has been campaigning for a crackdown on credit lines ever since a man who had piled up enormous gambling–related debts came into his office in 2011 asking for help. The man who admitted to a gambling addiction had been offered $80,000 in credit by a corporate bookmaker, which he had spent in just one weekend.
Tudge said that the bookmaker’s action had bankrupted the man, with the company subsequently seizing the house he owned along with his widowed mother. According to Tudge, it was unacceptable for a betting company to provide additional credit to a person who has exhausted their credit cards and savings account. He pointed out that the bookmakers had come a long way in accepting that supporting responsible gaming was essential to long term survival in Australia.
Corporate book makers are banned from offering credit in all Australian territories except the Northern Territory (NT) where the majority of the internet gambling companies are licensed. Tudge indicated that the NT government was broadly in agreement with the new law.
Government officials are still working on the legislation and are yet to confirm if the federal rule will be enforced across the states via new state laws or by using Commonwealth legislation.
Under the new law, a nationwide self-exclusion register will be created that will cover all gaming sites. If a gambler self-excludes from one of the gaming apps, the exclusion will then apply automatically to all registered apps. There are also plans to issue activity statements and to offer a voluntary pre-commitment option where the gambler is asked to commit to a certain amount of play while registering.
World Vision Australia chief advocate Tim Costello however called the measure only a small step, calling for a ban on advertisements by betting companies as well as this would have a large impact than the limitation of credit facilities.
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