Credit card ban for online gambling

Australians will no longer be able to use credit cards to gamble ­online in a bid by the federal government to prevent people falling into crippling debt.

Communications Minister Michelle Rowland. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Australians will no longer be able to use credit cards to gamble ­online in a bid by the federal government to prevent people falling into crippling debt.

While debit cards will still be accepted, credit cards will be banned on platforms such as Sportsbet, PointsBet and Unibet.

Australia has the highest gambling losses per adult in the world, with a total of $25bn lost every year and more than 7 per cent of Australians experiencing, or at risk of experiencing, gambling harm, according to the Australian Institute of Family Studies. Communications Minister Michele Rowland said lottery services, ­including those offered by charities, would be excluded from the ban because they were “low risk”.

She said legislation would be introduced later in the year following a consultation on a draft bill and the technical requirements to enact the ban.

“It’s as simple as this: people should not be betting with money they do not have,” she said.

“Protecting Australians from gambling harms is a key priority for the Albanese government.

“Legislating a ban on the use of credit cards for online gambling will help protect vulnerable Australians and their loved ones.”

Alliance for Gambling Reform chief executive Carol Bennett said the move was “long overdue”, with the need for change raised for about eight years. “We know that there’s a staggering amount of Australians who experience this kind of harm,” she said.

The government is proposing using bank identification numbers to identify and block credit card payments, with the Australian Communications and Media Authority to police the ban.

Kai Cantwell, chief executive of Responsible Wagering Australia – the peak body representing wagering services such as Sportsbet – said the industry was fully supportive of the ban.

“We’re committed to working with the governments and making sure it is easy to implement and easy to understand for wagering service providers, governments and punters alike,” he said. “We’re happy for this to move quickly, but of course the implementation needs to be sensible and just needs to consider any potential technical hurdles.”

When asked if the ban would have a commercial impact, Mr Cantwell said it was “not a question of commercial viability”.

“This is a question of consumer protection. Our members are all entirely committed to this measure and committed to protecting consumers to make sure that the six million Australians who enjoy a punt can do so safely,” he said.

It follows the government moving to introduce a national self-exclusion register – BetStop – allowing problem gamblers to block themselves from wagering services.

Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth said the changes would bring online ­wagering in line with land-based gambling, where credit cards cannot be used, and fulfilled recommendations put to the previous government in 2021 by a parliamentary committee.

“Our government is committed to taking action in this space,” she said.

A parliamentary committee set up in October 2022 to investigate the harms of online gambling is due to report later this year.

Committee chair Peta Murphy said the inquiry had heard from people who had lost all of their savings, superannuation and possession. “We heard from someone who was in jail because of the money he stole to gamble and we heard from a family who’s loved one had killed himself because of his gambling addiction … we heard from a man who during Covid twice used the early superannuation access scheme to chase his gambling debts and lost all of it,” she said.