Australia discusses the possibility of limiting gambling spending of users

The Australian Banking Association has initiated a discussion on the possibility of limiting gambling spending when using credit cards. Stakeholders are involved in the dialogue. The organization’s goal is to protect the rights of users’ online gambling.

The association notes that members of the organization have recently been concerned about the aggravation of the situation around the gambling problem. Often, credit cards act as a resource for financing gambling, the passion for which is pathological in nature.

The organization also points out that the use of credit cards to pay for gambling accounts is fraught with the accumulation of large debts in a relatively short time. In addition, in this situation, not only people with the gambling problem suffer, the financial well-being of entire families may be under attack.

During the dialogue, banking institutions plan to determine the severity of the new rules. This may involve either a partial restriction or a complete ban on the use of credit cards to pay for gambling accounts. In addition, the question of what forms of gambling such measures are applicable to will be considered.

It’s planned that if interested parties come to an agreement, a transitional period for banking institutions will be launched in the near future.

Online sports betting operators are no longer allowed to offer users credit lines. Also, with the help of a credit card online lottery tickets cannot be purchased.

The association reports that some banking institutions are already blocking accounts for operators because the latter provide their customers with credit opportunities. However, at the moment we’re talking about private practice.

The associations also plan to develop a series of industry control mechanisms that will apply to all market participants and will minimize harm from gambling.

Interested parties, including representatives of the public and gambling operators, may publish their position on this issue until March 4, 2020.

It should be reminded that public discussions began against the backdrop of the adoption of the law on the establishment of a national registry of self-exclusion for people at risk of problematic gambling behavior. After the player has requested to be included in the register, all funds stored in his accounts must be returned to the applicant, and the accounts must be closed. Responsibility for maintaining the registry rests with the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).

In connection with upcoming expenses, the government introduced a bill providing for the collection of additional tax from operators that will cover them.

Let us recall that the mobile gambling market in Australia has quadrupled over the past six years. Moreover, it’s expected that the turnover of the Australian illegal online gambling market by 2020 will exceed 2 billion Australian dollars, which at the current exchange rate corresponds to 1.42 billion US dollars. The country annually loses over 380 million Australian dollars in tax revenue due to the rates that citizens of the country make on the sites of offshore bookmakers.