Reforms miss the mark, lines of credit at bookmakers to be banned

The Federal government has agreed on plans to ban bookmakers from offering lines of credit, among other regulatory changes.

Parliament has been debating the merits of regulating the gambling industry for months, including cracking down on offshore gambling, banning bookie ads during prime time sporting events and stopping betting sites from offering credit services.

The biggest change is banning lines of credit, which is essentially a bookmaker’s version of a credit card. But punters will still be able to use their credit card at these bookmakers.

Human Services Minister Alan Tudge, who has been a strong campaigner for cracking down on problem gambling, said the explosion in online gambling was troubling.

He revealed it had been on his agenda since a member of his Aston electorate received $80,000 in credit by a bookmaker, before they were eventually taken to court over the unpaid debt.

BettingSite.com.au understands this same man had his debts settled by the bookmaker in 2011 for significantly less than he owed, with the remaining balance cancelled.

“The rate of problem gambling online is three times higher than elsewhere, and online wagering is growing by 15 per cent per annum,” Tudge told the Australian.

“In the future, more problems will come from online punting unless we have better protections in place.”

Another major change is the abolition of the sign-up bonus or free bets which means bookies will no longer be outwardly able to offer these to Australian residents.

Tudge revealed a “broad agreement” was reached with state and territory ministers who believe “there needs to be stronger action in relation to the offering of inducements to bet or to bet more frequently”.

Another reform is a national self-exclusion register where punters can block themselves from betting with all bookmakers.

Many bookmakers already offer a self-exclusion service including Crownbet which states in its terms and conditions: “At your request, we will prevent you from using your account indefinitely.”

Another measure agreed to, which already exists at some bookies, is a voluntary pre-commitment scheme which allows punters to set their own betting limits.

Anti-gambling crusader, Tim Costello, said the voluntary pre-commitment was “about as useful as voluntary brakes in a car”.

He wants the government to crack down on gambling advertisements instead, which is already in the pipelines.

“We’re way behind in terms of where this should be regulated,” Costello said.

Tudge said the reforms will “still allow people to freely have a punt when they want to” and gamblers will now have more control over their spending.

He added the reforms could be enforced by the end of 2017.

“The problems of the future are going to come from the online environment unless we take some sensible action now,” Tudge said.

Responsible Wagering Australia (RWA), the representative body of Internet bookmakers, has embraced the changes.

“We welcome Minister Tudge’s announcements and are broadly supportive, and look forward to working with the minister on implementing these measures,” executive director of RWA, Stephen Conroy, said.

Our take

These protections for the $1.4 billion online gambling industry have been agreed on, despite a lack of well-rounded arguments. This will mean problem gambling will persist and casual punters will continue to be punished.

Education and closer monitoring of spending patterns at betting sites needs to happen for the government to truly help problem gamblers.

This means a national body needs to be established to oversee the gambling industry. It can tackle things like offshore wagering, whether inducements are really the root of all problems and the main point is to ensure a consistent approach Nationally.

As it stands the regulations will be changed in the Commonwealth legislation, making it compulsory for Australian state and territory governments to fall in behind the laws.

This is a seriously long-winded process and everything could be simplified if the government would understand that the online gambling industry is going to continue to grow and the Internet is here to stay.

We need some big minds to look at the gambling industry and regulate Australia under the one banner, rather than each state having a body overseeing its operations.

This solves so many of the problems, including the taxation of online poker, with that the real stumbling block between legalising a game millions play down under and banning it, which is due to happen in the next few months.

This National body needs the ability to grant International businesses licenses (like Pokerstars), with the state bodies seemingly struggling to know what is legal and what isn’t.

It stops conjecture about businesses like LottoLand which is licensed to operate in the Northern Territory, but in reality does very little of its business in this state.

Let common-sense prevail and plan for tomorrow, rather than introduce more shoddy legislation, on a state-by-state basis.