Interactive Gambling Amendment Gets Green Light From Both Houses

Article by : Milena Petrovska Dec 11, 2023

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On the 13th of September, 2023, the Interactive Gambling Amendment (Credit and Other Measures) Bill 2023 was first introduced to the Australian House of Representatives. After several reading debates and progressing to the Senate, it finally got the green light from both houses on the 6th of December, 2023.

As the name suggests, the Bill focused on payment methods used for interactive wagering. Per the document, special attention was given to credit cards, credit-related products, and digital currencies, which are commonly used among Australian gamblers.

The Bill foresees banning the above mentioned payment methods for online gambling throughout the country. It should come into full force within six months, or mid-2024, and it’s now awaiting royal assent. In a way, the ban just expands the reach of the current credit card gambling ban applicable to land-based operations.

Once it comes into effect, credit card gambling will be banned in all its forms.

ACMA Overseeing Compliance

Unsurprisingly, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) will be in charge of overseeing bill compliance. ACMA is the official body regulating and supervising interactive gambling and betting activities in the country.

Per the Bill’s provisions, ACMA has the power to issue penalties to any party ignoring the latest regulations. The fines go up to AU$234,750 (about €143,500), and, as mentioned, stakeholders have six months to adapt to the new rules.

It’s important to note that the six-month adaptation period will start from the moment the Bill gets the necessary royal assent. Meaning, its full coming-into-force date may be pushed a bit further than the initially expected mid-2024.

All stakeholders, including operators, lottery providers, and harm reduction advocates, were involved in the creation of the Bill. It introduces much-needed novelties to the somewhat outdated Interactive Gambling Act 2001.

With the ban, Australia joined the United Kingdom, which banned credit card gambling back in April 2020. Known as one of the strictest authorities, the country’s regulator – the UK Gambling Commission – didn’t hesitate to introduce the ban.

Positive responses from the public, a decrease in gambling with borrowed money, and no increase in illegal money lending for gambling reports are among the key observations from the UKGC.

Keno and Lotteries Excluded From the Ban

One aspect of the Bill that received criticism is the exclusion of keno and lotteries from the credit card gambling ban. RWA’s president, Kai Cantwell, expressed their worries, mentioning the game-type prevalence among low-socioeconomic communities.

Cantwell mentioned statistics showing that Australian consumers lost over AU3.2 billion on keno and lotteries in 2020-2021. With the introduction of keno in Victoria, these losses jumped over 400% year-over-year.

Per the statement, effective gambling hard reduction was possible only if applied across all gambling forms. If that’s not the case, consumers at risk would simply switch from one heavily regulated form to another less-regulated one.

ACMA has been actively working towards establishing control over the Australian online gambling market. The country doesn’t allow internet gambling at the moment and issues licenses to online bookmakers only.

In this year only, ACMA has blocked hundreds of websites targeting Australian consumers, issued hefty fines, and introduced BetStop, the national self-exclusion register.

Amusingly, lotteries didn’t make it to the BetStop register either.