Australia moves ahead with credit cards ban for gambling

Credit cards have been falling out of grace in gambling all over the world with Australia becoming the latest government to consider removing them from the industry as a viable payment method altogether.

As Australia’s appetite for gambling has never been bigger, and consumers spend AU$25bn on legal gambling products alone, the federal government is now considering eliminating the use of credit cards in online gambling.

Companies that are found in breach and continue to offer credit card payments online could face stiff penalties. Presently, the amount suggested by a new bill that is being discussed in parliament suggests that companies would be fined up to AU$234,750.

Minister Michelle Rowland has said that people should not be able to gamble with money that they didn’t have and urged her colleagues to act in the interest of citizens, helping to further shield consumers from gambling harm.

The latest crackdown on gambling comes amid a new report that close to 200 suicides were linked to gambling addiction in a period of eight years. The new proposal is not really that transformative as Australia already prohibits the use of credit cards for land-based gambling.

In a sense, online gambling was a straggler that is now being caught up. The measure has been debated as part of a committee which took a closer look at the use of credit cards in online gambling.

Legislators acknowledged the argument that the number of impacted people was small, but then again – the consequences of overspending using credit cards on gambling websites were significantly more severe.

Banning credit cards for the purposes of gambling has proven to be an efficient and consumer-centric measure that legislators all over the world have passed. Notably, the United Kingdom prohibited the use of such payment methods several years back, first as an initiative led by private banks, and then on a government level.

In the meantime, Australia has been committed to further strengthening its consumer protection. The country has launched a new national self-exclusion register, BetStop, designed to fully shield consumers from harm by allowing them to enrol and be excluded from gambling nationwide.

The country has also put substantial efforts in ensuring that illegal websites are not able to target local consumers, with the Australian Communications and Media Authority, having issued hundreds of blocking orders against rogue operators over the past years.

The credit card ban is the latest in a number of similar measures designed to shield consumers in the Down Under and ensure that the government fulfils its obligations to protect vulnerable consumers.

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