Australia touts early-day success of BetStop self-exclusion program

BetStop, the ambitious national self-exclusion program introduced by the federal government in Australia, has been touted as an early-day success, after the cross-state tool has already seen close to 10,000 people registering since the program was rolled out in August.

The program has mostly seen people under the age of 40 register, as Australia remains one of the heaviest gambling nations, and it has sought to address continually and effectively what it has started to see as a serious social and economic problem. it is estimated that Australians lose $25bn on gambling every year.

BetStop has been hailed as the right step in this direction as it allows people from all over the country to be excluded effectively and across state borders. Previously, individual states ran their own programs that only worked within their jurisdiction.

BetStop is not integrating any exclusion lists, but rather expects people to enroll again on their own. Yet, the early-day results have been promising enough to suggest that this small inconvenience has not deterred people from signing their names. Minister of Communications Michelle Rowland has welcomed the opportunity to see BetStop prove such a successful tool from the early days:

"That’s why we launched BetStop – the National Self-Exclusion Register – in August this year as the final measure of the National Consumer Protection Framework for Online Wagering. It’s fantastic to see BetStop making a big difference to nearly 10,000 Australians."

The program works on several levels, with the shortest possible period of exclusion being three months. A lifetime exclusion is also possible, and BetStop seeks to cover both the land-based and online sectors.

Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth was similarly pleased with the success of the program. She welcomed the impact that BetStop already had and argued that the increased awareness for responsible gambling was important to help Australians overcome gambling-related problems.

The program is also backed by the Australian Communications and Media Authority, which ensures that authorized gambling entities comply with the program and do not let anyone who is registered on it to participate in legal forms of gambling.

This is just one of the most recent successes of the government in its fight against gambling harm. Similarly, Australia has opted to ban credit cards for the use of gambling just recently, hailed as another success by responsible gambling advocates.

Image credit: Unsplash.com