BetStop launches in Australia to aid problem gamblers

Australia has officially rolled outs its ambitious self-exclusion register, BetStop, which covers the entirety of the country and becomes the first national attempt to offer gamblers from all over the Down Under the opportunity to restrict their gambling in an effective manner.

BetStop is innovative in the sense that it does not target individual states but works on a national level, meaning that players excluded in one state would remain excluded in another. However, the program will not see existing state programs carry over exclusions into BetStop automatically, leaving something to be desired.

Players who sign up for BetStop will have the opportunity to exclude for a period between three months and a lifetime.

Meanwhile, the government has stressed to the industry that any customer who has been registered with BetStop would not be allowed to open an account or gamble at a gaming venue and that the onus is on operators and licensees to ensure that such customers are prohibited from accessing gambling products.

Operators will have to check whether customers have been registered with the self-exclusion program before accepting any wagers. The responsibility will be on the casinos and clubs, as well as interactive wagering companies, to make it so that players are shielded and do not circumnavigate the restrictions, and that they are not accepting money from vulnerable or problem gamblers.

The verifications must be done after registration and prior to allowing consumers to wager. This will also supersede the previous requirement to conduct identity checks within 72 hours, making it so that operators now want to move quickly on such checks if they want to have paying customers.

To ensure that more people will find out about the program, the Australian Communications and Media Authority will promote BetStop nationally and deploy awareness campaigns.

Of course, BetStop and the government, as well as operators, have to be on their toes. Other similar programs, such as GamStop in the United Kingdom, have been fooled by consumers simply changing a few small details about their self-exclusion data to dodge the self-exclusion.

Learning from overseas, Australia now has the opportunity to get its self-exclusion program right – from the start.

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