Australia Prepares Responsible Gambling Framework

The government of Australia prepares to tackle the question of responsible gambling head on through the implementation of National Consumer Protection Framework for wagering. This measure will initiate a big number of social responsibility actions throughout the entire 2019!

The O'Farrell Review of Australia's gambling industry from 2015 is finally getting the response it deserves, via a 10-point action plan contained in the framework. The implementation has been in the making for some time and was vigorously discussed between the representatives of Australia's gambling industry.

With the resolution of Queensland's objections to it, the obstacles have now been cleared and Framework is a go.

Two Down, Eight to Go

Out of those ten points/measures, two have already been instated: prohibition on lines of credit offered by bookmakers and links between payday lenders and licensed wagering operators implemented. Operators are, thus, forbidden to take advertising from loan companies on websites.

Australia's Federal Minister for Families and Social Services Paul Fletcher comments: “The measures are designed to reduce the harm that can be caused to individuals and their families by excessive or at-risk online wagering. The National Framework will apply to about 2.5 million active online wagering accounts, or about a million people in Australia.”

Three months after the National Consumer Protection Framework comes fully into effect, gaming operators will be forced to reduce the window for customer verification with the site – from the current 90 days, the verification period will be brought down to only 21 days!

This particular measure should help in prevention of minors from gambling but also to ensure that self-excluded customers can't create new accounts and continue gambling.

Some other provisions include: operators' compliance with market regulations, account summery provision to gamblers and improved self-exclusion scheme.

Much Ado Down Under

Australia has been in a lengthy state of market optimization with the primary objective of fighting gambling-related harm. In March of this year, the federal ban on lottery betting was instated, much to the dismay of general public and operators alike. This resulted in increased opposition that wanted old ways restored.

In fact, certain operators such as Ladbrokes have decided to publicly distance themselves from such development of events. Their general counsel, Patrick Brown, tried to shed some more light on the general discord by saying that implementation of multi-optional features is constantly “failing due to intricacy.”

Brand-new sports betting regulations were requested as well, with Racing Australia, which regulates horseracing industry in Oz, stepping in to implement new set of rules relating to this form of gambling.

What do you think of Australia's proposed National Framework? Do you believe all other countries should go down the similar route in order to protect their players? Have your say in our comments section!

Source: 

“Australia to implement 2019 National Gambling Framework”, Niji Ng, europeangaming.eu, December 5, 2018.