Page 1517 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 1 June 2022
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and state and territory governments. It sets out 10 measures to protect consumers from online gambling. The intergovernmental committee enables all governments to work together to implement the framework in a nationally consistent way. The ACT government is represented on this committee by a representative from the Justice and Community Safety Directorate.
The framework’s 10 measures to protect consumers are: prohibiting online gambling providers from offering or providing credit to people who gamble on their site or app, with limited exceptions; stopping wagering service providers from advertising payday loans; mandatory customer verification to prevent underage people and self-excluders from accessing online gambling; prohibiting online gambling providers from offering any credit, voucher, reward or other benefit as an incentive to open an account or to refer another person to open an account; account closure, which requires online gambling providers to provide their Australian customers a simple, easy-to-find and readily accessible way of closing or cancelling their online wagering account; a voluntary opt-out pre-commitment scheme to enable consumers to monitor and manage their gambling by setting deposit limits before they start gambling; a requirement for online wagering providers to send consumers meaningful activity statements so they can easily track and monitor their online wagering, spending and behaviour; consistent gambling messaging, requiring online wagering providers to use the same messaging about the risks and potential harms of gambling in their advertising, direct marketing, websites and other direct communications to their customers; staff training in the responsible service of online wagering; and a national self-exclusion register to enable people experiencing gambling harm to exclude themselves from all interactive wagering services.
These measures are implemented through a mix of commonwealth, state and territory legislation and regulation, which will align with current regulatory responsibilities. The measures provide consistent, easy-to-use tools and information for all Australians, no matter where they live, to help them better control their gambling. All online gambling providers must comply with these measures. There is also discussion of a betting operations tax, which was introduced in 2019, which is a point of consumption tax of 15 per cent for all online gambling operators.
The ACT government also supports gambling research through work with Gambling Research Australia. This is a partnership between the commonwealth, state and territory governments to initiate and manage a national gambling research program. The ACT is represented on that by the Gambling and Racing Commission. The current research program is from June 2018 to 2023 and includes the prevalence and impact of online gambling in Australia. The results from the research are used to inform policies and programs that minimise the harm that can be caused by gambling and to target information and early intervention.
I am also mindful of the issue of unlicensed offshore operators. Mindful of the time. I will not speak about this in great length, but I do note that in recent years the commonwealth has sought to target illegal offshore wagering. This is an area that will require further and ongoing work.
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