Communications Minister Michelle Rowland has said a major crackdown on online gambling will bring the industry in line with traditional betting formats.
The government looks set to act on a 2021 parliamentary committee report which recommended banning the use of credit cards for online wagering.
According to submissions from Responsible Wagering Australia, about 20 per cent of all punters use credit to fund their gambling habits.
Ms Rowland hit out at the previous government for failing to act on the committee’s recommendations and said it would help protect the most vulnerable punters.
“It’s some 20 per cent of people who are using credit cards for online wagering whilst that seems like a small amount it’s actually that group that is more susceptible to higher losses,” Ms Rowland told Sky News Australia Chief Anchor Kieran Gilbert on Sunday.
“This was the subject of a review done by the parliament a couple of years ago which was not acted on by the previous government.
“We have picked that up we have consulted with the banking industry, with advocates, with consumer groups, with the wagering sector and we have made a decision that we will legislate this before the end of the year.”
Ms Rowland said the reforms would align online gambling with “land-based wagering” where gamblers are unable to use credit at casinos or on poker machines.
“The key principle is simple that people should not be betting with money they don’t have,” she added.
She was then pressed when the changes would be enacted, but only repeated that they would be legislated before the end of the year.
Bank identification numbers will be used to identify and block credit cards in the same way they have been implemented for ATMs at casinos or poker machines venues.
However, lottery services including those run by charities will be excluded from the ban.
Australia’s online gambling industry is one of the largest in the world with digital bookies such as Sportsbet, Ladbrokes and Bet365 bringing in $50 billion in turnover a year.
However the massive industry has given Australia the unenviable title of having the largest losses per adult, totalling $25 billion a year.
The Australian Institute of Family Studies has estimated more than seven per cent of Australian experience or risk experiencing gambling harm which can impact about six other people per person including family and friends.
The government is committed to continuing implementing recommendations from the 2018 National Consumer Protection Framework for Online Wagering of which nine have been introduced.
Labor is expected to complete the rollout of the framework by introducing a national self-exclusion register, BetStop, which will allow gamblers to exclude themselves from all online wagering services.