Shocking number of Australians ask banks to prevent them from gambling

KEY POINTS:

A parliamentary inquiry is exploring the harm caused by online gambling.
It heard half a million Australians have asked their bank to prevent them from gambling.
The AFL has confirmed it receives a cut of gambling money on match days, beyond normal sponsorships.

More than half a million Australians have asked their bank to temporarily ban them from gambling, parliament has been told.

A parliamentary inquiry into the impacts of online gambling also heard on Tuesday that the AFL receives a chunk of betting turnover each match day, which goes beyond its normal sponsorship.

Australians lose an estimated $25 billion on legal gambling annually, , with online betting the sector’s fastest-growing segment.

The federal government is pushing ahead with the creation of a national self-exclusion register – BetStop – which it says will be launched “in the coming months”.

Betting adverts on the boundary rope at an oval.

A parliamentary inquiry is analysing the impact of online gambling. Source: AAP / Lukas Coch

The scheme would enable a person to prevent themselves from betting online for anywhere between three months and their entire life.

However, a number of banks are already offering their own self-exclusion options, and Australian Banking Association chief executive Anna Bligh says over 500,000 Australians have already come forward to bar themselves from gambling.

“I’ll be honest, when we did the audit about six months ago, I was surprised that it was as many as half a million Australians, because there hasn’t been some national advertising campaign about it,” she said.

Ms Bligh said most self-exclusion schemes run by banks included a “cooling off period”, with people unable to restore their right to gamble without at least 48 hours’ notice.

“If you maybe have a few beers on Friday night and decide: I don’t like that veto, I’m gonna take it off … you can’t actually immediately remove [it],” she said.

A report released by the Australian Institute of Family Studies last month .

It found three quarters of Australians had gambled in the last 12 months, while two in five did so weekly.

Of those who gambled, 46 per cent were considered at some risk of betting harm.

Men aged between 18-34 were the cohort considered at most risk, with women aged 55 and over least likely to suffer from gambling harm.

Football codes give evidence

The committee also heard a staunch defence of gambling income from the AFL and NRL, with both facing scrutiny for .

AFL chief executive Gill McLachlan argued that gambling would occur regardless, but advertising deals enabled the AFL, which he stressed was a not-for-profit, to reinvest money into grassroots sport.

Partnering with companies enabled the AFL to be aware of illegal betting patterns that undermined the code’s integrity, he said.

Graphic showing phone with gambling advert superimposed over rugby league.

The NRL and AFL both insist they have taken steps to minimise the harm of gambling advertising. Source: SBS News / SBS News

Mr McLachlan confirmed the code received income via direct betting sponsorships and “product fee arrangements”, which provide a cut of the money gambled on its matches.

He would not be drawn on the nature of the arrangements or how lucrative they were, only saying they accounted for “a percentage” of the code’s income.

“But broadly speaking, you get a percentage of the volume of turnover on our sport, yes,” he said.

Mr McLachlan said limits imposed by the AFL itself meant that gambling advertising was already limited to an estimated two minutes per match broadcast.

Labor MP Peta Murphy pressed him on a supporter survey, which found the vast majority wanted gambling advertising to be banned at AFL grounds, and most believed the code should not receive any revenue from betting companies.

AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan called for “balance” in discussions on gambling advertising. Source: AAP / Ethan James

“Surely those results give the AFL pause about suggesting that the measures in place with respect to online gambling are appropriate?” she asked.

Mr McLachlan accepted that there was a “voice out there” that was calling for a crackdown, but stressed the AFL had already implemented a number of restrictions – including banning promotion of odds at venues and on its websites – to minimise harm.

“We are not in denial about the concern. But it’s real-time discussion about what that looks like [that’s important]. It’s why we changed the experience at venue,” he said.

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Shocking number of Australians ask banks to prevent them from gambling

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KEY POINTS:

Football codes give evidence

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