Australia will ban the use of credit cards for online gambling
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Australian gamblers will soon be banned from using credit cards for online betting. The government intends to introduce new legislation in the coming months that will bar this payment method.
In a recent announcement, Communications Minister Michelle Rowland and Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth seek to align online gambling with brick-and-mortar gaming – which already limits the use of credit cards. “People shouldn’t gamble with money they don’t have,” Rowland said.
The government plans to use Bank Identification Numbers (BINs) (which are adopted to identify and block credit card payments) to prevent credit card numbers from being used to deposit funds into gambling accounts.
Veto for using credit card for online gambling games will be enacted later this year
The ban will be enacted through amendments to the Interactive Gambling Act 2001, which the government says will be introduced later this year.
“BIN blocking has been successfully deployed by Australian casinos and poker machine locations to prevent credit card withdrawals from ATMs and has been used in the UK to implement their credit card ban for online gaming,” as per Rowland and Rishworth.
Responsible Wagering Australia said in a submission to the 2021 inquiry: “Approximately 20% of deposits into betting accounts are transacted via credit cards”. Tabcorp told the inquiry that in the 2021 financial year, its proportion of account deposits via credit card was 13.7%.
Alliance for Gambling Reform CEO Carol Bennett said her group welcomed the move: “This is a significant step in reducing the harm caused by online betting. We know that many people experience high levels of gambling damage and these people are much more likely to use credit cards for cash advances. This is money that people can barely afford to use.”
