Since the end of the month, every Australian online gambler will receive a detailed monthly statement about their winnings and losses.
As of July 31st, everyone who holds an online gambling account in Australia will start receiving a monthly statement notifying them about how much money they have won and lost. The statements will be sent as part of the measures that were introduced in the 2018 Consumer Protection Framework for Online Wagering in Australia in an effort to tackle constantly rising gambling addiction rates in the country. This is one of the few initiatives aimed at combating problem gambling in the country under new online betting customer protection rules.
The aforementioned statements are set to clearly show the overall amount of money spent by a customer on online gambling within a certain month, as well as a graphic tracking the customer’s gambling activity over a 6-month period, the number of bets they placed, the amount they lost, and the amount they won. The statement, which is set to be sent to online gamblers on their emails, will also provide links to responsible gambling resources and an exact transaction list.
Customers who have not used their accounts for a year will not receive such statements.
Australians Currently Generate the Largest Online Gambling Losses Globally
According to reports, Australian residents lose an average of AU$1,276 on online gambling every year, which makes it the nation with the highest digital betting losses on a global scale. The local online gambling sector is the fastest-growing gambling platform in the country and expands at three times the rate of other forms of gambling. Competent bodies and researchers have reported that Australian residents spend approximately AU$1.4 billion on online gambling websites every year.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) carried out research, according to which about 11% of local residents (or about 2.6 million people) placed a bet online over the first 6 months of 2021.
The country’s Government has held consultations with the 52 gambling corporations and 102 on-site bookmakers that currently operate in Australia before establishing the aforementioned framework, which is aimed at protecting local gamblers. Apart from that, the competent authorities have also introduced a bunch of other measures seeking to raise Australian gamblers’ awareness of the possible negative impact that gambling, such as a national self-exclusion register, deposit limit options that are required to be set as part of the registration process, and special responsible gambling training for employees of online gambling companies.
According to research commissioned by the Government, gamblers who received so-called “activity statements”, especially the ones who used to chase losses and had lower financial literacy, start spending significantly less after actually seeing how much money they spent on online gambling services. The 2018 Consumer Protection Framework for Online Wagering in Australia was unveiled by the previous Morrison Government but was eventually recognised as a priority by the newly-elected Anthony Albanese Government.
- Author
Daniel Williams
