Gambling Archives - Consumers' Federation of Australia

13 October , 2023

‘Not harmless fun’ – Advocates Call for Credit Card Ban to Extend to Scratchies and Lottery Tickets

“If lotteries get this carve-out and people can use credit cards, it will be the thin edge of the wedge. They will then get carve-outs from future advertising and inducement reforms. We’ll regret this mistake when lotteries are advertised day and night and people increasingly spend large sums of money.”

Ms Levin said lotteries were no longer harmless fun as portrayed by providers. They were now also a far cry from the benign, government-owned public sweeps that we remember from childhood, and which had legislation that mandated donating money to charitable causes.

18 September , 2023

FCA on the Credit and Crypto Gambling Ban

“This legislation is terrific,” Ms Levin said. “We’re delighted that it covers not only credit cards, but also digital wallets and digital currencies.”
Ms Levin said the one area of disappointment was a carve-out for online lotteries.

13 September , 2023

Gambling-Related Suicides on Rise

Federal and State Governments must introduce significant gambling harm reforms in the wake of new research that indicates a significant percentage of suicides across Australia are related to gambling.

12 September , 2023

“The sky didn’t fall in”

Lauren’s eye-opening presentation on gambling harm prevention demonstrates just how much Australian regulators and politicians can learn from their European counterparts.

29 August , 2023

FCA Welcomes BetStop, Calls for Register to Extend Further

Financial Counselling Australia (FCA) has welcomed the start of Australia’s first online gambling exclusion register, while at the same time calling on governments to expand the facility to casinos, pokies and lotteries.
“We started advocating for this in 2015 and didn’t give up, because we always knew that an online gambling self-exclusion register would help a lot of people,” Ms Levin said.

“Now we call on the state premiers to make BetStop a national register for all forms of gambling, including casinos, pokies, and lotteries. It’s not rocket science to simply give people the protection that they are asking for.”

25 August , 2023

Join CPRC and CFA for a Briefing by Lauren Levin on the EU and UK Approach to Gambling Harm Prevention

As part of Churchill Fellowship Award, Lauren spent eight weeks across eight countries in Europe and UK, meeting with gambling regulators, banks, Financial Ombudsman Services, academics, others in the gambling harm prevention ecosystem and attended an international gambling industry convention to gain insight into what the gambling industry is doing and anticipating. In this special webinar,…

30 June , 2023

ACMA Names Consumer Protections a Priority for 2023-24

Minimising gambling harm, combating SMS scams, tackling online supply of dodgy devices and enforcing spam unsubscribe rules have been identified as some of the key compliance priorities for the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) in 2023–24.

29 June , 2023

Financial Counsellors Welcome Proposal to Ban Gambling Ads and Inducements

Financial Counselling Australia (FCA) welcomes the recommendations made by a Government inquiry into online gambling harm, saying the committee has heard the concerns of financial counsellors and the community, and responded.

10 February , 2022

FCA welcomes tough stance by ACMA on unlawful spamming by Sportsbet

Financial counsellors applaud the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) for imposing the largest penalty ever given a fine of $2.5 million on Sportsbet. This is a media release from Financial Counselling Australia. It was originally published on 10th February, 2022. The betting company will also refund customers $1.2 million after an extensive ACMA investigation found it had…

29 November , 2021

Consumer advocates welcome recommendation for stricter controls of credit funded gambling online

Financial Counselling Australia (FCA), Financial Rights Legal Centre and the Consumer Action Law Centre welcome the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services’ recommendation for legislation to prohibit online gambling operators from accepting credit card funded deposits. This is a media release from the Financial Counselling Australia. It was originally published on 26th November, 2021. Yesterday the Committee released…

21 December , 2020

ABA report confirms credit card funded gambling doesn’t have community support

A new report by the Australian Banking Association (ABA) shows it’s time to immediately ban the use of credit cards for gambling. This is a Financial Counselling Australia Media Release The ABA has released the results of its consultation process about the use of credit cards for gambling. A survey conducted to inform the report…

3 December , 2019

FCA Welcomes Gambling Self-Exclusion Register

Financial Counselling Australia welcomes the bill to establish the National Online Gambling Self-Exclusion Register. The Bill was introduced this week in Federal Parliament by the Minister for Communications, the Hon. Paul Fletcher. The register means that people experiencing harm can press one button and self-exclude from all the online wagering companies. With that single trigger, the wagering operators…