- Australia’s credit card ban for online gambling had minimal impact as most bettors simply switched to debit cards and maintained similar betting levels.
- Heavy gamblers remained largely unaffected by the new regulations and continued wagering without relying on credit.
- The ban primarily discouraged casual bettors while leaving multiple loopholes that allowed dedicated gamblers to continue placing wagers.
SYDNEY — Australia’s ban on credit cards for online gambling looks good on paper, but new research shows it barely made a dent in how much people actually bet.
As part of the government’s efforts to reduce the negative effects of gambling, the ban went into effect in June 2024. However, according to a survey by the e61 Institute, the majority of bettors merely moved to debit cards and continued to wager at almost the same rate.
The average biweekly spending of credit card users decreased from a little over $200 to about $150, however this change was due to different payment methods rather than a decrease in actual gaming.
The prohibition did make betting less easy, and some casual gamblers gave up completely as a result of this hardship. In the six weeks following the policy’s implementation, around one-third of credit card users gave up betting, and among those impacted, the likelihood of gambling decreased by 15%.
The issue is that, prior to the ban, credit cards made up barely 2% of gaming accounts and were never the primary payment method.
Heavy Bettors Find Workarounds
The new regulations basically had no effect on the biggest gamblers. The majority had enough cash on hand to continue betting without using credit, and the survey indicated that their financial situation did not significantly improve once the ban went into place.
The government also left loopholes wide open, including the ability to use credit cards for cash advances, PayPal deposits, or personal loans that could fund gambling indirectly.
Despite the regulations, sports betting in Australia is still quite popular, with companies like Sportsbet and others claiming little impact to their operations. Although the restriction was successful in keeping some bettors from accruing credit card debt, it had little effect on reducing debit spending or addressing the more general problems that underlie compulsive gambling.
Legal sports betting is still widely available thanks to platforms that swiftly modified their payment methods to accept bank transfers, e-wallets, and prepaid cards as substitutes.
Although credit card betting sites are no longer in operation, the fundamental behavior has mostly not changed. The research suggests that targeting poker machines, which account for far more gambling harm in Australia, might deliver better results than focusing on payment methods that were already rarely used by the people that regulators wanted to protect most.
