Australia urged to extend age checks to online betting
Gambling reform advocates say the Digital Duty of Care Bill overlooks how teenagers access betting websites and sports odds.
Key takeaways:
- The Alliance for Gambling Reform wants online betting services explicitly included in Australia’s Digital Duty of Care Bill.
- The current draft proposes age-verification requirements for pornography websites but does not specifically cover betting platforms.
- Advocate Mark Kempster said three-quarters of 120 teenage boys at one school had placed a bet or looked up sports odds.
- Kempster reported speaking to around 30 under-18s showing signs of gambling problems this year.
- Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young argued that minors can access betting websites without the same website-level restrictions applied to pornography.
Australia.- Advocacy groups are urging Australian senators to extend age-verification requirements in the Digital Duty of Care Bill to online gambling services. They argue that the current draft leaves a clear gap for underage access.
The Alliance for Gambling Reform told a Senate committee reviewing the bill on Tuesday that online wagering should face the same age checks requirements that the draft legislation proposes for pornography sites. Alliance chief executive Sunita Bose said online wagering carries “very similar” potential harms to pornography and should be regulated accordingly.
“It is a service that is permitted for adults, but we should be using the best possible technology to ensure that kids are not using it,” she said. “We would like to see a levelling up of child protection by naming the (online betting) services in the Bill.”
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young described underage online gambling as an “open secret.” “These are meant to be sites that are clearly for adults. The comparison between the restrictions around a porn site… is really quite stark,” she said. “While there may be some hoops to jump through to establish an online betting account, to actually access the website itself, unlike a porn site, there’s no block if you’re under 18.”
Advocate and former problem gambler Mark Kempster said that three-quarters of 120 teenage boys at one high school he spoke at rose their hands when asked if they had placed a bet or looked up odds on a sporting event. He said he has spoken to about 30 under-18s this year who are showing signs of gambling problems. “With pornography, there are age restrictions you can see. There are no age restrictions around betting websites at all,” Kempster said.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
- What is Australia’s Digital Duty of Care Bill? It is proposed legislation aimed at imposing stronger responsibilities on digital platforms to address online harms, including age-verification requirements for websites providing adult content.
- Will Australia’s proposed age-verification rules apply to online betting sites? Not under the current draft. The bill proposes age checks for pornography websites but does not explicitly name online betting platforms.
- Why do gambling reform advocates want betting sites included in the bill? They argue that online betting presents risks to minors comparable to those associated with pornography and that website-level age restrictions are needed to prevent underage access.
- How common is underage exposure to online betting in Australian schools? Advocate Mark Kempster reported that three-quarters of 120 teenage boys at one high school had either placed a bet or searched for sports odds. He also said he had spoken to around 30 under-18s showing signs of gambling problems this year.
