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Now that we are halfway through the year, how would you assess the work that has been done so far in the gaming industry?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Minimising gambling harm is an enduring compliance and enforcement priority for the ACMA. You\u2019ve asked us to assess the recent work that we\u2019ve carried out under this priority \u2013 I\u2019d characterise it as extensive, innovative and ongoing!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Noting that the ACMA measures its priority work on an \u2018Australian financial year\u2019 basis (ie 1 July to 30 June), over the past 12 months our focus has been to educate and enforce compliance with the new credit card and crypto bans in Australia and also BetStop \u2013 the National Self-Exclusion Register<\/strong>. We have also been focussed on exploring new tools and approaches to disrupt illegal gambling services provided to Australians. I\u2019ll step through some examples of this work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Credit card ban:<\/strong> In undertaking work to implement the new credit card ban, we reminded all licensed wagering operators in Australia of the new rules, the start date and ACMA expectations before the rules commenced. We reviewed operators\u2019 Terms & Conditions and contacted those operators who needed to update their Terms & Conditions to remove references to credit card and\/or cryptocurrency deposits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We also conducted a consumer awareness campaign for the new credit rules and to raise awareness of the NSER. This resulted in significant increases in traffic to relevant information on the ACMA website. We were pleased to see that there was a very high level of industry compliance with the credit card ban, requiring no investigations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Disrupting illegal gambling:<\/strong> We explored and implemented some additional ways to disrupt the operation of illegal gambling services, including partnering with AUSTRAC to establish the Fintel Alliance Micro-Laundering and Illegal Online Gambling project. Our focus there is to share information about transactions which could lead to disrupting transactions to illegal gambling services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We also reported illegal gambling content to social media platforms and entities involved in hosting these services so that the content was removed and alerted games developers that their games are being made available to Australians on illegal services. We also engaged with additional internet service providers to expand our existing website blocking activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n BetStop \u2013 the National Self-Exclusion Register (the Register) implementation and enforcement: <\/strong>Since the Register launched in August 2023, around 45,000 Australians have chosen to self-exclude from all licensed online and phone wagering providers. More than 30,000 people are currently self-excluded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We have continued to build community awareness of the program through our communications campaign, as well as enforcing the rules that require wagering providers to promote the Register to their customers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2024\u2013 25, we began 10 investigations into non-compliance with the NSER requirements under the IGA and closed 10 investigations. Our first 6 investigation outcomes included:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Following these investigations, we released comprehensive compliance advice to the industry in May 2025 to educate providers about our investigation findings and compliance expectations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This all adds up to a great deal of focused work on a range of different fronts (ie a \u2018truckload\u2019 of work as we would describe it in Australia)!<\/p>\n\n\n\n BetStop was launched in August 2023, and according to the most recent published report, 40,121 Australians have self-excluded from all licensed online and telephone gambling services since then. What conclusions can be drawn from the past two years of BetStop’s operation, and what challenges do you think still lie ahead in this area?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Register has represented a significant addition to consumer protections available to Australians. It allows Australians to exclude themselves from all licensed online and phone wagering providers in a single process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We understand from our engagement with people who work to assist people experiencing gambling harm (including financial counsellors) that the Register is a practical and helpful tool. It has been pleasing to hear from people on the frontline that the Register can and does make a real difference to people who choose to stop online gambling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We are pleased that so many Australians have signed up to this service so far, and we will continue to support Australians who want to change their gambling behaviours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In terms of the challenges we face, a key challenge is to continue raise awareness of this important safeguard, including among demographics who are less represented amongst registrants (noting that most people who have registered are 40 years old or younger \u2013 they represent nearly 4 in 5 registrants). We would like to see the number of registered people continue to grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For the gambling industry, the learnings from the recent investigations have sent some strong messages about compliance and our expectations. As this is no longer a new scheme, compliance processes should now be well embedded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “We will continue to support Australians who want to change their gambling behaviours.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Carolyn Lidgerwood, authority member at ACMA. We view blocking requests as an effective disruption tool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the ACMA was given responsibility for enforcing illegal online gambling rules in 2017 under the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 (IGA), around 220 illegal services have withdrawn from the Australian market, and more than 1,200 illegal gambling websites have been blocked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They\u2019re big numbers. Hence our view is that website blocking has been effective in disrupting (although not preventing) the illegal gambling services being provided into the Australian market. We monitor web traffic to the blocked services and have observed a significant reduction in Australian traffic to these websites, even where the services seek to circumvent the blocks (eg through mirror sites).<\/p>\n\n\n\n We also see website blocking as an effective means of educating consumers in Australia about the risks of using illegal online gambling services, particularly as consumers should see pop-up messaging when they attempt to access blocked sites. We publish a list of blocked sites on our website and also conduct regular consumer awareness campaigns about the risks of using illegal gambling services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In relation to the ongoing challenges \u2013 there are a few! The digital market is dynamic and many of the illegal operators based overseas and operate with a high degree of anonymity in jurisdictions with minimal, if any, regulatory oversight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For those reasons, we deliberately take an agile and multi-faceted approach which includes the use of a combination of measures including investigation and enforcement<\/strong>, disruption and deterrence, consumer education and regular engagement with Australian and international regulators. We regularly identify opportunities to expand and tailor our disruption tool-kit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We also monitor the ways in which illegal operators promote their services to Australians, including how they target more vulnerable consumers. Recently, we have published compliance alerts aimed at educating and addressing concerns in the community about the advertising of illegal gambling services. These focus on:<\/p>\n\n\n\n “We monitor web traffic to the blocked services and have observed a significant reduction in Australian traffic to these websites.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Carolyn Lidgerwood, authority member at ACMA.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Tabcorp was recently fined following an investigation that revealed that more than 5,700 marketing messages sent to customers in its VIP programme were in breach of the law. As the first spam-related probe into a gambling VIP programme, what precedents does the ACMA expect this to set for other wagering companies?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Wagering companies should take note that spam rules apply to all electronic marketing messages, even those sent to customers receiving personalised materials under a loyalty scheme or VIP program, such as the TAB VIP program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our investigation found that TAB had not given consideration to its obligations under the Spam Act when developing and applying its policies, procedures and guidelines for personalised messages sent to its VIP program customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These personalised messages offered inducements to gamble, such as bonus bets, deposit matches, rebates and offers of tickets to sporting and other events without properly identifying the sender, providing them with a way to unsubscribe, and in some cases, were sent without the customer\u2019s consent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our investigation demonstrates that all the requirements of the Spam Act need to be complied with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In its 3-year court-enforceable undertaking, Tabcorp must conduct quarterly audits\u2014will ACMA publish audit results or levels of compliance found?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n No, the ACMA will not publish the quarterly audit reports received under the conditions of the enforceable undertaking. However, the ACMA will review the reports provided to it, and if the terms of the enforceable undertaking are breached, the ACMA may commence proceedings in the Federal Court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Are there any legislative or regulatory reforms being considered by ACMA to further strengthen consumer protections against unwanted marketing messages and illegal gambling, especially concerning the evolving methods used by operators?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This is a policy question for the Australian Government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What are the key priority areas for the remainder of 2025?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n We have just announced our annual compliance & enforcement priorities for the 2025-2026 financial year, and also confirmed our enduring compliance & enforcement priorities (that is, matters that are always a priority for the ACMA, noting the harm to the community that can result from non-compliance).<\/p>\n\n\n\n These priorities support and complement our routine regulatory work and provide transparency and certainty to industry and other stakeholders about our key areas of focus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As mentioned earlier, minimising gambling harm continues to be an enduring compliance and enforcement priority for the ACMA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Examples of the ongoing work that is directed at this priority include taking action to further disrupt illegal wagering providers that target Australians, particularly during major domestic and international sporting and racing events. We will keep educating the industry on the rules about illegal gambling services and the risks of using such services, including by using investigation findings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We will also continue to build awareness of BetStop \u2013 the National Self-Exclusion Register and its rules.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The authority member of the Australian Communications and Media Authority spoke to Focus Gaming News about the agency\u2019s efforts to enforce gambling regulations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":680,"featured_media":777028003,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":true,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) is intensifying its regulatory enforcement in online gambling, focusing on harm minimization. Key initiatives include the successful implementation of credit card and cryptocurrency bans, the growing impact of BetStop (National Self-Exclusion Register) with 45,000 self-exclusions, and proactive measures to disrupt illegal gambling services through partnerships and website blocking. ACMA's efforts have resulted in high industry compliance with new rules and significant enforcement actions against non-compliant operators.","focusai_entities":"Australian Communications and Media Authority, ACMA, Focus Gaming News, Carolyn Lidgerwood, AUSTRAC, Fintel Alliance","focusai_location":"Australia","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (0.95), affiliate_publisher (0.75), product_ux (0.7), tech_data (0.7), marketing_crm (0.85), payments_fraud_aml (1.0), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.8), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"BetStop Effectiveness Metrics?","query":"What specific metrics beyond self-exclusion numbers does ACMA use to assess the overall effectiveness of BetStop in reducing gambling harm across the Australian market?"},{"label":"Offshore Enforcement Scaling?","query":"How does ACMA plan to scale its enforcement against offshore illegal gambling operators, particularly concerning payment processing and content distribution, beyond current ISP blocking and social media engagement?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16336,24628,164,158],"tags":[6093,289,24401],"class_list":["post-777028494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australasia-news","category-highlight-of-the-week","category-interviews","category-slider-home","tag-acma","tag-australia","tag-exclusive-interview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777028494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/680"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777028494"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777028494\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777028538,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777028494\/revisions\/777028538"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777028003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777028494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777028494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777028494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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How does ACMA assess the effectiveness of its blocking requests, and are there any ongoing challenges or workarounds being observed by illegal gambling operators?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n\n
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