How Australia Followed UKGC’s Gamstop With Betstop

In 2021 it was confirmed by the Australian Communications and Media Authority that they were enlisting a team to develop the country’s first National Exclusion Service. This team called Engine developed the UK’s GAMSTOP service and was given this task too. GAMSTOP is another self-exclusion system and has had great success with around 430,000 bettors self-excluding themselves as of 2024. 

Is It A Success?

Since August 2023, there have been over 25,000 Australians who have self-excluded which is a major return and a positive for the investments of this system. This is great as Australia has the highest gambling losses per adult in the world, with a total of $25 billion being lost each year.

What’s The Same?

Similar to Gamstop, providers will need to advertise and promote the use of this service to its players as a legal requirement for Australian casinos.

The use of Engine was solely picked because of the success they had in the United Kingdom, as they use very similar systems, like all casinos, using the system. This means if a player Self Excludes then they can’t go into a new casino and play – which is a lot safer for players.

The system allows players to ban themselves for 3 months to a lifetime which is good for players who are unsure if they should gamble again.

The Launch

After a brief testing system in late 2021 and early 2022, the system was released in mid-2022 and since then has been a good system for players. The system was perfected with the already existing Self Exclusion system made by the Northern Territory Racing Commission’s service which covers some operators in Australia and now bettors in Australia can contact individual companies to ban themselves if need be. 

Under Scrutiny

The original announcement of the tool was met with some backlash by Australian residents as just before the announcement the Suicide Prevention Group of Australia stated they needed to have more regulations when it comes to betting and its systems. 

 

As I have stated throughout this post, the system has helped a lot of players who need help but the public are calling for stricter rules and regulations or even a ban. This won’t happen as there is too much money in betting and it does too much for the economy. 

Things We Have Learnt From Self-Exclusions

Since August 2023 we have seen a lot of great information coming out about the self-exclusions which has been able to shed some light on the people who struggle with gambling problems. The most popular age for self-exclusion is 30 years and under (49%) with 31-40 being close behind (30%). 

 

Under 30 was the worst thing we have learnt as this could mean young adults who have less disposable income than people who are 30 and older. The young age of the players is an issue that the general public is begging to change as it is the future of the nation and they could be vulnerable. 

 

Other information has been shown like the length of time they excluded themselves for. The two biggest exclusion rates are 3 months to 2 years (40%) and a lifetime ban (39%), having the lifetime ban be the second most popular is something that the nation can be proud of as people are noticing that they have a problem with betting. 

What Could Happen In The Future?

As we are still in the early stages of the self-exclusion law being made in Australia, we are seeing a big turn around and this is only progress. I think the nation won’t be calling for larger betting bans when they see how well the self-exclusion rule is doing. Hopefully, as the years go on, people who have problems will ban themselves and be precautious and the people who can bet for fun with no representation can win some money.