Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services, I present the committee's report, incorporating a dissenting report, entitled Regulation of the use of financial services such as credit cards and digital wallets for online gambling in Australia.

Report made a parliamentary paper in accordance with standing order 39(e).

by leave—Online gambling is the fastest-growing section of the gambling market. Evidence to the inquiry identified substantial harm resulting from the ability to gamble online with credit. To be clear, this harm results primarily from online wagering with credit, not using credit to purchase lottery tickets and scratchies. The use of credit cards to pay for gambling can extend the pool of money that a person can gamble beyond their savings. This can lead to extreme financial hardship, loss of employment or business failure, bankruptcy, relationship breakdown, mental illness and homelessness.

As the Australian government has already recognised, close to a quarter of a million Australians already experience significant harm from online wagering. This harm is not restricted to the individual gambler. The impacts spill out and affect family, friends and the broader community. The committee acknowledges the heartbreaking personal stories contained in several organisational submissions and witness testimony. There was $225 billion gambled in Australia in 2018-19, and $25 billion of that was lost in lost gambling. The committee is recommending gathering of further data on the size and growth of the online gambling market in Australia, online gambling with credit and the extent and nature of the associated harms.

The committee welcomes the fact that the industry peak body for online wagering, Responsible Wagering Australia, changed their stance during the inquiry and now in fact support a ban. The committee welcomes that, and I thank them for that change of heart. The committee also notes that Tabcorp did not oppose a ban on the use of credit for online gambling.

The committee considered policy options for blocking credit cards for online gambling services: that do not affect lotteries, both for profit and not-for-profit; that do not affect debit payment mechanisms; that would minimise credit card credit passing through digital wallets; and that create consistency between the online and in-venue environments. The committee considers that legislation to require gambling service providers to block credit cards for online gambling using bank identification numbers is the most attractive option. It has formed this view because it is relatively simple to implement and limits the regulatory burden on the banking, finance and payment sectors, it's consistent with other bans on gambling with credit in physical venues and it provides a straightforward way to exempt lotteries while banning other more harmful forms of online gambling with credit.

The committee recommends that the government legislate to ban online gambling service providers of wagering services but not lotteries as defined in section 4 of the Interactive Gambling Act 2001. This recommendation would complement other policy measures in the National Consumer Protection Framework for Online Wagering and would simply bring online wagering into line with all other forms of in-venue gambling. I urge the government to implement these reforms. They are sensible, and they will change and save lives.

I want to thank all submitters to the inquiry, I want to thank all members of the committee for the good nature with which they conducted themselves, particularly the deputy chair, and I want to thank the secretariat for their diligence, assistance and professionalism.

Steve Georganas (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I, too, would like to say a few words, as the deputy chair, on the tabling of this timely report. Labor support and commend the report. I thank the chair and the secretariat for their conduct of this particular report. It makes a number of important recommendations to address the serious impact of the use of credit cards for online gambling and the need for urgent action.

Over the period we looked at for the report, over 10, 15 and 20 years, gambling in Australia used to be traditional horse racing and perhaps a flutter on the lotteries or raffles. We've seen this growing online gambling insurgence take place, and much of our legislation hasn't kept up with it.

This report is important because there is a clear disconnect between the regulations around the use of credit cards for in-venue gambling as opposed to online gambling. Today in Australia, if you're at a racetrack, in a TAB or in a casino, you cannot use a credit card to gamble. Most state and territory governments introduced such bans in the early 2000s. So this is basically keeping up with the times. But, today, anyone can log onto their favourite app from anywhere around the world and place a bet using a credit card. We've seen this disparity in legislation. At the time of banning the use of credit cards for gambling, online gambling didn't exist—at least, not as it does today. It's imperative that we as policymakers move with the times and address this disparity.

Online gambling is currently the fastest-growing section of the gambling market. The 2018 national framework baseline study found that, compared to non-interactive gamblers, people who gamble online are more likely to experience higher rates of gambling related harm. Online gambling creates an environment in which people can gamble at any time, in any place and in a cashless way, which can distance the person gambling from the money which is actually being spent. For those who experience problem gambling, this can be a particularly dangerous set of circumstances. In addition, evidence provided to the inquiry identified substantial harm resulting from the ability to gamble online with credit. Credit cards make it quicker and easier to lose large sums of money when gambling online in comparison to other forms of gambling.

This is an important report. We look forward to the recommendations being adopted by the government. They are very important recommendations, such as:

The committee recommends the Australian Government prioritise the collection of data on online gambling in Australia—

That would be a first step to see how big a problem it is—

including the size and growth of the online gambling market, online gambling with credit, and the extent and nature of the associated harms.

This will be an important first step to understanding the extent of the problem and identifying important areas that may have remained outside the scope of the inquiry. There are some important recommendations. We also made it clear that we did not want to see any adverse effects for the not-for-profits. Many lotteries and raffles support children's hospitals and research centres, and we didn't want to see an adverse effect for them, so we ensured that that is mentioned within the report as well.

I thank the chair and the secretariat for all their good work, and the whole committee as well. This is an important area of reform, and I look forward to the government implementing these recommendations, adopting them and acting upon them quickly.

Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the House take note of the report.

Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In accordance with standing order 39(d), the debate is adjourned. The resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.