Strategic inducements such as “bonus bets” and cashback offers are luring Australians into problem gambling, an anti-gambling lobby has warned as it called on the government to outlaw the practice.
The Alliance for Gambling Reform blamed weak advertising and consumer protection laws for the promotions it says are carefully designed to make customers believe they are placing “safer” bets and that a win is more likely.
A paper released by the alliance warns supposed “risk-free” bets that offer a refund under certain conditions are a highly enticing inducement, which are “cynically targeting people with gambling problems through tailored, personalised marketing”.
The so-called “rewards” of bonus bets and cashback wagers “are often only able to be redeemed in a way that encourages further betting, and are subject to various terms and conditions, which tend to be difficult to find and understand for the average consumer”, the paper said.
The alliance is urging the government to follow through on its pledges to restrict advertising and promotion of sports betting, with pressure on Labor to finally act on recommendations of a year-old parliamentary report.
Online wagering companies and conventional casinos often offer inducements such as refund or cashback offers, sign-up offers, more attractive odds or bonuses, or paying out winnings on losing bets, the paper said. “Frequently, rewards must be redeemed in a form that encourages betting and aim to trigger specific consumer responses.
“Contrary to the marketing messages, and the interpretation by gamblers, that inducements offer a prudent way to bet, evidence suggests that uptake of inducement offers is actually associated with more harmful betting behaviours. These harmful behaviours include intensified purchasing of the wagering product, placing of riskier bets, chasing losses, and underestimation of gambling problems.”
The Alliance for Gambling Reform shared data last week showing the number of Australians betting on sport had doubled in five years, and a third of spending on bets was placed by people with a gambling problem.
Martin Thomas, the interim chief executive of the Alliance for Gambling Reform, said inducements could drive “some of the riskiest gambling behaviours” but were “woefully ignored by current regulations”.
The paper raised particular concern about emails, texts and phone calls from gambling companies to people, offering or advertising such inducements.
The landmark June 2023 report into gambling, by an inquiry chaired by the late Labor MP Peta Murphy, called for the government to prohibit all online gambling inducements and inducement advertising “without delay”.
The AGR paper quoted a man who gave evidence to the committee, who said it was “near-on impossible for someone battling problem gambling to not be sucked in by these inducements … They knock the person who is trying to head down the right path straight back down the wrong path again.”
But more than a year on from the report’s tabling, the government has still not given its response. While federal Labor has made major changes to gambling in Australia – including setting up the national BetStop self-exclusion register, new anti-gambling ads, and banning credit cards for wagering – a growing number of politicians and advocates want bolder action on advertising.
after newsletter promotion
Murphy’s report called for a comprehensive ban on all forms of advertising for online gambling, among 31 recommendations.
The Labor MP Susan Templeman, who now chairs the parliament’s standing committee on social policy and legal affairs, wrote to the communications minister, Michelle Rowland, last week asking for an update on when the government’s response would come.
In a speech to parliament Rowland called the policy area “complex”, raising concern about unintended consequences of an advertising ban potentially pushing ads into different spaces, and promising a response to the Murphy report.
“This government and I have made it very clear that the status quo in relation to wagering advertising is untenable,” she said.
“We want to get these reforms right, to deliver both harm reduction and cultural change. It’s not a straightforward exercise, and we’re determined to ensure that our response is capable of implementation and makes a real difference when it comes to harm reduction.”
The shadow communications minister, David Coleman, urged the government to speed up. “It’s extremely hard to understand why it has taken the government so long to resolve this issue,” he said.