The Australian government has passed a bill that will allow a national self-exclusion register to be published. This was introduced to legislature within the country last week, alongside a companion bill.
The Morrison Government said that they believe these changes will fill a “critical gap” in consumer protection standards within Australia.
The key factors of the bill
For the self-exclusion bill, also known as the Interactive Gambling Advancement, will be overseen by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA). The organisation must now find a governing body to look after bill’s database.
Once players have registered, licensed iGaming operators won’t be allowed to contact them. Said companies will also be banned from sharing information about these individuals for marketing reasons.
If brands don’t adhere to these rules or allow these individuals to open an account with them, they risk being fined between 60 and 180 penalty units. This varies depending on the state in which the offence was committed. But in general, operators will have to pay AUD $100 for per penalty unit.
The second bill accompanying this will be the Cost Recovery Levy. This states that the AMCA has to determine the levy on all licence-holders themselves. However, this cannot be larger than the organisation’s total outlay for this project.
Evolving gambling regulation in Australia
In recent months, efforts have been made Down Under to increase player protection. In November, the ACMA ordered internet service providers to block illegal domains.
The above requests were mainly aimed at Emu Casino and Fair Go Casino, both of which are licensed in Curaçao but not Australia. The two operators had been the subject of more than 50 complaints between them.
Since 2017, over 60 unregulated operators have been removed from Australia’s iGaming market. As well as being blacklisted here, these websites have also been reported to authorities in their home countries.
