Offshore gambling companies are using third-party websites to entice Australian addicts to resume betting, even after gamblers have placed voluntary restrictions on themselves.<\/p>\n
The new trend, targeting those registered with the federal government\u2019s BetStop service<\/a>, has been condemned as \u201cdeeply concerning and opportunistic\u201d by the media regulator, which has begun contacting the websites to \u201cmake them aware of Australia\u2019s interactive gambling laws\u201d.<\/p>\n Offshore gambling companies are banned from targeting Australians. But they have been paying websites that promote their inducements, link to their pages and instruct people on how to bypass the BetStop service, which is designed to block registrants from gambling.<\/p>\n The websites, whose URLs occasionally reference Australian cities, are paid a commission if readers follow their recommendations and gamble with overseas agencies, which are predominately based in the Dutch Caribbean island of Cura\u00e7ao.<\/p>\n Sign up: AU Breaking News email<\/a><\/p>\n In some cases, they appeal to addicts who may want to resume betting before their self-exclusion period expires. Lifting this ban early requires a statutory declaration confirming a registrant has received counselling from a qualified professional.<\/p>\n One website \u2013 promoting a gambling business that offers up to $10,800 in \u201cwelcome bonuses\u201d, which is illegal in Australia \u2013 suggests people registered with BetStop may have made a \u201crash decision\u201d and provides advice to continue gambling.<\/p>\n Another site claims offshore bookmakers offered \u201can enhanced level of security\u201d.<\/p>\n Regulators in Australia have warned the opposite is true<\/a>.<\/p>\n BetStop, which was launched in August 2023, allows people to be blocked from gambling, and bookmakers are also banned from contacting them. The scheme, which has 45,000 registrants, only applies to Australian companies.<\/p>\n Under Australian law, offshore gambling companies are banned form targeting Australian consumers and encouraging them to gamble.<\/p>\n But there are no restrictions on third-party affiliates promoting their products in return for payment.<\/p>\n Australia\u2019s media regulator has been concerned about affiliate marketers promoting illegal gambling services for many years. But the targeting of people listed on BetStop is a relatively new tactic.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a deeply concerning and opportunistic practice that attempts to undermine the purpose of the national self-exclusion register\u201d, an Australian Communications and Media Authority (Acma) spokesperson said.<\/p>\n The websites, which Guardian Australia has chosen not to name to protect consumers, promote a lack of regulation and generous inducements. One promotes offshore companies as having to adhere to \u201cless challenging gambling laws\u201d.<\/p>\n Most websites acknowledge they are affiliated with the bookmakers they promote, and some confirm they receive commissions from them.<\/p>\n Nerilee Hing, a professor at CQUniversity who has researched affiliate marketing in the gambling industry, said targeting people who had registered with BetStop was \u201ca clear example of predatory practices that aims to attract the most vulnerable\u201d.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Sign up to Breaking News Australia<\/p>\n Get the most important news as it breaks<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com<\/a> to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n \u201cUnfortunately, the current regulatory environment has limited capacity to monitor and prevent harmful and illegal practices by affiliates, regardless of whether they are acting on behalf of Australian-licensed or offshore operators,\u201d Hing said.<\/p>\n The Alliance for Gambling<\/a> Reform\u2019s chief executive, Martin Thomas, said the practice was \u201cgravely concerning\u201d and should be treated seriously.<\/p>\n \u201cIt appears a deliberate undermining of BetStop which the government repeatedly boasts as one of its key achievements on gambling reform,\u201d Thomas said.<\/p>\n Kai Cantwell, the chief executive of Responsible Wagering Australia, which represents some of the biggest online bookmakers regulated in Australia, agreed.<\/p>\n \u201c[Acma] should be given the power and tools they need to actually block these sites, cut off their payments and shut down the affiliate networks that funnel people into harm\u201d.<\/p>\n Affiliate marketing does occur in Australia, but it cannot target those on BetStop. An inquiry led by the late Labor MP Peta Murphy called for the practice to be banned.<\/p>\n Consumer advocate Lauren Levin said blocking access to offshore gambling websites was ineffective as they merely returned with slightly different URLs. She instead said banks should be stopped from sending money to unlicensed gambling operators.<\/p>\n In Australia, Gambling Help Online<\/a> is available on 1800 858 858. The National Debt Helpline<\/a> is at 1800 007 007. In the UK, support for problem gambling can be found via the NHS National Problem Gambling Clinic<\/a> on 020 7381 7722, or GamCare<\/a> on 0808 8020 133. In the US, call the National Council on Problem Gambling<\/a> at 800-GAMBLER or text 800GAM.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Offshore gambling companies are using third-party websites to entice Australian addicts to resume betting, even after gamblers have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":252675,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[49,48,84,393,394],"class_list":{"0":"post-252674","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-mental-health","12":"tag-mentalhealth"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252674\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}