Sportsbet, an Australian betting giant, has said that it will support any move to prohibit the use of credit cards for gambling. The operator said that this type of payment method promoted a “play now, pay later” culture which was detrimental to the well-being of players and consumers.
Sportsbet Says Credit Cards in Gambling Must Go
Sportsbet argued that the position put forward by Responsible Wagering Australia was the right one. A credit card ban for gambling should be passed with urgency, the operator said, aligning itself with other companies that have urged state governments to make sure that consumers are protected by not having access to gambling credit that could have serious financial consequences.
Sportsbet called the high-risk nature of gambling with credit cards the reason why it insisted that governments to act. The Australian Banking Association has raised similar concerns over the years and has said that any new interactive gambling legislation should block operators from offering credit cards as viable payment methods.
Anna Bligh, ABA’s CEO, said that it was in customers’ best interest to cut access to lines of credit for gambling activities. However, there are some challenges in having financial institutions place blocks on credit cards. According to Bligh, were that measure to be implemented, it would also affect lottery tickets, which would not be purchasable through credit cards anymore.
There may be enough reason to act this way, though, as Sportsbet notes. Australians already lose $1,276 per person annually, and online gambling has reached 3.9% in the country. The general population problem gambling rates are closer to 1.23%.
Meanwhile, Sportsbet is working on other solutions to address the problem of gambling in Australia. The operator said that it is building a “real-time intervention” solution that will allow it to leverage the power of AI to quickly predict customers’ daily deposits and send alerts when the depositing amounts begin to climb up too rapidly.
Sportsbet Is Not Eye-to-Eye on All Reforms
The company also suggests that it will be restricting depositing amounts if it believes that a player is exceeding the amounts that they can afford and conduct reviews to ensure that nobody is playing beyond their means. There has been also a lot of chatter about restricting gambling advertisements during sports events, but interestingly, Sportsbet is not as keen on this particular issue.
Sportsbet and Ladbrokes recently sent a letter to a parliamentary inquiry group due to take place next week, explaining the reason why the companies had the number of gambling advertisements displayed they did. However, it’s very likely that sports events will begin to see gambling ads twinkle out.