New rules to protect young people and vulnerable gamblers - 26 Feb 2019

New national rules to protect young people and vulnerable gamblers were announced this week by Minister for Families and Social Services, the Hon Paul Fletcher MP.

Online wagering companies must now take 14 days or fewer to verify whether new online wagering consumers are eligible, when previously it was 90 days. This will reduce the risk of underage or self-excluded participants gambling online.

The measures are delivered under the National Consumer Protection Framework for online wagering, announced late last year. As part of the rollout, AGRC was commissioned by the Department of Social Services to execute the baseline study for a larger four-phase evaluation of the framework.

Senate enquiry recommends review of in-game gambling features - 27 Nov 2018

A senate committee has identified the potential for gambling-related harms from ‘loot boxes’, chance-based features that appear in some video games. The committee recommended a government review to identify regulatory and policy gaps and potential consumer protection measures.  A submission to the inquiry  by AGRC concluded that loot boxes are a form of gambling and did present a public health risk, and therefore should either be banned or tightly controlled.