Hope that people at risk of gambling harm will use pokies closures to kick the habit

April 2020: With pokies venues closed due to coronavirus restrictions, there is hope that some people at risk of gambling harm will be able to kick the habit. However AIFS researcher Dr Rebecca Jenkinson cautioned(link is external) that ‘this is also a time of great uncertainly, anxiety and stress for people’, which can leave people vulnerable to gambling harms. ‘We do know that the greatest harm associated with gambling is related to poker machines, absolutely. But there is concern that some people – particularly those at risk of gambling-related harm – might fill the gap left by the pokies with sports betting, lotto tickets or even online poker machine games, which are illegal in Australia.’

Australia to get national online wagering Self-Exclusion Register

Nov 2019 – The Morrison Government announced it will move to legislate a national online wagering Self-Exclusion Register that will allow people to ban themselves from all online wagering sites and apps in one step. An independent baseline study by AIFS’ Australian Gambling Research Centre found that 52% of people who wager online were at risk of or already experiencing gambling-related harm. The study will allow the government to assess the effectiveness of the register and other measures designed to reduce gambling-related harms for consumers.